||    Varaha Puranam    ||

On this Adi Puram day , it is important to think about ANDAL as an avathAram of BhUmi Devi and in this context remember Her appeal to Her Lord on His duties to come to the help of the suffering Chethanams as referred by Parasara Bhattar in his taniyan for Thiruppaavai. ANDAL asked the Lord to wake up from His most enjoyable slumber on HIs soft bed and proceed with His " Sworn duties ".

Earlier, Bhumi Devi had a similar concern for Her suffering children and asked Her Lord , Aadhi VarAhan to reveal a laghu upAyam for helping them from the terrors of samsAram and to make them eligible for Her Lord's anugaham .

Our DayAsvarUpi , BhU Varaahan responded positively to His dear Consort's request and blessed us with the Revered SlOkams known as VarAha Charama SlOkams and revealed His depth of affection for His children . He established however some ground rules through these Charama SlOkams , which have a very special significance . Swami Sri Desikan was so moved by these Charama slOkAs that he created an entire Rahasyam called Rahasya SikhAmaNi. I will cover that rahasyam in depth in SaraNAgathi Journal after completing the current series on PradhAna Sathakam .

Through three related postings , I will cover the particulars about VarAha PurANam , VarAha Charama SlOkam , the many references to VarahAvathAram in PurANams , Vedam and in Divya prabhandha passurams , His Divya Desams , His manthram and slOkam and a lot of details on this blessed avathAram .

These postings were written quickly as memory jogs and therefore will be more like summary points. Please do not mind this format. I will post all the three of them today. Please print them and read them at leisure , since they may be too long for reading in one sitting . I will follow this up with a posting on KurmAvathAram and VishNu purAnam in a subsequent posting tomorrow .

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Highlights of Varaaha PurANam and VaraahAvahtAram
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** Varaha PuraNam has the pancha lakshanam of a standard PuraNam, (Viz)., Cantos (Sargam), their subdivisions (Prathisargam ), dynasties (vamsam) and the periods of time known as manvanthrAs and the charithram associated with that period .

** Sage VyAsA is the traditional author , since it is one of the 18 purANams associated with him .

** This PurANam is in the form of a dialog between VishNu in the form of the Varahap pirAn and His consort , BhUmi dEvi .This PurANam has 24,000 stanzas .
ThAyAr is a Sarvaj~nai , but yet She asks for the benefit of Her children the questions that result in the Varaha sarama Slokam .

** Bhumi Devi's prayer to her Lord on behalf of us for showing the way via Charama Slokam :

" Aham sishyA cha daasi cha bhakthA cha tvayi Maadhava --
( VarAha PpuRANam : 114.64)

Here Bhumi dEvi says :

" My lord ! I am Your disciple , servant and have great bhakthi for You. Please accept my appeal and bless me with instructions on the easy means that would help all jeevans to reach sathgathi (mOksham) ".The Lord then revealed the two slOkams that constitute the pUrva and Uttara BhAgams of Varaaha Charama Slokam .

** The two slOkAs that came out of Sri Varaaha Moorthy's sacred lips embed the essence of Vedic thoughts as discussed in detail by Swami Desikan in his Rahasya Grantham , Rahasya SikhAmaNi . This rahasya grantham has huge references to the significance of VarahAvathaaram , Charama SlOkam and has quotations from the Divya Prabhandhams . Swami Desikan analysed word by word the VarAha Charama Slokam with pramANams in this rahasya grantham .

** Sathapatha BraahmaNam , Linga , Matsya PurANams and RaamAyaNam refer to this avathAram and the Lord lifting His consort on His tusk and bringing Her out of the terrifying waters of Pralayam.

** The best sustained tribute to Varaha avathAram is in Srimadh Bhaagavatham ( Canto 3.13 ) and its derivative work of NaarayaNa Bhattadhiri , Srimadh NaarayaNeeyam ( Dasakam 11, 12 and 13 ). Bhattadhiri's descriptions of the Lord as Yaj~na VarAha moorthy are inspiring and are based on the Srimadh Bhaagavatham's descriptions of all the Yajna paathrams and saamagriyAs being seen as the limbs of the Lord ( Bhaagavatham : 3.13-44 ).

The same visualization of the Lord as Yajna Varahan is depicted by Hari Vamsam (3.34-41). That long salutation begins with " The VedAs are His feet , the sacrificial post is His teeth , the offering His hand and ends with , " the pyre His mouth , fire is His tongue , the sacred grass is His hair----the most secret teachings of the Upanishads are His seat ". Every limb of His sacred body is linked to the Yajnam . The famous passage in Sri VishNu Sahasra Naamam , " yaj~nO yaj~napathir yajvA yajngO yaj~navAhana: Yaj~na bruth Yaj~na kruth yaj~ni yaj~na bhug yaj~na saadhana: yaj~ntha kruth yaj~na guhyam annam annadha yEva cha " refers again to the Lord as Yaj~na Svarupi as visualized by Hari Vamsam and Srimadh BhAgavatham .Sri VishNu sahasra naamam is older than the above two granthams .

** He is Aadhi Varaahan and as such was asked permission by Sri VenkatEsA to share the Aadhi Varha KshEthram , when in Kali Yugam , He took the ArchA form to reside on the top of Venkatam hills .On the banks of Swami PushkaraNI , Adhi Varaahan stands even today and we worship Him first before going inside Sri VenkatEsA's temple .

** His svayamvyaktha svarUpam is at Sri MushNam . His divya desam is at Thiruvidaventhai .

** Taittiriya AarNyakam , TaittirIya SamhithA and the TaittirIya BrAhmaNam as well as the Sathapatha BrAhmaNam salute this avathAram . The fifth Vedam , MahA BhAratham ( 2.45, 3.144.1-29 ,12.208) , the VishNu DharmOtthara PurANam (1.3.1-12) , the Padma PurANam (6.264) , Vaayu PurAnam ( chapter 6), Agni PurANam ( Chapter 4 ), Brahma PurANam ( Ch.213 ) , Linga PurANam ( Part 1, Ch. 94) , the Kurma PurAnam (1.6) and VishNu purANam(1.4.26 , 45-50) salute VarAhAvathaaram as well.

** Swami Desikan's DasAvathAra Slokam saluting the Lord's Varaha avathAram is a moving portrayal of the Lord emerging out of the swirling ocean holding His consort firmly on His giant tusk.

** Divya Prabhandham references on this avathAram :

1)ANDAL (Bhumi DEvi Amsam ) saluting Her Lord for the gift of VarAha Charama SlOkam : NaacchiyAr Thirumozhi --11.8. Here , She equates Sri Ranganatha, who took that form of VarAham and blessed us with the Charama slokam . She says that she can not erase that message of Her Lord , even if She wanted to .She implies that the Varaha Sarama slokam has vakthru VailakshaNyam and SrOthru VailakshaNyam . The one who told it (vakthru) was Jn~Anap pirAn and He is the most auspicious ; the One, who listened to it was none other than His divine consort giving it srOthru VailakshaNyam .ANDAL hints that She will hold on to the words given as assurance by this VarahA Moorthy .

2) Thriruvaimozhi: 2.8.7: KezhalAi --.
The description of the Lord entering the praLayA waters and bringing up His consort on His tusk as well as His embracing Her with His broad shoulders after reunion is covered here.

3) Thiruvaimozhi: 7.4.3: NaanRil yEzh maNNUM—
The marvellous feet of the Lord lifting Bhumi dEvi on His tusk without dislocating the saptha parvathams and the saptha dhveepams are saluted here.

4) Thiruvaimozhi 10.10.7: Neelavarai iraNdu piRai kavvi –
Here NammAhzwAr visualizes the Lord as a Blue Mountain adorned by two crescent moons (tusks) and holding His consort on one Of them and emerging out of the Ocean . This decription is based on the VishNu purANa vaakhyams : samutthithO neela ivAchalO mahAn-

5) Thiruvaimozhi :7.5.5--Understanding of the VarAhAvathAram as the redeeming one for one's salvation .

6) Periya Thirumozhi :2.6.3
( Thirukkadanmallai Paasuram ): yEnatthinuruvAhi--
AzhwAr sautes EmperumAn as : " Jn~Anatthin oLi uruvai " as the embodiment of the guiding light of Jn~Anam .

7) Periya Thriumozhi: 4.4.8( Thirut Therriyampalam )
Here Meru mountain is visualized as reaching upto the Gigantic body of VarAha PerumAn as He rose out of the water.

9) Periya Thirumozhi: 7.8.4 ( TherazhundUr Paasuram )
Description of BhUVarAha SvarUpam is saluted here .

10) Periya Thirumozhi : 11.4.3 ( Celebration of DasAvathArams ) Here AzhwAr salutes VarAha PirAN as " nammai aaLum arasu " .

11) Poygai : Mudal ThiruvanthAdhi: paasuram 91 Salutation to Jn~Anac chudar , VarAha PirAn

** There are many other referenmces found elsewhere in Divya Prabhandham .

** The central message for us is the rich meanings of the VarAha Charama SlOkam as explained by Swami Desikan .

** Mutthuswami Deekshithar"s Sri Lakshmi VarAHam krithi set in AbhOgi raagam is a beautiful one saluting this avathAram as that of Sriman NaarAyaNA . Lakshmi never leaves Him in any avathAram . Sri Deekshithar sang about a LakshmI Varaha sthalam on the banks of TamprabharaNi river. He salutes the Lord as " Sritha jana subha Pratham ". He recognizes Him as " Neela mEgha Jaya ShyAmaLa gAthram ,NeeLA BhUdEvi sthuthi paathram ".

** BhU devi's sthuthi and the manthram that She uses to worship Yaj~na VarAha mUrthy are found in Srimadh BhAgavatham ( 5.18.39 and 35 respectively ) . Her prayer takes on this form :

pramathya dhaithyam prathivAraNam mrughE
yO maam rasayaa JagadhAdhisUkara: I
kruthvOgra dhamshtrE niragAdhudanvatha:
kreetan nivEpa: praNathAsmi tham vibhum II

(Meaning): I salute that Yaj~na VarAha Moorthy , who is the cause of this Universe , who took the form of a Boar and lifted me up from the waters of pralayam and placed me on His tusk and came out of the waters like a powerful elephant and killed the offending enemy (HiraNyAkshan) like destroying an opposing elephant as though it was an effortless sport . To that Omnipotent Lord are my salutations .

The Manthram for Yajna VarAha mUrthy used by BhUmi dEvi is:

Om Namo BhagavathE manthralingAya
yaj~na krathavE mahAdhvarAvayyavAya
mahA purushAya nama:karma sukhlAya
thriyugAya namasthE

(Meaning); To Thee My Lord , who is OmkAra SvarUpi , One who is revealed by the Veda ManthrAs ,One who is the form of Yaj~nam and Krathu , One who has all the Yaj~nAs as limbs of Your sareeram , One who is karma suddhar , One who is of the form of the three yugAs , to that ONE who is Bhagavaan , my profound salutations .

I will conclude this first posting with the beautiful salutation of Sri NaarayaNa Bhattadhiri to Sri GuruvAyurappan , who gave darsanam to him as Aadhi Varaahan :

kimchOttharEshu kurushu priyayA DharaNyA
samsEvithO mahitha manthra nuthi prabhEdhai: I
dhamshtrAgra grushta ghana prushta garishta varshmA
thvam paahi vij~nyanutha Yaj~na VarAha mUrthE II

(Meaning ) : Oh GuruvAyUrappa taking the form of Yaj~na varAha mUrthy ! In the Uttarakuru dEsam (Varsham) , the dear consort of Yours sitting on Your huge tusk of Your gigantic body is saluting You with the most sacred sthuthi and manthram . May Thou with the front part of Your huge tusk hiding the clouds behind it , protect me .

Here are a few more points to round off the earlier references to this avathAram including some original quotations from the PurANam itself :

** The special appreciation for the VarAha Charama slOkam can be obtained from a reply that Bhagavan gave to Sage Narada in Brahma PurANam . The great NaarAyaNa PaarAyaNaa , Sage Naradar asked the Lord:
" prANa prayANa samayE ka : (tvam ) smarthum saktha: syAth"? Bhagvan gave a bland answer , which did not have the precision of VarAha Charama SlOkam and the One found in Bhagavadh GitA . In Brahama PurANam, Bhagavan held out the stakes high and said :

" He who thinks of me always , will certainly cross this vast and frightening ocean of SamsArA filled with waters of greed and avarice ".

" yO maam smarathi NITYASA : " is Bhagavaan's words . Dhruva Smrithi(ceaseless rememberance ) is not with in easy reach of all .The discipline needed , the dharmams to be followed , the Yogams to be practised are ardous for many .That is why Krishna said in GitA :

" sarva dharmAn parithyajya maam Ekam saranam vraja ,
Aham tvaa sarva paapEpyo mokshayishyAmi maa sucha :"

and removed the bheethi and klEsam of the SaraNAgathan .

In VarAha Charama slOkam, the Varaha Bhagavaan went many steps beyond that position stated by Lord KrishNa in GitA and MadhusUdhana"s statement about dhruva smrithi in Brahma PurANam . What He said to Bhumi Devi in response to the request for a Laghu UpAyam was:

" The Man/woman , who , when his/her mind in its normal condiiton , when his/her body is not shattered , and when the elementary constituents (DhAthus ) are in perfect equipoise , meditates on Me , who has the world as My body and (meditates) on Me , who is not subject to births due to KarmA --when that man/woman lies like a log of wood or a piece of stone in his/her dying moments , then I think of (him/her), My bhakthan/Bhakthai and lead him/her to My supreme abode " .

The conditions that this parama DayALu lays on the humans fully cognizant of their helplessness in their last moments is so driven by His limitless compassion to His Bhakthan .

The AzhwAr's plea , appOthukkippOthE solli vaitthEn " now comes into focus. Varaha BhagavAn's outright , unambiguous statement of His declared intent to rush to the side of such BhakthAL and then leading them by hand as it were to His parama padham has in my opinion no match anywhere .

** Sri VishNu sahasra Naamam salutes this avathAram as " MahA VarAhO GovindhO --" . It is intersting to see the juxtaposition of Govindha Naamam after MahA VarAha nAmam . In one approach Govindha is the One , the One , who rescued Mother Earth ( Go=Earth , VindA = rescuer ). It is as MahA VarAham that BhagavAN rescued His consort and acquired the name of Govindhan .

Niruktham also endorses this intrepretation based on the texts from MahA Bhaaratham and VishNu purAnam :

tatha: samuthikshipya DharAm sva dhamshtrayA
maha VarAha: sputa padma lOchana: -- Vishnu PurAnam:1.4.26

nashtAm cha DharaNIm purvamavindham cha guhaagatham
Govindha ithi tEnAham -- BhAratham Saanthi parvam 343.41

In this final posting on VaraahAvathAram , I will provide a quick overview of Swami Desikan's Rahasya Grantham revered as Rahasya SikhAmaNi. I will cover the deeper interpretations in future postings in SaraNAgathi Journal.

The Scope of Rahasya SikhAmaNi
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Rahasya SikhAmaNi is one of the chillarai Rahasyams created by Swami Sri Desikan . It celebrates and explains the deeper meanings of the two slOkams that constitute the unit known as varaha charama SlOkam .

The esoteric meanings for every word of these two slOkams are provided by Swami Sri Desikan in this powerful gantham . I am planning to cover the details of this important grantham in one of the future issues of saraNAgathi Journal . For now , here are some comments that might provide an introduction .

Swami Desikan's Tribute to the Lord
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Swami Sri Desikan's salutation to the gigantic form of the VarAha PerumAn in this rahasyam is as follows :

kkApi kalpaanthavEsanthE kuradhagnE samruddhathAm
vahathE mEdhinimusthAm mahathE POthriNE nama :

(Meaning): The deep ocean of the ocean during the MahA PraLyam times was equal to the dimension of one hoof of the gigantic Varaha PerumAn , who lifted BhUmi Piraati out of that Ocean like lifting a tuber (kOraik Kizhangu) from those waters and placed Her on His immense tusk . I salute that BhUmiVarAhan , the MahA POthrin .

The Context of the Varaaha Charama Slokam
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VarAha Sarama SlOkam arose because of the immense compassion of Our ThAyAr , who is Omniscient and yet asked Her Lord to bless the unfortunate chEthanams ( Her children ) with a Laghu UpAyam to overcome the sufferings of SamsAram and to reach His Lotus feet .

She rightfully recognized us as asaktha adhikhAris unable to practise the Guru upAyam (Difficult to practise means) like Bhakthi Yogam . She felt that route would be the equivalent of tying a panam kaai (big palmyra Fruit) around the neck of a sparrow , which surely will ground it forever .She knew that we will not be able to think of the Lord during the last moments of our life on this earth , when we are overpowered by blocked throat and memory loss et al . Our Mind will struggle with every matter other than the thoughts about Lord at that time. She prayed to Her Lord therefore to have mercy on us and begged Him to bless us with a laghu upAyam (simple and unfailing means) of salvation . She wanted that laghu UpAyam to be free from the burdens of svarUpa parikArams ( structure and limbs /angams ) . BhU VarAhan agreedto His dear consort's request and revealed to Her for our benefit a supreme message of Hope that would remove our fears at the worst time of our suffering as our Jeevan is about to part from the cage of body .

The Meaning of the Varaaha Charama Slokam
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The message contained in these two slOkams is the essence of Jn~Ana Yaj~nam , (viz ), Prapatthi . As elaborated by nammAzhwAr's Thiruvaimozhi 3.7.7 , He revealed the steps that He takes to place the Jeevan at His sacred feet at parama padham after revealing their natural nithyAnandha svarUpam . This He does by descending on this earth in Vibhava avathArams , protecting His adiyArs and then lifting them upto His celestial abode at the end of their dEha yaathrAis .

These two slOkams support the pUrva -utthara sections of Dhvayam and charama slOkam of Lord KrishNA and the ahalahillEn paasuram of NammAzhwAr .

Thus the VarAha Sarama slOkams are anyOnya UpakArams (mutually supportive of each other in thought ) for the latter rahasyams like Dhvayam and Charama SlOkam of ParthasArathy .

These two sacred VarAha Sarama SlOkams , the subject matter of the elaborate commentary , Rahasya SikhAmaNi are :

sthithE manasi susvasthE sarIrE sathi yO nara:
dhAthusAmyE sthithE smarthA visvarUpam cha maamajam (1)

tathastham mriyamANam thu kAshtA paashaNa sannibham
aham smarAmi madh bhaktham nayAmi paramAm gathim (2)

(Meaning): Oh Bhumi Devi ! The entire universe is my body (sarIram ) . I do not have births or deaths . When my bhakthAs with mahA visvAsam surrender to me, while they are still in a state of tranquil mind and healthy body and reflect about Me as as SarvAdharan ( root cause of all) , NiyanthA ( one who commands from within ) sarva sEshi ( the ultimate ), aasrayaNeeyan ( one who is fit to be worshipped ) , Sarva VyApthan (all-pervasive ) and Nithya sannihithan ( One who is always near ) , THEN I think of them at their last moments, when they are totally unconscious like a log or a stoneand lead them by archirAdhi maargam to My parama padham and bless them to have nithya kaimkarya bhAgyam to Me there .

Concluding prayer of Swami Desikan to BhU VarAhan
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Swami Desikan concludes his elaborate commentary with a moving prayer:

kaalE prApthE karaNavilayAth kaashta paashaNa kalpAn
Naatha: POthrI nayathu krupayaa naathitha: kam padham na:

(meaning): When the time of physical death approaches , and when our limbs have lost their power and when we are in a state of unconsciousness equal to that of a stone or a log , then may Lord VarAhan in response to our earlier saraNAgathi have mercy on us and lead us to His Parama Padham .

This in essence is Rahasya SikhAMaNi grantham .

The Twin significance of the VarAhaavathAram
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The Deeper significance of the Varaha Avatara / Hiranyaksha story with which we are all familiar is as follows:

The deeper significance to this avathAram are two fold in my opinion : (1) The birth of VarAha Charam slOkam and (2) AsahyApachaaram /BhagavathApachAram as revealed by the dwaara paalakAs' (Jaya-Vijaya"s) apachAram to the SanathkumAraa and the the other three great sages ,who were prevented by from having the darsanam of Sriman NaaraayaNa at Parama Padham . Our Lord will not put up with BhAgavathApachAram even if it originates from His servants .

Jn~anap Piraan ThgiruvdigaLE SaraNam
Bhumi Devi ThAyAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan


 

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