Sunday, October 2, 2011

Fish Story- Matsyasana

Lord of the Fishes


Matsya, the Fish, was one of the incarnations of the Hindu God Vishnu. One of many stories tells that Vishnu assumed this form to save the world from the Flood. My favorite is the one I heard from Mataji...

The story is told that while meditating for many years Shiva was granted the key to the universe and which uncovered the mystery of Yoga. Having awakened from many years of performing austerities with this spiritual knowledge, Shiva returns from the Himalayas to his spiritual consort, Parvati.

Shiva quickly shared this glorious discovery with his wife Parvati while unbeknown to them Vishnu in the form of a fish was listening to them. Parvati wasn't listening too carefully as she had other matters on her mind, mostly concerned with how to engage Vishnu. Several times Vishnu caught Matsya listening and threw him back into the river. Each time he swam back to absorb more knowledge.

As he absorbed the information magical things began to happen and he became enlightened by Shiva's words. Shiva became the first "guru' and Matsya became the first "student". Here began a long lineage of teachers and students who have passed their teachings down to students and teachers throughout the centuries.

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