Hiranyaksa fights with Lord Varahadeva

In the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta, it is revealed that the whole pastime of Jaya and Vijaya started from their secret desire to test their strength in a mock fight against Lord Viṣnu.

In the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta, it is revealed that the whole pastime of Jaya and Vijaya started from their secret desire to test their strength in a mock fight against Lord Viṣnu. Being the two gatekeepers of the Lord, they are the two strongest persons in Vaikuṇṭha, and thus they had the desire to serve the Lord by entertaining Him in a fight. However, there is no possibility of anyone fighting the Lord in Vaikuṇṭha; therefore, the fight had to happen in the material world. The Lord thus used the curse of the Kumāras as an excuse to satisfy their desire and simultaneously play a wonderful pastime. Every day of Brahma, the Lord comes as Varaha and Narasimha to fight two powerful demons. This particular time, Jaya and Vijaya assumed the post of these two demons and could thus satisfy the Lord by fighting with Him, as they had previously desired.

Just like Hiranyakashipu, Hiranyaksa was a devotee of Lord Brahma and performed great austerities to receive a boon of quasi-immortality. While asking for his boon, he mentioned not to be killed by any human or demigod, and by a list of animals, which didn’t include the boar. Therefore, the Lord came specifically in the form of a boar to kill him, combining it with His pastime of lifting the Earth. Although the Lord is free to do anything He wants, He generally chooses to respect the boons given by demigods, who are His devotees. Both Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakashipu were devotees of Lord Brahma, and the Lord killed them in ways that respected the blessings they had obtained from him.

Lord Varaha appeared from the nostril of Brahma, coming out as a small boar who quickly increased in size, up to the point of being much bigger than our planet. It’s described that when he was lifting the Earth, our planet looked like a small spot at the end of his tusk, and from this description, we can have an idea about His size.

When the demon heard from Nārada Muni that the Lord had appeared in the form of a boar and was lifting the Earth from the depths of the Garbhodaka Ocean, he immediately hushed there to fight Him. Demons can’t understand the transcendental nature of the Lord, and thus, they think they can kill him just like a regular mortal being. Hiranyaksa concluded that if he killed the Lord, the demigods and great sages would also automatically cease to exist, like trees without roots, and thus the demons could easily dominate the universe. With these thoughts in mind, he challenged the Lord to a fight.

Seeing the Lord lifting the Earth, Hiranyaksa protested (3.18.3), by saying:

jahāsa cāho vana-gocaro mṛgaḥ

āhainam ehy ajña mahīṁ vimuñca no/ rasaukasāṁ viśva-sṛjeyam arpitā

na svasti yāsyasy anayā mamekṣataḥ/ surādhamāsādita-sūkarākṛte

In his translation, Prabhupada gives the direct meaning of the verse, with Hiranyaksa challenging the Lord:

“The demon laughed: Oh, an amphibious beast!”

“The demon addressed the Lord: O best of the demigods, dressed in the form of a boar, just hear me. This earth is entrusted to us, the inhabitants of the lower regions, and You cannot take it from my presence and not be hurt by me.”

In his purport, however, Prabhupada explains that this verse had a double meaning. As Śrīdhara Svāmī explains, the verse is also a glorification of the Lord. Other verses in the Srimad Bhagavatam where demons appear to blaspheme the Lord have similar hidden meanings, where the Lord is glorified.

These are the alternate meanings for words used in the verse according to Sridhara Swami:

a) vana-gocaro: “one who lies on the water”, which properly addresses the Lord in his form as Garbodakasayi Vishnu, lying on the Garbhodaka Ocean.

b) mṛgaḥ: “He who is sought after by great sages, saintly persons, and transcendentalists”

c) ajña: there is no knowledge that is unknown to the Supreme Lord (indicating that He knows everything). d) surādhama: “sura” refers to the demigods, and adhama means “Lord of all there is.” This indicates that Lord Varaha is the best of all demigods, the Supreme Lord.

e) mama īkṣataḥ: “In spite of my presence, You are completely able to take away the earth.”

f) na svasti yāsyasy: “Unless You kindly take this earth from our custody, there can be no good fortune for us.”

In this way, when we take the hidden meaning of the words, this passage can be translated as:

“Hiraṇyākṣa said: O You who lies on the water! O, You who are sought after by great sages, saintly persons, and transcendentalists! O the best of all demigods, O Supreme Lord who took the form of a boar! Oh, Supreme Person who knows everything, come and fight with me! We inhabitants of the lower regions unlawfully took possession of the earth, and unless You take it back from our custody, there can be no good fortune for us. Although I’m so powerful, You were able to take away the earth, despite my presence.”

Similarly, text four is translated by Prabhupada in its direct meaning as:

“You rascal, You have been nourished by our enemies to kill us, and You have killed some demons by remaining invisible. O fool, Your power is only mystic, so today I shall enliven my kinsmen by killing You.”

However, in the purport, Prabhupada reveals the hidden meaning of the words. Taking these indirect meanings, the verse can be translated as:

“You have been sent by our enemies, the demigods, to liberate us from the cycle of birth and death. The activities of Your internal potency are inconceivable, and although You remain invisible, You deliver us from the clutches of ignorance, which, although ordinarily powerful, becomes meager in Your presence. All miseries from material existence can be extinguished by your internal potency, yoga-māyā, and by this potency, you can wipe out the grief of my kinsman.”

Saying this, Hiranyaksa challenged the Lord to a fight and started chasing Him. Jaya and Vijaya had been blessed by the Lord to remember Him in anger, like an enemy, and Hiranyaksa was exhibiting this mood, although his words were indirectly glorifying the Lord.

At this moment, the Lord was lifting the Earth from the ocean. Even though chased and abused by Hiranyaksa, He continued his duty of lifting the Earth. As Prabhupada mentions in this purport, this shows that a dutiful person has nothing to fear. Even though being chased by a powerful demon, the Lord first finished His duty of lifting the Earth. Another meaning was to show the demigods that they should not be afraid of demons while performing their duties, since the Lord is always present to protect them.

The Lord then gently placed the Earth on the surface of the water and transferred to her his energy as the ability to float in the waters of the universal ocean. Having concluded this pastime, the Lord prepared to face the demon.

It is described that, being challenged by the Lord, Hiranyaksa became very angry and agitated, like a cobra. For ordinary people, a cobra is a very poisonous and dangerous snake, but a snake charmer can play with it and make it do whatever he wants. Similarly, a demon may be powerful compared with other demons, demigods, and ordinary people, but before the Lord, he is insignificant. Ravana was terrorizing the demigods, but when challenged by Rama, he trembled and prayed to Lord Śiva, but even this was not sufficient to save him.

For some time, the Lord enjoyed fighting with Hiranyaksa, hitting him with His mace and being struck by him. Hissing indignantly, all his senses shaken by wrath, the demon quickly sprang upon the Lord and dealt Him a blow with his powerful mace. For the sake of the pastime, the Lord didn’t show the full extent of His power, and thus, he appeared to be fighting the demon on equal terms.

Although the description of Srimad Bhagavatam mentions that the Lord was enraged, or in other words, angry while fighting Hiranyaksa, Srila Jiva Goswami mentions that this anger was just an external show for the sake of the pastime. Internally, the Lord was never angry at Jaya and Vijaya.

It’s also mentioned that the Lord exhibited signs of being wounded, sustaining injuries from the blows of Hiranyaksa. These supposed wounds were also just a show since the transcendental body of the Lord can’t be hurt. The body of the Lord is fully spiritual, and spirit can’t be cut, dried, moistened, or burnt.

During the battle of Kuruksetra, Bhisma intentionally aimed his arrows at the Lord, instead of Arjuna, because he understood that, different from Arjuna, the Lord would not be hurt. The Lord then accepted these arrows just like an offering of flowers, even though externally He showed symptoms of being hurt, having his garland sprinkled with blood, and so on. These so-called wounds are just like ornaments that increase the beauty of the Lord during his fighting pastime.

The Lord appears to have fought with Hiranyaksa for a long time, since the battle extended up to when it was almost night. Demons become more active and powerful at night, while devotees are more powerful during the day. Apprehensive about the prospect of Hiranyaksa becoming even more powerful, Lord Brahma urged the Lord to finish the fight and kill Him while it was still day.

Hearing the prayers of Brahma to finish the demon, the Lord laughed and looked lovingly at Brahma, accepting his prayer. And continued fighting the demon. At first, He let Hiranyaksa disarm Him, his mace slipping from His hand after being hit by the mace of Hiranyaksa. The Lord then invoked His Sudarsana cakra. When Hiranyaksa tried to attack Him again with his mace, he knocked it down with His left foot. The demon then attacked the Lord with a trident, which was torn to pieces by the Lord’s cakra. He then started to hit the Lord with his bare fists, but He stayed unaffected, just like an elephant stuck by flowers. He tried to use magic tricks, creating terrible illusions, but these were quickly dispersed by the Sudarsana cakra. He tried to smash the Lord by embracing Him with his arms and again struck Him with his fists, but the Lord slapped him in the root of the ear, killing him.

In SB 2.7.1, it is described that Hiranyaksa was pierced by the tusk of the Lord, while this passage describes that he was killed with a slap on the ear. This appears to be a contradiction, but it is not. The Lord killed him with a slap and then pierced him with his tusk.

How is it that Hiranyaksa could fight so violently with the Lord, even though being his eternal servant, and how could the Lord also fight so violently with Him? Prabhupada compares this fight to a mock fight between a father and a son. Although they may get absorbed in the fight, it is ultimately a play, and there is no real enmity between them.

Lord Brahma was surprised to see how Hiranyaksa had met with such a blessed death. Yogis meditate in the lotus feet of the Lord for very long periods in secluded places, and Hiranyaksa received the touch of the forefoot of the Lord by just fighting with Him as an enemy. Hiranyaksa was destined to take birth two times more as a demon, and then return to his original position when killed personally by Krsna. In general, there are two ways of getting out of this material world: by becoming a pure devotee, or by becoming a demon powerful enough to be killed by the Lord. Becoming a pure devotee is, of course, the easiest and the recommended path, but this shows how everyone who comes in contact with the Lord is blessed.

After being praised by all the demigods, the Lord returned to His abode. It’s described that in Vaikuṇṭha, “there is always an uninterrupted festival”. It is also mentioned that the Lord is “the origin of the boar species”, and in fact, He is the source of everything. Everything that exists in the material world is a reflection of something that exists in the spiritual world. The difference is that the material reflections are inverted images. In this way, what is the purest manifestation of love in the spiritual world, the love between Krsna and the Gopis, is reflected in this material world as illicit relationships between men and women, which are the most degraded form of relationship. Similarly, the transcendental, beautiful, pure, and glorious form of the Lord as a boar is reflected in this material world in the form of hogs and pigs, which are not considered very glorious animals.

Maitreya also mentions how Hiranyaksa was the most powerful demon to appear up to that point in the history of the universe, displaying unprecedented powers that exceeded any other demon who appeared before (in other days of Brahma). Such a powerful demon was killed by the Lord without difficulty, just like a child destroys a toy. This is yet another demonstration of the inconceivable power of the Lord.

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