Day 1, July 24, Matsyavatara
As planned, we are going to talk about the 10 incarnations of the Lord going forward. Today is the first incarnation, Matsyavatara (the Great Fish). This is a very glorious incarnation. The Lord has many incarnations. There are twenty-one mentioned.
The Lord has taken a Fish incarnation to save the worlds and protect the materials needed for re-formation of the worlds after the apocalypse. Sometimes we may wonder what these stories mean. We need miracles and magic for belief. Sometimes Hindu stories are criticized. Some might question “how will a fish save the world?”. We may get some doubt form those cricizms. Please do not ever succumb to these doubts. It is a great sin to do so. These stories are ever true. These are facts rather than stories. They might look like imaginary, but they are true. We don’t completely know or remember our own family tree and ancestors. But it cannot be said that they don’t exist! It is not right to say that what we don’t know, has never existed. The other point in this is that while these stories might be true, what value does it create to talk about them now, in this age? The answer is: we need to talk about history and it’s glory. This is our own history, that of our own ancestors. If we don’t talk about it, who else will? Also, by talking of God’s gory, we are drawn nearer to the Almighty. The stories also help us to understand the Almighty.
Another question is, some of us might know this story already, why talk about it again? We all need balance in our lives, to be able to get through the good and bad times. We can learn this balance from these stories. There is a great verse from the history of great saint Markandeya:
Payat savassakala kalmash bheda dakshah: The one who removes all imperfections from the mind. The Lord removes all imperfections that inevitably occur in our minds.
Ksheerodakukshi phani bhadha nivishta murthy: The one who sleeps on the Great Serpent in the middle of the milk ocean.
Svasavadhuta salilotkanikakaralah: While the great serpent, disturbed by the waves of the milk ocean, is spitting out enormous amounts of poison from its one thousand heads.
Sindhuh pranrutyamiva yasya karoti sangaat: The ocean that has to be more disturbed by this reaction, stays calm and looks like dancing with happiness only through His presence on the snake.
The secret here is that the devotee who has Sadguru in his life and practice, will dance with joy even though being constantly disturbed by imperfections of life.
Matsya Yantra is a great yantra, said to relieve the keeper of it from any problems in his life. Those who can’t have Mastya Yantra keep an aquarium in their house. We need to teach our children about caring for creatures from a very tender age. Sometimes we observe a tradition to pray to rivers and oceans when people go there. Offerings such as milk are given to the ocean as a part of the ritual. Such traditions are only reminders for us to give to the creatures in rivers and seas. We have to protect our natural resources, or face the fury of nature like we saw in Kedarnath last month. I pray for the peace of the souls who lost their lives and for the strength of their loved ones.
Patheenah kamathah: May the Lord who took the ten incarnations, give us all the vibhuti (ultimate happiness). He incarnates in every yuga. He is here, right now in the form of Sadguru. Say the following after me:
Vedanudharate Jagannivahate bhugolamudbhibrate daiityam darayate
Balim chalayate chatra khyama kuruvate abdhim langayate halam
kalayate karunyamatanvate Melchan murchayate dhasha kruti krute
krishnya tubhyam namah
This is a great prayer singing the glories of all incarnations of the Lord. He protected the Vedas at the time of the apocalypse. He protected the worlds and all creatures during the churning of great ocean of milk. He protected the earth, holding it up in the form of Varaha. He killed the demon to protect His devotee Prahlada in the Narasimha incarnation. He destroyed the Ego of King Bali in the Vamana incarnation. He punished all the kings that were consumed by power and ego. He built a bridge and crossed the ocean as Sri Rama. He protected the earth with His axe as Balarama. He showed His limitless grace and taught the great Gita as Sri Krishna. He came as Buddha and Kalki for the well being of humans. We pray to that Lord Who is Krishna.
Today we are with Krishna in the Eluru VenuGopala Swami temple, He is here in cosmic form listening to His own stories! He is with us, in all directions and inside ourselves. Such great Lord was described by saint Pothana in Telugu. We should remember out old telugu poetry sometimes, so we do not lose touch with the glory of our own language. Agreed that English is necessary to get on, but that does not mean we can forget our own language. Doing so is same as cursing one’s own mother. There are some people who don’t admit their mother as their own mother. Such people end up with destroyed lives. People worry about not learning English and that it would lead to not understanding the internet, not getting a job in the US etc. English is a great language, I have nothing against it. I like English and keep reading English books till date. However, we shouldn’t forget our own language.
The most spoken language in the world is Chinese! The millions of citizens of China don’t speak English. They speak and live on Chinese, even their internet is in Chinese. Germans don’t speak English either. This is true with most Europeans. Europe is not just England. The other countries in Europe speak their own language such as Dutch in the Netherlands, German in Germany, Spanish in Spain, French in France. They live their lives without a problem. Nowadays Swamiji is sending many messages through the internet. He sends them in all local languages too – this is only Him reminding us not to forget our native language. The people of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka seem to respect their language better than those in Andhra. Respecting doesn’t just mean being able to speak colloquial words. We need to delve deep into the grammar and the beauty of the language. Only then, we will gain respect and love for the language and its history. Our history goes long, not just 2000-5000 years. Just for reference we use dates/years such as 2012 or 2013. Our tradition exists from the start of time. Telugu came from Sanskrit, which is the mother of all Indian languages. There were many beautiful lyrical works in telugu, the Bhagavatam written by Pothana is one of the prominent ones. In his time, it was common for poetry to be complicated and highly sophisticated. On the contrary, Pothana used simple language in Bhagavatam, a quality that was frowned at during that time.
Maga Meenakrit Vardhi Jochchi – Lord took the form of a male fish and Killed the demon. This Demon has two names, Hayagreevasura/Somakasura. He took the Vedas from the demon and handed them over to Lord Bramha. That way, He removed the hardships of all the Gods and also forgave Lord Bramha’s complacence which lead to the demon stealing the Vedas in the first place.
The secret here is to be very alert while learning and practicing. It is said that if you fall asleep while reading, all the knowledge acquired 30 minutes prior to sleeping will be lost. We can’t go on for more than two hours continuous of reading, which is acceptable. There is a practice in some countries to make school children take power naps of 10 minutes in the school. But one can’t sleep while studying. If you feel sleepy, declare that you’d only study for 30 minutes, close the book and go to sleep. Just like you’d do on a computer, one needs to “save” the knowledge acquired before closing the book. Or else, you’d lose half an hour of typing. The computer is a reflection of human mind. Children need to summarize the reading into important points and prioritize the points in the order of importance in their own mind. Later this should be retrieved and memorized. Lord Bramha fell asleep during His own study, and lost the Vedas to the demon. However, because He is the first creature to exist and is very important in this creation, Lord Vishnu in Matsyavatara returned the Vedas to Lord Bramha , warned Lord Bramha to be alert and determined sleep hours for Him.
Manninchi eparaga: I shall always remember and pray to that great Lord who forgave Lord Bramha and saved the worlds. He shows great love and affection to His Devotees. He protects the entire creation. I prostrate to that Narayana.
We summarized the main purpose of Matsyavatara now. Now I will mention the great work named Venkatanagadhipati. This is my favorite work, and Matsyavatara has been mentioned in this work as:
AtsapuMatsyarupamu: The Lord took the form of the primordial fish or the Great Fish which denotes the arrival of the very first fish form in the creation.
Matsya has two words in it: Mat (me) and sya (reside), meaning Lord protects those who reside in His friendship. I pray to the Lord who returned the Vedas which have three forms of knowledge. One might question, aren’t there four Vedas? Well, the fourth, Atharvana veda is a compilation by Veda Vyasa, consisting of the leftovers from the first three Vedas which are the primary ones. These facts are being reviled by foreigners. We as Indians should not miss out on this knowledge. One devotee from Trinidad was here, she is researching on sound energy of Bhagavatam. We Indians forgot these things and are becoming western while they are coming to our culture.
Urakambhonidhi: In Pothana’s bhagavatam, it is being said that Vedas were suffering and crying for help when caught in the hands of the Demon. Hearing these cries, the Lord took the form of a Fish. He had a great tail, big moustache, and great form.
We should always follow truth. Everything is temporary is like waves in the ocean. Waves are caused by the ocean, but the vice versa is not true. Similarly, we have many temporary waves in our life but to the one who realizes that Sadguru is the only true permanent thing in this world will be protected by the Lord. O Human, know the truth. How to know the truth? It is apparent in the universe. He is everything. He exists as the seer, seen and the scene. This is triputi, the three forms of the Lord. There is another way to express it as five forms, panchaputi: He is the praise, the one being praised, the one praising, the act of praising, the listener of the praise and the one saying the praise. Imagine, a pearl forming in a mollusk is such a wonder. A diamond or a gem comes from earth. We may not realize it when we see sand or earth. Similarly Sadguru polishes us to make a gem out of us. We need to think of who makes the beautiful rainbow, and we remember Him, the all pervasive Lord Govinda. A frog lives in the deep strata of rocks but still somehow finds food and survives. Planets stay in their orbits without any support. Who does it? Of course there is gravity but there isn’t anything to be seen. Ocean stays in its own limits. All these are glories of Govinda the Sachidananda.
His first incarnation is made for protecting dharma. Saint Vyasa described the purpose of His incarnations as such: bibharshi rupanyava bodha aatma: The Lord took many forms to give knowledge, teach righteousness to creatures and to protect the worlds. The incarnations will give peace and happiness to those righteous people who are in your meditation and punishing the demons and the unrighteous.
We should not be taken aback by hardships and diseases. We should find a way out of those and meditate on the Lord. He has the great capability to govern the worlds. He will remove all our sins and hardships. He blesses at one time and punishes at another. He looks at everyone equally.
Ajopisannavyatma: The secret here is, He takes incarnations by His will. Those incarnations will not have the same difficulties as our lives. His glory and energy are unlimited. We might think that Lord is blessing so many creatures, is His energy diminishing? Never! Such is His glory. He has no destruction. He is the Lord of all creatures.
This is revelation made by the Lord in Gita: Yada Yada hi dharmasya: He takes form when dharma is hurt. Dahrma is the most important item for Him. Praritranaya sadhunam: When does he take form? One intelligent scholar has an answer – in KaliYuga He takes form in everyone’s heart and not be limited by a form.
Bhagavandavu Vushnuvu: The Lord Vishnu takes form to destroy the demons. Now Demons can be any distraction from out spiritual practice. Whenever demons attack, Lord takes form then and protects His devotees. What is in Incarnation? Those who go up in spirituality don’t like to come down. But He, with His unlimited grace comes down to our world and takes out form.
Swamiji once said that He likes to talk only in simple language. I prayed Him to continue doing so because He is our Mother and we are His children. Those who think they are learned and can understand complicated words, don’t listen anyway. The rest of us are willing to listen because we know we don’t know anything. And such people only understand simple language. His real form is that of a million suns, and all the energy in this creation. We can’t even look straight at the light in our room. How can we see Him? That’s why He, with limitless grace, takes a form that we can see. If we install that form in our hearts and in temples and pray to Him continuously, we will be able to see His real form one day. We are being thankful to Him while praying to Him in the temples. We offer Him not only our food, flowers and fruits but our soul too. That is the secret in idol worship. He came to protect us in so many forms. If we ask Him, “Lord what is Your form?” He answers “Same as yours”. If we ask Him “where are You?” He says “Inside you, as you”. We cannot directly understand it. To take us to the level where we can, He came as Sadguru. This is also stressed by Guru Gita.
Atha Dustha Vinasaya: We are going through a great hardship, but we don’t know it. You know what it is? Taking birth through the Mother’s womb. It is a great hardship we don’t know of.
The great Saint SanatKumara was meditating one day when Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati came to that place. The Saint asked Lord Shiva to ask for a boon, such was the power of His penance. They asked Him to be Their child. He denies the request saying He is not ready to take the hell of being in a mother’s womb. It is said that the punishment of half of our sins is experienced in the mother’s womb. That’s why a new born baby cries. It is a hardship we experience without knowing. We don’t even remember it after birth. It is said that Yogis remember the pain and work towards never having to experience birth again. The Lord is born without this pain. Infact He was never born, but it looks like He was born many times. He filled up inside and outside.
This prayer has been said about His glory. We should say it everyday:
HariMayamu Vishwamanthayu Hari Vishwamayundu Smshayamu Pani Ledu
Aa Harimayamu kani dravyamu paramanuvu ledu vamsha pavanavinte
He is omnipresent, the world is His form. There is nothing that is not His form. One’s entire bloodline is purified on knowing this truth.
His qualities and glory cannot be expressed in words.
Sankhyatumnaiva shakhyante: This is a tricky prayer. It means that His qualities or imperfections cannot be measured. Wait, God and imperfections? That’s not possible. So, how was the comparison made? Well the answer is explained thus:
Anatyat prathamo raashi: We cannot count His qualities, just like we can’t count the drops of water in the ocean or the stars in the sky.
Abhavadeva paschimah: He does not have any imperfections! How can we count those that don’t exist? That’s why it is not possible to count His imperfections.
God has 21 incarnations. We only talk about 10 and consider this as the first one because it starts with Vedas and protecting them. Our life starts with learning. It doesn’t start with naming or eating. It starts with learning. Even if we don’t perform the first ritual of learning, kids start writing on walls. Why? Because knowingly or unknowingly, everyone is a form of knowledge. We do a ritual called Aksharabyasamand start their formal learning so they don’t go directionless with their writing on walls. Akshara means that which has no destruction. That which doesn’t end, and lives through time. Whatever education or career we may get, in the very end it meets the endless. The ceremony of Akshabyasam is to remind us that truth. You don’t actually have to get an education. Even the illiterate have realized great secrets of philosophy. I have seen it myself. Everybody has the quest for knowledge built in. We just have to light up the fire with a little oil. The symbolic meaning of oil means friendship. We need friendship with our Guru first. We need to hold on to Him like grease. That will help light up the fire of quest for knowledge. We are all forms of that limitless knowledge.
Since the purpose of Matsyavatara is protecting that very knowledge, it is considered as the first of ten most prominent incarnations of the Lord.
His real first incarnation is as Sanaka-Sanandana saints. Lord Bramha created Sanaka-Sanandana and three other saints so they can reproduce and expand the human race. On the contrary, they got the divine knowledge right after being born and they went into meditation without delay. Lord Bramha was disappointed with this development. This however stands to be His first incarnation: as the primordial saints.
The second incarnation is as Yagna-Varaha, the great pig. Although we consider this as the third in the ten prominent incarnations, it was in fact His second.
The third incarnation is as great saint Narada, the main purpose being to teach devotion to the worlds. Sage Narada is shown in telugu movies as a funny character, starting fights between gods etc. That is not true, we should not laugh at it. Infact Sage Narada invented the seven notes of music.
The fourth incarnation is Nara-Narayana. The two men meditated at Badarinath at Badari Visaha kshetram.
Fifth incarnation is as Kapila. In this incarnation, He gave the knowledge of Yoga-Sankhya to His friend Aasuri.
Sixth incarnation is our beloved Lord Datta! That’s why saint Annamacharya, while describing Lord Venkateshwara sang His praise as Datta and GhanaYogaSwarupa. Just by having Darshan of Lord Datta, we get the ultimate Yoga. In this incarnation He helped many people such as Alarka, Prahlada etc.
The Seventh Incarnation is as Yagna. In this incarnation, He protected Svayambhuva Manvantara along with Lord Yama.
In the Eighth Incarnation He came as Rishabha and taught the qualities of saintliness to great scholars.
In the Ninth incarnation, He was emperor Pruthu. He defined agriculture and taught to the mankind. That’s why Earth is also named as Prithvi.
In the tenth incarnation, He came as the great Fish, Matsya. This is the story we’re talking about today.
There was a demon named Somakasura. When Lord Bramha fell asleep, the Demon stole the Vedas from Him. How did he do that? How can you steal knowledge? They say knowledge should not be defined to books but should be in the mind. Infact this story was also internal to Lord Bramha’s body. The great Fish incarnation took place inside Lord Bramha. Bramha’s body consists of this entire world. Lord Bramha, by falling asleep has neglected the Vedas. This neglect itself manifested as the Demon Somakasura and made him steal the Vedas. At that time, Lord Himself came as a fish and retrieved Vedas from the Demon and gave them back to the worlds. By this, Lord removed neglect and awakened Lord Bramha. Awakening is exactly what Guru does to us. That’s why Matsyavatara is Sadguru’s own form. That also makes this incarnation prominent and the first of the ten main incarnations. Guru comes before everything. “Sri Gurbhyo Namah” comes first, only then do we say “Sri Ganeshayanamah”.
The Great Fish incarnates inside all of us everyday. We sleep every night and forget everything. When we wake up, we automatically remember all that we forgot during our sleep. This knowledge is given to us by the Lord in Matsyavatara.
In Matsyavatara, Lord protected Vaivaswata Manuvu – the king of this Manvantara. His original name was Satyavrata meaning the one with truth as his only spiritual practice. Some might ask, “what is the definition of truth?” well, truth means admitting what you have seen, listened or experienced as-is. The Lord helps those who follow truth. Without it, one might find temporary victory but in the end they fall into great depths. The true victory only follows those who follow truth. Initially this might be hard, but do not be afraid. Satyavrata was following truth all the time so the Lord wanted to protect him. Satyavarata was performing his morning prayers at the banks of the river, Lord appears as a small fish in the water Satyavrata takes into his hand. His form was small like a goldfish. Satyavrata was about to leave the water back into the river so as not to hurt the fish. Just then, the fish started speaking and calling out to him saying “don’t leave me!”. The fish also asked Satyavrata to protect it from the dangerous sea animals by transferring it into a small pail of water. Satyavrata followed the instructions.
That evening Satyavrata came to check on the fish, it has grown significantly and cant fit in the pail of water anymore. The fish asked for a bigger container. He was thoroughly surprised and transferred it into a bigger container. Then it grew bigger and that container wasn’t enough for it. The fish asked to be transferred into a pool. King Satyavrata was even more surprised and looked for a safe pool. He then transferred the fish into a pool. As he was about to leave the fish grew bigger than the pool and asked to be transferred to an ocean.
Observe the secret here: Sadguru enters our life at an opportune moment in a small form. With allegiance to truth (Satyavrata), if we are able to grow Him, He will eventually become big enough to fill up our entire lives with His presence. Even the commonplace education in our lives starts with learning the alphabet and goes on until a PhD.
At this time Satyavrata realizes this fish is not a normal one. He prays to the fish to reveal it’s real identity and to forgive him for thinking he could tame it. He also expressed his feeling that he suspected the fish to be the great Lord’s incarnation. He asked the fish to reveal the purpose of such incarnation if it was true.
Then the great fish started to speak again: “Dear Satyavrata, exactly seven days from now, Lord Bramha will fall into sleep and neglect the Vedas. At this time, there will be a great calamity in which the worlds will drown into water. I want to protect the worlds. I shall come back as a great fish and I’ll have a huge horn. There will also be a big ship floating with me. You take that ship and tie it to my horn. You get on that ship, take the 7 great saints (saptarshis) into the ship, get all the great medicines and Vedas into one place and get them aboard this ship. Within these seven days, collect everything that is needed for this creation to continue and protect them and get them aboard that ship. I will keep you and the ship safe until this calamity cools down. After that, you will become a tool in my hands to restart this creation”. Saying so, the Lord disappears.
Satyavrata does what the Lord instructed him to and waits for the next seven days in meditation. On the seventh day, he sees the calamity coming and the entire earth drowning water. He does not move, because he always follows the truth and has belief in it. Just as the Lord said, a great fish appeared before him. It had a great form, one that can’t be explained in words. The fish seemed to include all the worlds inside it. It looked really sweet and innocent despite its great shape. By wagging His great tail, Lord in the form of great Fish was balancing the oceans form drowning Satyavrata and the important items. Satyavrata then followed instructions and tied the ship to the Fish and got aboard it all the items and saints needed to continue creation. The Lord protected the ship until the calamity was cooled down and asked Satyavrata to continue creation and blessed that Satyavrata will be known as “Vaivasvata Manuvu”. This way the Lord protected the creation and essential knowledge required for creation to exist. This is the story of that Matsya, the Narayana , the Datta that is blessing us today.
Let us talk about the eleventh incarnation tomorrow. Today was only the summary. We talked more about how to understand the story today than the story itself because the story is already well known.
Today we barely scratched the surface of a great story. Tomorrow onwards, we will start early and end early so devotees can go home on time. If we listen to this story or think of Matsyavatara, the great fish or keep the Matsya yantra at home, their hardships will be removed by the Lord. I pray to the Lord to remove the hardships of those who listened to this story.
Jai Guru Datta!