Did killing of Hiranyakasipu involve any violation of boons he had?
A Devotee (Name hidden) asked like this:
“Harekrishna prabhu. I was reading in SB 7.3.37 & 38 the conditions Hiranyakasipu puts to Lord Brahma about his immortality. One of the conditions says that he not be killed by any living entity but then isn’t Lord Narasimha considered a living entity? Please clarify prabhu.”
REPLY:
There is no violation in the killing of Hiranyakasipu by the Lord Narasimha deva.
Hiranyakasipu got the following boons from Brahma deva:
He asked for immortality simply. Brahma deva refused to give immortality as He can not give immortality to anyone as He Himself is not immortal.
(PRAHALADA’s PRAYERS TO LORD NARASIMMHA DEVA! READ HERE!)
Then, alternatively, Hiranyakasipu asked the following boons:
(i) Let me not meet death from any of the living entities created by you.
(ii) 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.
(iii) Grant me that my death not be brought by any weapon, nor by any human being or animal.
(iv) Grant me that I not meet the death from any entity, living or nonliving.
(v) Grant me, further, that I not be killed by any demigod or demon or by any great snake from the lower planets.
(vi) 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.
(vii) Furthermore, give me all the mystic powers attained by long austerities and the practice of yoga, for these cannot be lost at any time.
(NARASIMMHA LILA: LORD DOES NOT PUNISH SINNERS IMMEDIATELY, BUT WANTS THEM TO REALIZE! READ HERE!)
Hirankyashipu had got even more powerful boon from the Lord Siva:
(viii) Lord Siva granted Hiranyakashipu the boon that he would have ‘unrivalled’ combat prowess, exceeding skill in the use of bow and other weapons as well as the powers of all the demigods, including Indra, Yama, Kubera, Sūrya, Agni, Vayu, Soma and Varuna.”
From the above list of boons, one thing is clear:
He did not get a boon that he could not be killed by the Lord Vishnu or His avatars.
So, Lord Vishnu is the only person who can kill Hiranya kasipu.
(Pandavas didn’t get moksha; Ravana, Kamsa, Sisupal & Hiranya got. Why? READ HERE!)
However, to satisfy all other conditions of the boons he obtained from Brahma and Siva, Lord Narasimha deva had to kill him using His nails, keeping Hiranyakasipu on His thighs at the entrance gate in the sandhya of day and night.
Now, your question:
How can Lord Narasimha kill Hiranya kasipu as he had got a boon of not to be killed by the living entities?
First know what a living entity means.
A living entity as the name itself suggests means “living now’ and “Subject to death in future”.
So, a living entity means a dying entity.
Even the celestials and Brahma deva come under the Living entities as they too have death.
(SRI NARASIMMHA KAVACHA MANTHRA WITH MEANING! READ HERE!)
But, Lord Vishnu is not subject to birth and death.
He always exists and he takes births (avatars) on any time as wished by Him, whereas the living entities take birth as per karma.
Can a living entity suddenly appear in front of his parents without coming through the womb?
Impossible.
So, Lord Vishnu – Krishna – Narasimha deva are not living entities.
They are eternal and they are not under the control of TIME and the rules of any material planet.
Hope you are clear about whether killing of Hiranyakasipu involved any violation of boons he had!
(Why Krishna did not kill Kamsa immediately like Hiranyakasipu? READ HERE!)