August 21, 2017 archive

Sakrudeva prapannyah TavAsmeeti chayachat
Abhayam sarva bhootebhyo DadAmyE tat vratam mama !

If you plead for protection just once, it is my vow to protect the disciple, irrespective of his/her caste, creed, gender. I protect even animals or birds or any micro organism even.

Even if demon Ravana seeks refuge, I will give him protection- said Rama. It is my vow.
In Krishnaavatara Swamy said :
sarva Dharman Partyajya MAmekam Sharanam Vraja
Ahamtva Sarva PApebhyo Moksha Ishyami Ma Suchaha

I will free you from all sins that are obstacles to obtain me. I will free you from every form of sin. Even if I have to face obstacles in freeing you from sin, I will go ahead and protect you. You need not worry. Some sins are difficult to eliminate.

For instance, a thorn can be removed only with the aid of another thorn. If we decide to pray to the thorn to go away on its own, will it come out? When a thorn pierces, you have to face the pain to take it out forcibly. Likewise, sin has to be removed then and there forcibly.

To take out a thorn, we have to use another sharp device though it pains.We should not leave everything to Paramatma and trouble God. Instead of taking it out with a thorn, if we meditate, try Music therapy or kriya yoga, nothing works as we need to have discretion in dealing with the problem. We should not delay, neglect and transfer the trouble to Sadguru or God.

Here is an example from the life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. An egoistic yogi challenged Ramakrishna Paramahamsa to walk on water. Yogi walked on water, then Ramakrishna said that there was no necessity for wasting hard-earned spiritual practice just to walk on water and that he could as well pay 10 paise to cross the river on boat. WE should not trouble God for petty problems. We should try to solve them ourselves. Spiritual sadhana should not be done with any expectation.That spiritual power should not be used for petty things.

Sins are hurdles in path of spiritual progress. God promised that he breaks all the hurdles and protect you since you prayed and sought refuge. So He will rescue you from all sins even if you have not explicitly prayed for it. Even if you want to become devilish, God still comes to you and protects.

Learn to pray with selfless attitude. If you say, “I will not pray as it will be a trouble to Sadguru to protect me”- it is incorrect. That is not good. Not praying. If you stop doing things like puja, meditation and service what about progress? Do not wish for any boon. God says that despite all difficulties I protect you. You only surrender and submit your happiness. Perform sevas in the name of Sadguru.You pray, meditate and submit to me and take refuge in me.

Offer to the Lord the merit that you have obtained due to prayer. Learn to perform archana in God’s or Guru’s name. With this, we are conducting the worship selflessly.Offer the fruits of worship to the Lord. Offer everything to me. Surrender to me- said Lord Krishna.

After completing the incarnation the Lord was constantly returning to Vaikuntha . He would incarnate and then after completing the purpose He would return. But somehow Srihari did not like this method of returning back home. So He devised a plan.

Therefore Srihari took a vow:

Vaikuntham Va Parityakshye Na Bhaktan dyattu utsahe
Meru Divyani madbhakta Iti Sankalpa VAnabhu !

I will rather be away from Vaikuntha but will not away from my devotees who have surrendered totally to Me.

Srihari decided to live amidst people on earth and establish righteousness in people. I will request Varahaswamy who will give me a place of 7 feet at least. When He decided, Goddess Lakshmi also resolved to come to the Earth. Sri Datta Venkateswara Swamy wanted 50 square feet but had occupied 8 acres of land. Jaganmatha also got to know His thought. As she is in His heart, Vyuhalakshmi , also felt the urgency to come down to the earth to protect Her devotes.

Neeraja Nayane Nija Hrudayeshwari Narayana Sathi Neevamma Nee Padamulane Niratamunammiti Nanu Dayachoodaga Ravamma !!

We will get a doubt here. When Venkateshwara is already an incarnation, why is Varahaswamy on the earth? To protect His devotees, Vishnu took the form of Lord Venkateshwara. Lord Vishnu takes various forms simultaneously to protect His disciples and to establish peace in the world. For example, in Rama Avatara, He also incarnated as Parashurama. In Krishna Avatara, He also incarnated as Balarama. For various purposes Lord Vishnu takes various forms. It is never possible for a common man to be present in two forms. But the Lord takes various forms to establish righteousness.

Govinda namam madhuram madhuram Bhavajaladhi tarakam shubha dayakam You have to test your mind at times, not just asking questions and doubts all the time. You should not get doubts too frequently. It is like uprooting the sapling on and off to check its growth. It is mere time waste. Such person’s life is a mere waste. You do not go to temple.You do not read Bhagavatam. You don’t have any protection. You cannot pass in your life. Sadguru also does not care. Nobody should have a spiritual downfall.

If a farmer loses one sheep, he should not go behind that missing one, as he has to take care of the remaining hundred sheep. Sadguru also does the same thing. If a devotee is careless and does not perform his duty to remain in the good books of Sadguru, why does Sadguru require to take care of that devotee? He might pretend to be listening to the list of devotee but He just pretends. That is why we have to participate in all the righteous deeds that are performed by Sadguru.

Of course He does take care but why? Hence every devotee should perform one’s own duty perfectly. This story is from the Bible. Srihari’s incarnation is unlimited. There is no beginning, no middle, and no end.  Forever – unending, Anantha. He is the creator, He is the protector. He is the destroyer. Both as Varahaswamy as well as Venkateshwara, Srihari is protecting the people. We feel the vibrations of God in our body. Hence it is a must to have his darshan!

The one who is taking care to energize Mooladhara (the first spiritual centre), thus taking care of our health, is none other than Lord Varaha. Varaha protects the earth. Hence we are supposed to pray to Varahaswamy. Our body itself is Earth. We have sunk into this worldly illusion. Varahaswamy is rescuing us by pulling us out from the ocean called illusion using His tusks. For this reason we have to worship Lord Varaha. For our health and for the energizing the Mooladhara chakra, Lord Varaha should be worshipped.

 We have to acquire knowledge of God before the soul leaves the body. Every organ is controlled by one God. The deities take care of all the organs of this body. we chant Keshavaya namah, Narayanaya namah- all these deities are within the limbs of the body. The body is the temple of God. We have to pray to all the main deities residing in our body organs sincerely without fail. To obtain this Spiritual KNowledge and spiritual growth we have to pray to Varahaswamy and only then to our Sadguru Lord Venkateswara who is our creator and protector. Srihari loves Bhooloka and devotees. He grants innumerable boons to devotees.

Having spoken about Lord Varaha, we shall now proceed to have darshan of Lord Venkateshwara.

Even though the Lord loves the 14 lokas, He loves Earth the best!

Paritranaya SAdhunam Vinashayacha Dushkrutam Dharma Sansthapanardhaya Sambhavami Yuge Yuge !!

In each incarnation, God undergoes lot of struggle to keep up the vow taken before taking up that particular incarnation. If we learn and understand  the vows taken by God, we will understand the real Tattva. For the sake of humans, the Lord is willing to go to any extent. Gajendra Moksham is an example. Listening to the cries of Gajendra, Srihari goes in haste not informing Lakshmi Devi, not carrying any weapons, not bothering for the clothing on his body. Srihari’s main intention was to protect His devotee who sought refuge in the Lord. In Rama Avatara, Vibheeshana Sharanagati is an excellent episode in which Sri Rama  had taken a very powerful wow to protect Vibheeshana .

Sakrudeva prapannyah
Tavasmeeti chayavat
Abhayam sarva bhootebhyo
Dadamye tat vratam mama !

If you plead for protection just once, I will immediately protect you. It is my vow. it is my vow to protect the entity who has sought refuge, irrespective of its caste, creed, gender. I protect irrespective of whether it is animals or birds or any micro organism.

we should learn to pray. To protect us is his vow. Rama never suspected Vibheeshana when he sought refuge in Him. We need to learn to pray God. Rest is taken care by God. “Rama said that He would pardon even Ravana if he came and sought refuge in Rama .

Kirathaka (hunter-tribal) was confident of his strong fencing despite the strength and power of the Varaha boar. The fence was so securely built that no human, no animal and not even a fly could enter the fence. He expected the Varaha, even if came, would go round the fence and go back. While he was making an attempt to sleep, there was a very big sound of cracking the fence. He was astonished to look at the Swaetha Varaha who destroyed the whole fencing with anger unlimited.

Varaha ate away the paddy, broke the plants into pieces. For Varaha’s strong tusks which lifted the whole earth out of the waters when it was totally drowned, this damaging job was a child’s play. He entered the field very royally. Kirathaka was standstill. Varaha had a very lavish time in the field. His mouth and tusks were like crunchers like machines. In fact they should have named crunchers, the crunching machines which are designed now, should have been named after Varaha. [Varaha brand]. Varaha lifted mud again and threw it up into the air and then on Kirathaka. Kirathaka was shocked at this most unexpected attack by varaha. All his hard work had gone in vain. He was disappointed and distressed. Varaha appeared as a man eater.

Immediately he approached the King of that place. The King vowed to see the end of Varaha. The King went to pushkarini, had a dip in holy waters and had the divine darshan and then went along with Kirathaka to the field. They got the fence repaired and were sitting on the temporary guarding station, built in the center of the crop field. It was midnight. King was just waiting for Varaha to enter the crop field. Varaha entered as usual. The tusks were sparkling like diamonds and broke the darkness filling the area with bright light creating the day light in the whole area of golden yellow fields. This indicates that Varaha removes the darkness not only in that area but darkness from our lives and ignorance from our mind also. The King was staring at Varaha.

The king felt like watching Varaha ! At once, the King jumped and ran towards Varaha , aiming an arrow at Varaha. The King planned to run behind the Varaha and shoot at it. Quite in contrast to his plan, as the King followed Varaha, He disappeared and ran into the anthill. The King went to the anthill and prayed the whole night to understand about Varahaswamy.
Bhajan : Varaha Swamy ki SriHari ki , Varala kondaku Namo Namo .
The King vowed to find out about Varaha as he had failed to kill Varaha. He promised to Kirathaka that he would kill varaha and failed in his duty for which the king felt guilty and wanted to give up his life. The voice of prophecy stopped him from doing so, saying that he had no right to end his life. “You only have to pray. Don’t be unwise. The one who is in anthill is Varahaswamy. Pray to Varahaswamy . Perform abhishekam to Lord Varahaswamy and perform penance to please him and get blessed. The King went back to his kingdom and came back with golden pots of milk and performed abhishekam to Varahaswamy in the anthill.

As the milk was dropping on the anthill, the mud was slowly getting disappeared and the idol of Varahaswamy appeared slowly from the anthill with Bhoodevi sitting on his lap. Despite performing abhishekam with lots of milk, the King was not able to have a darshan of Varaha’s feet; he was only able to see Varaha’s knees.
Shlokam : Namonamaste Khilakaranaya Namostute mandhara dharakaya
Namostute Yagna Varana Naamnee Namo Hiranyaksha Vidarakaya !
Sakala loka karana !!
The King praised Varahaswamy and pleaded to bless him with pada darshana. Varahaswamy said that the king and kirathaka were lucky enough to have the divine darshan of Varahaswamy in the form of a pig ,Varaha swaroopa literally. Varahaswamy also said that it was not possible to have pada darshana. The Lord instructed the king to consecrate another idol of Him, consecrate and perform sevas. The king performed everything as per the instructions. From then onwards, Mahalakshmi stayed back on Venkatadri blessing devotees with prosperity .

We discussed Varaha Swamy’s story as per Brahma Puranam and we will now go further into the story as narrated in Padma Purana.
Srihari had taken the incarnation of Varaha swamy to protect the earth. His job was done. He brought the earth which was dropped into 3 parts of water around it. . Varahaswamy wanted to stay back on the earth for some more period as the planet earth is the most beautiful , out of the 14 worlds that exist. Varahaswamy found the mountain Venkatadri to be suitable for His stay and hence decided to reside there on the north west part of the pushkarini in the anthill. He lived along with Bhoodevi, His consort.

Once a Kinnera couple [ celestial couple] visited the area and were roaming around in this pleasant place and enjoying. They never bothered for the respect they were supposed to give to that holy place. They had no limits for their joy. One day, Durvasa, an angry sage arrived and looked at them, but they never cared or responded to him. They continued to enjoy forgetting the surroundings. They behaved without manners. Durvasa grew wild and shouted – “Oh! Couple! What kind of a place is this? Are you not aware of it? Do you not know the sanctity of this holy place? You are kinneras and are thoroughly enlightened. You have control over your form and will .Yet You have no discretion. You spoilt the sanctity of this place. Though you are enlightened souls, you behaved like animals with an animal instinct. You are shameless and are not ashamed of yourselves. You are not supposed to ignore the presence of a sage like me. Hence I curse that you forget your capabilities and celestial bliss that you are bestowed with and I curse that you be born as “Kirathaka couple.” [ the most unscrupulous folks ]

Then they realized and were shocked at what had happened. As enlightened souls, they genuinely confessed their wrong deed and never resisted the curse. But they sincerely pleaded the pious sage, Durvasa, for rectification of the curse. Durvasa controlled himself as it was a pious place and not a place to lose temper and get angry, and blessed them to stay at Sweta Varahaswamy. Durvasa assured them of their getting blessed by Varahaswamy at a later stage. For celestial people it does not take much time to rectify their mistakes and get blessed as they are sensible beings with godliness and righteousness. In due course, they were blessed with a son Chitranga.

Once Kirathaka found lots of golden paddy in the anthill. He felt astonished at the tremendous paddy grain and collected the grain. He had sown the grain in a big area of land and started agriculture. The crop was lustrous and shining to the ultimate. He was taking care of the lustrous field. He was very happy looking at the glowing field with amazing yield of paddy grain. He was worried whether the field would be attacked by wild animals or robbers. He built a big granary by making an arrangement for him to stay amidst the crop to protect the crop from all animals and the Evil eye.

Watching all these events of Kirathaka, Varaha, decided to bless him and lay a path to release him from the curse given by the sage Durvasa. Varaha in the form of a white pig came out of the anthill. Kirathaka looked at the field and Varaha entering the field. He was astonished at the form of white pig-like Varaha. It was very ferocious and unique as it was God incarnate. He entered the golden crop field and walked haphazardly damaging the paddy, cracking the twigs and grains. It was chewing the paddy. Kirathaka was watching. Varaha dug out the mud, plucked it out and with a big sound left the place. Kirathaka was all in awe.

He thought whether he dreamt of the situation. Some people dream when they are awake. When they come out the dream, they come out with a jerk. Kirathaka realized that it was not a dream as he looked at the damaged paddy field of which he would have never dreampt. He set right the crop. He constructed a fence of thorns to prevent the entry of Varaha next time. Even a fly could not enter through that. After that he thought of keeping awake but was sure of his strong and well laid fence . With this confidence he thought of sleeping just for a while.

Varaha Swamy, in the form of Varaha , having been staying on the earth and moving around on the earth itself was called as” Venkatachala Vasa” Varahaswamy found Venkatadri and chose to settle in a place of Northwest side, as a Vigraha and was living there in the pushkarini as “Jaladhi Vaasam”. Around Him was formed an anthill.

Due to His divine presence, that lake is called Varaha Pushkarini.Lord Brahma was happy with Varaha Swamy for obliging His request and staying on Venkatadri. Simultaneously, Lord SriHari has descended as Srinivasa. Brahma requested Srinivasa that in future, every devotee should first have the darshan of Varahaswamy and then go for the darshan of Venkateswara Swamy. He requested Srinivasa ( SriHari ) to grant him this boon since Brahma sincerely felt the significance of people visiting Varaha Swamy. In Sri Datta Venkateswara temple also , there is a system that first we should have the darshan of Varahaswamy carved in the stone in the temple premises and then the darshan of Datta Venkateswara. 
VarAha DarshanAtpurvam
SrinivasAnname NAcha
Darshanath Brath VarAhasya
Srinivaso NA triptyati.
Lord Venkateswara . feels happy and blesses the devotees only if this system is followed by them.
Srihari had taken the incarnation of Varahaswamy. He brought the earth out of water. He was pleased with the beauty of Bhooloka and decided to stay on for some time. He found Venkatadri and chose to settle in the Northwest place of Varahaswamy’s anthill. He used to give darshan to people at times uplifting them with His blessings. Every system should be supported by a proof followed by a story.
In the same area , a Brahmin named Nishada lived with his son. Varahaswamy bent upon proving the boon that people should have Varahaswamy’s Darshan before that of Lord Venkateswara . He wanted to try it through “Nishada “. He observed Nishada’s daily rituals. Nishada used to give all the provision to a Brahmin , get them cooked , then first offer the sacred food to Srinivasa and then he used to eat . One day Nishada wanted to offer honey to Lord Srinivasa . Nishada informed the same to his son and asked him to take care of the provision as he was going to forest to get honey . After prolonged waiting for his father , the son lost patience as he was hungry. Hence he cooked food , offered whole heartedly to Varaha Swamy and ate the divine food /Prasada.
He wanted to tell the fact to his father. But Nishada was angry when he understood that his son had already eaten. When he shouted at his son, he confessed that he offered it to Varahaswamy and then ate. Nishada was unhappy and punished his son. He wanted to slay him. The son ran out and fell near the anthill. When father was about to slay him, Varahaswamy came out of the anthill. Varahaswamy swarupa SriHari caught hold of Nishada’s hand. They had a big argument. Varahaswamy explained to Nishada that his son offered food to Him and that He was happy and then disappeared. Nishada was speechless. Nishada sat for penance near the anthill for the divine darshan. Oh Varaha! You are great! You saved Bhoodevi. I adore you! Please bless me with your darshan.
A very beautiful Bhajan:
Varam Sweta VarAkyam Samrutya Dharani haram
Danshtraghrita DharoddhAram  Srinivasam Bhajeyam .
Bhajan :
Varahaswamyki Sri Hariki VarAlakakondaku Namo Namo !!
Varahaswamy felt very happy and came out of the anthill and utterd .” I am Sacchidananda Swaroopa. You cannot see me in this form as you are not that energetic but you can listen to me. But you can see my vigraha. The vigraha consecrated by Brahma is in this anthill. You take it out and consecrate it” . In due course, Nishada discharged the duty assigned by Varahaswamy. Varahaswamy also instructed Nishada to establish a system of devotees having the darshan of Varahaswamy prior to the darshan of Srinivasa.He followed the instructions and discharged the duty assigned and got blessed .