(1-28) One day Sankara, the conqueror of all the passions and the resort of even rishis who have conquered their lower self, was resting at a solitary spot after he had delivered his discourses on the Bhashya. A fierce and cruel-hearted Kapalika now approached him with evil intentions in the guise of an ascetic, even as Ravana did in times of old. Delighted with the thought that his long awaited opportunity had now dawned, he approached the Acharya and curtly told him what he wanted. He said: “Having heard much about your life and about your great qualities like omniscience, mercy, goodness, etc., I have come here to see you in person. You are the universally respected teacher of non-dualism, who has overcome identification with the body, cast away all infatuations, and defeated every form of dualism in debate. You ha~e assumed your body for the good of others. Your fame, even the Devas praise. With your merciful look you remove the sufferings and anxieties of good men. And with your kind words you grant whatever blessings people want. You are the ocean of all virtues. You command the respect of the whole world. Your knowledge has no limits. No one can stand before you in debate. You are without any tinge of ego. You are the supremely liberal one who bestows all you possess on others. Great men of such excellence generally grant, to their suppliants whatever prayers they make. I can achieve a great object of mine through an all knowing one like you and win the grace of my deity, namely, Kapali or Siva sporting a skull in his hand. I performed austerities for a hundred years in order to get a boon from Siva, which would enable me to attain to Kailasa with this very physical body and enjoy the felicity of that heavenly region with this body itself. Lord Siva, being propitiated, declared to me: ‘Your object will be fulfilled if you can perform a sacrifice, offering in fire the head of either a crowned king, or in the alternative, of an all-knowing person.’ Ever since then I have been in quest of these, but I have till now failed to get the head of either a king or an all-knowing person. Fortunately, I have today come across an omniscient personage who lives only for the good of others. The object of my quest is now obtained. If a king’s head is not available, a sage’s head is required for my rite. Whatever one may do, it is impossible to get a king’s head. So my only hope lies in you. If you grant your head to me, you will attain to fame, and I, to the fulfillment of my desire. You can easily do this, knowing fully, as you do, that this body is perishable. It is rather delicate to make a request like this; for, the body is dear to everyone. But as far as you are concerned, you are a man of renunciation without any attachment to the body; you live only for the good of others. Generally men who are extremely selfish never think of the suffering or loss of others. Indra got from Dadhichi his very bones for killing Vritra. Men like Dadhichi gladly gave to others their impermanent physical body and attained to the permanent and respected body of universal fame. Their virtues were only for the good of others. If there are in this world a few who are full of fellow-feeling, peaceful at heart, and bearing a body only for the good of fellow-beings, there are also others like me, who, without any mercy at heart, care only for selfish gains. For a desire-less person like you, of what value is life except for doing good to others? But men like me, who are under the grip of our own selfish hopes and aspirations, know of no other good than the fulfillment of these. I have heard that Jimutavahana gave up his life, and Dadhichi, his very bones, in the service of others, and they have attained to immortal fame. I, whom all virtuous men criticize, have asked of you for something which no embodied being would like to part with. Yet, I am emboldened by the knowledge that for the knowers of truth, filled with the spirit of renunciation, there is nothing that they would be reluctant to gift, including their head. The Masters of my school say that the sacrifice of the head of one who has been pure all through life is what leads to the fulfillment of one’s object. In this world there is hardly anyone who fulfills these requirements. So I salute you. Be gracious enough to give me your head.” So saying, the Kapalika prostrated himself before Sankara. Without thinking much about the pros and cons of this request, Sankara, who was full of mercy to suppliants, replied as follows: “Gladly shall I give you my head. I do not find anything wrong in your request. Who that knows the body to be perishable will be reluctant to gift it for the good of others? Time will destroy this body, however much one may try to preserve it. So, what greater glory and gain can there be for man than his body perishing for the good of others? But I cannot give you the head publicly. I shall be at a particular solitary spot in the state of Samadhi. Come there and take off my head. I gift it to you. But, if my disciples get any inkling of this arrangement, they will by all means obstruct it. For, they look up on me as their saviour. Just as one is reluctant to give up one’s body, so also is one reluctant to allow a beloved person to be lost.”

Padmapada foils the Kapalika’s Plan

(29-36) Then by mutual consultation they fixed a date and a secret meeting place for the Kapalika to perform his nefarious deed. Satisfied immensely, the Kapalika went home, while the Acharya continued to stay at his Ashrama without revealing to anyone what had transpired between him and the Kapalika. On the appointed day, the Kapalika arrived at the place in his ceremonial dress. Armed with a trident, wearing a prominent three-pronged mark on the forehead, with eyes red and rolling under the effect of liquor, wearing garlands of bones all over his body, and glancing all around to see whether anyone was noticing him, the fierce Kapalika stood there in readiness to execute his murderous mission. At a time when all his disciples had gone for their ablutions, the Acharya withdrew from his Ashrama to the appointed solitary spot, so that Sanandana and other disciples might not get any inkling of what was taking place. Seeing the fierce-looking Kapalika in readiness, the Acharya prepared himself to give up his body. Uttering the holy syllable ‘Om’, he withdrew the senses into the mind and the mind into the Spirit. With his neck and back bone steady, his palms lying supine on the knees, his face calm, his eyes half open and fixed as if it were on the nose tip, he sat there in the blissful state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi like the sage Sanatsujata. All his external senses were withdrawn and merged in Pure Consciousness, so that he was completely oblivious of his physical environment. Finding that his opportune moment had come, the Kapalika approached the Acharya with his sword uplifted to chop off his head, when the whole plot that was developing suddenly flashed on the mind of the disciple Padmapada, otherwise known as Sanandana.

(37-44) Seeing on the screen of his heart the picture of the Kapalika approaching the Acharya with uplifted sword and trident, the whole personality of the devoted disciple flared up like a burning mass of fire. Padmapada had attained Siddhi in the Mantra of Nrisimha, the Man-Lion Incarnation of the Lord who was attracted by Prahlada’s devotion and who always removes the sufferings of people that surrender to Him. The consciousness of Nrisimha took possession of him, and he became the Nrisimha himself for the time being. His human consciousness was gone, and he became an embodiment of ferocity. In that mood he leapt into the sky, driving away the clouds by the slash of his manes, filling all beings with fear by his thunderous roars, and stunning all, including the gods, with the vigor and speed of his movement. As the whole of Nature got agitated and the worlds trembled in consternation at this manifestation of divine power as ferocity, Padmapada caught hold of the Kapalika while he was aiming his trident at the Acharya’s head, and tore open his chest with his nails as the Nrisimha did to Hiranya. The body that was thus opened with the nails. he lifted up with his projecting molars (damshIra), and roared again and again, spreading terror in the neighborhood. Alarmed by the sound and commotion, the disciples who had gone away for their ablutions hurried back to the Ashrama, and saw the Acharya in Samadhi and the corpse of the KapaIika lying nearby.

Padmapada’s Story about Nrisimha

(45-58) The disciples now asked Sanandana in great astonishment how the Lord Nrisimha happened to be gracious to him and do this great deed through him. Sanandana replied to them smiling, “In my early days, I performed austerities for a very long time in the holy forest on the top of the mountain Bala in order to propitiate Lord Nrisimha, who always responds to the wholehearted devotion of votaries. On many a day, a hunter who used to pass by was in the habit of asking me, ‘O Yogin! Why are you staying alone in this mountain cave?’ One day I answered him, saying, ‘O hunter! I am in quest of that wonderful being who has a human body up to the neck and a lion’s face above. He abides in this forest, but I have not yet been able to meet him. When I had said this much. the hunter went into the forest, and not long after, returned with the Nrisimha (man-lion) tied with creepers. With a heart filled with astonishment, I asked that divine being, ‘Even Rishis find it difficult to attain to you. How could this hunter then get at you so quickly?’ That divine being said, ‘Even Rishis are not able to concentrate so whole-heartedly on me like this hunter. Even you are not able to do so.’ So saying, he disappeared, blessing me.” While these co-disciples of his stood astonished at these words of his, the luminous Nrisimha began to roar once again deafening the quarters. Sankara now came out of his Samadhi, opened his eyes, and saw standing before him this fierce Nrisimha form. His manes of wild growth were white like the moon, while his fierce eyes glowed below his forehead like the sun. He was luminous like a galaxy of suns and his thunderous roars filled the quarters. His body was smeared with the blood of the Kapalika whose chest he had torn with his nails. On his chest was the Srivatsa mark, and on his neck, the Kaustubha gem along with the entrails of the slain foe. All the worlds were trembling at the sight of him and at the flames of fire issuing out of his mouth like several tongues licking the skies. From the pores of his skin sparks of fire were flying out everywhere. His face, with teeth grimly pressed, evoked awe even in the minds of Brahma and Siva who called out to him in fear, “O Lord! Be pacified; unleash not the deluge prematurely.”

The Acharya’s Hymn to Nrisimha

(59-75) The great Acharya saw before himself this formidable Nrisimha form, the movement of whose lolling tongue looked like streaks of lightning darting out in different directions. Without the least sign of fear, he praised him thus with over-flowing devotion. “O Lord Nrisimha! Abandon Thy ferocious anger for the good of the worlds. Thy enemy has already perished. Be now gracious, so that the worlds may be free from the fear generated by Thy terrific eyes. Anger is not suited to Thee who art famous for Thy Sattvika nature. How is it that Hari (Vishnu) has assumed Hara’s (Siva’s) quality of Tamas, of which anger is a manifestation. By adoring Thee, man overcomes all fears and enjoys felicity. How much more will be the benefits that accrue from this direct vision of Thee! One who thinks of Thee at death will surely be liberated. For this man who has met with death at Thy hands, there is no more involvement in the cycle of births and deaths. When the much persecuted Prahlada declared that Thou art everywhere, and his father Hiranyakasipu challenged this statement, Thou, as if to validate the statement of the devotee, did manifest Thyself from the pillar and bestow Thy grace on him. At the time of creation Thou assumest the quality of Rajas; for the preservation of it, Thou takest up the bow, though Thou art full of Sattva; and for the destruction of it, Thou assumest Tamas as Hara. Thou hast really no birth and no assumption of Gunas. All Thy manifestations are meant for the blessing of the worlds. ‘thy state is beyond words and thought,’ say the Srutis with trepidation. O Nrisimha! At the very mention of Thy name evil spirits flee. None of demoniacal nature can approach Thee. Thou art the source of creation, preservation and destruction. Thou art the cause of all. Thou shinest in all pure hearts. I seek shelter in Thee, who art of the nature of Pure Consciousness. This evil one is dead. Be gracious to withdraw this terrific form of Thine which is striking terror into the hearts of all. May Thy roars which defeat even the sound produced when the worlds are destroyed from the fire emanating from the third eye of SIva, generate that fire of knowledge which destroys the miseries of beings enfolded in the womb of worldly existence! May Thy terrific roars destroy the miseries of all! Thy terrific roar defeats the sound produced when in times of yore the Devas and the Asuras churned the milk ocean, using Mandara mountain as the churning rod and the serpent Vasuki as the churning string. It also surpasses the sound of Hara’s Damaru (a kind of drum) which reverberates in the quarters at the time of cosmic dissolution. May Thy roars dissipate all evil from the world! These terrific peals of your laughter defeat the grunting roars of Thy incarnation as the Cosmic Boar, which excelled even the thunderous sound of the clouds at cosmic dissolution”. By this great hymn, the Nrisimha became pacified and resumed his mild and peaceful aspect. Immediately Padmapada was found to be awakening into his usual state as if from sleep, and he fell down prostrate at his teacher’s feet. The devotee who studies this great episode with purity, faith and devotion, would have the fulfillment of all his objects and attain to liberation.