srimadbhagavatham-skandha3 chapter15 to 19

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Chapter15- 19- The story of Jaya and Vijaya and the slaying of Hirnyaksha

 

When the two sons of Dhithi were growing in her womb, the whole world became dark and the devas and dikpalas including the Sun lost their lustre. Devas went to Brahma and asked him the reason for this and he started telling them the story of the dvarapalkas of the Lord in Vaikunta who were cursed to be born as demons..

 

Once, said Brahma, the sages, Sanaka Sanathana, Sanathkumara and Sanathana, who were eternally young and called kumaaraas, came to see the Lord in Vaikunta. The dvarpalakas, Jaya and Vijaya stopped tem at the gate , not knowing their greatness, simply judging them by their appearance. Then they cursed the dvrpalakas to be born on earth as they did not deserve their residence in Vaikunta . The two trembled and falling at their feet asked for forgiveness when the Lord Himself came out. He apologized to the sages for the behaviour of His attendants and said that it was all His sankalpa as they were once cursed by Lakshmi because they prevented her also once from entering in. Then the Lord said that they will return to Him quickly by being born with hatred for Him and thinking only about Him through samrambha yoga. Thus they were born as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasipu, the sons of Dhithi

 

It seems that Dhithi bore them in her womb for 100 years fearing the destruction on vast scale by them. When they were born at last there were many calamities on earth like earthquakes, strange fire, meteors , comets etc. Kasyapa named them Hirnyaksha and Hiranyakasipu. Hiranyakasipu did penance and obtained boons and terrorized the whole world and devas. Hiranyaksha roamed around with his mace looking for a suitable opponent and challenged Varuna , who told him that only Lord Hari can be his equal opponent. Hiranyaksha, searching for Lord Hari , took the earth and hid it in the ocean and looked for the Lord. He heard from Narada that the Lord Hari had gone in to the nether world and went there. He saw the Lord carrying the earth on His tusk and started to fight with Him. The devas and Brahma came to watch the fight and seeing the Lord playing with the asura, entreated him to kill him quickly before night fall because the strength of asuras will increase in the night. The Lord Haril killed him and returned to Vaikunta.

 

Hearing this episode of Varahavathara one is supposed to be freed from even the sin of killing a Brahmin. In VarhapuraNa it is said that the Lord Varaha promises that if one contemplates on Him when his faculties are intact, the Lord will look after Him in his last moments even if his consciousness is absent and he lies like a log of wood.(varahacharamasloka)

 

The significance of Varahavathara and the meaning of Hiranyaksha and Hianyakasipu

 

 

The word hiranya means gold and aksha eyes. The one who has his eyes on the gold is a hiranyaaksha The hiranyabuddhi in contrast with bhagavatbuddhi denotes a materialistic outlook which envelopes the whole world , eclipsing bhagavatbuddhi, the spiritual outlook. The whole world becomes immersed in materialism. The mahaavaraaha, the Big Boar is also vrishaakapi, dharma incarnate. Bhaagaavthapuraana describes the Varaaha as Yajnavaraaha, the embodiment of yajna. This idea is also presented in Bhagavatgita in chapter 3, where the Absolute Reality Brahman is said to be established in yajna. Thus Mahaavaraaha alone could save the world from hiranyabuddhi.

The earth was described as looking like a small ball on the tusk of the Varaaha implying that for those with bhagavatbuddhi the material world is thuchcha, of no value. The oceans were only knee deep for the Varaaha, the wild boar, who was fierce looking for the wicked but gentle to the devotees.

Hiranyaaksha and his brother Hiranyakasipu, kasipu meaning food and clothing, stand for materialism. Both of them, the guards at the gate of Vaikunta the abode of Lord Vishnu and cursed to be born as asuraas, they take birth as brothers for three times. Even though the Lord killed them both in one incarnation when they were born as Raavana, Kumbhakarna and as Sisupaala ,Dhanthavakra, He needed two incarnations, namely that of Varaaha and Nrsimha to kill them as Hiranyaaksha and Hiranyakasipu, who personify madha, arrogance, and krodha, anger respectively. Of the six internal enemies of man, Ravana stands for kaama, desire, Kumbhakarna for moha, delusion and Sisupaala and Dhanthavakra represent maathsarya envy and lobha, avarice. This shows that it is more difficult to conquer anger and arrogance than the others.