Prabhupada 0381 - Dasavatara Stotra part 1
Purport to Sri Dasavatara Stotra -- Los Angeles, February 18, 1970
Pralaya-payodhi-jale-dhṛtavān asi vedam, vihita-vahitra-caritram akhedam. Today is the incarnation day of Lord Kṛṣṇa's appearing as the Boar. He lifted the world when it was submerged within the water of Garbhodaka Ocean. The universe which we are seeing, it is only half. The other half is filled with water, and in that water is Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu lying. So one demon, Hiraṇyākṣa, he pushed this earthly planet within that water, and Lord Kṛṣṇa delivered this earthly planet from water in the shape of a boar. So that auspicious day is today, Varāha-dvadaśī. This is called Varāha-dvadasi. So on this day it is better to sing, to glorify the different incarnations of Lord within this universe. The first incarnation is the fish form.
So these prayers were offered by Jayadeva Gosvāmī. One Vaiṣṇava poet advented about seven hundred years before Lord Caitanya's appearance. He was a great devotee, and his specific poetry, Gīta-govinda, is very famous all over the world. Gīta-govinda. Gīta-govinda is the subject matter of Kṛṣṇa playing on flute about Rādhārāṇī. That is the subject matter of Gīta-govinda. The same poet, Jayadeva Gosvāmī, has offered this prayer, pralaya-payodhi-jale-dhṛtavān asi vedam **. He says, "My dear Lord, when there was devastation within this universe, everything was filled with water. At that time You saved the Vedas, stacked in a boat. And you held the boat from being drowned in the water, in the shape of a big fish." This fish first of all was caught in the waterpot just like a small fish. Then it enlarged, and the fish was kept in a bigger water reservoir. In this way the fish was increasing. Then the fish informed that "Devastation is coming. You just save all the Vedas on a boat, and I shall protect it." So Jayadeva Gosvāmī is offering prayer, "My Lord, You saved the Vedas when there was devastation in the shape of a fish."
The next is Kūrmāvatāra. There was churning of the ocean. One side all the demigods and one side all the demons. And the churning rod was a great hill called Mandara-pārvata. And the resting place was on the back of the Lord appeared as a tortoise. So he's offering his prayer that "You appeared as a tortoise just to become the resting place. And this happened because You were feeling some itching sensation on Your back. So You accepted this big rod, Mandara Hill, to itch, as the itching instrument."
Then the next incarnation is this Varāha, boar or hog. He delivered this earthly planet by the tusk, and He kept the whole world on His tusk. We can just imagine how big He appeared. And the world at that time appeared just like the moon disc with some marks on it. So keśava dhṛta-varāha-śarīra. He says, "My dear Lord, You have appeared as the great boar. So let me offer my respectful obeisances unto You."
The fourth incarnation is Nṛsiṁha-deva. Nṛsiṁha-deva appeared to save Prahlāda Mahārāja, who was five-years-old boy and he was being tortured by his atheistic father. So He appeared from the pillar of the palace as a half-man, half-lion. Because this Hiraṇyakaśipu took benediction from Brahmā that he'll not be killed by any man or any animal. So the Lord appeared neither man nor animal. This is the difference between the Lord's intelligence and our intelligence. We are thinking that we can cheat the Lord by our intelligence, but the Lord is more intelligent than us. This Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted to cheat Brahmā by indirect definition. First of all he wanted to become immortal. Brahmā said, "That is not possible because even I am not immortal. Nobody in this material world is immortal. That is not possible." So Hiraṇyakaśipu, the demon... The demons are very intelligent. He thought that "Round about way I shall become immortal." He prayed to Brahmā that "Please give me the benediction that I shall not be killed by any man or any animal." Brahmā said, "Yes, that is all right." "I shall not be killed in the sky, on the water or on land." Brahmā said, "Oh yes." "I shall not be killed by any man-made weapons." "That's all right." In this way he utilized his intelligence in so many ways just to come to the conclusion of being immortal. But the Lord is so cunning that He kept intact all the benediction given by Brahmā, still he was killed. He said that "I'll not be killed either during daytime or night." Brahmā said "Yes." So he was killed just in the evening, just in the junction of day and night. You cannot say it is day or night. He took the benediction that "I shall not be killed in the sky, on the water, on the land." So he was killed on His lap. He took the benediction that "I shall not be killed by any man-made or any God-made weapons." That was given, "All right." So he was killed by the nails. In this way, all the benedictions were kept intact, still he was killed. Similarly, we may make plan, we may make very advancement in scientific knowledge, but the killing process of nature will be there. Nobody can escape. By our intelligence we cannot escape. The four principles of material existence means birth, death, old age and disease. We can manufacture many medicines, many weapons, many means, many methods, but you cannot escape these four principles of material existence, however great you may be. That was proved by Hiraṇyakaśipu. Hiraṇyakaśipu was one of the stalwart materialistic and he wanted to live forever, enjoy, but he also could not live. Everything was finished.