Srimad Bhagavatam — Tritiya Skandha, Shloka 35
Varāha-avatāra: The Boar Incarnation Lifts the Earth and Slays Hiraṇyākṣa
रूपं तवैतन्ननु दुष्कृतात्मनां दुर्दर्शनं देव यदध्वरात्मकम् । छन्दांसि यस्य त्वचि बर्हिरोम- स्वाज्यं दृशि त्वङ्घ्रि षु चातुर्होत्रम् ॥ ३५ ॥
rūpaṁ tavaitan nanu duṣkṛtātmanāṁ durdarśanaṁ deva yad adhvarātmakam chandāṁsi yasya tvaci barhi-romasv ājyaṁ dṛśi tv aṅghriṣu cātur-hotram
主よ、この御姿は祭祀そのものの御姿でありながら、悪しき心の者には見えがたい。御肌にはガーヤトリー等のヴェーダ韻律が宿り、御毛にはクシャ草があり、御眼には清澄な酥（ギー）があり、四つの御脚には四種の祭式の働き（チャートゥル・ホートラ）が備わる。
There is a class of miscreants who are known in the words of Bhagavad-gītā as veda-vādī, or so-called strict followers of the Vedas. They do not believe in the incarnation of the Lord, what to speak of the Lord’s incarnation as the worshipable hog. They describe worship of the different forms or incarnations of the Lord as anthropomorphism. In the estimation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam these men are miscreants, and in Bhagavad-gītā (7.15) they are called not only miscreants but also fools and the lowest of mankind, and it is said that their knowledge has been plundered by illusion due to their atheistic temperament. For such condemned persons, the Lord’s incarnation as the gigantic hog is invisible. These strict followers of the Vedas who despise the eternal forms of the Lord may know from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that such incarnations are personified forms of the Vedas. Lord Boar’s skin, His eyes and His bodily hair holes are all described here as different parts of the Vedas. He is therefore the personified form of the Vedic hymns, and specifically the Gāyatrī mantra.
FAQs
This verse describes Lord Varaha’s very body as sacrificial reality—Vedic meters, grass, ghee, and priestly functions are symbolically present in Him—showing that all yajña ultimately rests in and is fulfilled by the Lord.
Because perception of the Lord is not merely physical seeing; it depends on inner purity and devotion. Those with sinful, self-centered consciousness lack the devotional vision to recognize the Lord’s divine presence.
Treat your daily duties as an offering to God—aligning action with devotion—so the mind becomes purified, and spiritual understanding (true “seeing”) naturally deepens.