
Varāha-dvadaśī,
Lord Varāha’s Appearance Day Lecture
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Los Angeles, February 18, 1970
Prabhupāda: …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.”
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