bowerbird cyberlibrary -- bhagap184.html

p183 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p184w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p185
----- bhagap184.html

mother Nature dissolves the material elements for some better use
in future.

The special provision for Sutala is therefore a cyclic necessity.
For Jivas have to be preserved from an undesirable end. Therefore
Bali was given a post, the proud privilege of seeing that Jivas do not
undergo utter extinction. Sutala was also fortified with an accession
of spirituality.

The example of self-abnegation, the ideal of self-sacrifice, Bali
is to become the king of Devas in the succeeding Manvantara.

THE MATSYA AVATARA.

SKANDHA. VIII. CHAP. 24.

Towards the end of the previous Kalpa, Brahma was falling
asleep and the Vedas fell from his mouth. The Asura Hayagriva took
them up. Seeing this Vishnu became a small fish. King Satyavrata
was making Tarpana (i.e. offering libations of water), when the fish
found its way into his hands. He threw it into the river. The fish
implored the King to preserve him. So he took it home and placed
it in a small waterpot. The fish increased in size so much that all
tanks and rivers were tried, but they could not contain it. At last
the king took the fish to the sea, but it implored him not to throw it
away into the sea. The king then said: "This fish must be the Deity
Himself, otherwise how could it grow so large?" The fish then ad-
dressed the king thus: "On the seventh day from this, the Triloki
shall be plunged into the Pralaya waters. Then a big Ark shall come
to thee. Take all plants, all seeds, all animals, and the seven Rishis
with you and get into that ark. When the wind shakes that ark, tie
it with a serpent to myself. I will remain with that ark in the Pra-
laya Ocean till the awakening of Brahma. I will manifest supreme
wisdom in thee."

So saying the fish disappeared and on the seventh day the
Pralaya waters deluged the Triloki. Satya Vrata did as he was told.
He got the highest wisdom from the Fish Incarnation.

That Satya Vrata is Sraddhadeva, our present Manu,

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