||Om Namo Bhagavathe
Vasudhevaya||
Chapter – 109 – The legend
of Matsya Avathar -1
The sacred scripture Srimad
Bhagavath Mahapuran comprises various legends that are strictly related to the
life of humans on the Earth. It is not a
plain story; it is the lessons on human life.
The story of Gajendra taught us about the misconception of humans that
all those possession, wealth, family, children and relatives, are the only
source for happiness in life. The elephant Gajendra took great pleasure in various
amusements in the herd of elephants, was once trapped in the clutches of a
crocodile and called out for help, none of the family members or his own physical strength could get him out the
mouth of the crocodile. He was miserably failed to protect himself,
so he called out supreme Lord Hari. In
this way, most of the realities in life go against expectations. In the story of ‘ Samudra Manthan’ Sage
Durvass offered the highly auspicious garland that was received from the abode
of Lord Vishnu to Lord Indra who received it carelessly, later it was thrashed
on the floor by Airavatha. Sage Durvassa
expected congenial behavior from Lord Indra was disturbed by his arrogance and
cursed the deities to lose their fame and glory. The legend of Mahabali who is well known for
his great sacrifices, as an Emperor he had the self-assurance that he could
offer anything to Vatu Vamana, but the
turn of events made Mahabali sacrifice himself to Vatu Vamana. More often the expectation does not match
with the realities of life. Whatever
experienced in life has been taken as the greatest lesson learned, and shut down
the doors to learn new things could destroy the growth of an individual. Therefore an inquisitive mind followed with
humility is essential for the growth of spirituality as well as the material
living. The greatest knowledge can
be attained only with a sense of humility and curiosity.
Pareekshith spoke “Oh!
Bhagavan, I would like to hear the glorious incarnation of Lord Hari as Maya
Matsya/giant fish. Why did the
all-pervading Lord who has immense prowess, manifested as giant fish and
performed various amusements? Why did he assume lowly creature like a fish?”
Shuka Bhramam speaks “ Oh!
Rajan, supreme Lord Hari has taken various incarnations, surprisingly all his
incarnations have the nature of ‘wind’ that does not attach to the matter; it
has free-flowing nature and will not get polluted with the changes in the
atmosphere. Hence, whatever forms
assumed by the supreme Lord will not stain him due to his independent nature
like ‘Air’. I shall narrate the story of
Mathsyavathar to you. Once, the whole universe was immersed/Laya in water due to the influence of ‘Time’, at that
moment, Lord Bhrama who had the possession of four Vedas on his face was seized
away by a demon named Haygreevah, hence Lord Hari assumed the form of a giant
fish and regained the Vedas from the demon and handed to Lord Bhrama. The King Sathyavratha who is an ardent devotee of Lord Hari attained the grace of the Supreme Lord.”
Shuka Bhramam continues “
Oh! Rajan, King Sathyavratha was taking
penance on the river banks of Krithamala, one day he entered to perform
ablutions in the river, he took a handful of water and found a baby fish in it while dropping the fish, it requested the
King ‘ Oh! Rajan, Oh! Deenavathsala, I am helpless, you have seen big water
creatures in this river, and if you drop me in the water they would swallow me.
So kindly protect me.” The King was not aware of the real nature of the fish,
he decided to protect it. He put back
the fish in his Kamandalu and took it to his hermitage. In a short, while the fish began to speak “
Oh! Rajan, I cannot fit my body in this vessel, therefore kindly transfer me
from this vessel.” King Sathyavratha was curious, transferred the fish into a
big vessel. In this way, he keeps
transferring the fish according to its size of the growth, finally, it has grown up
to the size of a gigantic aquatic animal,
and it requested the king to deposit in the ocean.”
