Shloka 42
Varāha-avatāra: The Boar Incarnation Lifts the Earth and Slays Hiraṇyākṣa
संस्थापयैनां जगतां सतस्थुषां लोकाय पत्नीमसि मातरं पिता । विधेम चास्यै नमसा सह त्वया यस्यां स्वतेजोऽग्निमिवारणावधा: ॥ ४२ ॥
saṁsthāpayaināṁ jagatāṁ sa-tasthuṣāṁ lokāya patnīm asi mātaraṁ pitā vidhema cāsyai namasā saha tvayā yasyāṁ sva-tejo ’gnim ivāraṇāv adhāḥ
হে প্রভু! চলমান ও অচল সকল জীবের বাসের জন্য এই পৃথিবীকে স্থাপন করো। এই পৃথিবী তোমার পত্নী, আর তুমি পরম পিতা। আমরা তোমার সঙ্গে মাতৃভূমিকে প্রণাম করি—যার মধ্যে তুমি নিজের তেজ স্থাপন করেছ, যেমন দক্ষ যজমান অরণি-কাঠে অগ্নি স্থাপন করে।
The so-called law of gravitation which sustains the planets is described herein as the potency of the Lord. This potency is invested by the Lord in the way that an expert sacrificial brāhmaṇa puts fire in the araṇi wood by the potency of Vedic mantras. By this arrangement the world becomes habitable for both the moving and nonmoving creatures. The conditioned souls, who are residents of the material world, are put in the womb of mother earth in the same way the seed of a child is put by the father in the womb of the mother. This conception of the Lord and the earth as father and mother is explained in Bhagavad-gītā (14.4) . Conditioned souls are devoted to the motherland in which they take their birth, but they do not know their father. The mother is not independent in producing children. Similarly, material nature cannot produce living creatures unless in contact with the supreme father, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam teaches us to offer obeisances unto the mother along with the Father, the Supreme Lord, because it is the Father only who impregnates the mother with all energies for the sustenance and maintenance of all living beings, both moving and nonmoving.
FAQs
In this verse, the sages pray to Lord Varāha to re-establish Bhūmi (Earth) for the welfare of all beings, recognizing her as sacred and essential to cosmic order.
Because Earth sustains all creatures like a mother by providing nourishment and shelter, and like a father by upholding stability, resources, and support for worldly life.
Just as fire lies hidden within wood until awakened, divine potential and spiritual strength can remain concealed within us and our circumstances until brought forth through devotion, discipline, and right guidance.