Canto 12 – Varaha Avataram

There are many descriptions used in the scriptures of characterizations, and events, that may not seemingly be real.  In Canto 12, the central character is Varaha,  who is depicted as a huge Boar with twin tusks.  Varaha battles Hiranyaksha,  who has drowned the Vedas in the ocean. 

The Slokams in Canto 12 provide an invaluable insight into the perspective with which we have to understand the portrayals of characters and events.

Hiranyakashipu  was demonic. He destroys everything,  with a primary focus to wipe out the Vedas and Scriptures from people’s minds.  Being subject to repeated assaults by the demonic Hiranyakashipu,  the people lose their commitment to live by the Vedas and Shastras. The narrative describes the Vedas as being submerged in the ocean. 

When we read the slokams in this Canto,  our understanding should be – Hiranyakshipu was demonic and wiped out the vedas and shastras from the daily lives of the citizens. So the Vedas and Shastras get submerged in the ocean of ignorance caused by Hiranyakashipu’s destruction of everything that he perceives as opposed to him.

When Vedas and Shastras are not practiced,  they are forgotten.   People then veer into the material way of life with its everyday conflicts  and are submerged in the ocean of ignorance.  So the Vedas are said to be lost by being submerged in the ocean. In other words, in the ocean of the human mind and consciousness,  Vedas and Shastras recede from being in the forefront to being submerged in the depths of the subconsciousness.

It is a huge effort to restore the knowledge.  Vedas and Shastras have to be surfaced to the forefront of everyday life. For this to happen Hiranyakshipu has to be defeated and people have to be once again initiated into the practice of the Vedas and Shastras.

Both Jaya and Vijaya take these demonic Avatarams to seemingly be opposed to anything associated with Sriman Narayana.  The reason was the unjustified curse of the four Rishis.  The four Rishis exceeded their threshold of tolerance.  When this happens,  whether it is at the level of the Paramathma and the Rishis, or it is at the level of our lives,  life reflects the impact of our actions, back onto us.  This is the balancing act of the Paramathma to maintain the human race on the right track of progress. 

When the value of the  study and practice of the Vedas recede (as manifested in the curse of the Rishis), a cycle of destruction is put into play, so that the realization of the significance of what has been lost, sets in,  and a conscious effort to pursue progress is initiated.