Vishnu Saves the World
The Hour of Doom
Before the beginning, there was an end: the end of the old
era ...
The world was decaying, degenerating, drifting towards
destruction. Civilisation had crumbled,
laws had collapsed. Cries of despair could be heard all
around.
But Manu remained calm. "The lord will deliver us from
this misery," he said confidently.
Nobody believed him. Nobody had faith.
Matsya, the Divine Fish
Manu was bathing in a river when a tiny fish called Matsya,
swam into his hands. "Save me, Manu," he cried. "Save me from
the big fish and I shall save the world.
Feeling sorry for the little creature, Manu carried him home
in his water-pot.
The next day, Matsya had increased in size; the kamandalu
could no longer hold him. He had to be put in a large urn. As the days passed,
Matsya kept growing. Manu moved him from the urn to a well, from the well to a
pond, then to a lake, and finally to the sea where he continued to grow.
"Who are
you?" Manu asked the strange fish.
"I am Vishnu, the
preserver of life," said Matsya revealing his divine nature.
Presence of Vishnu
Blue as the sky, dark as rain-clouds, draped in bright yellow
robes, Vishnu was the personification of beauty.
Said the lord, "The world rests as the lotus in the palm
of my hand, the cosmos revolves round my finger like a discus. I blow the music
of life through my conch and wield my mace to protect all creatures.
" In joy, Manu exclaimed, "You are janardhana, the
beloved benefactor of mankind. You exist, therefore existence is possible. You
are eternal, therefore life is eternal.
Manu's Ship
Matsya revealed that in seven days, Shiva's arrow of
destruction would herald the floods of doom to engulf the whole universe.
"But the seed of life will survive if you do as you are told.
" Instructed by Matsya, Manu gathered the seeds of all
plants and a pair each of every bird and beast. He put them all in a huge ship
and waited for the flood.
The Devastating Deluge
As foretold, after seven days, black clouds covered the sun
and hurled lightning in every direction. Unrelenting rains lashed the ground.
The seven rivers began to swell and the four oceans started to overflow. Waves
as high as mountains drowned the earth. This was pralaya, the final dissolution
of the cosmos.
On the horizon, Manu saw a great white horse with red eyes,
emerging from the sea. It was Badavagni — the mare of destruction, a terrible
beast that breathed fire.
Riding it was a warrior dressed in black, soaked in blood.
With his flaming sword he cut down everything and everyone in sight.
Kalki — The Saviour
"Who is he, my lord?" asked Manu.
"He is Kalki, the
horseman of doom, sprung out of Shiva's lethal dart," revealed Vishnu.
"He is the saviour helping the soul of man escape as he demolishes the
imperfect world. He too is me."
Wherever Kalki went, the waters of doom followed.
Manu was frightened. "Will pralaya consume this ship?
Will Kalki destroy me too?"
Vishnu smiled and said, "No, you are safe. Abandoning
ego, pride and desire, you placed yourself, without reservation, in my
protection. You will therefore survive this catastrophe. When the new world
reemerges, you will be the first to live in it."
Matsya Recovers the Vedas
The divine fish Matsya sprouted a horn and harnessed Manu's
ship to it using Ananta-Sesha, the serpent of Time, as the rope. He then towed
the ship with its precious cargo to safety, cutting through the agitated
waters.
Suddenly, Manu realised that he had, in his anxiety to save
life, forgotten to carry the books of knowledge the Vedas.
Matsya immediately plunged into the dark flood waters in
search of the sacred texts. He found them in the hands of Damanaka, the demon
of ignorance, who had taken refuge in a conch-shell. Cracking Damanaka's skull
with his mace, the lord recovered the Vedas and gave them to Manu for
safekeeping.
Cause of Cosmic Dissolution
Manu wondered why the world was being destroyed . "Are
the gods angry with us?" he asked Matsya.
"Don't condemn the gods or the demons for the misdeeds
of man," said the divine fish. "The cosmos survives on a set of laws
called dharma that enables all creatures to live in harmony. Man has broken
these sacred laws and unravelled the cosmic fabric beyond repair."
"Why did man
abandon dharma?"
"Man was too
obsessed with himself to think about the world."
These words of Matsya disturbed Manu. Man was responsible for
his own downfall; no one else was to blame.
Atop Mount Meru
Matsya finally steered Manu's ship to Mount Meru, the eye of
the apocalyptic storm. From its peak, Mann watched the earth being swallowed by
the waves. "Is this the end?" he asked mournfully.
"The end? Nothing
ends in the world; things only change. What you are witnessing is a destructive
change of Nature: death before the rebirth." So saying, Matsya
disappeared.
Wherever he looked, Manu could see nothing but the raging
waters of pralaya. He was the lone survivor.
Manu bent his head and wept for the world that was.
Cosmic Child
When Manu raised his head he saw floating on the ocean,
tossed by the waves, a banyan leaf on which lay a dark child, suckling his
right toe, unperturbed by the calamity that had befallen the world.
It was Balaji, the newborn cosmic child.
With a carefree smile Balaji negated the brutality of
pralaya. His compassionate glance reassured Manu that life would go on.
Deliverer of Mankind
The divine infant took a deep breath and sucked Manu into his
body.
Within, Manu saw the entire universe, all that had been
consumed by the flood the skies, the seas, the earth, gods, demons and
humans, animals and plants untainted by ugly thoughts and foul deeds.
Manu realised the child was none other than Vishnu who had
withdrawn the world into himself. "You are truly Narayana the deliverer
of mankind," said Manu.
Chanting the blessed name of his saviour,
"Narayana-Narayana," Manu became one with Vishnu, awaiting rebirth in
the new world.
Writer – Devdutt
Pattanaik
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