The secret of the two appearances of Lord Varāhadeva
The Srimad Bhagavatam describes the appearance of two different incarnations of Lord Varaha. However, the descriptions of both appearances are amalgamated, which makes it hard to understand.
The Srimad Bhagavatam describes the appearance of two different incarnations of Lord 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 13 of the third canto, 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 Varāhadeva 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 Varāhadeva 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 Varāhadeva. 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 Varāhadeva is listed as a Lila-avatara, which suggests that He appears repeatedly. It seems that the appearance of the red Varāhadeva and his fight with Hiranyaksa happens every day of Brahma, while the appearance of the white Varāhadeva 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.
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