When the mad demon, Hiranya Kashipu, roamed this world long before the dawn of our modern recorded history he was a scourge to the righteous, including his own son Prahlad. When the five-year-old boy took to praising the Lord, his father sought to kill him, and there was no one who might dare intervene, not even among the demigods of heaven. Yet Prahlad would not succumb to his father's threats, and so Hiranya Kashipu attacked him. It was then that the Lord appeared as Nrishingha Deva, Terror Personified, the half-lion half-man Incarnation Who tore the mighty demon apart with His claws. Even as Krishna, the Supreme Godhead, will respond to the devotee who seeks His protection so will He respond to one who desires to be His enemy. And, as Krishna is the perfect Protector, so is He also the perfect Enemy. Krishna is All-Perfect, not one-sided. Yet even in striking His enemies, the Lord acts in love, for He is absolute the very measure and standard of Love and Goodness. So upon Hiranya Kashipu as upon Prahlad, Nrishingha bestowed His Infinite Mercy. The difference lay only in the desire of the recipient. On our cover, we see Nrishingha receiving the loving respects of the boy Prahlad, as well as those of Garuda the Eagle of Vishnu, Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma the Four-Headed, and Narada Muni, the greatest of sages.
