The sages pray to Lord Varāha
In this world, the hog is not considered a very attractive or pure animal, but when the Lord appears in the form of a hog, He becomes the most attractive personality. Even great sages glorify Him.
The Srimad Bhagavatam describes two appearances of Lord Varāhadeva. The first one, the white Varāha, appeared at the beginning of the reign of Svāyambhuva Manu, when Bhū-Mandala was submerged in the water of the causal ocean, and the second, the red Varāha, appeared in the 6th manvantara, when our planet fell from its orbit due to the excessive mining of Hiranyaksa. The illustration that appears in the Srimad Bhagavatam, of Varāha lifting a spherical Earth, which was done under the guidance of Srila Prabhupada, depicts this second appearance. In the first appearance, Varāha was white and lifted the whole Bhū-Mandala.
Other differences in that in the second appearance, He fought with Hiranyaksa, and in the first, he received the prayers of the sages. These two events are described in the third canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, which amalgamates the events related to the two pastimes in just one description.
In this world, the hog is not considered a very attractive or pure animal, but when the Lord appears in the form of a hog, He becomes the most attractive personality. The Lord is pure and transcendental, and there is no difference between His self and His body. Therefore, every time the Lord appears to perform a pastime, His transcendental form is the most attractive.
It is described that Lord Varāha was gigantic like a great elephant, and roared with an uncommon voice that echoed in all directions. Initially, Lord Brahma and the great sages were puzzled about the identity of this uncommon personality, but when they heard His roar, they could understand that He was the Supreme Lord and started offering prayers by chanting mantras from the Vedas. In response to these prayers, the Lord roared again and flew into the sky, whipping His tail. This made His hair quiver, which was another attractive spectacle. While flying, He also scattered the clouds in the sky with His hooves and His glittering white tusks.
Finally, He entered into the cosmic ocean with great force, creating two great waves that looked like two gigantic arms. Playing like a hog, the Lord found the Earth by smell and lifted her from the bottom of the ocean by balancing the planet on his tusk. At this moment, He appeared very splendid.
The great sages of the universe glorified the Lord by offering prayers. Based on the explanations of Srila Prabhupada on SB 3.14.2, it appears that these prayers were offered by the great sages on the occasion of the first appearance of the Lord. The main points are:
a) Although descending in the form of a boar, the Lord's form is fully transcendental. Even though appearing in the material world to perform pastimes, the Lord doesn't assume a material body like ordinary living entities, nor is He under the influence of the three modes.
b) The Lord is equally worshipable in all His transcendental forms, be it as the Lord of Vaikunta or in any of His incarnations. However, the duṣkṛta, or miscreants, are unable to understand it.
c) The veda-vādīs, the false followers of the Vedas, perform different forms of fire sacrifice without understanding their purpose or strictly following the regulations. Such sacrifices are useless. In reality, taking shelter in the Lord and rendering service unto Him is the real form of sacrifice. The Lord is the source of all benedictions and the enjoyer of all forms of sacrifice. All forms of sacrifice should then be seen in connection with the Lord and performed for His satisfaction.
d) All forms of sacrifice have the goal of realizing the Lord. For this, one should become free from all material contaminations and desires. This freedom is called vairāgya, or renunciation of material desires. When one attains this platform, his mind becomes pure and free from both visible and invisible material contamination (in other words, one becomes pure both internally and externally). How can one achieve such a platform? Prabhupada explains:
"One who engages in devotional service to the Lord according to regulative principles is automatically freed from material desires, and in that pure state of mind one can realize the Personality of Godhead. The Personality of Godhead, being situated in everyone’s heart, instructs the devotee regarding pure devotional service so that he may ultimately achieve the association of the Lord."
"The ultimate end of all those performances is to attain bhakti, or the devotional service of the Lord. Without bhakti one cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
e) The Lord could have lifted the Earth from the ocean just by His potencies. Why then did He choose to personally come? For the pleasure of enjoying His pastime. By lifting the Earth using his tusk, the transcendental body of the Lord looks especially beautiful, and the planet also looks beautiful, like a cloud resting on the peak of a great mountain.
f) The Earth is the wife of the Lord, and the Lord is the supreme father, therefore, both are worshipable. The Earth is not only created and maintained by the Lord, but it also floats in space thanks to the potency of the Lord in the form of the gravitational force.
g) Although the activity of lifting the Earth from the bottom of the cosmic ocean is wonderful and could not be performed by anyone apart from the Lord, this activity is not at all dificult for the Lord, who is the creator of the whole material manifestation.
h) An ordinary hog is a very impure animal. However, when the Lord appears in the form of a hog, He is the most pure. The inhabitants of the Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Satyaloka are the most pious in the material world, but they still show impurities. In other words, they are purer than others but are still not completely pure. Therefore, when drops of water that had touched the transcendental body of the Lord were sprinkled on them, they felt purified.
i) There are no limits to the activities of the Lord, and thus they are unlimited and inconceivable. Everyone in the material world is captivated by the external energy of the Lord and thus conditioned. It is extremely dificult for the minute soul to become free from such influence, but one who surrenders to the Lord can become the object of His causeless mercy and thus be saved.
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