Srimad Bhagavatam #24: The cycles of the Manus
Srimad Bhagavatam #24: The cycles of the Manus
There are 14 manus in a day of Brahma, in a sequence that repeats in each of his days. At the end of each manvantara, a great process of extinction occurs.
In this part:
The cycles of the Manus (chapter 3.13)
Svāyambhuva Manu starts his reign
The earth and the extended earth
The two appearances of Lord Varahadeva
The prayers of the sages
Jumping forward in time
Errata: Daksa took his second birth from the Pracetas in the first Manvantara and then practiced austerities until the 6th manvantara when he got married and repopulated the universe after the devastation at the end of the 5th Manu. In the video, I inverted it.
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The cycles of the Manus (chapter 3.13)
The 13th chapter starts with Vidura inquiring about the activities of Svāyambhuva Manu and Śatarūpā. In the last verses of the previous chapters, their activities were described in summary, and now Vidura wants to know in detail.
The appearance of Svāyambhuva Manu is an important event in the creation of the universe because it marks the start of the first manvantara.
There are 14 manus in a day of Brahma, in a sequence that repeats in each of his days. At the end of each manvantara, a great process of extinction occurs, with the previous Manu and all demigods leaving their posts. After a long period of managing the universe (a Manvantara lasts for 306.72 million years), these demigods receive the opportunity of being promoted to Maharloka, from where they continue gradually progressing.
After one team of demigods leaves, the next Manu takes charge of the management of the cosmos, together with a new team of demigods. There is a period of 1.728 million years between two Manvantaras called Sandhya (juncture) when things are gradually restored after the previous devastation. From there, the population of the universe is restored and the different living entities can again continue with their activities. Apart from managing the universe, the manus are responsible for disseminating and maintaining religious principles.
Understanding the cycles of the manus is the key to understanding the chronology of the Srimad Bhagavatam. At first, the Srimad Bhagavatam may appear to be a book with different pastimes that despite the deep spiritual significance, don’t have a connection with each other. However, when we can properly understand the chronology of the Srimad Bhagavatam, we can see that, apart from all transcendental knowledge, the Srimad Bhagavatam gives a historical account of the history of the universe, with precise dates for many universal events that are gradually being confirmed by modern studies. This is by itself proof of the divinity of the Srimad Bhagavatam and a proof of what the Vedas say about the origin of humanity and the process of creation of the world. If thousands of years ago all human beings were aborigines living in caves and hunting animals, as believed in modern paleontology, how could it be that the authors of the Srimad Bhagavatam had dates for the creation of the universe and other cosmic events that are more precise than modern studies, as well as details about the structure of the universe that are still ahead of what is known in modern science?
By attentively following the narration of the different manus in the current day of Brahma, we can connect the different pastimes to the reign of the particular manus and in this way understand their chronology. Using a little more complicated calculations we can even connect these cosmic events described in the Srimad Bhagavatam to planetary events that are studied in modern science.
In Teachings of Lord Caitanya, chapter 8, Srila Prabhupada describes:
“After describing the Līlā and guṇa-avatāras, Lord Caitanya explains the manvantara-avatāras to Sanātana Gosvāmī. He first states that there is no possibility of counting the manvantara-avatāras. In one kalpa, or one day of Brahmā, fourteen Manus are manifest. One day of Brahmā is calculated at 4 billion 320 million years, and Brahmā lives for one hundred years on this scale. Thus if fourteen Manus appear in one day of Brahmā, there are 420 Manus during one month of Brahmā, and during one year of Brahmā there are 5,040 Manus. Since Brahmā lives for one hundred of his years, it is calculated that there are 504,000 Manus manifest during the lifetime of one Brahmā. Since there are innumerable universes, no one can imagine the totality of the manvantara incarnations. Because all the universes are produced simultaneously by the exhalation of the Mahā-Viṣṇu, no one can begin to calculate how many Manus are manifest at one time. Each Manu, however, is called by a different name.
The first Manu is called Svāyambhuva, and he is the son of Brahmā;
The second Manu, Svārociṣa, is the son of the predominating deity of fire;
The third Manu is Uttama, and he is the son of King Priyavrata;
The fourth Manu, Tāmasa, is the brother of Uttama;
The fifth Manu, called Raivata, and
The sixth Manu, Cākṣuṣa, are both brothers of Tāmasa, but Cākṣuṣa is the son of Cākṣu;
The seventh Manu is called Vaivasvata, and he is the son of the sun-god;
The eighth Manu is called Sāvarṇi, and he is also a son of the sun-god, born of a wife named Chāyā;
The ninth Manu, Dakṣasāvarṇi, is the son of Varuna;
The tenth Manu, Brahmasāvarṇi, is the son of Upaśloka;
Four other Manus are known as Rudrasāvarṇi, Dharmasāvarṇi, Devasāvarṇi and Indrasāvarṇi.”
There are 14 Manus in a day of Brahma, 420 Manus in one month of Brahmā, 5,040 Manus in a year of Brahmā, and a total of 504,000 during the 100 years that constitute his life. Just like the names of demigods, the names of Manus are titles. On each day of Brahma, different personalities take these posts. In other words, on each day of Brahma, there is a Svāyambhuva Manu who appears as the son of Brahma and performs more or less the same activities, but each time a different soul plays the role. The same applies to demigods like Indra, great personalities like Daksa, and so on. These are all posts that are assumed by different souls on each day of Brahma.
During the reign of each Manu, the Lord descends as an avatar. During the reign of Svāyambhuva Manu, the Lord appeared as Yajña, during the reign of Tāmasa Manu, the Lord appeared as Hari (Who saved the elephant Gajendra), during the current manu He appeared as Vāmana, and so on.
This is corroborated in the Caitanya Caritamrta (20:246):
“The avataras of Manu, or manvantara-avataras, are listed as follows in Srimad-Bhagavatam (8.1.5,13): (1) Yajna, (2) Vibhu, (3) Satyasena, (4) Hari, (5) Vaikuntha, (6) Ajita, (7) Vamana, (8) Sarvabhauma, (9) Rsabha, (10) Visvaksena, (11) Dharmasetu, (12) Sudhama, (13) Yogesvara and (14) Brhadbhanu. Altogether these are fourteen in number, and of these, both Yajna and Vamana are also counted among the lila-avataras. All these Manu incarnations are sometimes called vaibhava-avataras.”
We have thus a list of the names of the 14 manus and the corresponding incarnations of the Lord that appear in each:
1- Svāyambhuva Manu (Yajña)
2- Svārociṣa Manu (Vibhu)
3- Uttama Manu (Satyasena)
4- Tāmasa Manu (Hari)
5- Raivata Manu (Vaikuṇṭha)
6- Cākṣuṣa Manu (Ajita)
7- Vaivasvata Manu (Vāmana) – We are here!
8- Sāvarṇi Manu (Sārvabhauma)
9- Dakṣasāvarṇi Manu (Ṛṣabha)
10- Brahma-sāvarṇi Manu (Viṣvaksena)
11- Dharma-sāvarṇi Manu (Dharmasetu)
12- Rudra-sāvarṇi Manu (Sudhāmā)
13- Deva-sāvarṇi Manu (Yogeśvara)
14- Indra-sāvarṇi Manu (Bṛhadbhānu)
Just as the Lord sometimes becomes Brahma when there is no qualified living entity to assume the post, the Lord sometimes takes the post of Manu, Indra, or other important demigods when there is no qualified living entity to do the job, as Prabhupada mentions in SB 1.3.12:
“When there is a scarcity of such pious living beings, the Lord incarnates Himself as Brahmā, Prajāpati, Indra, etc., and takes up the charge. During the period of Svāyambhuva Manu (the present period is of Vaivasvata Manu) there was no suitable living being who could occupy the post of Indra, the King of the Indraloka (heaven) planet. The Lord Himself at that time became Indra. Assisted by His own sons like Yāma and other demigods, Lord Yajña ruled the administration of the universal affairs.”
The Manus are called the fathers of mankind because (assisted by the other Prajapatis) they manage the whole planetary system of Bhu-Mandala, and are responsible for disseminating religious principles. In the Bhagavad-Gita (4.1), for example, Krsna narrates how the transcendental science was narrated by the Sun god to his son, Śrāddhadeva (or Satyavrata) who became the current Manu (Vaivasvata). He in turn transmitted it to Ikṣvāku, one of his sons who became the ruler of the Earth. Vivasvan spoke the Bhagavad-Gita to Manu at the beginning of his rule (about 120,400,000 years ago) and according to Prabhupada (Bg 4.1), Manu transmitted it to Ikṣvāku about two million years ago.
The reigns of the different manus are called Manvantaras. The first Manvantara coincides with the advent of Svāyambhuva Manu, who is followed by Svārociṣa Manu, and so on. At the end of each Manvantara, there is a partial devastation, in which all the demigods, as well as the great sages, are replaced by a new team at the beginning of the reign of the next Manu. Similarly, the manus is responsible for reestablishing religious principles at the end of each Kali-yuga.
As Srila Prabhupada explains (SB 8.14-intro): “Manu’s duty is to reestablish the system of religion. Manu’s sons execute Manu’s orders, and thus the entire universe is maintained by Manu and his descendants. The Indras are various rulers of the heavenly planets. Assisted by the demigods, they rule the three worlds. The Supreme Personality of Godhead also appears as incarnations in different yugas. He appears as Sanaka, Sanātana, Yājñavalkya, Dattātreya and others, and thus He gives instructions in spiritual knowledge, prescribed duties, principles of mystic yoga, and so on. As Marīci and others, He creates progeny; as the king, He punishes the miscreants; and in the form of time, He annihilates the creation.”
Each Manvantara lasts for 71 Divya-yugas (a complete cycle of four ages), in a total of 306.72 million years.
There are 1000 Divya-Yugas in a day of Brahma, therefore, if we make the calculation, it appears to not add up at first, since 71 Divya-Yugas multiplied by 14 manus are just 994 cycles instead of 1000.
This is explained by the existence of a few gaps between the reigns of the different Manus, including this long cycle of creation at the beginning of the day of Brahma, before the advent of the first Manu, as well as other gaps in the chronology, such as the Sandhyas between the manvantaras. Just like a change of government, the transitions between Manus are not instantaneous, nor effortless. When we add all these periods, the total comes to 1000 cycles.
Svāyambhuva Manu starts his reign
Svāyambhuva Manu is a great devotee of the Lord, considered one of the 12 authorities in Vedic knowledge in our universe. As declared by Lord Yamaraja on SB 6.3.20: “Lord Brahmā, Bhagavān Nārada, Lord Śiva, the four Kumāras, Lord Kapila [the son of Devahūti], Svāyambhuva Manu, Prahlāda Mahārāja, Janaka Mahārāja, Grandfather Bhīṣma, Bali Mahārāja, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and I myself know the real religious principle.”
Manu received from Lord Brahma the mission of begetting qualified children with the assistance of his wife, and in this way bringing forth generations of living entities that could be trained in the practice of devotional service.
Often we think that the purpose of life is just economic development and the realization of personal ambitions, but the real goal is to improve our spiritual understanding and gradually reconnect ourselves with our eternal nature as spirit souls. The whole universe is created with this ultimate objective, starting with the advent of Svāyambhuva Manu.
After being born, Svāyambhuva Manu and his wife approached Brahma and enquired about their mission:
“The sage Maitreya said to Vidura: After his appearance, Manu, the father of mankind, along with his wife, thus addressed the reservoir of Vedic wisdom, Brahmā, with obeisances and folded hands.
You are the father of all living entities and the source of their subsistence because they are all born of you. Please order us how we may be able to render service unto you.
O worshipful one, please give us your direction for the execution of duty within our working capacity so that we can follow it for fame in this life and progress in the next.” (SB 3.13.6-8)
Brahma then instructed Manu and blessed him to start his activities:
“Since you are my very obedient son, I ask you to beget children qualified like yourself in the womb of your wife. Rule the world in pursuance of the principles of devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thus worship the Lord by performances of yajña.
O King, if you can give proper protection to the living beings in the material world, that will be the best service for me. When the Supreme Lord sees you to be a good protector of the conditioned souls, certainly the master of the senses will be very pleased with you.” (SB 3.13.11-12)
However, when Manu was blessed to start his activities, he noticed that the earth was submerged in the waters of the Garbhodaka ocean. The word used here for the earth is “mahīm”, which indicates the great earth, Bhu-Mandala. This becomes clear in SB 5.20.45, where Prabhupada translates the word as “the earthly planets” in the context of an explanation of Vedic cosmology.
Bhu-Mandala forms the intermediate planetary system, which is exactly the place Manu is supposed to reign. With Bhu-Mandala submerged, there was no way for Manu to perform his activities.
After hearing about the problem, Brahma started thinking about how Bhu-Mandala could be lifted. As he thought, a small form of a boar came out of his nostril. This boar quickly grew in size, assuming a gigantic form. This boar was no one else than Lord Vishnu Himself, in his form of Varahadeva, Who entered into the ocean and raised Bhu-Mandala back into its proper place, allowing Svāyambhuva Manu to start his work.
It is described that all the great sages from Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Satyaloka recited verses from the Vedas to glorify the Lord in His glorious appearance, and in response, the Lord lifted Bhu-Mandala from the deepness of the universal ocean:
“When the great sages and thinkers who are residents of Janaloka, Tapoloka and Satyaloka heard the tumultuous voice of Lord Boar, which was the all-auspicious sound of the all-merciful Lord, they chanted auspicious chants from the three Vedas.
Playing like an elephant, He entered into the water after roaring again in reply to the Vedic prayers by the great devotees. The Lord is the object of the Vedic prayers, and thus He understood that the devotees’ prayers were meant for Him.” (SB 3.13.25-26)
Throughout his books, Prabhupada repeatedly makes the point that although Krsna doesn’t have a material form, He does have a form (spiritual in nature), including transcendental spiritual senses. Just like we have the propensity to execute activities, Krsna also has the propensity to execute activities. The difference is that while we perform activities under the spell of the three material modes, Krsna performs transcendental pastimes.
According to the pastimes he wants to perform, Krsna assumes an appropriate form. Hiranyakashipu had blessings from Lord Brahma that he would not be killed by a human nor by an animal, and therefore Krsna assumed a form that is half-man, half-lion. Similarly, when Krsna desired to lift Bhu-Mandala, which had fallen into the Garbhodaka ocean, he assumed the form of a transcendental hog to rescue Bhu-Mandala from inside the water.
As Prabhupada mentions in his purport to 3.13.44: “Ordinarily the body of a hog is considered impure, but one should not consider that the hog incarnation assumed by the Lord is also impure. That form of the Lord is the personified Vedas and is transcendental.”
The earth and the extended earth
The Srimad Bhagavatam describes the intermediate planetary system as a series of concentric islands called Bhu-Mandala, which has a circumference of two billion miles. At the center, there is the island of Jambūdvīpa, which is 800,000 miles in diameter. In the south of Jambūdvīpa there is Bharata Varsa, which is the tract of land where human beings live.
Bharata-Varsa, the tract of land where the Pandavas and other kings mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam ruled is part of Bhu-Mandala, situated on the south of Jambūdvīpa, the central island. This is however different from our sensory experience. For us, the Earth is just a small planet that is floating in space.
Our planet, the way we experience it in Kali-yuga, is often also called Bharata-Varsa, but it is not exactly the same Bharata-Varsa where the Pandavas were living. The place where human beings of previous ages were living is a higher dimensional space, to which we currently don’t have direct access. Our planet is some kind of projection of Bharata-Varsa in the gross dimension where we live. Some believe our planet is just one of the nine islands that form Bharata-Varsa (Aindra, Kaśeru, Tāmraparṇa, Gabhastimat, Kumārikā, Nāga, Saumya, Vāruṇa, and Gāndharva), which is also plausible.
The pastimes of the Mahabharata, as well as other events that happened in the previous eras, happened in the higher-dimensional Bharata-Varsa, which is part of Bhu-Mandala. This explains why the geographical features, described in the Mahabharata are different from our world. It’s mentioned in the Mahabharata that Bharata-Varsa where the Pandavas lived is 72,000 miles (9,000 yojanas) from north to south, 640,000 miles (80,000 yojanas) from west to east and the Himalayas were 80,000 miles high, for example, which is many times larger than our planet.
More details about this higher dimensional Bharata Varsa are given in the Skanda Purana (7.1.11.6-14) in a conversation between Lord Shiva and Parvati Devi:
“What is remembered as Jambūdvīpa is exactly at the center of the Earth. It is divided into nine regions, O beautiful woman, known as the different varsas. The first is called Bharata Varsa, and is also divided into nine parts. From south to north it measures 9,000 yojanas (72,000 miles). The distance from east to west is 80,0000 yojanas (640,000 miles). It has the Himalayas to the north and the salty ocean to the south, west and east. O goddess, Bharata, the excellent ksetra, is in between. It is affected by four yugas: Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali. The division of yugas exists only here, as well as the classification of the people into four varnas. This Bhārata Varṣa is the seed of everything, O lady of a beautiful face, It is Karma-bhūmi [the place where karma is created]. The consequences of incurring merit and sins are not obtained elsewhere.”
As we can see, Bharata-Varsa is many times larger than our planet. These dimensions explain the gigantic armies and populations that are described in the Mahabharata. Jarasanda, for example, attacked Mathura 17 times, each with an army composed of 23 akṣauhiṇīs. That’s more than 80 million soldiers in total. This means that the total population, just in the kingdom of Jarasanda, was several billion people.
Although just a small part of Jambūdvīpa, Bharata-Varsa is considered extremely important, because it is the place where the souls take birth to create a new set of Karma that they will enjoy or suffer in their next lives. All the other abodes that constitute Bhu-Mandala, as well as the higher and lower planetary systems are places where the souls who have some pious merits take birth to enjoy the results. There are three types of heavens:
a) The heavens of Swargaloka, where the demigods live.
b) The earthly heavens of Bhu-Mandala, where the souls who are coming down to earth take a last birth to enjoy their remaining piety.
c) The Bila-swarga, the subterraneous heavens, where pious demons live.
In all these places, souls who have some pious merits enjoy this piety as human beings, demigods, lower demigods, demons, or nagas, according to their inclinations. When these pious credits are exhausted, they take a new birth as human beings in Bharata-Varsa to accumulate a new set of Karma. What they do then determines where they are going next.
Because souls of the whole universe have to take birth here to accumulate their new set of Karma, time in Bharata-Varsa is divided into four eras: Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga. Souls with different propensities take birth in these different ages. Satya-yuga is the place for pure souls who are on the way to the higher planetary systems of Maharloka, Janaloka, and Satyaloka, Treta and Dvapara-yuga are for souls who have fruitive tendencies and have thus an opportunity to execute sacrifices and be elevated to Swargaloka, and Kali-yuga is the place for the sinful souls who are in route to the hellish planets or to animal life but have an opportunity to be saved by the Sankirtana movement of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
To facilitate the progress of the souls and regulate their activities, human beings in Bharata-Varsa are divided into Brahmanas, Ksatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras, and each group receives specific duties according to their nature. Varnashrama is not necessary for Satya-yuga, because at that age everyone is a Brahma by qualification. It enters into effect in Treta-yuga and the system gradually decays in Kali-yuga.
Human beings of the previous age, up to Dvapara-yuga, live in the higher dimensional space of Bhu-Mandala, and have access to the other tracts of land that compose Jambūdvīpa. However, in Kali-yuga we live in a gross dimension and don’t have access to these higher realms. According to Sridhara Swami, the original commentator of the Srimad Bhagavatam, even time for us is different from the rest of Bhu-Mandala. What is one year in Bhu-Mandala is two years for us.
Our planet is the only part of Bhu-Mandala that is visible in our gross dimension. Just like the moon we see in the sky is a projection of the celestial moon in our gross dimension, our planet is a projection of Bharata-Varsa in our gross dimension. Certain places, like Badarikāśrama, Kuruksetra, Naimiṣāraṇya, and so on, exist simultaneously in both the higher dimensional Bharata-Varsa and our planet, but only people with the necessary qualification can gain access to the higher dimensional space.
The same applies to all holy places. Vrindavana for example exists both in the spiritual sky and here on our planet. Pure devotees have access to the spiritual Vrindavana, while others see Vrindavana as just a city part of our planet and have no access to the spiritual reality that exists there. The same applies to Mayapur and the other holy places.
Because our planet is the only visible part of Bhu-mandala in our gross dimension, the word “mahīm” is used in the Srimad Bhagavatam both in the sense of the whole Bhu-mandala (the extended earth) and in the sense of “the earth” or the “earth globe” meaning our planet.
There are thus the concepts of “earth” in the sense of our planet, as it exists in the gross dimension, and “earth” as the extended earth, or Bhu-Mandala, as it exists in a higher dimensional space. Both exist simultaneously, and human beings have access to one or another according to their level of spiritual realization.
Vyasadeva and the other sages living in Badarikāśrama, for example, live in the higher dimension. Although Badarikāśrama is a place that can be accessed from our planet, through the Himalayas, is part of the higher dimensional space of Bhu-Mandala, and thus is not accessible to ordinary people. Only a few very advanced souls may be able to access it in the current age, as was the case of Madhvacarya, who was able to reach Badarikāśrama through the Himalayas and receive personal instructions from Vyasadeva. That’s why Madhvacarya appears in the Parampara as a disciple of Vyasadeva, although he lived just about 800 years ago.
The two appearances of Lord Varahadeva
The Srimad Bhagavatam describes the appearance of two different incarnations of Varahadeva, one white and another red, which came at different times. However, the pastimes of both appearances are amalgamated in the same description in chapter 3.13, which makes it a little hard to understand.
In his purport to SB 3.13.31, Srila Prabhupada mentions that:
“According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the Vedic literature describe the incarnation of Lord Varāha (Boar) in two different devastations, namely the Cākṣuṣa devastation and the Svāyambhuva devastation. This particular appearance of the boar incarnation actually took place in the Svāyambhuva devastation, when all planets other than the higher ones – Jana, Mahar, and Satya – merged in the water of devastation. This particular incarnation of the boar was seen by the inhabitants of the planets mentioned above. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravarti suggests that the sage Maitreya amalgamated both the boar incarnations in different devastations and summarized them in his description to Vidura.”
In the Srimad Bhagavatam (as well as in other Puranas) the emphasis is on the pastimes and the lessons we learn from them, and not on chronological order. Sometimes, pastimes that happened over a very long span of time are amalgamated with pastimes that happened recently in the cosmic scale of time.
For example, in the 12th chapter of the third canto, we hear about the story of Brahma becoming attracted to his daughter. In his purport, Prabhupada mentions:
“This extraordinary immorality on the part of Brahmā was heard to have occurred in some particular kalpa, but it could not have happened in the kalpa in which Brahmā heard directly from the Lord the four essential verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam because the Lord blessed Brahmā, after giving him lessons on the Bhāgavatam, that he would never be bewildered in any kalpa whatsoever. This indicates that before the hearing of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam he might have fallen a victim to such sensuality, but after hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam directly from the Lord, there was no possibility of such failures.” (SB 3.12.28 purport)
We can see thus that the description of the current day is amalgamated with an incident that happened on a previous day of Brahma, but this is revealed by Prabhupada in his purport, following the comments of previous acaryas. We are currently on the first day after Brahma’s 50th birthday, or the first day of the second half of His life, and the pastimes described in the Srimad Bhagavatam describe events from the current day. However, a few pastimes from previous days are mentioned here and there (like the story of Narada Muni in his previous life) and are sometimes amalgamated in the description of other pastimes.
If we do the math, we can calculate that Brahma has been alive for more than 155 trillion years. In other words, Brahma chasing his daughter is a story that possibly happened many trillions of years ago. Taking this into consideration, it’s not a surprise that the pastimes of the two appearances of Varahadeva were condensed into just one.
In other words, there is a chronology for the events of the Srimad Bhagavatam, and this chronology can be understood when we study the text attentively. It’s just that because the main focus is on the spiritual instructions, this chronology may not always be obvious.
When we speak about the appearances of Lord Varaha, both stories happened in the current day of Brahma. The story of the first Varaha, the white Varaha, happened at the beginning of the day, during the reign of Svāyambhuva Manu, when the creation of the universe was still going on. In this pastime, He lifted the whole Bhu-Mandala, and there was no fight with Hiranyaksa. Because of the appearance of Lord Varahadeva in his white form, the reign of Svāyambhuva Manu is also called the Śveta-varāha millennium. Śveta-varāha means “white Varaha”. Also because of this appearance, the current day of Brahma is called the Śveta-varāha kalpa.
Lord Varaha appeared for a second time more recently, during the reign of Cākṣuṣa Manu, who is the 6th Manu in the sequence. Each Manu reigns for a total of 306.72 million years, so there is a gap of at least 1.533 billion puranic years between the two appearances of Sri Varahadeva. On SB 3.13.16, Srila Prabhupada mentions: “According to Jīva Gosvāmī, the topics delineated here are of different millenniums. The present topics are of the Śveta-varāha millennium, and topics regarding the Cākṣuṣa millennium will also be discussed in this chapter.”
It’s important to note that Srila Prabhupada uses the word millennium in different senses throughout his purports, just like we would use the words “era” or “period”. It is sometimes used in the sense of a Yuga (like Kali-yuga or Dvapara-yuga), a Divya-yuga (the combination of four yugas), a Manvantara (the reign of a Manu), or a Kalpa (a day of Brahma), therefore it’s important to be attentive to the context. In 3.13.16, for example, the Śveta-varāha “millennium” refers to the reign of Svāyambhuva Manu, while in 3.11.36, where he refers to the Pādma-kalpa, the “millennium” refers to a day of Brahma. In SB 6.10.16 he mentions that “We are now in the twenty-eighth millennium of Vaivasvata Manu”, and in this case, the word is used in the sense of a Divya-yuga (4.32 million years), which is confirmed in the same purport. In BG 4.8, “millennium” is used in the sense of an individual Yuga, and so on. We can thus see that “millennium” is just an English word that is used as a translation for different Sanskrit terms in different contexts, just like other words.
Lord Varahadeva is listed as a Lila-avatara, which suggests that He appears repeatedly. It seems that the appearance of the red Varahadeva and his fight with Hiranyaksa happens every day of Brahma, while the appearance of the white Varahadeva is a special occurrence. In any case, just as in other incarnations of the Lord. His pastimes are thus unlimited. Thanks to the descriptions of Sukadeva Goswami, we know about two of His appearances.
The prayers of the sages
In this world, the hog is not considered a very attractive or pure animal, but when the Lord appears in the form of a hog, He becomes the most attractive personality. The Lord is pure and transcendental, and there is no difference between His self and His body. Therefore, every time the Lord appears to perform a pastime, His transcendental form is the most attractive.
It is described that Lord Varaha was gigantic like a great elephant, and roared with an uncommon voice that echoed in all directions. Initially, Lord Brahma and the great sages were puzzled about the identity of this uncommon personality, but when they heard His hoar, they could understand that He was the Supreme Lord and started offering prayers by chanting mantras from the Vedas. In response to these prayers, the Lord roared again and flew into the sky, whipping His tail. This made His hairs quiver, which was another attractive spectacle. While flying, He also scattered the clouds in the sky with His hooves and His glittering white tusks.
Finally, He entered into the cosmic ocean with great force, creating two great waves that looked like two gigantic arms. Playing like a hog, the Lord found the Earth by smell and lifted her from the bottom of the ocean by balancing the planet on his tusk. At this moment, He appeared very splendid.
The great sages of the universe glorified the Lord by offering prayers. Based on the explanations of Srila Prabhupada on SB 3.14.2, it appears that these prayers were offered by the great sages on the occasion of the first appearance of the Lord. The main points are:
a) Although descending in the form of a boar, the Lord’s form is fully transcendental. Even though appearing in the material world to perform pastimes, the Lord doesn’t assume a material body like ordinary living entities, nor is He under the influence of the three modes.
b) The Lord is equally worshipable in all His transcendental forms, be it as the Lord of Vaikunta or in any of His incarnations. However, the duṣkṛta, or miscreants are unable to understand it.
c) The veda-vādīs, the false followers of the Vedas perform different forms of fire sacrifice without understanding their purpose, or strictly following the regulations. Such sacrifices are useless. In reality, taking shelter in the Lord and rendering service unto Him is the real form of sacrifice. The Lord is the source of all benedictions and the enjoyer of all forms of sacrifice. All forms of sacrifice should then be seen in connection with the Lord and performed for His satisfaction.
d) All forms of sacrifice have the goal of realizing the Lord. For this, one should become free from all material contaminations and desires. This freedom is called vairāgya, or renouncement of material desires. When one attains this platform, his mind becomes pure and free from both visible and invisible material contamination (in other words, one becomes pure both internally and externally). How can one achieve such a platform? Prabhupada explains:
“One who engages in devotional service to the Lord according to regulative principles is automatically freed from material desires, and in that pure state of mind one can realize the Personality of Godhead. The Personality of Godhead, being situated in everyone’s heart, instructs the devotee regarding pure devotional service so that he may ultimately achieve the association of the Lord.”
“The ultimate end of all those performances is to attain bhakti, or the devotional service of the Lord. Without bhakti one cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
e) The Lord could have lifted the Earth from the ocean just by His potencies. Why then He choose to personally come? For the pleasure of enjoying His pastime. By lifting the Earth using his tusk, the transcendental body of the Lord looks especially beautiful, and the planet also looks beautiful, like a cloud resting on the peak of a great mountain.
f) The Earth is the wife of the Lord, and the Lord is the supreme father, therefore, both are worshipable. The Earth is not only created and maintained by the Lord, but it floats in space thanks to the potency of the Lord in the form of the gravitational force.
g) Although the activity of lifting the Earth from the bottom of the cosmic ocean is wonderful and could not be performed by anyone apart from the Lord, this activity is not at all dificult for the Lord, who is the creator of the whole material manifestation.
h) An ordinary hog is a very impure animal. However, when the Lord appears in the form of a hog, He is the most pure. The inhabitants of the Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Satyaloka are the most pious in the material world, but they still show impurities. In other words, they are purer than others but are still not completely pure. Therefore, when drops of water that had touched the transcendental body of the Lord were sprinkled on them, they felt purified.
i) There are no limits to the activities of the Lord, and thus they are unlimited and inconceivable. Everyone in the material world is captivated by the external energy of the Lord and thus conditioned. It is extremely dificult for the minute soul to become free from such influence, but one who surrenders to the Lord can become the object of His causeless mercy and thus be saved.
Jumping forward in time
The previous chapters describe the creation of Brahma, all the way to the creation of Svāyambhuva Manu and the first appearance of Lord Varaha, when he lifted Bhu-Mandala out of the ocean, creating thus the conditions for Manu to start his reign and populate the universe.
All of this happened right at the beginning of the day of Brahma, more than two billion years ago, according to the time in Bhu-Mandala.
However, because the description of Maitreya combined details of the two appearances of Lord Varaha, mentioning that He killed the demon Hiranyaksa (which happened in the second appearance), Maitreya became interested in hearing more about this pastime. This led Maitreya to jump on time and start to describe the fight between the Red Lord Varaha (the second incarnation) and the demon Hiranyaksa, which happened much later, in the 6th manvantara.
Maitreya will now describe the story of Diti and Kasyapa Muni conceiving a child at the improper time and thus begetting the two great and powerful demons, Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakashipu, as well the pastime behind their appearance: the curse of the gatekeepers Jaya and Vijaya by the four Kumaras and their births in the material world as demons. After explaining these two pastimes, Maitreya proceeds to narrate the battle between Varahadeva and the demon in detail.
All of this comprises the narrations in chapters 14 to 19. In the 20th chapter, Maitreya goes back to the process of creation of the universe, describing more details about the creation of Brahma, and then narrating events from the first manvantara, starting from the story of Kardama Muni marring Devahuti and beginning Kapila Muni as their son. This description goes all the way to the end of the 3rd canto.
The narration of the events of the first manvantara continues in the 4th canto, with the pastime of Daksa cursing Lord Shiva, and ending up being killed and later revived with the head of a goat.
We have them the description of the pastime of Dhruva Maharaja and the story of King Vena, which led to the appearance of Pṛthu Maharaja, including his milking of the Earth and his meeting with the four Kumaras. All of this happened in the 1st Manvantara.
After this, the narration jumps to the 6th manvantara, with the story of king Barhiṣat, the birth of the ten Pracetas, their meditation inside the water, and their meeting with Lord Shiva.
After this, the narration of the Srimad Bhagavatam focuses on events of the 6th Manvantara. One could question what happened in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Manvantara, and why they are not extensively described like the first one.
Although there are a few descriptions of pastimes that happened in these manvantaras, like the churning of the milk ocean by the demigods and demons, not much is known about these manvantaras. The reason for that appears to be related to the pastime of Daksa.
Later, it is described that after being revived with the head of a goat and successfully performing a sacrifice for Lord Visnu, Daksa retired from his duties as the leader of the Prajapatis and went to perform austerities and become free from the results of his offenses to Lord Shiva. He practiced austerities for a very long period, all the way to the 6th manvantara, and then left his body to be reborn as the son of the Pracetas. Daksa was then married to Asiknī (Pāñcajanī) and begot 60 daughters who were given in marriage to great sages. It’s described that most of the population of the universe, including different species of plants, animals, etc. was generated from these 60 daughters, suggesting that the universe remained relatively empty during the first five manvantaras when Daksa was performing his penances, and therefore not much was happening.
The pastime of Daksa offending Lord Shiva appears thus to be an event that dramatically affected the history of our universe, making the current day different from other days of Brahma, when the creation proceeds uninterrupted.
We will better study all these different events in the next parts. There are many mysterious passages in the Srimad Bhagavatam.