Lord Shiva ‘s avatar of Sharabha?

Let me tell You full fledged true story of this incident which shows
greatness of Both lords simultaneously, First Narsimha than Shree
Sharabh, So how it all began.

Note Dialogues between Lord Sharabha and Lord Narsimha are taken
mainly from Linga MahaPuran and from Shiva Puran also.

BHAKTA PRAHLADA

When Kayadu mother of Prahlad,wife of Hiranyakashyapu conceived

Prahlad she was kidnapped by Narada, who kept her in Swarga with all
dignity like a Devi, because Devas being wary of Daityas wanted to put
some one of there own among Daityas to conquer http://them.In Swarga
Narada used to Sing praises of Vishnu his Stories eulogies etc to
influence the boy in the womb ,and he was successful as those Sanskars
made Prahlad a Vishnu devotee long before he was born, at the time
when Kayadu was about to labour ,Narada and Devas escorted her back
to her palace with dignity and http://respect.So Prahlad was born ,he
was Lord Vishnu,s staunch devotee since child hood, he would collect his
cousins and friends and perform worship of Narayan meditate on him
sing his praises and chant his name.but that was not appreciated by his
father Hiranyakshaypu who has anguish towards Vishnu who killed his
brother Hiranyaksh once in Varahavatar (boar form).

The Hiranyakashyapu

Once Jaya and Vijaya both security gurads at vaikuntha were cursed by
Sanatkumars ,and hence born as two brothers Hiranyaksha and
Hiranyakshyapu, vishnu killed Hiranyaksh in Vrahavatar (Boar) to save
the Earth.but that made Hiranyakashyapu his enemy. He performed
rigorous Tapa and very hard penances for thousands of years along with
meditating on Bramhas mantra and has appeased Brahma,Brahma
presented himself and asked him for a boon ,Hiranyakahyapu prostrated
to Bramha sung his Stotra and humbly asked that, O my lord, O best of
the givers of benediction, if you will kindly grant me the benediction I
desire, please let me not meet death from any of the living entities
created by you.Grant me that I not die within any residence or outside
any residence, during the daytime or at night, nor on the ground or in
the sky. Grant me that my death not be brought by any being other than
those created by you, nor by any weapon, nor by any human being or
animal.

The boon of Bramha

Grant me that I not meet death from any entity, living or non living.
Grant me, further, that I not be killed by any demigod or demon or by
any great snake from the lower planets. Since no one can kill you in the
battlefield, you have no competitor.Therefore, grant me the benediction
that I too may have no rival. Give me sole Lordship over all the living
entities and presiding deities, and give me all the glories obtained by that
position. Furthermore, give me all the mystic powers attained by long
austerities and the practice of yoga, for these cannot be lost at any
time.and Bramha granted him the boon. Than recieving such boon
Hiranyakshyapu with inflated ego started opposing and destroying
Devas Humans Munis who were propitiating to Devas.He attacked
heavens and conquered all Devas and started taking the parts of
oblations offered to them through Yagnyas.He tried to abolish the Varna
Vyavastha and tradition and Dharma of Sanatana which is Impossible.

Atrocities on Prahlad.

But as his own son became devotee of Vishnu his rival, he was very
angry,so he appointed two stern disciplinarians and loyalists named
Shanda and Amarka ,who were told to keep Prahlad away from Vishnu,s
worship at all costs by truth trick or treason, they tried hard but Prahlad
has,nt changed a bit instead his faith towards Narayana became
stronger, So Hiranyakshyapu tried himself to condition Prahlad he aksed
him to leave Vishnu to which he said Narayan is lord God omnipresent
even your kingship is only till he wants so ,that’s why I cant stop
worshiping him he is lord parmatman. Astonished and irate
Hiranyakashyapu summoned dangerous Venomous Snakes from Nether
world and tied Prahlad with them and attached mountains and than he
threw him in a deep ocean trench but neither snakes nor venom or
mountains could hurt him he survived all without a scratch.

The Holika and Prahlad.

Furiated Hiranyakashyapu ordered Demons to kill him,they threatened

him tried to torture him and threw him in front of Madya Gaj, a charged
angry Elephant but it could not trample him,as Vishnu Saved him
indirectly. Now Hiranyakashyapus temper crossed Mercury levels and he
decided killing Prahlad himself but a Daitya suggested that, to ask Holika
to burn the kid as she had ability to remain in fire without any harm
,thus Hiranyakashaypu asked Holika to fulfill his Desire Holika agreed
and the Bua took his nephew in her lap and sat on huge pile of fire ,and
fire consumed the pile in no time,but strangely Prahlad who was
Meditating on Vishnu stayed unhinged and Holika was reduced to ashes.

Shree Narsimha Avatar

Now it was too much for Hiranyakashayapu who believed that he is lord
of universe as all lokas are under his siege,and because his brother was
killed by Vishnu he considered him as his enemy, he asked Prahlad one
last time to start worshiping him as http://God.As its fathers order and
shastra says its obligatory for a son to respect his fathers words,but
Prahlad refused, than he raised his sword and said ,now let me see where
is your Vishnu and how he can save you from me as I am invincible,you
say he is everywhere ,does he resides in this pillar saying such as he was
about to cut his head ,with a deafening sound and tremendous flood of
light.the very powerful and of extremely terrible countenance Lord
Narsimha emerged breaking the pillar,his upper body was that of a Lion
and torso the lower body was of human,the furious Lord roared
thunderously which filled the skies and earth his tejas aura was brillinat
than sun Hiranyakashyapu trembled in fear,

Slayer of Hiranyakshyapu

And he held Hiranyakashyapu in rage and said to him so you got the
boon, now look at me I am not human or animal or demi god ,this time is
not day or night as it was Sandhya time(dusk) and he took him to the
entrance of the palace and put him on his thigh and said thus, look you
are not inside or outside neither you are in sky or on earth and than he
plunged his sharp paws inside his chest and severed it asunder killing
Hiranyakashyapu instantly, As Hiranyakashyapu died devas became
happy as lord has protected the sanatana again, than he went to Prahlad
and started licking him as a lion does to pamper his beloved one and
took Prahlad on his lap lovingly and made him king of Daitayas, But
even after killing Hiranyakashyapu lord god Narsimha could not get over
his anger and arrogance and his tejas was such that all trilok was on the
edge of extinction.Narsimha has thousands of hands thosands of eyes his
stature reached heavens and netherworld and his fury has no end.

Prayer to Narsimha.

All devas wary of untimely Pralaya apocalypse went to Narsimha and

praised him such, Devas said "you are the lord god the creator destroyer
and preserver we all are born of you, your nature is Godly without any
raag dwesh or bheda (affinity,enemity or discrimination),you are light of
stars and you take Avatars to establish sanatana vedic dharma and
appease bramhins sages and mother earth, you rescued Earth from
Hiranyaksh taking Varahvatar(Boar form),took Kurmavatar(Tortoise
from) to make Samudra Manthan (ocean grinding),now O lord you are
Narsimha Vishnu, and as you have killed the demon kindly withdraw
your terrible form and remain calm as we cant resist your extreme
tejas,(Aura).But eulogy has not cooled him but he respecting his lions
form roared at them and said I m the Super Lord I make universes and I
am independent and free now i want to consume this all creation and no
one can stop me and terrified devas with another roar they all ran away
like deers flew off seeing a Lion.
SHIVA THE LENDER OF LAST RESORT

Than all Devas along with Bramha ran away from there and decided to
go to lender of Last resort the Final God the Mahakaal Shree Rudra
Mahadeva.They went to Kailasa where Shiva was discussing Sankhya
Yoga with Bhagvati Mahamaya ,they prostrated to him and said, oh Par
Bramha Parmatman (God of all gods) the creator of trinity its your
benevolence that Bramha Visnhu Mahesh do there Leelas you give them
power thats why they are Gods, and you are there controller nobody is
above you, you are even beyond time killer of space and time .All of us
Vishnu and his Avatars are consumed and limited by time but you
command time and it merges in you at Mahapralaya Oh great lord
,Vishnu has manifested himself in his most powerful and terrible form
among all future and past Avatars ,and even after killing
Hiranyakshyapu he is not Satiated and now he is about to bring untimely
Pralaya (nemesis) ,so kindly save us and this all creation which is yours
only,from Annihilation.

The Call for Shree Veerbhadra

Shiva smiled and said thus "O devas you disturb me with your minor
problems ,well i need not go for this tiny task i will send Veerbhadra to
cool him or shant him now you people be unafraid as you came in
my abode".And he summoned most terrible God of all universe who has
beheaded Yagyapurush and won Vishnu at Daksha Yagya, so he already
has plenty experience dealing with Lord Vishnu,His size was humongous
greater than Narsimha he started playing with planets stars devas and
ShreeBramha like they are balls all trilok seemed like tiny dots in front of
him and his Tejas was of trillions of suns.Shree Mahabhairva Veerbhadra
prostrated to Shiva and asked him humbly "Oh my lord tell me why you
summoned this humble servant of yours shall I reduce triloka or whole
universe in ashes or drink Akash Gangas and oceans in a nimish"(1000th
of second).Shiva smiled at him and said "Oh Veerbhadra go and pacify
Vishnu and if he does,nt listen to you than relieve him and bring his
singhcharma to me.
Fatherly Advice of Veerbhadra

Veerbhadra ran towards the place where Narsimha was threatening the
Universe He said to Narsimha as a Father would suggest his beloved
haywire son,"Oh Madhav you take Avatars for the benefit of world as you
saved Dharma by taking Kurma Tortoise form,Varaha form and you will
be Rama and Krishna in future as well ,earlier Bramha has instructed
you in maintaining the creation and your kindness humility and power
are world famous so why are you trying to destroy this world ,lord,
demon is dead already so please withdraw this terrible form of yours and
calm down as Vishnu you are, as we both are servants of Mahadeva you
should listen to me as advice of mine is surely of your Hita (benefit),thus
said Veerbhadra in calm but thunderous and deep voice ,but this
infuriated Narsimha, He said to Shree Veerbhadra with arrogance" go to
the place where you came from and don,t preach me I dont want to listen
any hita vachan (kind words) Who is powerful than me i cant be
destroyed or Killed so i give you a chance to leave.

Note* Dialogues between Lord Sharabha and Lord Narsimha are taken
mainly from Linga MahaPuran and from Shiva Puran and influences
from Sharabh Upnishad also.

Ego of Narsimha

I am the most powerful among Devas i am who is Svatantra (absolutely

free),no one can be compared to my strength ,and today if i want to eat
this universe let me see who can stop me ,listen my warning as you are
Shiva Gana,i am letting you go Now Veerbhadra laughed and scolded
him in louder and thunderous voice "Oh disillusioned Vishnu you
are just a mortal your all powers are given by Shiva ,AND CERTAINLY
YOU ARE NOT SVATNATRA (Free) OR BEYOND KALA,otherwise tell
me what happened when son of Shiva Shree Kartik plucked out your
tooth in Varahvatar you screamed in pain but cant avenge ,what
happened to your Kurma when it was destroyed by Kala and now Shiva
wears it in his Garland have you forgot how a humble devotee of Shiva
Bramharishi Dadheechi has defeated you and your sycophant lickspittle
devas single handedly scratching his head,he even humbled you by
showing Greater Vishwaroop, what Shiva, only his servants have
punished and defeated you many times .

The Final Warning

Do not you remember how Shivas Trishul killed your form of

Vishwaksen where was your godliness than? and you are Swatntra free
independent never. you are bounded like normal people ,all your Avatars
are killed and have limited powers ,otherwise tell me all Gyanis Rishis
are afraid of Janma Garbhawas (getting in womb) but Mahamaya sends
you to take human form. you stay in stinking womb and behave like
normal but powerful humans even in your Avatars.Its really laughable as
you with such power which is given to you by Shiva are threatening
me. And have you forgot me who has killed Yagyapurushas head who is
your form according to vedas, and how I defeated and wounded you,
even your head came off when i destroyed your Sharang bow, Now listen
to me i warn you last time behave yourself and withdraw this Maya of
yours this Maya wont affect Shivas devotees ever or see my Greater
Mahamaya I tell you the truth I will kill you and take out your skin other
wise calm down

Lord Sharbheshwar Arrives.

The lord Narsimha who was won by Ego and anger, tried to plunge at
him with a roar, but suddenly a deafening sound trembled the universe
the immense heave of the sound frightened Narsimha, his roar seemed
like kids cry in front of thunder of clouds, it belittled Narsimhas
prowess and Shree Veerbhadra turned into Shree Maha Sharabheshwar,
the most terrible form of any God ever,his aura was not like trillions suns
or moons it was much superior Shambhav tejas the terrible aura of
Narsimha seemed like jugnu firefly in front of trillions suns tejas of
Shree Sharabha his upper portion was of a bird with protruding and
strong vajra beak his three eyes were surya chandra and agni (sun,moon
and fire) his tongue was swirling in anger Shree Kali and Durga are his
two terrible wings his heart is Bhairava and stomach is celestial
dangerous fire, death and disease are his two thighs.The force of wings
was bringing storms which flew planets Pranam to such Sharbheshwar
destroyer of all enemies.

The Pacifier of Narsimha

Narsimha seemed too little in front of his Terrible form.His power

prowess and tejas all secluded him now Narsimha got stunned out of fear
of Lord But Shree Sharbheshwar out of extreme anger held his shoulders
tied him with his tail ,punched his chest and clawed his torso and legs
and flew up in the sky and than as an eagle Throws a snake he threw him
on ground from sky and did it many times,Now Narsimhas ego power etc
took a back seat, he requested Sharabha Dev to forgive him,and started
praising him with Sharabhashtottarshatnam stotram, Narsimha said I
prostrate to Shiva ,Sharva ,Vishnu Bramha roop ,the Greatest Lord of
trinity etc.and said "O Lord whenever my mind becomes polluted by ego
and ignorance kindly destroy my ego always",Forgive me and he became
happy thus Shree Sharabha said ,"Oh vishnu in reality you are powerless
now you are defeated at the end of your life" saying thus he severed his
Bramharandhra and snatched his skin of Tiger.

Eulogy of Devas to Veerbhadra

And than Shree Sharabheshwar withdrew his appaling form,and all

universe seemed sublime again pleasant air filled the atmosphere,Devas
offered celestial flowers and sung his stotra,"Oh the Philanthropic form
of Shiva you are the ultimate Guardian our Saviour but terrible than
death and slayer of evil ,protector of dharma and the ones who come in
your refuge.Oh Sanatana Shiva you were before the beginning and you
will be there even after Mahapralaya ,oh God of Trinity and Devas there
is nobody above you, you are Poorn Swatantra and the only God who is
known in Vedas as "Eko hi Rudro".you destine the Leelas of Devas and
everything is your Leela only".Thus spake shree Veerbhadra Oh Devas
the people who want my devotion shall worship Narsimha too,it pleases
me,I offer Namaskar to Narsimha" and he flew away to Kailasa and
presented the skin of Shree Narsimha which turned white, to MahaShiva
since than Shiva is known as Vyaghrambar Dhari, the one who wears
Tiger skin ,The Clad in Tiger skin.
Vedas detail this incidence in great Sharabh Upnishad
Sharabheshwaropnishat

This Itihas is there in many Purans such as Linga Purana, Shiva Purana
and others as well. This is also very prominent in Tantra Shastras and
other Agam Shastras.Specially Shaiv Shastra talks about it greatly and in
length.Not only Purans and Agams ,Shree Sharabh is a Vedic Deva There
is one Sharbhopnishada dedicated to this most Astonishing form of God.
Sharabhopnishad talks about subtle and deeper meaning of this
manifestation of lord.

According to Sharabopnishad ,the Sharabh word has two parts Shar

means the body the being which constitutes of body mind and soul and
Abh means the subtle eternal Atman of all ,hence the Atman is Abh
inside the Jeeva Shara,.The disease is Ego which is false and illusory, is
the greatest hurdle in reaching the lord inside, when even a righteous
man or Jeeva or Deva is consumed by ego as Narsimha, than the
Sharabh through his Gyan,eliminates the Ego and let one reach to the
real self within. Sharbheshwar is Gyan the knowledge which is kriya or
action

Sharbheshwar Gyan Khadag

So Sharabheshwar is Bramha Gyan which can destroy the false Ego and
makes one absolutely free yet powerful in true sense,the veil of ignorance
which comes from power and superiority is Narsimha and
Sharabheshwar is Gyan here, which kills ego and let the Real Self shine
through.why sharabh ? because he is benevolent yet powerful he makes
his devotees invincible and free from clutches of three Gunas and Panch
pashas, so one becomes master of his emotion power and ego,like
Sharabh who was angrier than Narsimha but within a second of after he
liberated Narsimha he became saumya Sat Chit Anand because Shree
Sharabh has absolute control, he uses anger and discards it at will ,unlike
Narsimha anger and emotion dont drive him but he is the driver of them
the Swamin,he does all things only for others benefit. So
Sharbheshwaropnishad teaches that surrender yourself to the most
powerful God of Gods ask for his Kripa benevolence so that he can dilute
your ego and establishes the being in real self.

Tantra of Sharabheshwar Akash Bhairava Tantra.

Sharbheswar is one of the most important God of Tantra, Akash

Bhairava Kalpa is dedicated to him and many other Tantras as
Kaularnava Rudryamal and many Shakt Tantras describe in detail about
nature Worship methods Sadhanas Yantra Mantra Nyas Hom Jap etc to
appease Sharabheshwar. In Tantra not only Shatkarma but very strange
and powerful Siddhis are gained by his true Worship,there are many
dangerous methods of Sadhanas as well which can only be known and
performed by True Aghoris Brahmin Tantrics ,well there are more
pseudo lecherous Tanrics than the real ones,I advice that one shall not
indulge in violent tantra prayog of Sharabh as it can be dangerous, but
all dwij shall do worship of him through Vedic Pauranic methods which
are Saumya Even the Shastra says that the one who reads this Sharabh
story with devotion and specially shiva bhaktas gets abundant health
,extreme wealth physical power etc.

Now some false hoaxes, doing round on south, there is one imaginary
Character Gandberund etc, made by south cults because of there
insecurity, Where Real SharabhAvatar happened at around Treta, This is
recent hoax made in some centuries back only, Now the check for any
character is his stories or at least mentions in Puran or other authentic
Scriptures or the Top Most Vedas or Tantras. There is not a single word
in entire Purans or any shastra called Gandberunda, there has been no
character of this name or even sounding like this a bit. Than at least if
there is any slight truth to it, it must have been mentioned in any Stuti as
Vishnus exploits or Sahastranam of Lord Vishnu and His Avatars, But
there is no mention of such name caharcter or incident and this how
hoaxes are doing round any one coming up with his story sponsored by
some gullible king or authority of certain region in south came up with
this hoax, a false and highly falsifiable incident.

On the other hand many Purans have this Sharabha story in detail, Like
Shiva Puran, Linga Puran, Skanda Puran, Vayu Puran, Kurma Puran,
Kalika Puran. We have Special Tantra system made exclusively By Shiva
for this Avatar. And most importantly Vedas clearly mention the story in
fact whole Upnishad is dedicated to This Avatar. As mentioned Above.
Hence there is no ground or truth in this hoax of Any body coming after
Sharabh.

Yet In Kalika Puran when describes Shivas Vrishbheshwar Avatar, Here

Shiva took this Avatar of Giant Bull, because of request of Shree hari
Vishnu Himself, as his Avatar Varaha was infatuated by Damsels of
nether world, and had four sons with that dalliance who were causing
trouble to Devas and Rishis munis also, So Shiva as Vrishbheshwar went
and defeated all of his sons, and than Varaha came to fight,
Vrishabheshwar beat the hell out of him and Varaha Invoked Spirit of
narsimha, Vrisbheshwar faught both of them and Again routed
Narsimha and pinned Lord Varaha under his feet, till he get back to his
senses, than Varaha asked for Forgiveness and Shiva banned any gods or
beings entry at that part of netherworld except for its dwellers and
Rishis.

And One more thing i want to add, as per Shastras where this story is
told, they boon that the one who reads, tells or hears this story with
devotion before any battle or business or Championship, Debate,
Meeting with King, would surely have Victory in what he does, and
accrues immense Punya and happiness. In my real experience once when
i was writing this Law exam, for which i have read nothing at all, i did
not liked the subject may be, and i had few hours not days to prepare.
Now the thing was not easy and more over the universities norms and
evaluation is very very sparring, out of around 200 students only three
make it to that semester and i was one of those three, the exam was of
law, not sociology it requires technical language sections lots numeric
figures to recon, point is not a job of around 3 hrs, I was preparing still, i
was staying with relatives because of exam centre, there as they know my
spiritual affection, they often would start asking question and i kind of
have to answer them, as they were very nice and deserving people, here
he came again, having no concern that i m preparing for my paper, and
started talking about Shiva Puran, and asked me something in this
reference i told them this story in short and explained few things about
it, nd it took my time, and actually I m Pragmatic i simply know if you
want something you need right efforts rather then relying on something
you know is like gambling, So study is the right approach to clear the
exam, not prayers of selfishness.

Now rather than reading somthing specifically i started reading it like

Novel, page by page not caring if i can remember or not, i dont know how
that idea came, because earlier i was trying to read only specific things,
as time was short kind of gamble, But suddenly i dont know it seemed
most reasonable at that time when i had something more than an hour, i
kept reading till walking towards the centre and givend and deposited
the text book at a book shop near by college.

And there Once as i was waiting for paper to come on desk it crossed my
mind, the Purana used to say so many great things about this story, i
definitely would do good atleast , this was feeling not in words not
invoked feeling or self motivating consciously but just subtle and sure
knowing i will do it, again, this time i have by luck greater blessings too,
And i gave exam, attempted all questions, and knew there answers
correctly, and i made it, if not best but good marks, had not they came
and i not told story, as per my schedule i wud hve left quite muhc to read,
here, i read all, the short questions luckily were teh same which were
asked as Long questions,, and again, only three passed among 200.

That sudden clarity of mind, attentivity crystal clear almost photograhic

memory, focused short term memory which is key factor for exam,
worked at optimum that is how Rishis blessings work, i have found
numerous times that stories in Purans when say that certain virtues
fruits pnyas would accrue for thousands of different stories, i say they
talk sense if one is sensitive enough to absorb it hence understand that
really when heard listen said with devotion Different Stories of Our Gods
be It Lord Ganesh Mother of gods and Trinity Durga , Shiva , Vishnu and
His Avatars Surya deva Hanuman Bhairava Dev. Many among them
mention clearly the kind of blessings the bestow on hearing such
Pauranic stories of Gods