Sri Dasavatara Stotra
(from Gita-govinda by Srila Jayadeva Gosvami)
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Purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krsna Consciousness
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Prayala payodhi jale dhrtavan asi vedam. This is a song sung by a great Vaisnava poet, Jayadeva Gosvami. The purport is, that when there was devastation the whole universe was flooded with water. The ultimate dissolution of this material world will be, first of all there will be no water. All water on the earth will be dried up by the scorching heat of the sun. The sun will become twelve times stronger than it is at the present moment. In this way, it will evaporate all the waters. The seas and the oceans will be all evaporated, and therefore all living creatures on the earth will die. Then due to scorching heat, practically everything will be turned into ashes. Then there will be rain for hundred years, torrents of rain, like the trunk of the elephant, and thus the whole universe will be filled with water. That is called pralaya payodhi. At the time of devastation, prayala, the whole universe will be just like it is now filled with air. At that time it will be filled up with water. At that time the Vedas will be saved by the Lord on a boat and the boat will be stuck up in the wings of the great fish. That great fish is an incarnation of Krsna, therefore he is worshiping, Kesava dhrta, mina sarira, jaya jagadisa. Mina sarira.
The next is ksitir ativipulatare tava tisthati prsthe dharani dharana kina cakra garisthe. So there will be churning. Next incarnation is tortoise. On the back of the tortoise, the Meru parvata will be fixed up, or the world will rest on the back of the tortoise. This is second incarnation. First fish, and then tortoise.
Then Varaha avatara. One demon, Hiranya, (Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksha)... so he will by demonic activities, he will throw the earth on the Garbho sea. There is a sea within this universe. Half of the globe is filled up with Garbhasamhudra, on which Garbodaksayi Visnu is there, and takes birth. So all the planets are hanging as different stems of this original stem coming out from the abdomen of Garbodaksayi Visnu. So one demon of the name Hiranyaka, he will put this earth within this water, and at that time, the Lord will come out in the incarnation of Varaha. The Varaha incarnation came as a small insect from the nose of Brahma, and when he put it on his hand, it began to increase. In this way, He assumed a very gigantic body, and with His tusk He picked up the earth from within the water of Garbo ocean. That is called Kesava dhrta varaha rupa.
Next is tava kara kamala vare nakham adbhuta srngam, dalita hiranyankasipu tanu bhrngam. Hiranyakasipu, he was another demon who wanted to be immortal, so he took benediction from Brahma that he will not die on land, in the sky, or in the water. So in order to keep as it is the benediction given by Brahma, Lord Krsna tries to honor the words of His devotee. So Brahma gave him benediction, yes, you will not die on land, on water, in the sky. But Nrsimhadeva appeared as half-lion, half-man, because Hiranyakasipu also took benediction from Brahma that he will not be killed by any man, or any animal. So He assumed the form of something which you cannot say was a man or animal, and He put the demon on His lap, which is neither land, nor water, nor sky. And he wanted not to be killed by any weapons, therefore the Lord killed him with His nail. Nail is not considered as weapon. In this way, he wanted to cheat Brahma, but the Lord is so intelligent that He cheated Hiranyakasipu and killed him. Kesava dhrta nara hari rupa dalita hiranyakasipu tanu bhrngam. Just like with our nails, we can kill any insect. Take an ant, you can bifurcate it. Similarly, Hiranyakasipu was a giant demon, he was compared just like a little insect, and was killed by the nails of the Lord.
Then, next incarnation is Vamanadeva. This Vamanadeva the dwarf. He went to Bali Maharaja, and asked him three feet land, and his guru Sukracarya induced him not to promise because He is Visnu, but Bali Maharaja was very much satisfied to offer something to Visnu. He gave up the connection of his guru, because he forbade him to serve Visnu. Therefore Bali Maharaja is one of the mahajanas. Nobody can check the worship of Visnu. If anyone checks, he may be guru, he may be father, he may be relative, he should be rejected immediately. Therefore Bali Maharaja is a mahajana. He showed this example because his guru put hindrances on the path of his worshiping Lord Visnu, he gave up the connection of his guru. So by this process, he begged, but that was not begging, practically, that was cheating. But Bali Maharaja agreed to be cheated by the Lord. That is the symptom of a devotee. The devotee agrees to any action of the Lord. When Bali Maharaja saw that the Lord wanted him to cheat (by asking three feet of land, He will take the whole universe), so he agreed. By two feet, the whole universe was covered up and down. Then Vamanadeva asked Him where to keep the third foot, so Bali Maharaja agreed: "My Lord, You keep it on my head. I have got my body still." In this way, he purchased Lord Visnu, Vamanadeva, and Vamanadeva remained as the doorkeeper of Bali Maharaja. So by giving everything (sarvasatma-nivedane balir). He gave everything to Lord, and by that giving up, he purchased the Lord. He remained voluntarily as doorkeeper of Bali Maharaja. So calayasi vikramane balim adbhuta vamana pada nakha nira janita jana pavana. When Vamanadeva expanded His leg upward, by His toe, there was a hole in the covering of the universe, and through that hole, the Ganges water came from Vaikuntha. Pada nakha nira janita jana, and the Ganges water is flowing now in the universe, sanctifying everywhere, wherever the Ganges water is there. Pada nakha nira janita jana pavana.
Then next incarnation is bhrgu-pati, parasurama. Parasurama is a saktyavesa-avatara, so He, twenty-one times killed the ksatriyas. So out of Parasurama's fear, all the ksatriyas, they migrated toward Europe, it is said in the history, Mahabharata. So twenty-one times He attacked all the ksatriyas, they are not in order, so He killed them, and there is a big tank in Kurukshetra where all the blood was reserved, later on it became water. So ksatriya rudhira, in order to pacify the aggrieved heart He soaked the earth with the blood of the ksatriyas. Snapayasi payasi smita ghava tapam.
Vitarasi diksu rane dik pati kamaniyam, dasa mukha mauli balim ramaniyam. Then next avatara is Ramacandra. So the Ravana who had ten heads, he challenged the Lord and Lord Ramacandra took up the challenge and killed him.
Then vahasi vapusi visade vasanam jaladabham, hala hati bhiti milita yamunabham. Then Baladeva. When Baladeva wanted Yamuna to come hear Him, so she was not coming, therefore with His plow, He wanted to bifurcate the earth, and at that time Yamuna submitted, and she came near to the Lord. Hala hati bhiti milita yamunabham. Hala hati bhiti, milita yamunabham. Yamuna was punished by Lord Baladeva. Kesava dhrta hala dhara rupa. Hala dhara means plow. Hala dhara rupa, jaya jagadish hare.
Next, Buddha, Lord Buddha. Nindasi yajna vidher ahaha sruti jatam. Lord Buddha defied the Vedic injunction, because His mission was to stop animal killing, and in the Vedas, in some of the sacrifices, animal killing is prescribed, so those who are so-called followers of the Vedic rules, they wanted to stop Buddhadeva in His mission of stopping animal killing, so therefore when people wanted to give evidence from the Vedas, that in the Vedas there is prescription, there is sanction of animal killing in sacrifices, why You are stopping? He (nindasi), He defied, and because He defied the authority of the Vedas, therefore Buddha philosophy was not accepted in India. Nasti, anyone who denied the authority of the Veda, he will be called a nastik, a non-believer. Vedas cannot be disrespected. So in this way, Lord Buddha, to save the poor animals, He sometimes defied the injunction of the Vedas. Kesava dhrta, buddha sarira, jaya jagadisa hare.
The next avatara is Kalki avatara. We are awaiting, after 400 thousands of years from this time, the Kalki avatara will come, and He will take a sword on the horseback, just like a king. He will simply go on killing all these non-believers, Godless creatures. There will be no more preaching. As in other incarnations, there is preaching, in Kalki avatara the population of the whole world will be so much reduced to animalism, that there will be no more power to understand what is God, or what is spiritualism, and it is already there, in the Kali-yuga it will increase. People will have no power to understand this philosophy, God consciousness. So at that time, there is no other alternative that to kill them all, and usher in another Satya-yuga. That is the way of our evolution. That's all.
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