There is a description of the incarnations of the Lord in the second canto of Srimad Bhagavatam that includes some incarnations we don’t hear much about. We all know about Rama, Kalki, and so on, but we may not know so much about Suyajña and Dattātreya, for example. Who are they?
– Suyajña (Yajña): On a day of Brahma, there are 14 Manus, and during the reign of each Manu, the Lord appears once as a Manvantara-avatara. During the reign of the first Manu (Svayambhuva Manu) the Lord appeared as Yajña, to assist him in the administration of the universe. He accepted the post of Indra and begot other demigods with the assistance of his wife, Dakṣiṇā. In this way, the first group of demigods who assisted the first Manu was born. As Indra, Yajña diminished the miseries of the three planetary systems, and because of this, he was also called Hari (the Lord takes away all inauspicious things).
Yajña appeared as the son of Prajapati Ruci and Ākūti (one of the daughters of Svayambhuva Manu, daughter of Devahuti) but he was accepted by Svayambhuva Manu as his son. He is also the cousin of Dhruva Mahārāja and Lord Kapila.
– Dattātreya: Atri Muni was situated in vātsalya Rasa, and thus desired to have the Lord as his son. The Lord accepted his devotion, and thus Dattātreya was born. On SB 4.1.15, Prabhupada explains that Anasūyā, the wife of Atri Muni, gave birth to three very famous sons: Soma, Dattātreya and Durvāsā. Dattātreya was a partial representation of Lord Viṣṇu, Soma was a partial representation of Lord Brahmā and Durvāsā was a partial representation of Lord Śiva.
On SB 1.3.11, Prabhupada mentions a slightly different account from the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, which mentions that Anasūyā prayed before the Lords Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva for the three of them to combine to become her son. This however doesn’t contradict the other version, because in any case, being the Supreme, Lord Vishnu includes the potencies of both Brahma and Shiva. As in other passages of the scriptures, apparent contradictory descriptions should be seen as simply describing different angles of the same facts.
As Dattātreya, the Lord taught the system of mystic yoga to many students across the universe. In particular, the verse mentions that he taught both King Yadu (the father of the Yadu dynasty, in which Krsna took birth) and Haihaya, who achieved perfection in devotional service. In the 11th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, there is a narration of the teachings of Dattātreya to Yadu, in which he speaks about the 24 Gurus.
– Nara-Nārāyaṇa Rsi: The sage Narayana is considered an incarnation of Krsna, and Nara, his companion an incarnation of Arjuna. They are always together, teaching the path of austerity by their example. Once the demigods tried to break their vows sending many apsaras to seduce them, but the Lord showed that he is the source of all beautiful women. As Prabhupada mentions: “The Lord, by His pleasure potency, can produce innumerable spiritual beauties and not be the least attracted by the false beauties of material creation.”
– Prsnigarbha: This is the incarnation of the Lord who appeared in front of Dhruva Maharaja to award him benedictions after he became perfected in his austerities. After being offended by his stepmother, who didn’t allow him to sit on the lap of his father, Dhruva Maharaja became determined to meet the Lord and ask for a kingdom greater than the one of his father or any of his ancestors. On the way, he met Narada Muni, who gave him instructions and initiated him. With the blessings of Narada Muni, Dhruva Maharaja was able to practice unprecedented austerities, and finally, the Lord appeared as an incarnation just to satisfy his desire. This incarnation of Prsnigarbha is also called Dhruvapriya.
– Ṛṣabhadeva: The pastimes of Lord Ṛṣabhadeva are narrated in the 5th canto. He taught the path of jaḍa-yoga, which involves practicing becoming like a stone and not being affected by material reactions. Just as a stone is indifferent to all kinds of external situations, one who is advanced in this process practices tolerance of voluntary infliction of pain upon the material body. Later, King Arhat rejected the Vedas and concocted a system based on the process of jaḍa-yoga (which later led to the appearance of modern Jainism). This was another of the mistaken philosophies that appeared during the last Dwapara Yuga that Vyasadeva had to oppose.
– Lord Hayagrīva: There are two instances of the appearance of Lord Hayagrīva mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam. The first is that at the end of the day of Brahma, ignorance personified assumes the form of the demon Ajnana and steals the Vedas from him, taking them down to the lower planet Rasātala. When this happens, the Lord appears as Hayagrīva to retrieve the Vedas and return them to Lord Brahmā.
The second one is that after appearing from the lotus flower, at the beginning of the millennium, Lord Brahma could not understand what to do. He was then attacked by two demons, called Madhu and Kaiṭabha, who took away Vedic knowledge. The Lord then appeared as Hayagrīva to kill them and entrust the Vedic knowledge back to Brahma (SB 7.9 summary).
One could question how a demon can steal the Vedic knowledge since knowledge is not a physical object that can be moved from one place to another. The point is that as we go to higher levels of existence, there is nothing “physical”, higher beings deal with subtle energies. When we take this into consideration, it’s not difficult to imagine that a certain powerful subtle entity may steal the Vedic knowledge from Brahma, making him forget it. When this happens, Lord Vishnu intervenes, killing such demons and delivering the Vedic knowledge back to him.
– Matsya avatara: The Lord appeared as Matsya, the giant fish incarnation at the end of the reign of Cākṣuṣa Manu (the 6th Manu) to save King Satyavrata from the waters of devastation, as described in the 8th canto. Satyavrata was a great pious ruler, who later became the current Manu (Vaivasvata, the 7th in the sequence). During the same incident, Brahma became fearful of the waters of devastation, and the Vedas came out of his mouth, just to also be saved by the Lord.
Matsya avatara also appeared at the beginning of the current day of Brahma to kill the demon Hayagriva, who had stolen the Vedas from him. This Hayagriva is of course different from the incarnation of the Lord. We can see that there are two pastimes connected with the stealing of the Vedas. Sometimes the Vedas are stolen by the demon Ajnana, who Lord Hayagrīva kills, and sometimes they are stolen by the demon named Hayagriva, who is killed by Matsya Avatara.
– Kurma: During the pastime of the churning of the milk ocean by the demigods and demons to obtain nectar (narrated in the 8th canto) the Lord appeared as Kurma, the gigantic divine tortoise to help them, serving as a support for the Mandara Mountain, which they used as a churning rod. Lord Kurma is also present at the bottom of the universe, sustaining the whole structure of Bhu-Mandala, of which the Earth is part.
We may think it strange that there can be an ocean of milk somewhere in the universe, and that such an ocean can be churned to obtain a type of nectar that can make one practically immortal, but as Prabhupada mentions, we just have to accept that there are many things about the universe that we don’t know. The Vedas explain that the universe is composed of different dimensions, which are in turn composed of different grades of matter, inhabited by different beings, and with different physical laws. From all these different dimensions we have access to just one, the grossest one. There are many different structures and levels of existence in the universe we can’t even imagine.
– Hari: The pastime of the elephant Gajendra being bitten by the crocodile and surrendering to the Lord is narrated in the 8th canto. In this pastime, the Lord appeared on the back of Garuda and used his chakra to cut the crocodile’s head and save Gajendra, bringing him back to Godhead. The crocodile was a Gandharva named Huhu who had beem cursed, while the elephant was Indradyumna in his past life. This pastime happened in the 4th Manvantara.
– Haṁsāvatāra: Once, at the beginning of the day of Brahma, the four Kumaras inquired to Lord Brahma about the supreme goal of the yoga system. However, at the time Brahma was absorbed in the activities of creation, and thus his intelligence was affected and he could not find the perfect answer to their question. Lord Brahma then fixed his mind on the Lord, who became visible to him as Lord Haṁsā, in the form of a swam. In this incarnation, the Lord instructed Brahma and the four Kumaras in the science of yoga. This pastime is described in more detail in the 11th canto.
– The Manvantara-avataras: The Lord appears as an incarnation during the reign of each Manu. Just like there are 14 manus on the day of Brahma, there are also 14 Manvantara-avataras, each one connected to one of the manus. The chronological order is: (1) Yajña, (2) Vibhu, (3) Satyasena, (4) Hari, (5) Vaikuṇṭha, (6) Ajita, (7) Vāmana, (8) Sārvabhauma, (9) Ṛṣabha, (10) Viṣvaksena, (11) Dharmasetu, (12) Sudhāmā, (13) Yogeśvara, (14) Bṛhadbhān. In this incarnation, the Lord assists Manu in ruling over the demigods and earthly kings.
– Dhanvantari: Lord Dhanvantari appears to deliver the pot of nectar at the end of the pastime of the churning of the milk ocean, and also to inaugurate the Vedic medical science, which has the goal of helping people to live a healthy life and thus have peace of mind to practice the spiritual process. This medical science is not only available on Earth but also on other planets of the universe. By His grace, all diseases are cured.