Varaha Purana 113.5: Adhyaya 113, Shloka 5
Hymn to Varāha and Pṛthivī’s Inquiry
Prelude to the Sanatkumāra Dialogue
Pūrva Bhāga · Dialogue Opening (Pṛthivī addresses Kṛṣṇa/Keśava)
धरण्युवाच ॥ कल्पे कल्पे भवानेव मां समुद्धरते भवान् ॥ न बाहुश्चेष्टते मूर्तिर्मादृशीं गां च केशव ॥
dharaṇy uvāca || kalpe kalpe bhavān eva māṃ samuddharate bhavān || na bāhuś ceṣṭate mūrtir mādṛśīṃ gāṃ ca keśava ||
dharaNyuvAcha || kalpe kalpe bhavAneva mAM samuddharate bhavAn || na bAhushcheShTate mUrtirmAdRRishIM gAM cha keshava
大地说道：在每一劫中，唯有你将我举起。然而此具身之形并不如他者那般奋力伸臂；即便如此，哦克舍婆，你仍能托举如我这般的大地。
Sandhi Notes
- धरण्युवाच = धरणी + उवाच
- भवानेव = भवान् + एव
- बाहुश्चेष्टते = बाहुः + चेष्टते
- मूर्तिर्मादृशीं = मूर्तिः + मादृशीम्
Pṛthivī (Dharaṇī)
Curious, awestruck, grateful
How do you, O Keśava, lift me each aeon without the exertion of arms—what is the nature of your embodied agency/power?
Divine action is effortless and non-limiting; the Lord’s embodiment is a mode of grace, not a constraint.
When acting in the world, reduce egoic strain: align intention with dharma and surrender outcomes—imitating (in miniature) the ideal of action without inner burden.
Emphasis is on non-arm exertion (na bāhuś ceṣṭate) and effortless lifting by Keśava
Direct address: Earth acknowledges repeated rescue each kalpa; marvels at his effortless agency in lifting her.
Earth’s question contrasts ordinary embodied effort (arms, exertion) with divine embodiment that operates by will (icchā-śakti) and māyā—suggesting the avatāra-body is not limited like jīva bodies.
Implicit: the Lord’s ‘body’ as cosmic instrument rather than muscular mechanism; the act is ritual-cosmic support, not physical labor.
Distinction between īśvara’s śarīra (divine manifestation) and jīva’s deha: īśvara acts without bondage; agency is grounded in omnipotent śakti, not in karmically constrained effort.
Foreshadowing only via the name Keśava (a principal epithet later central in Kṛṣṇa-bhakti), but no Mathurā-specific linkage in this verse.
Bhū–Varāha saṃvāda sections where Bhū-devī asks and Varāha instructs on dharma/vrata
FAQs
It foregrounds cyclical cosmology (repeated kalpas) and frames Earth as a speaking interlocutor—an important literary strategy for articulating environmental and moral concerns.
No specific location is identified; the speaker is the Earth herself, treated as a cosmic entity rather than a single site.
A reflection on responsibility and support: the world’s stability is presented as requiring sustaining agency beyond ordinary exertion, encouraging a stewardship-oriented worldview.
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