“Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu started harassing the world. Hiranyaksha said, ‘As we are very powerful now, we will take revenge on Maha Vishnu, because He cheated the demons and stole the amrita. So, we shall take revenge on Him.’ What did he do? They knew very well that every time something happens to Mother Earth, the Lord will manifest Himself. So, he took Mother Earth, and submerged Her under the water. Of course, Mother Earth was crying, calling for the Lord to manifest Himself, ‘Please save me!’ So, as the Lord was sleeping, Brahma looking at the Lord said, ‘How can I wake Him up now?’ Then, Brahma started meditating on the Lord, chanting His name. He was so immersed in His chanting, immersed into the devotion, that from His nose, a little boar came out. And this little boar, when He came out, He started growing in size. Then, He jumped into the water, fought with Hiranyaksha, killed him, and then took Mother Earth on His tusk out from the water. When He came out all the devas started praising Him.
Even if He was not born from Maha Vishnu or Narayana, even if He had just come out of Brahma's nose, Brahma recognised Him as being a manifestation of Narayana. Here you have to see – why He didn’t come out from the body of Narayana, but came out from the body of Brahma? This shows that when one rises in spirituality and identifies oneself with the Lord, the Lord takes complete possession of that bhakta. And, when the Lord takes complete possession of that bhakta, there is no difference between that bhakta and the Lord. That’s why it is said that when one harms a bhakta of the Lord, it's not harming the bhakta, but it's harming the Lord Himself!
Even if He was not born from Maha Vishnu or Narayana, even if He had just come out of Brahma's nose, Brahma recognised Him as being a manifestation of Narayana. Here you have to see – why He didn’t come out from the body of Narayana, but came out from the body of Brahma? This shows that when one rises in spirituality and identifies oneself with the Lord, the Lord takes complete possession of that bhakta. And, when the Lord takes complete possession of that bhakta, there is no difference between that bhakta and the Lord. That’s why it is said that when one harms a bhakta of the Lord, it's not harming the bhakta, but it's harming the Lord Himself!
So here, you see this connection of the devotee with the Lord Himself. When one reaches a state of complete forgetfulness, what stays is only Him. Then He can manifest Himself through anyone. He can do anything through anyone. He can use anyone, because, it's only Him. So here, He uses Brahma to manifest Himself as Varaha, and yet Brahma keeps this individuality – to enjoy the Dasya bhav, to enjoy the devotion to the Lord. This is the story of Varaha, where He helped to uplift the Earth again from the illusion. When Hiranyaksha was killed by Varaha, of course he was liberated. It is said that a light left his dead body and entered Maha Vishnu. However, he was bound to take three lifetimes, so he had to be born again.”
Sri Swami Vishwananda