Govindāya namah

Varāha Swamy is being described as a personification of Yagna (sacrificial rituals). We continue with this description of His body. (The different terminology used here refers to the different paraphernalia used in a yagna or to the different yagna procedures).

Brahma and other Maharishis continued their prayer,

“O Lord! Satra-yāga is Your bone-joints. All Yagnas in entirety, including Yagnas devoid of Soma rasa as well as the activities coupled with Soma rasa from Your body. The Yagnas known as Iśti are the muscles that keep Your body joined together.

Namo namas te ’khila-mantra-devatā- dravyāya sarva-kratave kriyātmane

Vairāgya-bhaktyātma-jayānubhāvita- jñānāya vidyā-gurave namo namaḥ

O master of all knowledge (vidya-guru)! Our respectful obeisance to You! The sum total of all mantras, all Devatas, all forms of offerings made in the homa as well as all activities and all Vedic rituals that pertaining to a Yagna, together comprise Your body! Self-knowledge that arises as a result of practices such as detachment (vairagya), devotion (bhakti) and total sense-control is also Your form! We offer our obeisance to you!

O Lord Varaha! On your razor sharp tusks You are holding the earth together with all its mountains. The earth that You thus hold shines resplendently like a lotus plant with leaves held by an elephant in its tusks as it emerges out of the waters.

Earth, which currently rests on the tusks of Your body, is shining like the great mountain which holds huge clouds on its peaks.

This earth is the residence for all living and non-living entities. She is Your wife. To us, She is our mother. You are our father. Kindly restore the earth steadily in its original position. Then we shall offer our reverential obeisance to You both.

The wood that is used for kindling the homa (yagna) fire is known as Araṇi. Just as those well-versed with sacrificial rituals retain fire in the Araṇi wood, You have retained Your divine power within this earth. In other words the earth’s capacity to sustain living and non-living entities arises purely due to the power you have retained in it.

You have rescued earth which had sunk to the bottom of the ocean. O Lord! This extraordinary feat could not have been accomplished by any being apart from You! Others cannot even imagine such a possibility.  However O Lord, even this extraordinary feat of Yours is not at all astonishing because in reality every aspect of Yours is itself wonderful and astonishing! After all, using your power of illusion You have created this vast, wonderful and extraordinary universe.

O Lord, You have shown to us Your form as an embodiment of Vedas. When You shook your body a few drops of pure water from the hair of Your neck fell upon us, the inhabitants of Jana, Tapa and Satya lokas. O Lord, with these drops of water which have fallen upon us we have been purified completely.

There is no end to Your divine activities. He who desires to see the end point of your transcendental activities is a fool. This is because this entire creation has emerged due to the permutations and combinations between the three attributes of Nature (trigunas). It is nothing but a play of Your illusory power! O Lord Varāha! Please bestow auspiciousness even upon such fools!”

In this way, supreme saints, who were well versed in Supreme Knowledge, prayed to Lord Varāha.

The Supreme Lord then fixed the earth firmly upon water. The innumerable rays of the Sun God, who is also an incarnation of the Supreme Lord, touched earth. They appeared like his huge army of soldiers.

Lord Srihari, who is the Lord for everything in this creation, playfully restored earth to its original position and suddenly disappeared. He is Viswakśena!

Ya evam etāṁ hari-medhaso hareḥ kathāṁ subhadrāṁ kathanīya-māyinaḥ

Śṛṇvīta bhaktyā śravayeta yośatīṁ janārdano ’syāśu hṛdi prasīdati 

Meaning: By fixing the intellect (buddhi) upon Lord Srihari, the person is freed from all sins and afflictions. The divine stories of the Lord are worthy of being glorified. He resides within every living being. The story of this transcendental Lord is always auspicious. It is very melodious. Srihari will be instantaneously pleased with the person who listens to this story or who narrates it to others.

He is the Lord of all desires. When He is pleased there is nothing which cannot be obtained. Nevertheless, one should bring to a halt the need to fulfill trivial worldly desires. They need to be given up. He who resides within the cave called the intellect actually blesses his ardent devotees, who serve him with absolute non-dual faith, with the ultimate reward known as liberation.

Even if one amongst His innumerable transcendental nectarous stories is drunk with great relish through the vessel known as the ear, it can destroy the worldly bondages and sufferings in totality.

Aha! In this world, the person who has understood the true essence contained in obtaining the four-fold aims of life (puruśarthas) will never get tired of listening to this divine story! He will eternally be engrossed in listening to the transcendental stories of that Lord. This is the true characteristic of a knowledgeable person (jnani)!”

Only those who have animal tendencies stay away from such divine stories. Bhagawatam has decisively declared that human beings who do not listen to divine stories are in reality animals, even though they have a human body.

With this the thirteenth chapter of the third canto comes to an end.

Third Canto Chapter Fourteen

In this chapter the conversation between Diti and Kashyapa and Diti’s pregnancy are covered.

Śuka Maharishi said to Emperor Parikshit, “Even after listening to story of Varāha Swamy, Vidura, who was eternally and firmly dedicated towards listening to divine stories, was not satisfied. He folded both his palms and prayed to Maharishi Maitreya as follows:

“O revered Maharishi! You had said that the Supreme Lord Yagna-varāha had killed demon Hiranyāksha. What was the reason for a war between this Lord, who was playfully lifting up the earth on His tusks, and the demon? Who was that demon? Why did he attack the Lord? Kindly explain this in detail”.

Maitreya Maharishi replied, “

Sādhu vīra tvayā pṛṣṭam avatāra-kathāṁ hareḥ

Yat tvaṁ pṛcchasi martyānāṁ mṛtyu-pāśa-viśātanīm

O Vidura, you are an embodiment of dharma. Your question is truly appreciable. This is because the divine stories of Lord Srihari shred the noose called death in humans. In other words they free the being from repeated births and deaths. Although being a child, Dhruva heard the glories of Lord Srihari through Maharishi Narada and also obtained initiation into Srihari’s mantra. With the power of this mantra he conquered death! He also obtained the position of the pole star, which is the abode of Lord Srihari. Such is the glory contained in the stories of this divine Lord. Vidura! I will answer your question. Listen”.

Govindaya namah

Mādhavāya namah

Brahma said, “Aha! What a wonder! This divine being emerged from my nostril in a thumb-sized form of a boar (varāha). How surprising! Right in front of my eyes in a fraction of a second it has grown into a form that is as huge as a mountain. It is my belief that the Supreme Lord Vishnu has come in this form of a boar (varāha) to cause infatuation in me”.

As he was saying this to his sons, Varaha swamy who was as huge as a mountain roared so deafeningly that it echoed in all directions. Brahma, Marichi and other saints who had assembled there were filled with divine ecstasy on hearing this thunderous roar which symbolized auspiciousness. When this roar fell into their ears, their grief was totally dispelled. They began to sing hymns in His praise. Along with them, supreme saints who reside in Jana, Tapa and Satya lokas simultaneously praised Lord Yagna-varāha with hymns from Rig, Yajur and Sama Vedas.

To this Supreme Lord Yagna-varāha, the Vedas are his breath. These Vedas profusely extol his divine qualities. The Lord listened to the Vedic chants that were being sung in His praise. In order to cause auspiciousness to the Devatas, He roared once again.

Just as an elephant playfully enters into the waters, the Supreme Lord in the form of Vāraha, playfully entered into the waters of the ocean. He had exceptionally powerful limbs.

Before entering the waters, He flew in the air, lifted his tail and slashed it. The hair on his body was sharp and gleaming. With His hoofs He scattered the clouds in the sky. With two sharp and powerful tusks, which like shovels scatter the mud in all directions, and with his gleaming eyes, this Lord was shining resplendently.

He appeared like unimaginably huge mountain. The Supreme Lord, who had incarnated in the form of this boar, began to thoroughly scrutinize, smelling through his nose, the possible location of earth which was submerged in the oceans. Although his tusks created unprecedented fear in the hearts, his eyes were filled with compassion. He cast a glance at the Maharishis who were singing his praises and then entered into the waters.

When He, who was as strong as a diamond mountain, dived into the waters and moved at unbelievable speeds, the Ocean-Lord felt as if his heart had been shred into bits. The Ocean-Lord, with his huge waves which appeared like his long shoulders, screamed like one who was in deep distress, saying, “O Yagneshwara! Kindly protect me”.

Then Lord Varāha who was the embodiment of Yagna which is composed of its three divisions, viz., Prātah savānam, Mādhyāna savanam and Sāyam savanam, using his long strong sharp hooves pushed all the waters of the ocean to one side.

He then cast a glance at earth which was lying at the bottom of the ocean near Pātāla (nether) region. At the time of total dissolution, the Supreme Lord had personally pulled back into himself this earth. Now this Lord held the earth, which was lying near Pātala region, on His tusks and began carrying it out of the waters. He shone radiantly at this hour.

All of a sudden, a mighty demon by name Hiranyāksha, holding a mace in his hand, pounced upon Varāha swamy and blocked His path. Just the sight of demon Hiranyāksha filled the Lord with uncontrollable fury. In anger He glowed like the Sudarshana chakra (discus) and as effortlessly as a lion kills an elephant He playfully killed the demon.

In this fight, His mouth and cheeks were smeared with blood. With reddish cheeks He resembled the gigantic elephant which after rubbing its cheeks against the earth shines in reddish complexion. Varāha Swamy had a bluish black complexion like the tamāla plant. With earth positioned on his white lustrously gleaming tusks He resembled an elephant that was lifting the lotus with its trunk. Seeing this divine form of the Lord, Brahma along with other Maharishis folded their palms and praised Him profusely with Vedic chants. They prayed,

‘O undefeatable Lord! You are the ruler of all Yagnas (sacrificial rituals). May You be ever-victorious! You move with Your body which is an embodiment of Rig, Yajur and Sama Vedas. Yagnas have merged into Your body hair. For the purpose of uplifting this earth, You have assumed the form of a boar. Please accept our prayerful obeisance.

O Lord! People with demonic tendencies will never ever be able to have a vision of this divine form of Yours, which is nothing but Yagna (sacrificial rituals).  It is impossible for them to ever have your darshan.

Vedic meters known as Chandas exist in Your skin, darbha (sacred grass) is there in Your body hair and ghee (offered in the yagna) is in Your eyes. Within Your four legs the four priests of the Yagna viz., Hota, udhgāta, adhvaryu and Brahma exist. The entire collection of actions also exists within Your four legs.

(The different terminology in the below para refer to the different paraphernalia used in a yagna and also to the different yagna procedures).

O Supreme Lord! O Varāha Swamy! On Your tongue is the srak. On your nostrils is the sruvam. In Your belly is the Ida-pātra. Your ear holes are Camasa-pātra. In Your mouth is the Brahma-bhaga pātra. In Your neck are situated all the planets. Agni-hotra is Your food.

You are an embodiment of Yagna. Your frequent re-incarnation is the desire for initiation (deeksha). The three ishti of the Yagna form Your neck portion. The Prāyanīyesti and Udayanīyesthi are your tusks. The karma that is performed prior to Upasad is your tongue. Sabhyāgni, which is without a homa, and Aupāsagni are your head. Iśtakācayana is your life-force.

Soma-rasa is your retas. The Yagnas performed during morning, afternoon and evening are Your childhood and other stages. It can also be said that they comprise Your waking, dream and deep-sleep states.

The seven divisions of Yagna known as Agniṣṭoma, Atyagniṣṭoma, Ukta, ṣoḍasi, Vājapeya, atrirātra and āptoryāma are Your seven bodily tissues (dhātu) of skin, muscles etc. Satra-yāga are the joints within Your body”.

Madhavaya namah.

Third Canto Chapter Thirteen

In this chapter the abridged story of Yagna-varāha swamy who manifested from Lord Brahma’s nostril is explained. The sacred hymn known as Yagna-varāha stuti which was composed by the Maharishis is also contained in this chapter.

Maharishi Śuka said, “O Parikshit, when Maitreya Maharishi was thus explaining about the expansion of creation, Vidura had a doubt. Vidura, who is the foremost amongst the Kaurava lineage, was deeply attached to the stories connected to Lord Vāsudeva. With a desire to hear more about His divine glories, he asked Maitreya Maharishi,

“O Maharishi! Swāyambhuva Manu is the dearest son of Lord Brahma. He is the emperor of the universe. What were the deeds of this first emperor after his marriage to Shatarupa? He is the supreme personality who has surrendered totally to Lord Srihari. I am longing to hear the story of Swāyambhuva Manu.

Śrutasya puṁsāṁ sucira-śramasya nanv añjasā sūribhir īḍito ’rthaḥ

Yad-tad-guṇānuśravaṇaṁ mukunda-pādāravindaṁ hṛdayeṣu yeṣām

 Meaning: People listen to the scriptures being narrated by their teacher and with strenuous effort try to understand them. However scholars state that listening to stories, characteristics and actions of that devotee in whose heart Lord Srihari’s lotus feet reside is the ultimate result that is sought after!”

Śuka Maharishi continued, “Parikshit, Vidura was a supreme Mahatma. He was that noble soul who had sought shelter in the feet of the Supreme Lord. He was very modest. Hearing these words spoken by Vidura, Maitreya Maharishi was enormously pleased. He was ecstatic and experienced horripilation throughout the body. These words inspired Maharishi to narrate the stories of that infinite Lord.

He said to Vidura, “Immediately after his birth, Swāyambhuva Manu together with his wife Shatarupa offered obeisance to Lord Brahma. Manu then prayed,

‘Tvam ekaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ janma-kṛd vṛttidaḥ pitā

Tathāpi naḥ prajānāṁ te śuśrūṣā kena vā bhavet 

Meaning: You are the supreme father who creates and sustains all living beings. O father! What is the manner in which we, your children, can serve you? O venerable one! Please order us that duty which we should complete. By completing that deed we should obtain fame in this world and advancement in the next worlds. Please decisively order us. We offer obeisance to You.’

Lord Brahma then said to Manu, “My dear son! I am deeply pleased with you! This is because with a clean and pure heart devoid of deceit you are prayerfully asking for my command. You have Self- surrendered to me. May you both be blessed with auspiciousness!

This is the least service that a son should offer to his father. ‘Why should I offer to complete that service which others have refused?’- a son should never allow such thoughts to come near him. With great dedication and to the best of his capacity a son should prayerfully and in all humility accept his father’s command.

You have prayed that I should order you. Hence listen. Please beget children who are equal to you and Shatarupa in every aspect.

Paraṁ śuśrūṣaṇaṁ mahyaṁ syāt prajā-rakṣayā nṛpa

Bhagavāṁs te prajā-bhartur hṛṣīkeśo ’nutuṣyati

O Emperor! Offering protection to all living beings is the best service you can offer me. The Supreme Lord Hrishikesha will be deeply pleased with you when you offer protection to all living beings.

Yeṣāṁ na tuṣṭo bhagavān yajña-liṅgo janārdanaḥ

Teṣāṁ śramo hy apārthāya yad ātmā nādṛtaḥ svayam 

Srihari is the embodiment of Yagna. He punishes the evil. All the efforts of that person with whom the Lord is displeased are nothing but a sheer waste. This is because Srihari is the form of the Self. Therefore the person who does not please Him, will not get the results for all his efforts.

Manu then said to Brahma, “O Lord! O destroyer of all sins! I will certainly obey your commands. Nevertheless, O Lord, please let me know where I, together with all other living entities, should reside in this universe.

Earth, which is the place where living entities reside, is currently submerged in the waters of dissolution. Therefore, please restore the earth back to its original position”.

Hearing this, Brahma looked for a long time at the earth which was submerged totally in the waters of the ocean. He thought of ways in which it could be brought back to its original position.

Brahma thought, ‘While I was busy creating, this earth has got submerged and is now lying in the deep oceans near Rasatala loka (one of the nether regions, a type of hell). What should be done now? Since I was born out of the Lord’s will, He is my sole refuge. May He complete this task for me”.

Varāha-toko niragād aṅguṣṭha-parimāṇakaḥ – When Brahma was thus lost in deep contemplation, a small wild boar which was the size of the thumb rushed out from the Brahma’s nostril.

Brahma began to observe this wild boar.  As he was watching, within seconds this boar, which was the size of the upper portion of the thumb, grew into a form that was as massive as an elephant. Brahma was wonder-struck seeing this boar.

Lord Brahma began to discuss about the appearance of this boar with Swāyambhuva Manu, Marichi and other Maharishis as well as with Sanaka and other Kumaras who were witnessing this event. He said, “Aha! What a wonder! This divine living being is in the form of a boar (varaha).”

Om Varāha roopāya namah.