In this part:
The birth of two great demons (chapter 3.17)
Problems and what we can learn from them
Hiranyaksa conquers all directions
The earth falls into the ocean
Hiranyaksa fights the Lord (chapter 3.18)
Hiranyaksa indirectly glorifies the Lord
The Lord plays with the snake
Hiranyaksa is killed (chapter 3.19)
The birth of two great demons (chapter 3.17)
Before, it was mentioned that “Hearing that her grandson would be a great devotee and that her sons would be killed by Kṛṣṇa, Diti was highly pleased in mind.” At the same time, however, Diti was afraid of the disturbances her sons would cause, and thus she delayed their delivery as long as possible, keeping them for 100 years inside her womb.
One reason for that was selfless: she wanted to spare the inhabitants of the universe from the suffering they would cause for as long as possible. Another reason however was selfish: she wanted to keep her sons inside her womb to prevent them from being killed.
However, despite Diti’s best efforts, Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakashipu started causing disturbances even from inside the womb. Even as small embryos, they were extremely powerful and started blocking the light of the sun and the moon, leaving the planets of the universe in darkness.
When the demigods saw themselves incapable of solving the situation, they anxiously traveled to Brahmaloka and asked Lord Brahma for help. Lord Brahma answered by telling them the story of the curse of Jaya and Vijaya by the four Kumaras but openly admitted that he was not able to do anything. As He explained: “Those two principal doorkeepers of the Personality of Godhead have now entered the womb of Diti, the powerful semen of Kaśyapa Muni having covered them. It is the prowess of these twin asuras [demons] that has disturbed you, for it has minimized your power. There is no remedy within my power, however, for it is the Lord Himself who desires to do all this.”
He explained that the Lord Himself would soon come as an incarnation to deal with the problem, and therefore there was no point in further discussing the situation. Incapable of fighting the two powerful demons, the demigods would have to tolerate the situation until the Lord would appear to fight with them. In fact, it is described that the demigods later had to run from Hiranyaksa and were forced to serve Hiranyakashipu. Although repeatedly challenged by the two demons, none of the demigods tried to directly fight them.
At the end of the 100 years, Diti finally gave birth to the twin brothers. Hiranyaksa was born first and was thus, following the Vedic system, considered the junior brother, while Hiranyakashipu born later was considered the senior. Different from most cultures, in the Vedic system, it is considered that in the case of twin brothers, the one conceived first (and thus older) stays deeper in the womb and is thus born later, while the baby who is conceived last is the first to be born. Hiranyakashipu was thus the senior brother, although Hiranyaksa was born first.
When they were born, very inauspicious signs appeared all over the universe, including earthquakes, fires, thunderbolts, strong winds, and thick clouds. Animals felt very disturbed, inauspicious planets appeared in the sky, and so on. It also described that “the images of the gods in the temples shed tears”, this applies to images of demigods in different temples, not to deities of the Lord.
In his purport, Prabhupada mentions:
“We can learn from the description of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that it is because of the birth of two great demons that there were so many natural disturbances. It is to be indirectly understood, as previously described, that when there are constant disturbances on the earth, that is an omen that some demoniac people have been born or that the demoniac population has increased. In former days there were only two demons — those born of Diti — yet there were so many disturbances. At the present day, especially in this Age of Kali, these disturbances are always visible, which indicates that the demoniac population has certainly increased.”
He continues to make the point that the problem of the world is not overpopulation, but the increase of varṇa-saṅkara, or children of low consciousness begotten without the necessary purificatory process. When good children take birth, everything becomes auspicious. The point is thus not about decreasing population, but increasing the proportion of good children taking birth. This can be achieved only by the spread of Krsna consciousness, and education about the process of begetting enlightened children. We can see that the whole pastime happens around Diti forcing her husband into begetting a child at an inappropriate time and with inappropriate consciousness.
Problems and what we can learn from them
One could question how the Lord could allow the demigods to face such difficulties, considering they are his sincere devotees. The point is that although highly elevated, the demigods are still affected by material desires. The Lord thus allows great demons and other calamities to periodically disturb them so they become humbled and take shelter in Him. This is a similar situation we also face, with all the problems and difficulties we face in material life. Although these different situations are the result of our previous actions, in the case of a devotee they are filtered by the Lord and presented in ways that can help us to advance, by forcing us to take shelter in the Lord. Although these can be quite bitter pills, if we face these situations with the right mentality they can help us to advance faster in spiritual life.
One may question why the Lord allows this or that to happen, but the alternative, staying in this material world life after life, would be much worse. Difficult situations should thus be seen as the Lord trying to shake us off from material life and renewing our efforts in going back to Godhead.
Another lesson we can learn is that problems can be solved by approaching a higher authority. Arjuna was perplexed before the battle of Kuruksetra, but after approaching Krsna, the doubts were destroyed and he understood perfectly what to do. Similarly, after approaching Brahma, the demigods could perfectly understand the situation and started happily waiting for the appearance of the Lord.
Hiranyaksa conquers all directions
As soon as they were born, Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksa started growing. Their bodies were extremely strong, like metal, and they quickly became big like two great mountains.
“Their bodies became so tall that they seemed to kiss the sky with the crests of their gold crowns. They blocked the view of all directions and while walking shook the earth at every step. Their arms were adorned with brilliant bracelets, and they stood as if covering the sun with their waists, which were bound with excellent and beautiful girdles.” (SB 3.17.17)
Hiranyaksa took a club and started traveling all over the universe looking for opponents to fight with. He was not only extremely strong, but also proud, and had no fear of death. All the demigods were running and hiding from him, and he thus could easily conquer the celestial planetary system. He then entered the ocean and challenged Varuna to a fight.
Varuna is the predominating deity of the waters and is described that he lives in a celestial city called Vibhāvarī, somewhere on the western side of the universe, deep inside the cosmic ocean. After years of playing inside the waters, Hiranyaksa finally found Varuna’s capital and challenged him to a fight.
“Vibhāvarī is the home of Varuṇa, lord of the aquatic creatures and guardian of the lower regions of the universe, where the demons generally reside. There Hiraṇyākṣa fell at Varuṇa’s feet like a lowborn man, and to make fun of him he said with a smile, “Give me battle, O Supreme Lord!” (SB 3.17.27)
Prabhupada mentions that a demoniac person always challenges others and tries to occupy others’ property by force. Hiranyaksa mocked Varuna because he wanted to pick up a fight with him, but Varuna was somehow able to control his anger.
Posing himself as a weak person, Varuna told Hiranyaksa that he was too old to satisfy him in a fight. He said that if Hiranyaksa wanted a worthy opponent, he should look for the Supreme Lord.
“You are so skilled in war that I do not see anyone else but the most ancient person, Lord Viṣṇu, who can give satisfaction in battle to you. Therefore, O chief of the asuras, approach Him, whom even heroes like you mention with praise.
Varuṇa continued: On reaching Him you will be rid of your pride at once and will lie down on the field of battle, surrounded by dogs, for eternal sleep. It is in order to exterminate wicked fellows like you and to show His grace to the virtuous that He assumes His various incarnations like Varāha.” (SB 3.17.30-31)
Up to here, Hiranyaksa conquered the whole universe without fighting a single opponent. After speaking with Brahma, all demigods understood it was pointless to oppose him. They were thus just running from him, allowing him to conquer everything. Hiranyaksa was thus frustrated since he desired to fight with a powerful opponent. Varuna thus indicated that his desire could be satisfied only by fighting with the Lord.
The earth falls into the ocean
In his purports, Prabhupada makes the point that while devotees wish to engage everything in the service of the Lord, demons have the mentality of exploiting the resources of the material universe to the maximum extent. They do it not only personally, but also by engaging all their family members to increase their dominium over nature and other people. Hiranyakashipu was very fond of gold, and to satisfy him, Hiranyaksa extensively mined our planet to extract huge quantities of it.
Srila Prabhupada explains that planets float on the ether of deep space through a delicate balance of subtle energies which is not very well understood by modern scientists, who tend to consider gravity the only factor. As he explains, this delicate balance can be disturbed by excessive mining of natural resources and other factors. On his purport to SB 2.7.1, he mentions:
“Only under certain conditions do the planets float as weightless balls in the air, and as soon as these conditions are disturbed, the planets may fall down in the Garbhodaka Ocean, which covers half the universe. The other half is the spherical dome within which the innumerable planetary systems exist. The floating of the planets in the weightless air is due to the inner constitution of the globes, and the modernized drilling of the earth to exploit oil from within is a sort of disturbance by the modern demons and can result in a greatly harmful reaction to the floating condition of the earth. A similar disturbance was created formerly by the demons headed by Hiranyaksa (the great exploiter of the gold rush), and the earth was detached from its weightless condition and fell down into the Garbhodaka Ocean. The Lord, as maintainer of the whole creation of the material world, therefore assumed the gigantic form of a boar with a proportionate snout and picked up the earth from within the water of Garbhodaka.”
By his excessive mining, Hiranyaksa disturbed the delicate balance that keeps our planet in orbit, making it fall into the Garbhodaka Ocean. Some sources argue that it was not just our planet, but the whole Bhu-Mandala that submerged in the causal ocean (just like in the first appearance of the Lord), but Prabhupada seems to agree with the version that just our planet was submerged since he oriented artists to paint a red Lord Varahadeva lifting a spherical planet Earth from the depths of the ocean. This idea is also confirmed in his purport to SB 3.18.19, where he mentions:
“Here the earth planet is called ilā. This earth was formerly known as Ilāvṛta-varṣa, and when Mahārāja Parīkṣit ruled the earth it was called Bhārata-varṣa. Actually, Bhārata-varṣa is the name for the entire planet, but gradually Bhārata-varṣa has come to mean India.”
The fact that our planet fell into the Garbhodaka Ocean doesn’t mean it was destroyed, but it went out of its proper orbit, falling into the lower regions of the universe that are inhabited by demons. This happened at the beginning of the 6th manvantara, which is about 800 million years ago when we convert the dates for time on our planet. In that situation, the Lord appeared to save the day.
Hiranyaksa fights the Lord (chapter 3.18)
In the previous chapter, Varuna warned Hiranyaksa that on reaching the Lord, he would be rid of his pride and would fall dead on the field of battle. In other words, that would be his end. Hiranyaksa however was overconfident and paid no attention to the warning. He was just interested in finding a powerful enemy.
In the Laghu Bhagavatamrta is revealed that the whole pastime of Jaya and Vijaya started from their secret desire to test their strength in a mock fight against Lord Vishnu. Being the two gatekeepers of the Lord they are the two strongest persons in Vaikunta, and thus they had the desire of serving the Lord by entertaining Him in a fight. However, there is no possibility of anyone fighting the Lord in Vaikunta, therefore the fight had to happen in the material world. The Lord thus used the curse of the Kumaras as an excuse to satisfy their desire and simultaneously play a wonderful pastime. Every day of Brahma the Lord comes as Varaha and Nrsimha to fight two powerful demons. This particular time Jaya and Vijaya assumed the post of these two demons and could thus satisfy the Lord by fighting with Him, as they had previously desired.
Hiranyaksa started then looking for Lord Vishnu to challenge Him. Just like Hiranyakashipu, Hiranyaksa was a devotee of Lord Brahma and performed great austerities to receive a boom of immortality. While asking for his boom, he mentioned to not be killed by any human or demigod, and by a list of animals, which didn’t include the boar. Therefore, the Lord came specifically in the form of a boar to kill him, combining it with His pastime of lifting the Earth. Although the Lord is free to do anything He wants, He generally chooses to respect the booms given by demigods, who are His devotees. Both Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakashipu were devotees of Lord Brahma, and the Lord killed them in ways that respected the blessings they had obtained from him.
Just as when he appeared during the first Manvantara, Lord Varaha appeared from the nostril of Brahma, coming out as a small boar who quickly increased in size, up to the point of being much bigger than our planet. It’s described that when he was lifting the Earth, our planet looked like a small spot at the end of his tusk, and from this description, we can have an idea about His size.
When the demon heard from Narada Muni that the Lord had appeared in the form of a boar and was lifting the Earth from the depths of the Garbhodaka Ocean, he immediately hushed there to fight the Lord. Demons can’t understand the transcendental nature of the Lord, and thus they think they can kill him just like a regular mortal being. Hiranyaksa concluded that if he killed the Lord, the demigods and great sages would also automatically cease to exist, like trees without roots, and thus the demons could easily dominate the universe. With these thoughts in mind, he challenged the Lord to a fight.
Hiranyaksa indirectly glorifies the Lord
Seeing the Lord lifting the Earth, Hiranyaksa protested (3.18.3), by saying:
jahāsa cāho vana-gocaro mṛgaḥ
āhainam ehy ajña mahīṁ vimuñca no/ rasaukasāṁ viśva-sṛjeyam arpitā
na svasti yāsyasy anayā mamekṣataḥ/ surādhamāsādita-sūkarākṛte
In his translation, Prabhupada gives the direct meaning of the verse, with Hiranyaksa challenging the Lord:
“The demon laughed: Oh, an amphibious beast!”
“The demon addressed the Lord: O best of the demigods, dressed in the form of a boar, just hear me. This earth is entrusted to us, the inhabitants of the lower regions, and You cannot take it from my presence and not be hurt by me.”
In his purport, however, Prabhupada explains that this verse had a double meaning. As Śrīdhara Svāmī explains, the verse is also a glorification of the Lord. Other verses in the Srimad Bhagavatam where demons appear to blaspheme the Lord have similar hidden meanings, where the Lord is glorified.
These are the alternate meanings for words used in the verse according to Sridhara Swami:
a) vana-gocaro: “one who lies on the water”, which properly addresses the Lord in his form as Garbodakasayi Vishnu, lying on the Garbhodaka Ocean.
b) mṛgaḥ: “He who is sought after by great sages, saintly persons and transcendentalists”
c) ajña: there is no knowledge that is unknown to the Supreme Lord (indicating that He knows everything). d) surādhama: “sura” refers to the demigods, and adhama means “Lord of all there is.” This indicates that Lord Varaha is the best of all demigods, the Supreme Lord.
e) mama īkṣataḥ: “In spite of my presence, You are completely able to take away the earth.”
f) na svasti yāsyasy: “Unless You kindly take this earth from our custody, there can be no good fortune for us.”
In this way, when we take the hidden meaning of the words, this passage can be translated as:
“Hiraṇyākṣa said: O You who lies on the water! O You who are sought after by great sages, saintly persons, and transcendentalists! O the best of all demigods, O Supreme Lord who took the form of a boar! Oh Supreme Person who knows everything, come and fight with me! We inhabitants of the lower regions unlawfully took possession of the earth, and unless You take it back from our custody, there can be no good fortune for us. Although I’m so powerful, You were able to take away the earth, despite my presence.”
Similarly, text four is translated by Prabhupada in its direct meaning as:
“You rascal, You have been nourished by our enemies to kill us, and You have killed some demons by remaining invisible. O fool, Your power is only mystic, so today I shall enliven my kinsmen by killing You.”
However, in the purport, Prabhupada reveals the hidden meaning of the words. Taking these indirect meanings, the verse can be translated as:
“You have been sent by our enemies, the demigods to liberate us from the cycle of birth and death. The activities of Your internal potency are inconceivable, and although You remain invisible, you deliver us from the clutches of ignorance, which although ordinarily powerful, becomes meager in Your presence. All miseries from material existence can be extinguished by your internal potency, yoga-māyā, and by this potency, you can wipe out the grief of my kinsman.”
In any case, Hiranyaksa challenged the Lord for a fight and started chasing Him. Jaya and Vijaya had been blessed by the Lord to remember Him in anger, like an enemy, and Hiranyaksa was exhibiting this mood, although his words were indirectly glorifying the Lord.
The Lord plays with the snake
At this moment, the Lord was lifting the Earth from the ocean. Even though chased and abused by Hiranyaksa, He continued his duty of lifting the Earth. As Prabhupada mentions in this purport, this shows that a dutiful person has nothing to fear. Even though being chased by a powerful demon, the Lord first finished His duty of lifting the Earth. Another meaning was to show the demigods that they should not be afraid of demons while performing their duties, since the Lord is always present to protect them. As he mentions, “The demon’s derision of the Lord was just like the barking of dogs; the Lord did not care about it, since He was doing His own work in delivering the earth from the midst of the water.”
“For a dutiful man there is nothing to fear. Similarly, those who are powerful have no fear of derision or unkind words from an enemy. The Lord had nothing to fear from anyone, yet He was merciful to His enemy by neglecting him. Although apparently He fled from the challenge, it was just to protect the earth from calamity that He tolerated Hiraṇyākṣa’s deriding words.” (SB 3.18.7 purport)
The Lord then gently placed the Earth on the surface of the water and transferred to her his energy as the ability to float in the waters of the universal ocean. Having concluded this pastime, the Lord prepared to face the demon.
“The demon, who had a wealth of ornaments, bangles and beautiful golden armor on his body, chased the Lord from behind with a great mace. The Lord tolerated his piercing ill words, but in order to reply to him, He expressed His terrible anger.
The Personality of Godhead said: Indeed, We are creatures of the jungle, and We are searching after hunting dogs like you. One who is freed from the entanglement of death has no fear from the loose talk in which you are indulging, for you are bound up by the laws of death.” (SB 3.18.9-10)
In his purport, Prabhupada mentions:
“A demon may be a great soldier and commander of a large number of infantry, but in the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead he is powerless and is destined to die. The Lord, therefore, challenged the demon not to go away but to fulfill his promised word to kill Him.”
It is described that being challenged by the Lord like this, Hiranyaksa became very angry and agitated, like a cobra. For ordinary people, a cobra is a very poisonous and dangerous snake, but snake charmer can play with it and make it do whatever he wants. Similarly, a demon may be powerful compared with other demons, demigods, and ordinary people, but before the Lord he is insignificant. Ravana was terrorizing the demigods, but when challenged by Rama he trembled and prayed to Lord Shiva, but even this was not sufficient to save him.
For some time, the Lord enjoyed fighting with Hiranyaksa, hitting him with His mace and being stuck by him.
Hissing indignantly, all his senses shaken by wrath, the demon quickly sprang upon the Lord and dealt Him a blow with his powerful mace. For the sake of the pastime, the Lord didn’t show the full extent of His power, and thus he appeared to be fighting the demon on equal terms.
“Hissing indignantly, all his senses shaken by wrath, the demon quickly sprang upon the Lord and dealt Him a blow with his powerful mace. The Lord, however, by moving slightly aside, dodged the violent mace-blow aimed at His breast by the enemy, just as an accomplished yogī would elude death.
The Personality of Godhead now exhibited His anger and rushed to meet the demon, who bit his lip in rage, took up his mace again and began to repeatedly brandish it about. Then with His mace the Lord struck the enemy on the right of his brow, but since the demon was expert in fighting, O gentle Vidura, he protected himself by a maneuver of his own mace.
In this way, the demon Haryakṣa and the Lord, the Personality of Godhead, struck each other with their huge maces, each enraged and seeking his own victory.” (SB 3.18.14-18)
Although the verse mentions that the Lord was enraged, or in other words, angry while fighting Hiranyaksa, Srila Jiva Goswami mentions that this anger was just an external show for the sake of the pastime. Internally the Lord was never angry at Jaya and Vijaya.
It’s also mentioned that the Lord exhibited signs of being wounded, sustaining injuries from the blows of Hiranyaksa. These supposed wounds were also just a show since the transcendental body of the Lord can’t be hurt. The body of the Lord is fully spiritual, and spirit can’t be cut, dried, moistened, or burnt.
During the battle of Kuruksetra, Bhisma intentionally aimed his arrows at the Lord, instead of Arjuna, because he understood that, different from Arjuna, the Lord would not be hurt. The Lord then accepted these arrows just like an offering of flowers, even though externally He showed symptoms of being hurt, having his garland sprinkled with blood, and so on. These so-called wounds are just like ornaments that increase the beauty of the Lord during his fighting pastime.
As Srila Prabhupada mentions in his purport to SB 1.9.34:
“Besides that, since the Lord’s body and the Lord are identical, there was no possibility of wounds in the absolute body. The apparent wounds caused by the sharpened arrows are misleading to the common man, but one who has a little absolute knowledge can understand the transcendental exchange in the chivalrous relation. The Lord was perfectly happy with the wounds caused by the sharpened arrows of Bhīṣmadeva. The word vibhidyamāna is significant because the Lord’s skin is not different from the Lord. Because our skin is different from our soul, in our case the word vibhidyamāna, or being bruised and cut, would have been quite suitable. Transcendental bliss is of different varieties, and the variety of activities in the mundane world is but a perverted reflection of transcendental bliss. Because everything in the mundane world is qualitatively mundane, it is full of inebrieties, whereas in the absolute realm, because everything is of the same absolute nature, there are varieties of enjoyment without inebriety. The Lord enjoyed the wounds created by His great devotee Bhīṣmadeva, and because Bhīṣmadeva is a devotee in the chivalrous relation, he fixes up his mind on Kṛṣṇa in that wounded condition.”
The Lord appears to have fought with Hiranyaksa for a long time since the battle extended up to when it was almost night. Demons become more active and powerful at night, while devotees are more powerful during the day. Apprehensive about the prospect of Hiranyaksa becoming even more powerful, Lord Brahma urged the Lord to finish the fight and kill Him while it was still day.
“My dear Lord, there is no need to play with this serpentine demon, who is always very skilled in conjuring tricks and is arrogant, self-sufficient and most wicked.
My dear Lord, You are infallible. Please kill this sinful demon before the demoniac hour arrives and he presents another formidable approach favorable to him. You can kill him by Your internal potency without doubt.” (3.18.24-25)
Hiranyaksa is killed (chapter 3.19)
Hearing the prayers of Brahma to finish the demon, the Lord laughed and looked lovingly at Brahma, accepting his prayer. And continued fighting the demon. At first, He let Hiranyaksa disarm Him, his mace slipping from His hand after being hit by the mace of Hiranyaksa. The Lod then invoked His Sudarsana cakra. When Hiranyaksa tried to again attack the Lord with his mace, he knocked it down with His left foot. The demon then attacked the Lord with a trident, which was torn to pieces by the Lord’s cakra. He then started to hit the Lord with his bare fists, but the Lord stayed unaffected, just like an elephant stuck by flowers. He tried to use magic tricks, creating terrible illusions, but these were quickly dispersed by the Sudarsana cakra. He tried to smash the Lord by embracing Him by his arms and again stuck Him with his fists, but the Lord slapped him in the root of the ear, killing him.
In SB 2.7.1 it is described that Hiranyaksa was pierced by the tusk of the Lord, while this passage describes he was killed with a slap on the ear. This appears to be a contradiction, but it is not. The Lord killed him with a slap and then pieced him with his tusk. As Prabhupada mentions:
“According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the demon Hiraṇyākṣa was killed by the hand of the Lord. Therefore his version is that after being killed by the hand of the Lord, the demon was pierced by the tusk. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura confirms this version.” (SB 2.7.1 purport)
How is it that Hiranyaksa could fight so violently with the Lord even though being his eternal servant, and how could the Lord also fight so violently with Him? Prabhupada compares this fight to a mock fight between a father and a son. Although they may get absorbed in the fight, it is ultimately a play and there is no real enmity between them:
“As previously explained, the demon was originally a servitor of the Lord in Vaikuṇṭha, but somehow or other he fell as a demon. His fight with the Supreme Lord was meant for his liberation. The Lord enjoyed the striking on His transcendental body, just like a fully grown-up father fighting with his child. Sometimes a father takes pleasure in having a mock fight with his small child, and similarly the Lord felt Hiraṇyākṣa’s striking on His body to be like flowers offered for worship. In other words, the Lord desired to fight in order to enjoy His transcendental bliss; therefore He enjoyed the attack.”
Lord Brahma was surprised to see how Hiranyaksa had met with such a blessed death. Yogis meditate in the lotus feet of the Lord for very long periods in secluded places and Hiranyaksa received the touch of the forefoot of the Lord by just fighting with Him as an enemy. Hiranyaksa was destined to take birth two times more as a demon, and then return to his original position when killed personally by Krsna. In general, there are two ways of getting out of this material world: by becoming a pure devotee, or by becoming a demon powerful enough to be killed by the Lord. Becoming a pure devotee is of course the easiest and the recommended path, but this shows how everyone who comes in contact with the Lord is blessed.
In verse 30, the demigods also pray, making the point that the form of the Lord is in pure goodness. As Krsna explains in the Bhagavad-Gita, the material mode of goodness is “purer than the others”, but it is not completely pure. It is still material and is contaminated by passion and ignorance to a certain extent. That’s why even great sages who are the material mode of goodness sometimes become angry or fall down. Suddha-sattva, or the mode of pure goodness on the other hand is the pure spiritual platform, untouched by material contamination. The Lord is transcendental, and thus He is the ultimate goal of all sacrifices. Now that the Lord had killed Hiranyaksa, the demigods felt again peaceful in their devotional service to the Lord.
After being praised by all the demigods, the Lord returned to His abode. It’s described that in Vaikunta “there is always an uninterrupted festival”. It is also mentioned that the Lord is “the origin of the boar species”, and in fact, He is the source of everything. Everything that exists in the material world is a reflection of something that exists in the spiritual world. The difference is that the material reflections are inverted images. In this way, what is the purest manifestation of love in the spiritual world, the love between Krsna and the Gopis is reflected in this material world as illicit relationships between men and women, which are the most degraded form of relationship. Similarly, the transcendental, beautiful, pure, and glorious form of the Lord as a boar is reflected in this material world in the form of hogs and pigs, which are not considered very glorious animals.
Maitreya also mentions how Hiranyaksa was the most powerful demon to appear up to that point in the history of the universe, displaying unprecedented powers that exceeded any other demon who appeared before (in other days of Brahma). Such a powerful demon was killed by the Lord without difficulty, just like a child destroys a toy. This is yet another demonstration of the inconceivable power of the Lord.
After Maitreya concludes his narration, the description returns to Suta Goswami, who continues to address Śaunaka ṛṣi and the other sages in the forest of Naimiṣāraṇya. He again emphasizes the value of hearing about the glories of the Lord and offers us a benediction:
“O brāhmaṇas, anyone who hears, chants, or takes pleasure in the wonderful narration of the killing of the Hiraṇyākṣa demon by the Lord, who appeared as the first boar in order to deliver the world, is at once relieved of the results of sinful activities, even the killing of a brāhmaṇa.” (SB 3.19.37)
In his purport, Prabhupada explains that the Lord is absolute, and therefore there is no difference between the Lord as a person and His pastimes. It may not be possible for us to associate personally with the Lord in our current state, but we can obtain the same benefit by associating with the Lord by hearing His pastimes. Just as one who comes in contact with the Lord is freed from all sinful activities and sinful reactions, one who regularly hears the pastimes of the Lord is similarly purified, even if one has killed a Brahmana. As it is mentioned in the first canto, “By regular attendance in classes on the Bhagavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.”
Suta Goswami also blesses the students of this narration with “extraordinary merit, wealth, fame, longevity and all the objects of one’s desire.”, and concludes by stating that “One who listens to it at the last moment of his life is transferred to the supreme abode of the Lord”. That’s surely reasuring. 🙂