Third Canto Chapter Nineteen
In this chapter, the killing of Hiranyāksha by Lord Varāha based on the prayers of Lord Brahma is covered.
Maitreya Maharishi continued, “O Vidura! Hearing the pure nectarous words uttered by Brahma, Lord Varāha with a charming smile and with a gaze that was filled with compassion, looked at Brahma and accepted his prayer.
Hiranyāksha was undefeatable. Rotating his mace violently in the air, He was approaching Lord Varāha, the Supreme Lord who had emerged from the nostrils of Lord Brahma. Finding the right opportunity, Lord Varāha jumped into the air and forcefully hit the demon on his jaw using His mace.
Using his own mace Hiranyāksha stopped the Lord’s mace and now he hit the Lord. With this Lord’s mace flew high up in the air, swirled many times before falling down.
Devatas who were witnessing this battle was deeply astounded to see the mace slipping from the Lord’s hands. They began to shout in alarm. In fact this was the right opportunity for the demon to attack the Lord who was unarmed. But yet, strictly abiding by the rules of warfare, he remained silent without attacking the Lord.
Lord Varāha was pleased with the sense of righteousness displayed by the demon. Infuriated that His mace had fallen down, the Lord instantly invoked His discus, Sudarshana chakra.
Sudarshana was eager to kill the demon. But yet, the Lord continued to combat with the demon king, who was the leader of all demons. He continued his playful activities. In great anxiety the Devatas were watching this battle from Heaven. Unable to understand His transcendental activities, they were agitated and worried. Addressing the Lord they said,
“O Lord! May You be victorious! Please destroy this demon immediately.” In varied ways they offered prayers to the Lord.
Then Varāha swamy, who has beautiful charming lotus eyes, took up His discus and stood in front of the demon. Seeing this, the mind and the limbs of the demon shook with uncontrollable agitation. Screaming violently he bit his lower lip. With eyes that indicated that he would swallow up the Lord, this demon who had ferocious tusks, looked at the Lord.
“With this you are finished”, screaming in frenzy the demon pounced upon the Lord in order to hit him with his mace. In the presence of the demon, the Lord playfully kicked the mace with his left leg. He then addressed the demon and said, “You desired to conquer Me in battle. Hence pick your weapon and try once again”.
Roaring violently Hiranyāksha picked his mace and hurled it upon the Lord. Lord Varāha continued to stand firmly in His place even as the mace was approaching Him vehemently at rapid speeds. He waited until it was near and then as playfully as an eagle catches a snake, He caught the mace.
When his valour was thus challenged, Hiranyāksha’s ego took a beating. His face turned lusterless. The Lord then returned the mace to the demon. However the demon was reluctant to take it back. Just as a wicked person would resort to malicious deeds in order to destroy a noble Brahmin, the demon took up a trident to kill Lord Varāha, the personification of Yagna.
The 3 spokes of the trident were emitting fiery flames that appeared as to swallow everything. When the demon vehemently hurled this trident, it flew towards the Lord vomiting huge sparks. Lord Varaha directed his discus towards the trident. As playfully as Indra cut off a feather from Garuda’s wing, Varaha swamy through His discus, shred the trident into innumerable pieces.
With this Hiranyaksha’s wrath further intensified. Roaring loudly in mad frenzy he ran towards the Lord and hit Him on His chest, the residence of Goddess Lakshmi, with his fists and then magically vanished.
Lord Varāha did not budge even slightly with this violent harsh attack. Hitting Varāha Swamy with fists was like hitting an elephant with a flower garland. Now this demon resorted to varied fearful conjuring tricks to defeat the Lord. Those who witnessed these fearsome events feared for the safety of the world.
With his illusory powers, he caused violent gale winds that created huge dust storms as they blew forcefully. Everything was enveloped in darkness. From every corner it rained stones. Skies were covered with thick black clouds that were accompanied by thunder and lightning. Star constellations disappeared from view. These clouds rained pus, hair, blood, bones, urine and fecal matter.
Mountains discharged powerful weapons of every kind. Naked demonesses with their hair left loose and holding tridents were seen at different places. Foot soldiers, warriors mounted on horses, elephants and chariots, many cruel yakshas and demons were screaming horrendously in many places.
Prāduṣkṛtānāṁ māyānām āsurīṇāṁ vināśayat
Sudarśanāstraṁ bhagavān prāyuṅkta dayitaṁ tri-pāt
Lord Varāha, who has Yagna composed of three pādas as His form, having decided to bring to an end the illusion created by Hiranyāksha, now discharged His favorite weapon, the discus.
Exactly at that moment, Diti remembered the prediction her husband Maharishi Kashyapa had previously made. She shivered. Blood flowed from her breasts. The Lord’s discus shred the illusion created by the demon. With his illusion shattered, the demon was now uncontrollably enraged and in fury he madly rushed towards the Lord tried to hold Him within his arms and crush Him. However the Lord dodged him.
Now he tried to hit the Lord with his fists that were like hard diamonds. The Lord in turn hit Hiranyāksha mildly on his jaw just as Indra hit demon Vrittasura.
Lord Varaha, the conqueror of worlds, did not hit Hiranyāksha with all His might. It was a mild blow, but yet this mild blow caused the demon to spin round and round. His eyeballs popped out. His hands and legs were broken. His hair was scattered and like a huge tree uprooted due to volcanic winds, he dropped dead to the ground. This was the end of the undefeatable Hiranyāksha.
The tusks of this mighty demon instilled fear even when he dead. His lower lip had been bitten due to his fury. Seeing him, Brahma and other Devatas who had assembled there thought,
“Aha! How astonishing! Who can be so fortunate to meet death in this fashion? Great Yogis, who seek liberation from their causal bodies, eternally fix their mind with unflinching devotion upon this Supreme Lord and meditate. This demon was fortunate to have been kicked by such Lord. He gave up his life while gazing at the Lord’s face. What more can be said of his fortune?
Hiranyāksha and Hiranyakashipu were none other than Jaya and Vijaya, the personal attendants of Lord Mahavishnu. The curse of Maharishi Sanaka and others was the reason for this demonic birth. After few more such births they will return to their original positions”.
Brahma and other Maharishis now glorified the Lord.
Sridharāya Namah
