Saturday, April 16, 2016

MATSYANARAYANA AVATAR



MATSYANARAYANA AVATAR
(Compilation for a discourse By N. R. Srinivasan, Nashville, TN, USA, April 2016)
Introduction
Before the beginning there was an end. The world was decaying, degenerating, drifting towards destruction.  But Manu was calm. He knew that the world would be created as before (yatahhpoorvam akalpayat   says Vedas).  Manu was bathing in a river when a tiny fish Matsya  called Rohita   swam into his hands as a tiny red fish.  Matsya kept growing.  Manu moved it from urn to well, from the well to a pond, to lake and to the sea where it still continued to grow.  Manu asked this strange fish as to who it was. “I am Vishnu, Preserver of Life” came a reply from a strange voice.  The world rested as the lotus in the palm of his hand, the cosmos revolved round his finger like a discus. He blew the music through his conch and wielded his mace to protect all creatures.
Matsya revealed that in seven days Siva’s arrow of destruction would herald the floods of doom to engulf the whole universe. It also instructed Manu to take immediate stock of the situation, gather the seeds of all plants, and a pair of each of every bird and beast.  Manu put them all in a ship and waited for the flood.  As per the fore-told, black clouds covered the Sun and hurled lightning in all directions. The seven rivers began to swell and the four oceans started to overflow. Waves, as high as mountains,    drowned the Earth.  That was   Maha Pralaya, The Great Deluge. 
The Divine fish sprouted a   horn and harnessed Manu’s ship to it using Ananta-Adisesha, the serpent of Time, as the rope. He then towed the ship with bits of precious cargo to safety, cutting through the agitated waters. But Manu realized he had forgotten the books of knowledge, The Vedas in his frightened state. Matsya plunged into the dark flood and found them in the hands of Damanaka, the demon of ignorance, who hand taken shelter in a conch-shell. Cracking Damanaka’s skull the Lord recovered the Vedas and gave them to Manu for safe-keeping.  Matsya finally steered the ship to Mount Meru, the eye of the apocalyptic storm. From its peak, Manu watched the earth being swallowed by the waves.  Manu mourned the end of the word not realizing that nothing in this world ends. What he was witnessing was only destructive change of Nature—Death before the Rebirth. Matsya brought these facts to the knowledge of Manu and disappeared. When Manu stopped weeping and raised his head he saw   floating on the ocean, tossed by the floods a banyan leaf on which lay a dark child, sucking his right toe, unperturbed by the calamity that had befallen the world. It was Balaji, Vatapatra Sayee. With a care-free smile the child negated the brutality of the Deluge. His composed calm demeanor reassured Manu that life would go on. Manu realized the child was none other than Vishnu who had withdrawn the world to Himself, Narayana, the deliverer of mankind. Chanting the blessed name of his savior repeatedly Narayana, Narayana Manu became one with Vishnu awaiting rebirth in the new World.  The divine infant took a deep breath and ducked Manu into His body. Then Vishnu went on his Yoga Nidra resting on Ananta, waiting for the reawakening of the world.  The seed of life present in his body emerged from the navel as a thousand petal lotus. On it sat the Brahma, the Creator.  Brahma closed his eyes and pondered over the problem of next creation.  Vishnu opened his eyes, setting the stage of creation.  
In MN Upanishad Narayana is called Purusha, recalling Purushasookta out of whom the entire   universe was fashioned.  Narayana became an important component in Vaishnava Theology  as  well as  iconography.  As Mahaa Purusha, Narayana represents the cosmogonic totality of Vaishnava sect called Pancharatra.  All creation unfurls when this manifestation differentiates itself into four emanations.   His first manifestation is called Paravaasudeva.  Cosmogony continues as the manifestation differentiates himself into four emanations, called Chaturvyuhas—Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha.
The Tamil Saints called Aazhwars frequently evoke the baby lying on the banyan leaf, floating on the ocean--Vatapatrasayana—this child who has swallowed all the seven worlds in order to protect them from the  great flood that has overtaken the cosmos, keeping them within his body until  it is time for the universe to come into being once again.  This image of the God allows for the playful reversal of the Aazhwar’s poetry—Vishnu is both the baby whom his mother has to tenderly care for and the “Cosmic Child” who holds the entire universe within the body—but also points towards that from of God Anantasayana, the Lord reclining on the coils of Ananta serpent in the milky ocean who is the originator of the universe. 
Varaha, Hayagriva, Trivikrama (or Vamana) and Narasimha are the earliest Avatars depicted in Vedas.  The whole world lies within the Creator (Virat Purusha) and is born when the Creator ejects all these phenomenal forms. Virat-Purusha portrays a profusion of animals, Nature, beings, all within the bodily   confines of a giant possessing a profusion of multiple bodily parts. An earliest sculptural Viswarupa of Gupta period brings us to the doorsteps of this concept. Later, Puranas blended this concept to a progressive evolution theory starting from the fish to Lord Buddha as a Mendicant and deep Meditator excluding Hayagrieva avatar from Dasavatara list. Later saints too meddled with this list of Purnas and created their own list of Dasavatara. Mohini, the femal  enchantress form of Vishnu was introduced into the list to bring forth  Aiyappan, deleting Buddha,  a child born out  of the union of Siva and Mohini. 
Matsyavatara
First Incarnation of Vishnu was Fish. That took place on Kaartik Poornima Day.  It falls on Saturday 9, 2016 this year in USA.  There is a strong belief among Hindus that Ten Incarnations depict that humans have evolved from Fish. Progressively we can see the first evolution of man in the fifth incarnation of Vishnu, Vaamana Avataara, a dwarf human being which got progressively perfected in the Avatar of Rama, a perfect human being. In Sanskrit literature a beautiful girl with bewitching eyes like the fish is called Meenakshi. We are all familiar with the famous temple in Madura celebrating Parvati, consort of Siva as Madurai Meenakshi (Goddess of Fish Eyes)’. There is a lone temple for Matsya Narayana in Bengaluru in India where this first incarnation is iconized and  his Jayanti celebrated on a grand scale every year.
Vishnu is addressed as Rohitah in Vishnu Sahasranama Stotra. The term “Rohita” means fish, and this name has come to indicate Lord Vishnu because His first Avatar as the fish is hailed in   Puranas. When the entire world was submerged in the waters of the deluge, the only living creatures that were available at that time could only be fishes. This was a red tiny fish as it appeared in the hands of Svaymbhu Manu. Lord could incarnate at that time only in the form of the Fish. Therefore, here the term Rohitah means “One who had manifested to serve the living  creatures as Fish among fishes”
Matsya Avatar is generally represented as a four-armed deity having the upper half of Maha Vishnu with four arms. Two arms hold Shanka  (conch shell) and Chakra  (divine discus) and the other two arms are in Abhaya (divine protection) and Varada (boon)postures and the lower half is Matsya (fish).
The Matsya Narayana temple located in Bengaluru in Omkar Asram in Omkara Hills in Srinivaspura in one of the highest Points in Bengaluru, celebrates the major annual festival on Matsya Jayanti. The annual festival of Matsya Jayanti is celebrated on Chaitra Shukla Paksha Triteeya (Third day of the waxing moon period of the Chaitra month (March- April) every Year.  In 2016 it is on April 9th.
Guided by Puranas we are all influenced to worship deities in temple as Vishnu or his emanations or Avatars, Parivaras   like Subhadra, Pradyumna, Hanuman, Garuda, Viswaksena etc.,  or accessories like Sudarsana. This is also true for Siva or his emanations. Though people do not talk about Avatars of Siva his temples for few avatars are very popular like Kala Bhirava. His Lingavatara (Vyaktaavyakta) is most popular. Strangely there are no exclusive temples for Brahma except in Pushkara though his presence or worship can’t be avoided in all temples. This is due to a rather silly reason explained in Siva Purana inviting the wrath of Siva. Siva Purana raises the Vedic deity Rudra celebrated in Sata Rudriyam and also as 11 Rudras in terrible form to auspicious and pleasant form of Siva to the status of Parabrahman, which is nothing but one of the facets of  Brahman in his role of Dissolution.  Rudraanam Sankaroham says Bhagawan in Bhagavad Gita.
Why should Brahma be condemned and punished and Vishnu pushed to the level of subordinate deity in the Holy text of Siva Purana though its authorship is attributed to Vedavyasa who has gone with negative approach. In all probability its author may not be Vedavyasa. It is rightly called also Tamasa Purana one that keeps us in darkness but in order to credit high status among Puranas its authorship is attributed to him. My own reasoning is that having been born our concern is more towards Sustenance and fear of Death. There are mantras in MNU that says Vishnu, Rudra, Brahma and Prajapati   are all but Vedic devatas who are nothing but Brahman himself, part presented for the whole. But there is one important Mrityunivarana Mantra in MNU which is prescribed for repetition throughout life to save oneself from death as important as “Mrityor maa amritam gamaya”.  This Mantra which also appears along with “Traymabaka Yajaamahe” is as follows:  Namo Rudraaya Vishnave mrityurme paahi”—Salutation to Rudra, and to Vishnu. Guard me from death. Various Puranas and Hindu religious texts often come out with   distinct slokas where unity and identity of Siva and Vishnu are brought to focus. I am not surprised because Vedavyasa is the compiler and moderator of all these Puranas.  After editing controversial and conflicting Puranas from various authors he wanted to draw the attention of all that Brahma, Vishnu and Siva are none other than Brahman in his threefold function of Srishthi, Sthiti and Laya as well as Trigunas with which life started with various proportion of mixes. Creation started from pervading darkness (Tamas) of Siva by Rajasic Brahma (red) and maintained by Satvic Vishnu (whiteness).  Another Saivite Upanishad Skandopanishad declares the identity of and Vishnu thus:  Yathaa Sivamayo Vishnur evam Vishnumayah Sivah—as Siva pervades Vishnu so Vishnu pervades Siva. It is clear from this Mantra of MNU that people are more concerned with the role of Vishnu and Siva for sustenance and death threat than Brahma who has completed his task in bringing us to this world with all past karma records. Probably he is blamed for bringing us to this world for facing shackles of Samsara (struggle and miseries of life) rather than thanking him for his generous attitude to give us an opportunity to be born on earth to exhaust our accumulated Karmas. Perhaps it is a trick played by our Jnyana yoga Rishis who did not want Brahma to freely distribute the knowledge (Jnaana) to all indiscriminately just because they worship casually and praise him to get immediate benefits; so they dissuaded people from the worship of Brahama, the custodian of Vedas!  You all know how Siva and Brahma often made the mistake easily falling prey to their worshipers even though such prayers are  not from the depth of their hearts! Probably we are more worried we will not be able to do that and will accumulate more bad karmas at the present status of the world.  There are contradicting stories as to the origin in Puranas though authorship is ascribed to Vyasa. May be he believed in where you cannot convince confuse like me.
In Hinduism Manu is the originator to the progenitor of humanity who appears in the world at the start of a new Kalpa after universal destruction. According to Puranas 14 Manus appear in each Kalpa and the period of each Manu is Manvantra. We are now in Vaivasvata Manvantara. The word man in English and Manushya in Sanskrit are believed to be derived from Manu. Does it mean to say that Manu is a specific Devata responsible for the most important creation of humans alone or he is none other than Brahma who sprang from Narayana’s belly button on a lotus flower! Then Manu and Brahma should be synonyms. Later texts of Vedas say Brahma Vishnu and Siva are the three facets of Brahman alone. Though Puranas have this form of   Trinity for worship they also talk of several other forms of Trinities like Dattatreya.  It also says  Manu, Brahma, Indra etc., are only titles for the post they are holding. This also goes well with the fact that Brahmas life span is 100 Brahma years where one day of Brahma is one human year! I wonder why Vedavyasa failed to remove all such confusions from Puranas which he compiled coming from various authors. Probably out of modesty he did not want to disrespect them and believed in “Vipravakyo Janardhanah”— Pundits are always divine in their postulations.
The story for present Manvantara goes as follows: Manu was the son of Vivasvaan (hence known as Vaivasvata Manu) who was the son of Kaasyapa, in turn son of Marichi, the off spring of Brahma the creator). He is associated with the creation of the world and establishment of order and religion in the world. We are now in Vaivasvata Manvantara.  I believe Matsya Purana and Bhagavata Purana refer to this Manu as to the Matsyavatara story. The story in Satapata Brahmana associates Matsyavatara to Svayambhu Manu, the first among the 14 Manus. It is safe to conclude in line with Vedic statement “Yathapoorvamakalpayat”—everything was created as before—that these avatars are repeated in each Yuga of the Kalpa.  It is therefore logical to conclude that the temple in Bengaluru is the symbolic representation of Matsyavatar of Krityuga of Vaivasvata Manvantara. The first Matsyavatara refers to Svayambhu Manu and Svayambhu Manvantara. At that time there was neither temple nor Moorti Worship.
Satapata Brahmana for the first time narrates a story in which it describes a tiny fish which grew to gigantic fish that advised Swaayambhu Manu to build a ship to save himself and all living creatures as the impending flood would destroy the world. On its advice he did so and was saved by the first incarnation of Lord Vishnu in the form of fish (Matsyaavataara). This story is similar to the later Biblical story of Noah’s Ark.  Probably Bible got inspired by ancient Hinduism to come out with their version of Noah’s Ark based on the present Kalpa. After the waves receded, Manu went to the plains and restarted life for another 4, 320, 000,000 years. Hindus believe that Manus come in repeated cycles as the Patriarchal Earth Ruler, infinite times, at the beginning of creations. The story is quite clear from the text given in the Appendix.
We also come across another story as to the recovery of Vedas from horse headed demon Hayagreeva cited below. Vedas mention the earliest Avatar Hayagreeva and also say Vajasaneya Samhita is named after Hayagreeva, the Incarnation of Vishnu.  The Vedic version should be more authentic than the Puranic versions.   Unlike the lone temple of Matsya Narayana, Hayagreeva   Temples are more popular and he is the presiding deity of Parakala Maths. I have discussed at length on the importance of this earliest Avatar. It is also interesting to note this Avatar is called Matsya Narayana and Not Matsya Vishnu. Generrally all Avatars are indicated as Avtars of Vishnu only, one of the trinities among Brahma, Vishnu, Maheswara.
I believe Puranas have thought about Matsya (fish) as first Avatar among Dasvatars like the later concept of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Probably our sages had similar thoughts as Darwin which he later scientifically investigated. Therefore they cleverly managed to throw out the Hayagreeva avatar and brought in a demon Hayagreeva to make Matsyavatara story besides the earlier story of deluge to save lives. The story of floods, the giant fish with horns and the boat goes well to make a mythological story. With all these conjecture Hindus get offended when someone calls Puranas as mythology.
In order to go with evolution theory they needed a man-animal stage of evolution—man emerging out of an animal. They preferred the head of Lion King than a man’s companion horse head. After the popularity of Rama and Krishna Avatars to-day Narasimha is the most worshiped deity.
Why then Matsya-Narayana nomenclature and not Matsya-Vishnu.  Naryana mean  one who is water borne and so Matsyavatara goes well with Narayana.  Naryana’s consort is Lakshmi and so also Matsya’s. In fact all the first five avatars have only Lakshmi as their consorts and no additional Sakti form creation took place to be the consort of these avatars. It is also logical to conclude the earlier   avatars of Matsya Kurma,   Narasimha and  Vamana took place not on earth planet but at higher planet levels. Brahman is associated with Prosperity (Sri) and Wealth (Lakshmi)—“Hreescha te Lakshmeescha Patnyau” – O Sun! Hri and and Lakshmi are thy consorts! (MNU). We have Srisooktam as part of the Vedas. These   consorts have been deified in Puranas substantiated by Samudra Mathana (churning of the Ocean) story.
We come across consorts born on earth to all the later human avatars starting from Parasurama with names. Thus Parasurama’s wife was Dharani, Rama’s Sita, Krishna’s Rukmini, and Satyabhama (incarnation of Bhoodevi, Earth), Radha and Gopis and Buddha’s Yasodhara. Hindus say Yasodhara was incarnation of Lakshmi but Buddhists deny.  The first five avatars had no specific consort and are always associated with Lakshmi. Except for Yamuna all the consorts of human avatars are believed to be incarnation of Lakshmi. Why avatar concept did not come out with the idea of consort and married life to earlier avatars need some explanation.
The term sex is in reference to the Sanskrit concept of rasa, the original spiritual relationships. In the material world this rasa is best reflected as mundane sex. But even in this there are many gradations according to the degrees of covering by the three modes. The Taittiriya Upanishad describes the degrees of enjoyment among the different human species, from the common man, to the Gandharva, Apsara, Siddha, Deva, Devadeva, Devendra, Brahma, etc.-- each being one hundred times greater or more complete than the previous.
Animals like dogs and hogs become pregnant twice a year, and each time they beget at least half a dozen off-springs. Even lower species of life such as snakes give birth to hundreds of young at one time.   In grades of life higher than ours, pregnancy occurs once in a lifetime. People still have sex life, but there is no pregnancy. In the spiritual world, people are not very attracted to sex life, due to their exalted devotional attitude. Practically speaking, there is no sex life in the spiritual world, but even if sometimes it does occur, there is no pregnancy at all. That is how many Ayonija births are mentioned in Puranas—Sita, Andal, Ganesha, Subhramanya, Uravasi etc.  On the planet earth, however, human beings do become pregnant, although the tendency is to avoid having children. In this sinful age of Kali, people have even taken to the process of killing the child in the womb. This is the most degraded practice. This is considered as heinous crime Brunahatya in Hinduism.
In the iconographic representation Matsya takes variant forms. Often it is a simple fish, with a horn, placed upon a lotus. Sometimes one lower half is that of fish and the other half a human form (Narayana or Vishnu with four arms carrying conch, discus, lotus and mace). Sometimes, the human form emerges from the neck of the fish seated upon a lotus pedestal.
The Mantra of Matsya includes the idea of dissolution, creation and the Vedic lore—“Matsyam pralayasmhaaram srashtaaram vedaroopinam’
Matsya Mantra
Eka evabhavanmatsyaavataarah kalpa aadiye |
Tasya mantram pravakshyaami bhukti-mukti-prdaayakam ||
Taaro (om) namo bhagavate ma matsyaaya ramaam(sreem) vadet |
dvaadasaakshara mantroyam munirbrahma sameeritah |
gayatree chchanda uchchishtam devataa meenavigrahah ||
(Note the term devata used  for the avatar and not deva normally used for Vishnu )
Gaayatree Mantra
Om  mam namo bhagavate matsyaaya Sreem (12 letters)
The Rishi is Brahma, Chchndas is Gayatri and the Devataa Matsya Moorti
Dhyaana Sloka
Naabhyaadho rohitasamam aakantham cha naraakritih |
Ghsnasyaamaschaturbaahuh sankha-chakra-gadaadharah |
Sringee matsyanibho moordhaa lakshmee-vaksho-viraaajitah |
Padmachinhita-sarvaangah sundaras-chaaru-lochanah ||
Dr. Michael Mosley speaks of Human evolution from fish. I believe he should have been inspired by the human evolution from fish of Dasavatara concept in his research work and Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. It is believed mermaids are non-existent and are only seen in folklores and dramas. After going through Matsya-Narayana Avatar and the research findings of Dr. Michael Mosley there is every possibility that Merman and Mermaids once existed and they are today extinguished species. Hinduism talks about animal-head transplant surgery by Lord Siva who is praised as Bhishak (doctor) who inspired Medical Sciences. Like Hindu beliefs in curative effects by worshiping Lord Matsya-Narayana other traditions believe   Mermaids can be benevolent or beneficent, bestowing boons or falling in love with humans. Search for mermaids continues today by some nations like the Himalayan Snowman!
Today Tigons are a reality with tiger’s body and lion’s head. Hinduism speaks of Kinnaras with horse-body and   human head in other planets. Our knowledge is today limited to one small planet called Earth in the Milky Way of this vast Universe. Who knows what exists where and how? They are already talking of brain transplant from the dead.
“Students can learn from teachers/elders/scholars/saints/parents in a variety of ways. Depending on the eagerness of the student, circumstances in the student's life that is preparing him/her to seek such learning, powerfulness of the knowledge that is relevant to the question, ability of the student to identify with the teacher determines how much knowledge gets transferred.
Transformative events have occurred in people's lives under special circumstances that are so powerful and can be equivalent to brain transplant. I still could not understand the stories of   Yajnavalkya, Abhimanyu, Kalidasa, blind Surdas, Valmiki, Tulasi Das, Hanuman and Siddhas etc., acquiring advanced abilities. There has to be more to the story” as one of our participant psychiatric doctor tells.

REFERENCES:
1.       Ramachandra Rao, S.K., Vishnu Kosha. KalpataRU Research Academy, Sankar Math, Bengaluru, India.
2.      Devdutt Pattanaik, Vishnu, Vakils, Feffer and Simons Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India.
3.      Swami Harshananda, Hindu Gods and Goddesses, Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, India.
4.      Ed. Viswanathan, Am I a Hindu, Rupa & Co., New Delhi, India.
5.      Joan Cummins, et al, Vishnu, First Center of Visual Arts, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA.
APPENDIX I
Why was Lord Vishnu Born as Matsya Avatar ?
During the deluge before the latest re-creation of the universe, the four Vedas (the Holy Scriptures) which were required by Brahma for the re-creation were drowned deep in the waters.
Vishnu took the form of a fish to retrieve the sacred scriptures. Another legend has it that Vishnu in his Matsya Avatar instructed Manu (the progenitor of mankind in each creation) to build a huge boat and gather samples of all species in it. The Matsya then pulled the ark to safety through the deluge and floods to enable Brahma to start the work of re-creation.
Legend
One day while bathing, Satyavrata (also called Manu by some) accidentally catches a small fish in his hands. To his surprise, the fish looks at him and starts talking to him. It asks Manu to save its life and protect it in return for which the Matsya will protect Manu from an impending flood about which it is aware of.
When Manu agrees to help, the fish first asks him to put it in a jar of water, and then when it outgrows the same, it asks him to dig a pit, fill it with water and put it in the pit. Later, when it outgrows the pit, it asks Manu to transfer it to the ocean, by which time it is big enough to survive and is also indestructible.
At this point, the fish asks Manu to build himself a boat and be ready for the impending flood. It also instructs him that when the flood waters increase, he should think of the fish that will then come over to help him out.
When the flood begins, Manu boards the boat and then prays to the fish for assistance. The fish then appears and ties the boat to a horn that has grown on its head. It uses the serpent Vasuki as the rope to tie the boat to its horn. The fish then tows this boat to safety and takes Manu to the highest and driest point left on the earth.
It is told that as the Matsya swam through the flood waters he discoursed as Manu on the various topics and revealed to him the knowledge of the Vedas, Puranas, Samhitas and the Supreme Truth.
Some versions also have the Matsya instructing Manu to collect seeds of all types of plants and assembling the saptarishis (seven great sages) on the boat that is then rescued by the great matsya.
Symbols of Matsya Avatar
The story of a great Deluge is found in many civilizations across the earth. It is often related to the Genesis narrative of the flood and Noah’s Ark; The fish motif and saving of the scriptures from a demon being additions in the Hindu tale. Similar flood myths also exist in tales from ancient Sumer and Babylonia, Greece, the Maya of Americas and the Yoruba of Africa.
Matsya is believed to symbolize the first stage of evolution, as aquatic life was the first beings on earth. The tale of Matsya may be interpreted as a creation myth where Manu creates beings of the world and men after they destroyed in the flood, though the creation is never the focus of the legend. Some authors consider the tale not a flood myth, but symbolic in nature. Manu’s boat is representative of moksha (salvation), which helps one to cross over.
Himalayas is treated as a boundary between the earthly existence and land of salvation beyond. God as the fish guides one to salvation. The horn of the fish is symbolic of “sacrificial values”. The presence of fish seems to be an allusion to the Indian “law of the fishes”, an equivalent to the “law of the jungle”, when the fish seeks protection from being eaten by a larger fish.
Treated as a parable, the tale advises a good king should protect the weak from the mighty, reversing the “law of fishes” and uphold dharma, like Manu, the progenitor of mankind and in particular two royal dynasties, thus an ideal king. In the tales where the demon hides the Vedas, dharma is threatened and Vishnu as the divine Savior, rescues dharma, aided by his earthly counterpart, Manu – the king.
Worship of Matsya Avatar
The Sri Matsyanarayana Temple is a unique and the only temple in Karnataka for Bhagavan Sri Matsyanarayana Swamy. Bhagavan Sri Matsyanarayana is the first Avatara among the Dashavataras (Ten Avataras) of Bhagavan Mahavishnu in the form of Fish to protect the creation from great deluge.
By worshiping him, through his grace generally one gains health, wealth, peace and prosperity and specially one gets cured of rare skin diseases and gains abundant wealth. Where ever Bhagavan Sri Matsyanarayana’s presence is there all the Vastu Doshas will get nullified.
Salient Features:
1. Place the Yantra in the water filled plate in such a way that it will get immersed in water and worship it daily.
2. Replace the water regularly.
3. After  worshipping the Yantra chant the Matsya Maha Mantra 108 times (facing east or north) daily.
                                                             --Courtesy  by The Editor | Feb 15, 2016  | IndiaDivine.Org

APPENDIX II
HUMAN EVOLUTION FROM FISH

 [Dr. Michael Mosley in BBC talks on "Anatomical Clues to Human Evolution from Fish".]

Extracts from his talk are reproduced below in support of his theory:
It seems strange that humans have evolved from fish, but the evidence can be found not just in fossils but also with our own bodies.
The following observations can be made if one watches the video picture of the face developing from one month old embryo of humans to an age of 10 weeks. If you watch closely, you will see that the human face is actually formed from three main sections which rotate and come together in an unborn fetus.
The early human embryo looks very similar to the embryo of any other mammal, bird or amphibian all of which evolved from fish.
The way this happens only really makes sense when you realize that strange though it may sound we are actually descended from fish:
·        Your eyes start out on the sides of your head, but then move to the middle.
·        The top lip along with the jaw and palate started life as  a gill-like structures on your neck.
·        Your nostrils and the middle part of your lip come down from the top of your head.

Who are Mermaids and Mermen
(WIKEPEDIA)
A mermaid is a legendary aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish  Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including the Near East, Europe, Africa and Asia. The first stories appeared in ancient Assyria, in which the goddess Atargatis transformed herself into a mermaid out of shame for accidentally killing her human lover. Mermaids are sometimes associated with perilous events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks and drownings. In other folk traditions (or sometimes within the same tradition), they can be benevolent or beneficent, bestowing boons or falling in love with humans.
The male equivalent of the mermaid is the merman, also a familiar figure in folklore and heraldry. Although traditions about and sightings of mermen are less common than those of mermaids, they are generally assumed to co-exist with their female counterparts.
Some of the attributes of mermaids may have been influenced by the Sirens of Greek mythology. Historical accounts of mermaids, such as those reported by Christopher Columbus during his exploration of the Caribbean, may have been inspired by manatees and similar aquatic mammals. While there is no evidence that mermaids exist outside of folklore, reports of mermaid sightings continue to the present day, with recent examples from Canada, Israel, and Zimbabwe.
Mermaids have been a popular subject of art and literature in recent centuries, such as in Hans Christian Andersen's well-known fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" (1836). They have subsequently been depicted in operas, paintings, books, films and comic

 
APPENDIX III
Manu in the Bible and the History of Mankind
Posted by Abhaya Mudra Dasi | Feb 29, 2016 | IndiaDivine.Org
“The Manu named King Satyavrata formerly saved himself by tying the small boat of the entire world to the horn of the Matsya avatara, the fish incarnation. By the grace of the Matsya avatara, Manu saved himself from the great danger of the flood. May that same fish incarnation save us from the great and fearful danger caused by the son of Tvashta.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam 6.9.23)
A single event of the ancient world has been covered by a number of scriptures—even though some of these old historical texts are not generally considered as Vedic. Elements of the history of Vaivasvata Manu, our current Manu, can be found as the story of “Noah and the Flood” both in the Bible and in the Koran. The great flood is also described in some other scriptures including the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jasher. The inundation is also described in the Sumerian epic poem Gilgamesh. Manu, who is the progenitor of humanity, has made a significant mark on history. Therefore it is natural that he has been discussed in numerous scriptures from different periods throughout millennia. It would appear that the Noah we read about in the Bible is none other than the current Vaivasvata Manu.
The Book of Jasher, which is an apocryphal work (and which is twice mentioned in the Bible) says the following in 4.13-14 about the birth of Manu:
“And the wife of Lemech conceived and bore him a son at that time, at the revolution of the year. And Metushelach called his name Noach, saying, ‘The ground was in his days at rest and free from corruption.’ And Lamech his father called his name Menachem (Manu), saying, ‘This one shall comfort us in our works and miserable toil from the ground, which YHWH (God) had cursed.’”
In the book of Enoch—an ancient Jewish religious work that is mostly preserved in its original form in Ethiopia—Noah is described as a follower of God’s rule (dharma). It is written there that he lived during a period that had become degraded due to the intermingling of the demigods with human women and that this intermingling had produced giants of demonic nature. In time practically all humankind became corrupted. Foolish people began to worship mere inhabitant of the Earth as gods … a vice that continues till this day in our present Kali Yuga.
The different Manus are described in Shrimad Bhagavatam 8.13 and the flood is described later.
“O King Parikshit, at the end of the past millennium, at the end of Brahma’s day, because Lord Brahma sleeps during the night, annihilation took place and the three worlds became covered by the waters of the ocean. At the end of Brahma’s day, when Brahma felt sleepy and desired to lie down, the Vedas were emanating from his mouth, and the great demon named Hayagriva stole the Vedic knowledge. Understanding the acts of the great demon Hayagriva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, who is full of all opulence, assumed the form of a fish and saved the Vedas by killing the demon.” (SB 8.24.7-9).
Shrila Prabhupada comments, “Because everything was inundated by water, to save the Vedas it was necessary for the Lord to assume the form of a fish.” (Note that this verse does not relate to the form of Matsya who saved Manu at the end of a certain millennia when only a partial annihilation takes place.)
At the end of each Manvantara (lit. “rule of one Manu”), and before the next progenitor of humankind Manu takes charge, a total dissolution of the Earth—a flood—occurs. This is obviously the same devastating flood that is also described in the Bible, in the Book of Enoch and in the Book of Jasher. As Noah was an enlightened personality, he was saved from the flood along with other sages and his sons. It is said that his ark, or huge boat, remained atop the Malaya Mountain after the flood.
The Book of Jasher 5.13 discusses why Vaivasvata (Noah) was chosen as the present Manu:
And Noach was a just man, he was perfect in his generation, and YHWH chose him to rise up seed from his seed upon the face of all the earth.
The book describes the many long years during which the flood ravaged the Earth. It tells how all creatures had to endure being tossed from one side of the ark to the other. Despite the fear that Manu and the rest of the animals and sages endured in the boat, we know from Shrimad Bhagavatam that Lord Matsyadeva protected the ark throughout the flood’s duration.
After the flood Manu and his sons populated the Earth. The sons of Manu are mentioned as being three in number in the Book of Jasher, but the Vedic literature mentions at least ten amongst whom Ikshvaku is prominent. Since the Book of Jasher was scribed in a mleccha tongue, it mentions only the facts that are considered more important for the people of that time and who spoke that language:
“And these are the names of the sons of Noach: Yafe (Ikshvaku), Ham and Shem; and children were born to them after the flood, for they had taken wives before the flood.” (Book of Jasher 7.1)
It is interesting that in the line concerning Noah, the name of Rama appears along with the name of Kush in the same paragraph, possibly an indirect reference to Lord Shri Ramachandra:
“And these are the sons of Ham; Kush, Mitzraim, Put and Kanaan, four sons; and the sons of Kush were Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama and Satecha, and the sons of Raama were Sheba and Dedan.” (Book of Jasher 7.10)
After some years the children and descendants of Manu populated the entire Earth. Once again, in due course of time, the people again became irreligious. They built a city with the Tower of Babel that was supposed to reach for the heavens where they proposed to install human idols. According to the Bible, such misguided plans could not work and their skyscrapers were destroyed by the designs of the Lord. Assisted by His devotees (the demigods), the mouths of the inhabitants of the city were made to mispronounce their language, and thus Babel became the source of the English word “babble.” Since the citizens could no longer understand each other, conflicts arose and in this way they destroyed both the city and themselves. Thus different languages were created which now rendered the immoral citizens incapable of working together and considering competing with the demigods. Since this occurs at the end of Kali Yuga, we propose that this event this could have marked the end of another chatura-yuga cycle and the beginning of another Satya Yuga.
Manu is described in the Bhagavata as living for seventy-one yuga cycles. Our present Manu has already lived for twenty-eight yuga cycles. This means that already in his lifetime twenty-eight major destructions must have occurred with the onset of each consecutive Satya Yugas.
In the Book of Jasher the nations that were born from the sons of Manu are mentioned and some of them, like Turkey and Bulgaria, are still recognizable today:
“And the sons of Yafet the son of Noach went and built themselves cities in the places where they were scattered, and they called all their cities after their names, and the sons of Yafet were divided upon the face of the earth into many divisions and languages. And these are the names of all their families according to all their cities which were built to them in those days after the tower.” (10.6)
“And the children of Tugarma are ten families, and these are their names: Kuzar, Partzinak, Bulgar, Elikanus, Ragvina, Turki, Buz, Zabuk, Ongar and Tilmatz; all these spread and rested in the north and built themselves cities. And they called their cities after their names, those are they who abide by the rivers Hital and Altak unto this day. But [the families of] Angoli, Bulgar and Partzinak, they dwell by the great river Danuvi; and the names of their cities are also according to their names.” (10.10)
As those nations were directly founded by different sons of Manu, it is obvious that their history—and thus the history of the world—is much older than the fairy tale that “historians” have been trying to wholesale us for the past many centuries. For example, Bulgaria has a modern history of around 1300 years which today’s so-called scholarship considers as one of the oldest nations. Bulgaria has preserved its name throughout the ages, and according to this ancient verse the histories of these areas are far, far more ancient. The Danuvi River mentioned is obviously the Danube which till today forms the northern boundary between Bulgaria and Romania.
All nations have one father and one culture which is the selfsame Vedic culture that is rooted in the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Shri Krishna.