Varaha Purana 9.2: Adhyaya 9, Shloka 2
The Sequence of Creation, the Emergence of the Praṇava, and the Fish Incarnation’s Retrieval of the Vedas
Pūrva Bhāga · Cosmogonic Prelude (Nārāyaṇa as the sole principle)
श्रीवराह उवाच । पूर्वं नारायणस्त्वेको नासीत्किञ्चिद्धरेः परम् । सैक एव रतिं लेभे नैव स्वच्छन्दकर्मकृत् ॥ ९.२ ॥
śrīvarāha uvāca | pūrvaṁ nārāyaṇas tv eko nāsīt kiñcid dhareḥ param | saika eva ratiṁ lebhe naiva svacchanda-karmakṛt || 9.2 ||
shrIvarAha uvAcha | pUrvaM nArAyaNastveko nAsIt ki~nchiddhareH param | saika eva ratiM lebhe naiva svachChandakarmakRRit || 9.2 ||
वराह भगवान ने कहा। पहले सिर्फ नारायण थे। हरि के अलावा कुछ भी नहीं था। वो खुश थे, उनका कोई रैंडम काम नहीं था।
Sandhi Notes
- नारायणस्त्वेको = नारायणः तु एकः
- नासीत् = न आसीत्
- किञ्चिद्धरेः = किञ्चित् हरेः
- सैक = सः एकः
- स्वच्छन्दकर्मकृत् treated as compound (स्वच्छन्द-कर्म-कृत्)
Varāha
Curious, receptive
Before creation, only Nārāyaṇa existed; divine action is purposeful and ordered, not arbitrary.
Trust cosmic order (dharma/ṛta); emulate non-capricious action—act from discernment rather than impulse.
Varāha responds as teacher to Earth’s inquiry, establishing Nārāyaṇa’s sole pre-cosmic existence and purposeful (non-whimsical) action.
Varāha’s cosmogonic teaching begins with ekatva: Nārāyaṇa alone before manifestation; ‘not acting by whim’ asserts divine līlā as ordered, dharma-aligned, not capricious—supporting the idea of a rational cosmic yajña.
Pre-cosmic stillness like unkindled fire before yajña; when action begins, it is rule-governed (vidhi), not svacchanda—mirroring sacrificial order.
Ekatva (one without a second) as the ground; divine will as intelligent causality rather than randomness; aligns with Īśvara as purposeful creator in Purāṇic Vedānta.
Immediate continuation of Varāha’s cosmogony in the same dialogue sequence (subsequent verses likely unfold sṛṣṭi-krama)
FAQs
It reflects a common Purāṇic cosmogonic motif: an initial state where a single supreme principle is described as existing prior to differentiation, a theme widely attested across early medieval Sanskrit narrative-theological literature.
No geographic location is named in this verse; it functions as a cosmological preface rather than a sacred-geography passage.
The verse implies a philosophical ideal of non-capricious agency: action is not framed as arbitrary (svacchanda) but as principled, suggesting restraint and purposive conduct as a valued norm.
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