Tomorrow marks the Appearance of Lord Varahadeva – Lord Krishna’s boar incarnation. Fasting for the occasion takes place today. Below are some excerpts from a write up about this special day from the wonderful devotees at krishna.com:
Lord Varaha is Krishna appearing in the extraordinary form of a gigantic boar—gigantic enough to carry the Earth on His tusks. Sound amazing? It is. And why should the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead be anything less than supremely amazing?
But exactly how, and why, would God Himself make His appearance as such an extraordinarily humongous swine? What was the idea? Here’s how that particular story begins—a few verses from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Third Canto, chapter 13:
“Brahmā thought: While I have been engaged in the process of creation, the earth has been inundated by a deluge and has gone down into the depths of the ocean. What can we do who are engaged in this matter of creation? It is best to let the Almighty Lord direct us.
O sinless Vidura, all of a sudden, while Brahmā was engaged in thinking, a small form of a boar came out of his nostril. The measurement of the creature was not more than the upper portion of a thumb.
O descendant of Bharata, while Brahmā was observing Him, that boar became situated in the sky in a wonderful manifestation as gigantic as a great elephant.
Struck with wonder at observing the wonderful boarlike form in the sky, Brahmā, with great brāhmanas like Marīci, as well as the Kumāras and Manu, began to argue in various ways.
Is this some extraordinary entity come in the pretense of a boar? It is very wonderful that He has come from my nose. . .”
Here’s a capsule summary of Lord Varaha’s pastimes on Earth, from “Water, a Meditation” by Urmila devi dasi:
“In Vedic cosmology, planets are conscious persons. The planet Earth once fell into the universal water when demonic persons disturbed her orbit by drilling for oil and upsetting her balance. Celestial beings, called devas, who control the universe in service to Krishna, wanted Earth to be rescued.
Responding to their desire, the Lord came to save her. He assumed the form of a splendid, gigantic boar (Varaha), dove to the bottom of the universal ocean, picked up Earth, and gently carried her on His tusks to the water’s surface. As He did so, a great demon challenged them.
Lord Varaha then carefully placed fearful Earth on the water and gave her the ability to float. A fight between the Lord and the demon ensued within the great ocean. After defeating the demon, Lord Varaha returned to the spiritual sky.”