As you may have heard, today is Varaha-dvadashi, the day of Lord Varahadeva's appearance. According to our Vaishnava philosophy, you should first perform puja (worship) to Lord Varahadeva and then perform parana (break fast). After worshipping Sri Varahadeva, you may take charanamrita (Lord Vishnu's foot bathing water remnants) to break the fast. What does archana or worship entail? Hari-katha. If there is no hari-katha, there is no point of worshipping.
And tomorrow, we have Nityananda-trayodashi, the day of the appearance of Lord Nityananda, who is baladeva-tattva. And tomorrow we are also fasting. In India it's a difficult time because they have Ekadashi merged with Dvadashi, and the next day is Nityananda-trayodashi. And in Russia the situation is the same. It is very difficult to understand, a lot of devotees ask me, “What should we follow, and how should we fast?” It's very simple, follow Ekadashi [with or without water] and the next day you can take some fruit.
Curse of the Four Kumaras
Srimad-Bhagavatam describes how Lord Varahadeva manifests from the nostril of Lord Brahma. All of you know this story, so I will only briefly describe it. Lord Brahma's sons, the four Kumaras — Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana and Sanat-kumara— were immersed in the practice of attaining Brahman and desired to merge into it. Brahmaji was afraid of this, for it is explained in our scriptures that one who merges with the effulgence of the Lord may not return.
He thought, “My sons study all the scriptures every day, but they want to merge with Brahman.” Then Brahma began to pray to Lord Vishnu, “O Prabhu, please protect my sons!”
Thus, the Lord infused a fragrance in the air near them, emanating from the tulasi leaves offered to His feet. This sweet fragrance entered the nostrils of the four Kumarаs, and in search of the source of the fragrance, they left their meditation and rushed to Vaikunthaloka.
There, the Kumaras met two gatekeepers, Jaya and Vijaya, who stopped them. The four sages became angry and cursed the gatekeepers, “You are like demons because you prevent us from receiving the Lord's darshana! Why are you stopping us? For this, you must go to the material world and become demons!”
When the Kumaras uttered this curse, Lord Vishnu Himself appeared and very humbly said, “O Kumaras! It is I and not My servants who have committed the offence, for the deeds of My servants are My deeds.” On hearing such words, the four Kumaras became very embarrassed. Then the gatekeepers cried, “Prabhu, what shall we do now?”
Lord Vishnu replied, “O Jaya and Vijaya! Don't worry. In fact, you have not committed any offence, everything happened according to My wish. Once, I had thought of tasting all kinds of rasas (moods): dasya (service mood), sakhya (friendship mood), vatsalya (parental mood) and madhurya (sweetness mood), but I also had desired to relish the vira-rasa (heroic mood). In Vaikuntha, I have no one to fight with, since everyone there knows that I am Bhagavan. They pay homage to Me by prostrating themselves to Me. Therefore, I decided to go to the material world with My gatekeepers to fight with them there. And as soon as this desire appeared in My heart, Yogamaya arranged everything.”
Srila Vishvanatha Chakravartipada explains that the energy of Krishna's desire had itself manifested on the lips of the four Kumaras. Otherwise, how is it possible for brahma-jnanis (seekers of empiric knowledge) to be angry? Srimad Bhagavad-gita provides a verse that describes brahma-jnanis. They are not characterised by lust, envy and anger, their hearts are not attracted to anything material, they are not afflicted by misfortune, and they are not drunk with happiness. Also, they have no attachments or fear in their hearts. In addition, Vaikuntha is an abode free from lust, anger, and the like. So, why were the four Kumaras angry with Jaya and Vijaya? Because that was Krishna's desire— krishna-ichha.
Other Puranas, in a different way, explain that the Lord said, “If you wish to return to Vaikuntha, you will either have to be born devotees for seven lifetimes or demons for three births.” Jaya and Vijaya thought, “Seven lives is so long! We want to return to Vaikuntha as soon as possible. So, we will accept the mood of the asuras (demons).” All of this is described in Garbha-samhita, Adi-varaha Purana and other Puranas.
Thus, Jaya and Vijaya accepted asura-bhava (mood of demons) for three births; in Satya-yuga, they came as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, in Treta-yuga as Ravana and Kumbhakarna, and in Dvapara-yuga as Shishupala and Dantavakra. In Kali-yuga, the very merciful Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu takes them with Himself as Jagai and Madhai. In this way, Jagadananda Bandyopadhyaya and Madhavananda Bandyopadhyaya (their full names) come as brahmanas (priests) who become demons.
Varaha-Hiranyaksha Pastime
Srimad-Bhagavatam describes that in Satya-yuga there was a very powerful demon named Hiranyaksha— who took possession of the entire universe. Wishing to fight Indra, the demon went to Svargaloka, but Indra said to him, “O Hiranyaksha, listen, I am no match for you. You are a lion and I am a mouse. A lion must fight a lion, and an elephant must fight an elephant.”
Thereafter, Hiranyaksha asked Narada Rishi, whom everyone, including demons and Vrajavasis, called as guru. Narada Rishi said, “If you want to fight Vishnu, you must kidnap the one who is very dear to Him, the presiding deity of the Earth, Prithivi-devi. You must hide her, and then He Himself will appear before you.”
And thus, Hiranyaksha stole Prithivi-devi, and hid her in the deep waters of the ocean. All the demigods, led by Brahma, began to pray to Lord Vishnu to save Prithivi-devi. A voice from heaven proclaimed, “O demigods, do not worry! Soon, I will come again and establish varnashrama-dharma (Vedic caste system) and kill the demons.”
Brahmaji thought, “How will the Lord manifest?” Then one morning, during brahma-muhurta (auspicious period of time before sunrise), he was meditating and suddenly, something black and very small, the size of a sesame seed, came out of his nostril. Gradually, it grew into a gigantic form. The upper part of its body resembled a boar, while the lower part was the human-like form of Lord Vishnu. It is the nature of a boar to be sensitive to smells, and also, it is a peculiarity of the earth to possess a distinctive odour. So in this way, Varahadeva Bhagavan very quickly located where Prithivi-devi was; then He dove into the ocean and lifted Earth up on His tusks.
In the meantime, Hiranyaksha was resting. Now becoming disturbed by the act of Varahadeva, he shouted, “You are a thief! I will kill You for stealing my property!”
Lord Varahadeva responded, “Wait a little while, I will return very soon!” The Lord returned Prithivi-devi to where she had been stolen from, and then He fought Hiranyaksha before eventually killing him.
This katha is beautifully and elaborately described in the Third Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
[Jaya Srila Gurudeva ki jaya!]
[Jaya Varahadeva ki jaya!]
[Jaya jaya Sri Radhe!]
Date: 28 January 2018 Location: Brazil
Transcriber: Indumati dasi (Russia), Jay Sri Sundari dasi (Russia) Editor: Damodara dasa (UK), Sanatana dasa (USA) Integrity check: Chandrika dasi (UK), Sanatana dasa (USA) Proofreader: Chandrika dasi (UK) Image: Narasimhananda dasa (Russia)
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