Something Fishy

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

 

 

"Something Fishy"

 

 

 

 

 

"What a smelly topic to write about!" exclaims my daughter,

glancing at the heading. (Critics galore there might be, but there are none so

brutally frank as those close to you). Little does she know how important the

fish is. There are supposedly 8400000 types of creatures in the Lord's Creation.

Among these, the fish occupies an exalted position. It is also one of the

organisms privileged to have the Vedas speak about it. The Scripture is full of

"fishy" references, a few of which are recounted in this piece.

 

 

 

The glory of the fish can be well understood from the fact that

the Lord chose its species first and foremost for His avatAra. Forsaking the

innumerable higher class of beings in His creation, if He were to adopt a fishy

form, there must indeed be some significant reason for it. Though He assumed any

number of forms later, including those of a ferocious boar, a giant turtle, a

half-lion, a horse, a swan, etc., prompting Sri Nammazhwar to exclaim "ennindra

yOniyumAi pirandAi imayOr talaivA", it is the piscine species that He honoured

first.

 

 

 

The Matsya avatAra was taken for the purpose of Veda

samrakshanam.

 

Vedas are the primary instruments of Creation, with the aid of which BrahmA

conceives of and gives shape to the innumerable worlds in the Cosmos, with their

varied inhabitants belonging to innumerable species. Realising the importance of

the Shruti to the creative process, an asurA managed to make off with the Vedas

during a moment of inattention on BrahmA's part, and hid them at the bottom of

the ocean. The entire creation was paralysed and plunged into chaos and

confusion, with BrahmA having lost his guiding lamp of the Shruti. Unable to

recover the Vedas despite diligent search, BrahmA surrendered to the Lord,

beseeching Him for the restoration of the Vedas. The ever merciful Lord, pitying

the plight of not only PrajApati but also of the entire cosmos, assumed the form

of a giant fish for searching out the Vedas.

 

 

 

People keeping aquariums, big and small, do so for the sheer

pleasure of watching fish swim about gracefully in the tank. It is indeed a rare

treat to the eyes to observe them moving about elegantly in water, their

translucent bodies gleaming, their beady eyes shifting speedily from one target

to another and their tails wagging gently as they pilot themselves hither and

thither. The slow and steady movement of the gills, the graceful arc of

movement, the sudden darting after microscopic items of food-all these impart a

mesmerising effect, making it difficult for the onlooker to pry his eyes away

from the bewitching spectacle.

 

 

 

If such is the beauty of ordinary fish, imagine how beautiful,

elegant and graceful the Lord would have been, as a fish! Swami Desikan provides

a graphic description of the Lord's underwater sojourn, in his Dasavatara

Stotram. The waves of the ocean, realising the rare guest they had in their

midst, reacted enthusiastically and choreographed a divine dance with their

every rise and fall, forming a swinging cradle for the Lord. Emperuman's

singular identification, His beautiful lotus-eyes, stayed with Him during this

avatArA too and enabled Him to pierce the underwater gloom in search of the

missing Shruti. They soon led Him to their target and the Lord rescued the Vedas

and restored them to BrahmA, after slaying the asurA responsible for their

disappearance. Here is the beautiful sloka from Dasavatara Stotra-

 

"nirmagna shruti jAla mArgaNa dasA datta kshaNair veekshaNai:

 

antastanvat iva aravinda gahanAni oudanvatInAm apAm

 

nishpratyUha taranga ringaNa mitha: pratyUda pAtha cchatA

 

dolArOhaNa sadOhaLam bhagavatO MAtsyam vapu: pAtu na:"

 

 

 

It is not only the Lord who took a liking to the "fishy" janma. One of His

closest devotees too wishes to be born a fish. We may wonder-when even the most

uninformed devotee usually knows enough to crave redemption from the samsAra

chakra, and the usual refrain is "AdalAl piravi vEndEn", why should this

venerated votary of the Lord seek to be born in this world again, and that too,

as a lowly fish? It is none other than Sri Kulasekhara Perumal who yearns for a

"fishy" janma, in his Perumal Tirumozhi, and is prepared to sacrifice no less

than the Emperorship of the whole world and Paradise too, for the sake of this

funny wish-

 

"AnAda selvatthu arambayargaL tarchoozha

 

vAn ALum selvamum maN arasum yAn vENdEn

 

tEnAr poonchOlai TiruvEngada sunayil

 

MeenAi pirakkum vidhi udayEn AvEnE"

 

 

 

"If I am to be born in Tirumala, I do not even want a sentient birth, and am

prepared for even a lowly existence as that of a fish" says Azhwar. However, why

a fish? What sort of earthly use is the fish, except to serve as food for some?

If we consider, we would find that the fish is no ordinary species, but serves

to preserve the cleanliness and purity of the water in which it lives, by

consuming the moss, algae and other such dirt, which dirty the clear streams.

Hence Azhwar too wishes to perform the kainkaryam of keeping the Swami

Pushkarini clean and spotless for the Lord's devotees to perform their

ablutions.

 

 

 

The association between the Lord and the fish is deep-rooted. In the VibhUti

Yoga of Sri Bhagavat Gita, the Lord enumerates the excellent among each species

of beings. While doing so, He is selective in His choice of beings-not all

constituents of creation find a mention, but the fish does. It would appear

therefore that the fish is indeed dear to the Lord's heart. Of all the wide

varieties of marine life that fill the ocean, the Lord calls Himself the

Shark-"JhashANAm Makara: cha asmi".

 

 

 

A mere thought of the Lord in His MatsyAvatAra is enough to destroy all our sins

and ensure liberation, says the MAtsya PurAna. However, there is the contrary

story of a Maharshi, who got into bondage because of fish. Soubhari Maharshi

renounced all worldly pleasures and spent his entire life and times immersed in

blissful contemplation of the Lord and His auspicious attributes. One day, when

he took a palmful of water from the river for performing arghyapradAnam during

SandhyAvandanam, a school of fish accidentally swam into his palm. Distracted by

the apparently cheerful and carefree fish, consisting of an old one and several

young ones, possibly belonging to the same happy family, the Maharshi was

reminded of his own long-past days of familial bliss. The thought haunted him

for quite some time, becoming a recurring theme of contemplation and affected

him so much that from a life of total renunciation, he re-entered wedlock and

consequent bondage.

 

 

>From the aforesaid, the fish would appear to be a blessed being, being one

chosen by the Lord for His primary avatara. However, the Shruti differs and

calls the piscine species an accursed one. The Sixth Prasna of the Second kAnda

of the Yajus SamhitA has this fishy tale to tell. Agni dEva had three brothers,

who toiled all their long lives as mere carriers of "havis" or sacrificial

offering to the dEvatAs and met with an insignificant death after leading

mediocre lives of menial couriers. Agni was afraid that his existence too would

turn out similarly insufferable, and to escape from this bondage, hid himself in

the depths of the ocean. When the dEvatAs, denied of their havir bhAga from the

Yagas and Yagyas performed by rishis and others, started searching high and low,

they came across some fish, which gave away the hiding place of the fugitive

Agni. Angered at the betrayal, Agni cursed the fish to untimely death at the

whims and fancies of fishermen who cast their nets daily far and wide to return

with a bountiful catch. Said Agni, "Tam Matsya: prAbraveet, tam ashapat, dhiyA

dhiyA tvA vadhyAsu: yO mA pravOcha iti, tasmAt Matsyam dhiyA dhiyA gnanti

shapta:" Isn't it paradoxical for the Shruti to narrate the curse of the very

fish, which helped in the rescue and restoration of the Veda rAsis stolen by the

asurA?

 

 

 

As fishermen would attest, catches of fish in rivers and ponds are now rare to

come across and it is the ocean that is the primary source. This is perhaps a

sign of the overall decline in natural resources the world over. However, there

were times of plenty and prosperity when fish were found not only in regular

water sources like the sea, rivers and ponds, but also in fields. The water

level in the fields was always high and supported a wide variety of marine life,

as the Tiruppavai attests-

 

"Ongu perum sennel oodu Kayal ugaLa".

 

All ponds and tanks were filled with fish, says Sri Thirumangai Mannan in the

context of Gajendra Moksham-"Meen amar poigai".

 

 

 

Apart from scriptural contexts, the fish has occupied a prominent place in

worldly matters too. The PAndyAs, who ruled over vast portions of Tamilnadu, are

an ancient clan of kings who find a mention even in Srimad Ramayana. They were

fearless warriors and just kings, devoted to their subjects' welfare and to

spiritual causes. These wise Pandya kings had the symbol of the fish on their

flags and proudly called themselves "Meena kodiyOn". As many of them were

extremely devoted to Sriman Narayana, it was perhaps to remind themselves of the

Lord's first and foremost avatara that they had the Fish on their flag and as a

talisman for divine protection. It is indeed a tribute to the beauty of the fish

that poets, ancient and modern, are fond of comparing women's eyes with it.

"Meen vizhiyAL", "Kayal vizhi" etc. are some of the sobriquets bestowed upon

women, who have beautiful eyes shaped like a fish.

 

 

 

To bring the fishy tale to an end, it is noteworthy that only in two avataras

did the Lord grow at a phenomenal rate, immediately after manifesting Himself.

One was the Trivikramavatara, where the Lord grew from a short, juvenile

Brahmachari into a towering figure, with His tiruvadi traversing the three

worlds with ease. The only other avatara where the Lord exhibited such a rapid

pace of physical development (he grew from a small but beautiful fish in a pot

into one of such huge dimensions that it could be accommodated only in the

ocean) was the Matsyavatara. No doubt, all that we see and hear in this world is

part of the glorious Bhagavat vibhUti: however, if we wish to see a graceful,

elegant and lovely specimen of the same, it is to the Fish that we must turn.

 

 

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dasan, sadagopan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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