As Kantara movie is making waves, I couldn't resist and watch it in the theatre, certainly, it is a great treat to watch. The movie gets its soul right by putting the spirit of the forest against a greedy landlord who can't have enough of land for himself.
Varaha Avtar, the third avatar of Vishnu and the least famous Avtar in my opinion is now in limelight. I have found it difficult to understand Varaha avatar in the past. Haven't come across any dedicated temples and the story of avatar is confusing- how the earth can be rescued from the ocean when the earth has ocean?
So I did a bit of research and after exploring many articles finally could put things into perspective. Mythical stories are told in metaphors so it's important to understand these metaphors. There are multiple versions of Varaha avatar available in different texts right from Vedas, with the evolution of the story with the passage of time. Here is the version from Bhagvad Purana which is most recent and famous.
It starts with a Daitya (Demon) Hiranyaksh who becomes very powerful and defeats Indra the king of Devas(gods). He takes the earth to the bottom of the cosmic ocean. That's when all plead to lord Vishnu to intervene and protect them by dealing with Hiranyaksh. Vishnu then takes Varaha(Boar) avatar to bring back earth from the bottom of the cosmic ocean by defeating Hiranyaksh in battle.
This story doesn't make much sense on the face of it, but diving a little we decipher a bit of meaning. Daemon Hiranyaksh defeats Devas(gods) and takes over the throne of Indra. He became very powerful and wanted more power, in his hunger he captured the whole of the earth. Then Vishnu in his wild boar form gets the earth back from the ocean of misery.
Let's try to understand all the metaphors in the story and what they really mean.
- Hiranyaksh - He is a Daitya ( Daemon) son of Rishi(Sage) Kashyap and Diti (Darkness). His name is made up of two words Hiranya + Aaksha, Hiranya means gold or precious metals and Aaksha means eye. So it literally translates to one with the eye of gold. He represents the greed for material wealth, and power has a big ego, and causes the disorder.
- The Earth - Earth is called ‘Hiranya-garbha’, Bhudevi or ‘Vasudha’ I.e. one which possesses Gold. Hence the metaphor of capturing earth by the Hiranyaksh.
- Cosmic Ocean - You will see this ocean in a lot of images of Vishnu floating on top of this ocean representing Spiritual consciousness. The bottom of this ocean is misery, chaos, and lack of consciousness. So it is not an ocean of water on earth but a metaphor.
- Varaha(Boar) - This is the most cryptic, lot of interpretations associate it with life coming out of the water on earth in form of mammals, but I believe these interpretations has come across due to the similarity of Vishnu Avatars with the evolution theory of Darwin. To find out why Boar? lets understand what qualities of Varaha(boar).
Why Boar? (Varaha)
They live in muddy waters and have a very strong sense of smell. Very adaptable and eats carcasses, worms, and almost anything. They can swim, dig the ground and run very fast. Fierce when attacked, they have a very high fertility rate, and can produce up to 6 offspring.
The Boar is symbolic of the Vedic Sacrifice (Yajña) and hence is called yajña-varāha. The Vedic yajña begins with the plowing of the earth – an activity associated with the boar. The Varāha-mūrti is the embodiment of Yajña. Yajña can best be described as the principle of reciprocity – the exchange of energies between spheres. The image below shows the symbolism of yajña with four legs of Boar representing four Vedas. Qualities of boar closely match with yajña and hence the choice of Boar as metaphor.
Pic: Varaha Temple with yajña details on monolithic Varaha
@ Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India.
The Varaha is the embodiment of the Supreme Being who brings order amidst chaos in the world through manifestation as the YAJÑA. So the yajña itself is the Varāha Avatāra. It is through reciprocity that Order is maintained and Chaos averted in the world.
Reciprocity establishes harmony.
- 1. Harmony in members of a family, society, nation etc.
- 2. Harmony between humans and the eco-system
What is Yajña?
Varaha avatar brings in a new concept yajña, It is an activity with sacrificial fire where everyone sacrifices on basis of reciprocity for the better. Rituals aside it brings in people together for a cause Rishij (Scholars) who bring in knowledge, hosts (promoters) who organize and make it happen and mobilize required resources
To summarize Varaha avatar:
Uplifting of consciousness from worldly materialism . It is through reciprocity that Order is maintained and Chaos averted in the world. Powerful not able to exploit and abuse resources and rights of others. Gandhiji had said The world has enough for everyone's need but not enough for one man's greed.
In present context:
We live in a material world today with economics as the sole criterion of progress and consumption as a key indicator. Many Hiranyaksh are creating wealth by exploiting mother nature (earth). We need Vishnu in form of Varaha (yajña) to get us out of this mess by bringing in consciousness so the earth can be saved from global warming which will eventually make everyone's life miserable.
There is global action(yajña) catching momentum against climate change and I believe Vishnu can enlighten our consciousness and further guide all of us in the fight against climate change. I am fighting Hiranyaksh within me by following reduce, reuse and recycle policy, planting trees, and doing water conservation as part of the Harit-Kranti group. I urge you all to reciprocate for the cause.
References:
From <https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-meaning-of-Varaha-third-avatar-of-Lord-Vishnu-Is-there-any-temple-of-Varaha-in-India>
From <https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-meaning-of-Varaha-third-avatar-of-Lord-Vishnu-Is-there-any-temple-of-Varaha-in-India>
From <https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-meaning-of-Varaha-third-avatar-of-Lord-Vishnu-Is-there-any-temple-of-Varaha-in-India>
https://indiancc.mygov.in/activity/cherry-mourya/save-environmentsave-earth/
