Varāha

Varāha--dvadaśī
dvadaśī,,
Lord Varāha's Appearance Day Lecture
Dasāvatāra-
Dasāvatāra-stotra
stotra Purport
—
Los Angeles, February 18, 1970

Prabhupāda: ...lifted the world when it was submerged within the water of
Garbhodaka Ocean. The universe which we are seeing, it is only half. The
other half is filled with water, and in that water is Garbhodakaśā-
yī Viṣṇu lying. So one demon, Hiraṇyākṣa, he pushed this earthly planet
within that water, and Lord Kṛṣṇa delivered this earthly planet from water
in the shape of a boar. So that auspicious day is today, Varāha-dvadaśī. This
is called Varāha-dvadasi. So on this day it is better to sing, to glorify the dif-
ferent incarnations of Lord within this universe. The first incarnation is the
fish form.

So these prayers were offered by Jayadeva Gosvāmī. One Vaiṣṇava poet

advented about seven hundred years before Lord Caitanya's appearance.
He was a great devotee, and his specific poetry, Gīta-govinda, is very fa-
mous all over the world. Gīta-govinda. Gīta-govinda is the subject matter
of Kṛṣṇa playing on flute about Rādhārāṇī. That is the subject matter of Gī-
ta-govinda. The same poet, Jayadeva Gosvāmī, has offered this prayer, pra-
laya-payodhi-jale-dhṛtavān asivedam **. He says, "My dear Lord, when the-
re was devastation within this universe, everything was filled with water. At
that time You saved the Vedas, stacked in a boat. And you held the boat
from being drowned in the water, in the shape of a big fish." This fish first
of all was caught in the waterpot just like a small fish. Then it enlarged, and
the fish was kept in a bigger water reservoir. In this way the fish was increa-
sing. Then the fish informed that "Devastation is coming. You just save all
the Vedas on a boat, and I shall protect it." So Jayadeva Gosvāmī is offering
prayer, "My Lord, You saved the Vedas when there was devastation in the
shape of a fish."

The next is Kūrmāvatāra. There was churning of the ocean. One side all
the demigods and one side all the demons. And the churning rod was a
great hill called Mandara-pārvata. And the resting place was on the back of
the Lord appeared as a tortoise. So he's offering his prayer that "You appea-
red as a tortoise just to become the resting place. And this happened becau-
se You were feeling some itching sensation on Your back. So You accepted
this big rod, Mandara Hill, to itch, as the itching instrument."

Then the next incarnation is this Varāha, boar or hog. He delivered this
earthly planet by the tusk, and He kept the whole world on His tusk. We
can just imagine how big He appeared. And the world at that time appeared
just like the moon disc with some marks on it. So keśava dhṛta-varāha-śarī-
ra. He says, "My dear Lord, You have appeared as the great boar. So let me
offer my respectful obeisances unto You."

The fourth incarnation is Nṛsiṁhadeva. Nṛsiṁhadeva appeared to

save Prahlāda Mahārāja, who was five-years-old boy and he was being tor-
tured by his atheistic father. So He appeared from the pillar of the palace as
a half-man, half-lion. Because this Hiraṇyakaśipu took benediction
from Brahmā that he'll not be killed by any man or any animal. So the Lord
appeared neither man nor animal. This is the difference between the Lord's
intelligence and our intelligence. We are thinking that we can cheat the
Lord by our intelligence, but the Lord is more intelligent than us. This
Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted to cheat Brahmā by indirect definition. First of all he
wanted to become immortal. Brahmā said, "That is not possible because
even I am not immortal. Nobody in this material world is immortal. That is
not possible." So Hiraṇyakaśipu, the demon... The demons are very intelli-
gent. He thought that "Round about way I shall become immortal." He pra-
yed to Brahmā that "Please give me the benediction that I shall not be killed
by any man or any animal." Brahmā said, "Yes, that is all right." "I shall not
be killed in the sky, on the water or on land." Brahmāsaid, "Oh yes." "I shall
not be killed by any man-made weapons." "That's all right." In this way he
utilized his intelligence in so many ways just to come to the conclusion of
being immortal. But the Lord is so cunning that He kept intact all the bene-
diction given by Brahmā, still he was killed. He said that "I'll not be killed
either during daytime or night." Brahmā said "Yes." So he was killed just in
the evening, just in the junction of day and night. You cannot say it is day or
night. He took the benediction that "I shall not be killed in the sky, on the
water, on the land." So he was killed on His lap. He took the benediction
that "I shall not be killed by any man-made or any God-made weapons."
That was given, "All right." So he was killed by the nails. In this way, all the
benedictions were kept intact, still he was killed. Similarly, we may make
plan, we may make very advancement in scientific knowledge, but the ki-
lling process of nature will be there. Nobody can escape. By our intelligence
we cannot escape. The four principles of material existence means birth,
death, old age and disease. We can manufacture many medicines, many
weapons, many means, many methods, but you cannot escape these four
principles of material existence, however great you may be. That was pro-
ved by Hiraṇyakaśipu. Hiraṇyakaśipu was one of the stalwart materialistic
and he wanted to live forever, enjoy, but he also could not live. Everything
was finished.

Then next incarnation is Vāmana, the dwarf. Lord Vāmana appeared be-
fore Bali Mahārāja. That was also another cheating. Bali Mahārāja conque-
red all the universal planets and the demigods were too much disturbed.
So Vāmana Mahārāja... Vāmanadeva went to Bali Mahārājathat "You give
me some alms. I am brāhmaṇa. I have come to beg from you." So Bali Ma-
hārāja said, "Yes. I'll give You." So He wanted three feet land only. So by
one feet the whole universe was covered, upside, and another feet the other
half was covered. Then the third feet Bali Mahārāja said, "Yes, now there is
no place. Please keep Your feet on my head. Still my head is there." So Vā-
manadeva was very much pleased by the sacrifice of Bali Mahārāja. He gave
up everything for the Lord. So he is one of the great authorities. Out of the
twelve authorities, Bali Mahārāja is one of the authorities because he sacri-
ficed everything to satisfy the Lord.

And next is Paraśurāma. Paraśurāma, twenty-one times He made a mas-

sacre propaganda for killing all the kṣatriyakings. The kṣatriya kings were
very much dishonest at that time, so he killed them for twenty-one times.
They fled from here and there. And from the history of Mahābhārata it is
understood, at that time some of the kṣatriyas fled and took shelter in the
European side. And the Indo-European stock is from those kṣatriyas. That
is history, inform..., historical information from Mahābhārata.

Then next incarnation is Lord Rāma. So He fought with Rāvaṇa who had
ten heads. So ... And the next incarnation is Balarāma. Balarāma is the el-
der brother of Kṛṣṇa. He is incarnation of Saṅkarṣaṇa, next expansion
of Kṛṣṇa. So He was very white in complexion, and He was wearing blue
garments, and with His plow He was, sometimes He was angry with Yamu-
nā River, and He tried to dry up the Yamunā River. That description is gi-
ven here. And Yamunā, out of His fear, she agreed to the proposal of Balarā-
ma. And the next incarnation is Lord Buddha. Lord Buddha, He decried the
Vedic principles. Therefore He is calculated as atheist. Anyone who does
not agree with the Vedic principles, he is considered as atheist. Just like one
who does not believe in the Bible, they are called heathens, similarly, those
who do not accept the Vedic principles, they are called atheists. So
Lord Buddha although incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, He said that "I do not believe
in Vedas." What was the reason? The reason was to save the poor animals.
At that time people were sacrificing the poor animals under the plea of Ve-
dic sacrifice. So demonic persons, they want to do something under the pro-
tection of authority. Just like a big lawyer takes the protection of the law-
book and he makes the law unlawful. Similarly, the demons are so intelli-
gent that they take advantage of scriptural injunction and do all nonsense.
So these things were going on. In the name of Vedic sacrifice, they were ki-
lling animals like anything. So Lord became very much compassionate the-
se poor animals, and He appeared as Lord Buddha, and His philosophy was
nonviolence. His philosophy was atheist because He said that "There is no
God. This combination of matter is a manifestation, and you dismantle the
material elements, there will be void and there will be no sense of pleasure
and pain. That is the nirvāṇa, ultimate goal of life." That was His philo-
sophy. But actually His mission was to stop animal killing, to stop the men
from so much sinful activities. So Lord Buddha is also prayed herewith. So
people will be surprised that Lord Buddha is designated as atheist and still
the Vaiṣṇavas, they are offering their respectful prayers to
Lord Viṣṇu (Buddha). Why? Because the Vaiṣṇava knows how the God is
acting for His different purposes. Others, they do not know.

The next avatār incarnation is Kalki. That is yet to take place. Kalki ava-
tāra will appear at the end of this age, Kali-yuga. The age of Kali-yuga, dura-
tion of this age is still to be, I mean to say, fulfilled in 400,000's of years. So
at the end of Kali, that means at the last stage, after about 400,000's of
years, the incarnation of Kali will appear. That is predicted in the Vedic lite-
ratures, as Lord Buddha's appearance was also predicted in the Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was compiled five thousand years
ago, and Lord Buddha appeared about 2,500 years ago. Therefore about
Lord Buddha's appearance it is predicted that at the beginning of Kali-
yuga Lord Buddha will appear. There was prediction, and that has actually
come to be true. Similarly, there is prediction about Kalki avatāra, and that
will also come to be true. So at that time Lord Kalki's business will be
simply to kill. No instruction. Just like... In Bhagavad-gītāLord Kṛṣṇa gave
instruction in the shape of Bhagavad-gītā.But at the end of Kali-yuga, peo-
ple will be so much degraded that there is no more possibility to give any
instruction. They will not be able to understand even. At that time the only
weapon will be to kill them. And one who is killed by the Lord, he also gets
salvation. That is God's all-merciful quality. Either He protects or He kills,
the result is the same. So that will be the last stage of this Kali-yuga, and af-
ter that, again Satya-yuga, the age of religiosity, will begin. These are the
statements of Vedic literature. (end)