Varaha Puranam : Part 1

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

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

**************************************************

 

** 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 .

 

Jn~Anap PirAn ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan