164 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 8
O supreme maintainer of those who need to be sheltered; raksd-grhita-
vapusai—by Your body, which You accept to give protection; punah—
again; anvamarsthah—You have approved.
TRANSLATION
All the saintly persons present offered their prayers in this way:

O Lord, O supreme maintainer of those sheltered at Your lotus
feet, O original Personality of Godhead, the process of austerity
and penance, in which You instructed us before, is the spiritual
power of Your very self. It is by austerity that You create the ma-
terial world, which lies dormant within You. This austerity was
almost stopped by the activities of this demon, but now, by Your-
self appearing in the form of Nrsimmhadeva, which is meant just to
give us protection, and by killing this demon, You have again ap-
proved the process of austerity.

PURPORT

The living entities wandering within the jurisdiction of the 8,400,000

species of life get the opportunity for self-realization in the human form
and gradually in such other elevated forms as those of the demigods,
Kinnaras and Caranas, as will be described below. In the higher statuses
of life, beginning from human life, the main duty is tapasya, or
austerity. As Rsabhadeva advised His sons, tapo divyam putraka yena
sattvarn suddhyet. To rectify our material existence, austerity (tapasya)
is absolutely necessary. However, when people in general come under the
control of a demon or a demoniac ruling power, they forget this process
of tapasya and gradually also become demoniac. All the saintly persons,
who were generally engaged in austerity, felt relieved when
Hiranyakasipu was killed by the Lord in the form of Nrsitnhadeva. They
realized that the original instruction concerning human life—that it is
meant for tapasya for self-realization—was reaffirmed by the Lord when
He killed Hiranyakasipu.

TEXT 44

mA FI

ama asaas set aa
denfatrhraascatiag Freres |
