(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 02 May 2015, Simhachalam, Germany, Srimad Bhagavatam 5.18.8)
Lord Nrsimhadev is vigna vinasa – the destroyer of all the obstacles on the devotional path. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has written these two books – the Navadvipa-Dhama-Mahatmya, which describes to us the parikrama of Sri Dham Mayapur and then he wrote the Navadvipa-Bhava-Taranga which is a book that visits the same places as in the Navadvipa-Dhama-Mahatmya but this time, Srila Bhaktivinoda is not describing the place and what the place is dedicated to, this time he describes the inner experience that he has at the place. Therefore, it is called Navadvipa-Bhava-Taranga. Taranga means waves or the waves of bhava that is experienced in Navadvipa, the different emotional states!
So then he describes going to Nrsimha Pali also known as Nrsimha Tirtha, the place dedicated to Lord Nrsimhadev. Then Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura prays to Lord Nrsimhadev that he may take away all the obstacles on the devotional path so that he can become fully engaged in unalloyed devotional service to Radha and Krsna.
So in that way, our primary reason for worshipping Lord Nrsimhadev is not protection. Or at least not protection from outside dangers, not protection from all kinds of Hiranyakasipu’s who are living next door or wherever they are. Okay, maybe to an extent but this is secondary.
Primarily, we are trying to overcome the demoniac tendencies in ourselves and Lord Nrsimhadev as vigna vinasa, purifies us from this contamination and takes away all the obstacles. Sarva vigna vinasa, all the obstacles on the devotional path are being removed and that is our prayer, that is Prahlad’s prayer also which is very nice.