Hari Om Parents
We started with opening prayers, and today's class was on Matsya Avatar.
This is the fish incarnation of the Lord. It so happened that Lord Brahma lost the four Vedas which were stolen by a demon called Hayagriva who lived in the bottom of the ocean. The Lord incarnated as a fish to retrieve the Vedas.
There was a very pious king, and a great devotee called Satyavrata. One day while he was performing his daily prayers, a tiny fish came out of his kamandalu onto his palm. The pious king took the fish and gently put into the river. But the fish talked and requested him to and save it because it was afraid of the other creatures in the ocean. So, the king pitied it and took it to his palace and placed it inside a jar. The fish grew bigger the next moment and asked for a bigger vessel. However big the vessel became the fish grew bigger and bigger by every moment. The king at last tried the lake, the pond and finally the ocean. But the fish grew bigger and bigger until even the ocean was not big enough to contain it.
The king at once knew that this fish was not an ordinary one and could be none other than Lord Narayana incarnated as a fish, MATSYA. He bowed down before the Lord and requested to show him his divine form. The Lord appeared in his original form and instructed Satyavrata to build a boat, collect all the herbs, plants, seeds and trees and different species of animals as in another seven days there is going to be pralaya and all the world will be destroyed and there will be only water everywhere.
Satyavrata will be accompanied by the Sapta Rishis, and the Lord will support the boat during the pralaya, and Vasuki will help the boat from sinking.
Just as the Lord as told on the seventh day, pralaya happened and the three worlds plunged into the waters. Satyavrata got into the boat along with the Saptarishis and the Lord saved them from pralaya. After it was over the Lord killed the demon Hayagriva and restored the Vedas to Brahma. And a new world was formed.
We also made a comparison between Noah's Arc and this story.
We talked about the meaning of each thing that Lord instructed Satyavrata to bring on the boat.
We also discussed about meaning of Vedas. Just mentioned the names. Also, why it was important to protect the Vedas from the demon.
Lord always loves his devotees and protects them from all dangers and misfortunes.
With Guru's blessings
Malathy Balasubramanian
Saratha Arthanari.
