Varaha Vaibhavam

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SrI:SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:Dearest all,Today Chithrai UtthirattAdhi- Varaaha avathAram. Prathamacharyan Sriman Narayanan took birth mahA pOtri... Huge Boar (Varaaha). In Thiruppavai, MAAYANAI MANNU (verse 5) Andal explains how when one surrenders to the Lord all impediments get destroyed. In this verse, AndAl instructs a very important aspect- Saranagathi.We will just dwell upon first word Maayan:Oh friends! When one surrenders to Sri Krishnan, all karmas (Sanchitha karma and Praarabdha karma) get extinguished- All the Sanchita Karmas( Accumulated ) and Praarabdha Karmas (started to yield) will be completely finished like the straw dirt being burnt by fire- within no time.By going to Him with pure heart (thooyOmaay vandhu)THOO MALAR THOOVI THOZHUDU, VAAYINAAL PAADI, MANATHINAAL SINDHIKKA Worship by body, Speech and Mind (Mano, Vak, Kaayam)[bhUmAdEvi was submerged in the ocean by an asura called Hiranyaksha. Lord Sriman nArAyana took the incarnation of a big boar (varAha avtaar) and went into The ocean to uplift up BhUmAdevi. She was lifted up and made sit in the lap of the Lord. Still bhUmAdEvi was shivering. When the Lord asked her for the reason. She replied politely :" Oh! my nAthA! You have protected me. But still our children in the samsArA are helpless and suffering. They cannot practice the uninterrupted meditation in Bhakti yoga as preached by you in the vedas with their limited knowledge. So you must be kind enough to show them a simpler way to reach you" The Lord understood the affection of bhUmAdEvi towards her children and gave a fitting reply: The simplest way to reach me is in stable state of mind, [with all three organs of senses (karanam) viz. manas, vAk and kAyam (speech, action and thought)]-surrender to Me.Think only about him, act only for pUja [ArAdhana] to Him, and speak only in praise of Him. Immediately bhUmi piratti grasped this easy means of Saranagathi to reach the Lord and thought it fit to be preached to us in this samsAra. Thus came ThiruppAvai and this line in particular.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.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 Varaha PuraNam has the pancha lakshanam of a standard PuraNam,(Viz)., Cantos (Sargam ), their subdivisions ( Prathisargam ),dynasties (vamsam ) and the periods of time known asmanvanthrAs and the charithram associated with that period .SrI Satakopan Swami writes:The central message for us is the rich meanings of the VarAha Charama SlOkam as explained by Swami Desikan .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: IkruthvOgra dhamshtrE niragAdhudanvatha:kreetan nivEpa: praNathAsmi tham vibhum III 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 watersof 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 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 .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.. 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 humansfully cognizant of their helplessness in their last momentsis so driven by His limitless compassion to His Bhakthan .The AzhwAr's plea , appOthukkippOthE solli vaitthEn " nowcomes into focus. Varaha BhagavAn's outright , unambiguous statement of His declared intent to rush to the side of such BhakthALand 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 thejuxtaposition of Govindha Naamam after MahA VarAha nAmam .In one approach Govindha is the One , the One , who rescuedMother Earth ( Go=Earth , VindA = rescuer ). It is as MahAVarAham 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:1.4.26nashtAm cha DharaNIm purvamavindham cha guhaagatham Govindha ithi tEnAham -- BhAratham Saanthi parvam 343.41 Rahasya sikhAmaNi: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 twoslOkams are provided by Swami Sri Desikan in this powerful gantham . Here are some comments that might provide an introduction .Swami Desikan's Tribute to the Lord: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 VarAha Sarama SlOkam arose because of the immensecompassion of Our ThAyAr , who is Omniscient andyet 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 willground it forever .She knew that we will not be ableto 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 Lordat that time. She prayed to Her Lord therefore tohave mercy on us and begged Him to bless us with a laghu upAyam (simple and unfailingmeans ) of salvation . She wanted that laghu UpAyamto 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 oursuffering as our Jeevan is about to part from thecage of body . 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 Jeevanat 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 andthe 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 ofthe elaborate commentary , Rahasya SikhAmaNi are :sthithE manasi .. aham smarAmi madh bhaktham nayAmi paramAm gathim (Meaning ) :Oh Bhumi Devi ! The entire universe ismy 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 healthybody and reflect about Me as as SarvAdharan ( root causeof all) , NiyanthA ( one who commands from within ) sarva sEshi ( the ultimate ), aasrayaNeeyan ( one whois 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:Swami Desikan concludes his elaborate commentary with a moving prayer:kaalE prApthE karaNavilayAth kaashta paashaNa kalpAnNaatha: 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 ora log , then may Lord VarAhan in response to our earliersaraNAgathi have mercy on us and lead us to His Parama Padham .Jn~anap Piraan ThgiruvdigaLE SaraNamBhumi Devi ThAyAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNamAcharyan ThoruvadigaLE SaraNamRegardsnamo narayana

Courtsey: Madhavakkannan V srivaishnavan