Lord Varaha and Lord Narasimha in Vraja Mandal

BY: SUN STAFF - 28.2 2023

There is an ancient Deity of Lord Varaha in Mathura: Adi Varaha was brought there by Lord Satrughna, the brother of Lord Ramacandra. This temple is close to Visrama-ghata, the place at Yamuna where Krsna rested after killing the demon Kamsa. Interestingly, Lord Varaha also came and rested there after his battle with Hiranyaksa.

Close to our Krsna-Balarama mandir on the parikrama path is Varaha-Ghat, which used to be on the bank of the Yamuna. Next to it there is a garden said to be where Krsna bewildered Cupid, who was trying to shoot Krsna in the presence of the gopis. However, instead of bewildering Krsna with lust, Cupid (Kamadeva) ended up madly crying out for Krsna, thus Krsna is known as Madan Mohan.

At Varaha Ghat the gopis once asked Krsna to show them the form of Lord Varaha, and He did so to please His dear devotees. Lord Caitnaya also once showed this Varaha form to Murari Gupta. So even Lord Varaha has blessed Vraja by His presence, and still is in His very powerful Varaha murti form.

Similarly, in Nandagrama there is a 5,000 year-old temple of Lord Narasimha. Nanda Maharaja, on the request of Garga Muni, worshipped Lord Narasimhadev to protect child Krsna.

There is a very sweet verse from Krsna Karnamrita and other nice verses found in praise of Lord Varaha:

"Although in His Varaha incarnation, many oceans could hardly even fill the Lord's hair follicles, Yashodamayi bathed that same lotus-eyed Lord (i.e, Shri Krishna) with just the water contained in her two joined palms."

Krishna-karnamritam, 2.27

Others are found in Srimad Bhagavatam 5.18, text 35 to 39:

34) Also, in the northern territory called Kuru is the Supreme Lord, the Original Person of Sacrifice, eternally existing in his boar form [Varâha, see 3.13], time and again worshiped by the goddess and this planet earth together with the inhabitants of [Uttarâ-]Kuru, unrelenting in devotional service unto Him. To this worship is this Upanishad verse repeated:

(35) 'Our respects unto the Supreme Lord whose limbs and functions in truth are understood by the different mantras, by the offerings, by the rituals and the great sacrifices; unto that great personality, that purifier of the karma, my homage; unto Him, known throughout the three preceding Yugas ['tri-yuga'], my obeisances.

(36) To the great scholars of learning is the material nature with its modes Your form; just like with fire that manifests in wood by spinning a stick, do the inquisitive by the mind find the hidden of You in their going for the cause; unto that manifesting Soul my respects.

(37) From the mâyâ to Your form raised by the objects of the senses, the controlling deities over the senses, the body, the predominating time, by false ego and the modes of nature observed as a fact, are those whose intelligence found its stability the careful consideration of all the different limbs of the yoga system, completely freed; unto that Supreme Soul my reverential homage.

(38) Unto You, who in the train of maintaining, winding up and creating the universe does not entertain any desire, unto You of whose glancing over the desired, the modes and the illusory of matter move as does iron placed near a magnetic stone, my obeisances; unto You as the witness to the actions and reactions.

(39) For Him who, playful like an elephant, after killing the most formidable daitya opponent in the fight, came out of the water of the Garbhodaka ocean keeping me, the earth, on top of His tusks [Hiranyâksha see 3.19] - for that Almighty One, I bow myself down.'