The story summary goes as follow :
Harnakash was a King having a boon from Brahma whereby he could not be killed by a God, man or a beast. He could not die during neither day nor night, neither inside nor outside his home.In his pride, he prohibited all forms of worship in his kingdom. His son, Prehlad, a devotee of Vishnu was strongly disliked by his father. He used all types of tortures upon his son but could not make him give up his devotion for Vishnu.
One day, the demon King questioned his son to where his deity Vishnu was which Prehlad answered "he is everywhere". The demon King pointing to one of the pillars nearby, asked: "Is He in this pillar? "Yes," said Prehlad. Then, in great fury, the demon kicked the pillar saying, "l must kill him then!". Suddenly there sprang forth Narsingh, the man-lion, out of the pillar and tore Harnaksh to pieces. It was evening, neither day nor night, the tyrant was killed on the doorway, so neither inside nor outside of his home while Narsingh was a man-lion, neither God nor man nor beast.
First lesson : Typical example of how Guru Mahraj protects His devotees all the time.
Second lesson: Father and son conflict typifies conflict between heart’s faith in God's omnipresence and ego’s conviction in a materialistic reality deprived of divinity.
Third lesson: Teaches us how to not approach the search for Brahm. The essence of this narrative is that Brahm is the inner self of all and can be unveiled within, rather than being a "thing" understood by the behavioral intellect. How so? If Brahm knowledge were to be our external perception (merely intellectual knowledge) then the pillar that Narsingh emerged out of logically should obtain the state of “knowing” because God emerged out of it. Although the pillar representing intellectual understanding of omnipresence supports the ceiling (conviction in Parmatma), it has not obtained state of Gyan. Pillar is just lower indirect understanding that God is within everything. Only when there's a "sentiment of devotee", true aspiration for inner knowledge manifest. Guru Mahraj says:
ਸਚਹੁ ਓਰੈ ਸਭੁ ਕੋ ਉਪਰਿ ਸਚੁ ਆਚਾਰੁ ॥੫॥
Truth saliently understood is greater than all other form of knowledge, but greater is the complete realisation or practice of truth.
Source
- Vivek Pradapika