VARAHA AVATARA

Varaha is the avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu in form of a boar, succeeding Kurma and preceeding Narasimha. Varaha is listed as third in the ten principal avatars of Vishnu. When the demon Hiranyaksha stole the earth and hid her in the primordial waters, Vishnu appeared as Varaha to rescue her.

After the Mahabharatha war Hastinapura was ruled by the Pandava brothers for a long time. Yudhistira, the eldest of the Pandavas ruled the kingdom and Lord Krishna was most of the time with them guiding and protecting them. But at a point of time Sri Krishna had to leave the earth and so he went away. After Krishna left the Pandavas they decided to handover the kingdom to Parikshit, the grandson of Pandava Prince Arjuna, and they all decided to go to the Himalayas and live the rest of the life involving in austerity and penance. So now Parkshit was placed in the throne and he was a wise and noble ruler, and worked hard for the welfare of his people. One evening he happened to walk on the banks of the river Saraswathi and there he witnessed an unusual sight. A man dressed in royal clothes was very badly torturing a white bull where it has already lost three of its legs. Added to it, the stranger was kicking and beating up the bull and next to the bull was a cow standing close by and shedding tears. The wicked man was trying to chop of the bulls fourth leg too. On seeing this Parikshit got very wild and in anger he told the stranger that he is the king of this country and he has all rights to punish the man to death for torturing the animals so badly. Then he went near the animals and kindly patted them to know how the bull had lost its legs. The animals were trembling and shivering of fear and to Parikshit's surprise the bull bowed his head before the king started to talk. The bull told the King, as he was wondering so as who has caused the suffering to th bull, the animal itself did not have an answer for this. The bull also revealed that there are sayings which states that being in their ignorance cause their own happiness or sorrow, others say it is due to their past karmas. But anyhow the bull was not clear which was true for his suffering. This made Parikshit to think deeply and he became thoroughly aware of the fact. Parikshhit realized that the bull was none other than Dharma or virtue; the cow was the mother earth and the wicked man was Kali. Parikshit knew that the four legs of the bull were purity, austerity, charity and truthfulness. Of these the bull had already lost purity, austerity and charity and the only remaining was truthfulness which is already damaged to the maximum by Kali. Then Parikshit got very wild and pulled out his sword and was about to cut off the head of Kali, but Kali fell at his feet and begged the King to hear from his side. So Parikshit cannot do anything further because it is a King's duty to hear his people's grievances and protect them. Then Kali said to the King that he is to be the ruler of Kali age which will be full of atrocity, ferocity and deceit which is the will of the heavenly God. So Kali requested Parikshit to spare his life. Parikshit was touched by Kali's humility and gave him his life back but strictly told him that the King should not see him anymore during his reign. But then Kali pleaded to give him a place to live in. That's when Parikshit told him to live in all house for gambling and drinking, place where there is cruelty to women and animals and centers where gold is acquired and hoarded. To these he added the fields of falsehood, pride, jealousy, enmity and lust, where Kali flourished and prospered. So now knowing what are the bad things which will invite falsehood and cruelty and thereby welcoming the wicked Kali into the house.


Being bored in the country, the King Parikshit wished to go on an expedition into the jungle for hunting all by himself. So Parikshit set out to the jungle on a bright day. He got very excited and soon he lost all sense of time and had come far away to a thick and dark part of the jungle. Slowly he started feeling thirsty and hungry. As he wandered about looking for water without his knowledge he went deeper and deeper into the forest. As he was looking for in search of water to quench his thirst, he came across the hermitage of a well known sage called Samika. Only after seeing the hermitage Parikshit felt relieved and happy. But then he looked around to see if he could spot anybody over there. Then Parikshit looked all around him but could see no one. Then in one part of the ashrama, he saw the sage sitting in Samadhi. His eyes were closed, his body was erect, he was not conscious of the world outside. In fact he was in deep meditation. But Parikshit did not realize this. He went up to him and asked for a drink of water. But the sage did not reply. The King did not realize that the person deep in meditation cannot answer. But still Parikshit asked water for the second time to the sage who was very engrossed in his tapa. Still Samika was completely unaware of the happenings and he was meditating deep with his thoughts sitting motionless and erect.

Inspite of being a ruler and learned Parikshit thought the sage Samika was only pretending. Parikshit got very angry because the sage did not react for his request. The King now wanted to test his concentration and so he picked up a dead snake from nearby and placed it around the Rishi's neck. But still the sage remained perfectly calm and fully concentrated in his meditation. As this was happening, a young boy named Sringi, the sage's son who went to fetch some water from the nearby stream was returning back. Sringi was shocked to see of what had happened in the hermitage and to his father. He felt that it was a big insult to holy sage who was deep in his meditation. The boy who was also prowess like his father got very angry with the King and sipped of a little water from his palm, and in thundering voice called out only to curse Parkshit that on the seventh day from then a powerful serpent, called Takshaka will bite the proud Parikshit who has insulted the holy rishi Samika.

So when Samika came back to consciousness, he found his son lamenting loudly. He asked him what had happened. Sringi told him what King Parikshit had done and the curse Sringi had pronounced upon him. When the sage heard of what has happened when he was meditating, he felt very sorry for the King and told his son that he should not have done this to the King. He explained to Sringi that Kings are different from them. They carry the entire burden of the country on their shoulders. He also told him that among all Kings, King Parikshit is supposed to be very good. Besides, he had come to them only for rest and refreshment and really did not mean any harm to them. One wrong cannot be set by another. Samika asked the almighty to forgive his son and to take care of Parikshit from his curse. Never once did the noble sage even think of the way Parikshit had insulted him! His heart was full of divine love. In Parikshit he saw only the good, kind and just King, and not the man who had shown disrespect to a great rishi. Such then are the noble, large hearted sages of our land!

After this King Parikshit went back to his palace and he felt very sorry of what has happened and his bad behavior in insulting a powerful sage like Samika. He was repenting over his action. So he didn't feel bad of the curse for he thought that was a punishment for his sins. Now knowing that his days are nearing he thought of handing over his kingdom to his son Janamejaya and wanted to live on the banks of the sacred river Ganga and meet his death peacefully. He wanted and wished to spend his last days hearing the stories of the Lord and in meditating upon his divine glories. So he bid bye to his people and kingom and set off to the banks of river Ganges. Here on the Ganges banks, Parikshit was visited by a number of holy sages and Rishis. As they were all engaged in conversation upon the Lord's glories, the revered young sage Suka came who was loaded with knowledge and he was the son of Vyasa. King Pariksht felt very proud of his the revered Sage Suka coming over to his place. He learnt a lot about the chain of birth and death from the learned Suka and also he got to know the Lord Narayan's divine play in the Universe. Thus he spent his last few days in spiritual talks and ended his life.