THE FISH INCARNATION IS A ATTRIBUTED TO THE PLANET KETU .
WHAT DOES KETU INDICATE ?
LESSON FROM SANJAY RATH JI
Let us start with Matsya avatar. Matsya avatar is the fish incarnation. Now the story goes like this: there was a king and he had a beautiful aquarium. He had little fish; he found little fish in a pond. The fish had fallen out of the sea, so he put the fish in an aquarium and would feed the fish. See what the fish king would do? He fed the fish. So feeding fishes is a good thing. These stories that are there in the Puranas are also telling us what we should do to overcome negativities attributed to our graha. The fish incarnation is a attributed to the planet Ketu. What does Ketu indicate? Ketu is the last among the grahas. He is of tamas guna. Tamas means destruction, so Ketu is indicating some kind of a terrible destruction, a very sudden deluge, and that is what happened. You see when the king fed the fish the fish became bigger and it became so big it filled the entire aquarium. So they took the fish out and put him in a pond. The king said make a pond. They fed the fish more and the fish became even bigger. The king said, whoa, what kind of a fish is this that we got from the sea? It’s become bigger and bigger. He probably hadn’t seen whales. He should have come to California. Then the fish became so big in the pond he didn’t know what to do. So then the fish told him “Oh king, I have become too big for this pond. It is for your good that you should put me in the sea. So they all carried the fish and they put him in the sea, and then the fish went away in the sea. And then one day there was rain and the rain went on and on and there was no stopping of the rain, and everything started drowning in the rain. The whole world started drowning in the rain.
It is symbolic of our own lives. When terrible rains come in our lives and everything gets destroyed around. Everything starts drowning, our whole world is drowning around us. It is symbolic, the planet KETU , the GRAHA KETU , is indicating such a state in our lives where everything around us is getting destroyed.
At that point in time the seven sages came to the king and said “listen, the time has come for the whole world to be destroyed. The blessed lord has already incarnated near you and it is you who have been good in feeding that fish which is an incarnation of the Lord.”
The king said, “how can you say that this fish is an incarnation of the Lord?”
They said “of course, he is, because he is going to transcend this world destruction. When everything will be destroyed he is the one who will save you. So the savior is a symbol of God and he will help you to cross over this terrible destruction. And when the destruction stops he will put you in a safe place. And from there again there shall be creation.”
So the king sat on a boat with the seven rishis and they kept the Vedas with them. And they pushed the boat into the sea without any oars. See the symbol ‘without oars.’ Do not try to steer your own life. When there is destruction all around you know that your own brain is clouded. You have to go off your own thinking; surrender to one of the Rishis. There are seven Rishis; learn to surrender to the Rishis and to the Vedas. There are no oars. When there are no oars you are not going to guide your life. If you try it you will drown. You have to let go of those oars; sit down in the boat quietly. Pray to the Rishis because those Rishis are the ones whose energy will call God. And the Rishis sat down and prayed “ OM NAMO BHAGAVATE MAHAMATYSAYA .” The mantra was “ OM NAMO BHAGAVATE MAHAMATYSAYA .” BHAGAVATE means an incarnation of God. MAHA : GREAT , MATSYA : FISH . MATSYAYA means FISH . OM NAMO BHAGAVATE MAHAMATYSAYA . There is a remaining mantra given in the BHAGAVATAM but this is a simple small mantra. And the fish incarnation came. And they threw a string on him and tied the boat. The seas became rough and terrible and whole cities were getting destroyed. The fish incarnation pulled the boat with the seven Rishis and the king in it and the four Vedas through the whole destruction period. Then after some time the rain stopped and they found land and that is where he left them. And that is how the new life started.
It is symbolic of stages of somebody’s life. So the fish incarnation symbolizes Paramatma. WHY DOES IT SYMBOLIZE PARAMATMA ?
Because it helped you to cross over, to transcend this destruction. Everything was destroyed, just like Noah’s ark. When you read about Noah’s ark you will understand. There is total destruction around you and you have to let go. That is the eclipse, the grahana coming into your life, so let go. Take shelter in the Rishis seriously and do your mantras properly. And then he will come and guide you out through this terrible storm. So the symbol of God is he who can help you to transcend. That is the PARAMATMA . Even at the stage of complete destruction they were not shouting, they were not crying, they were not running to save their golden materials. What did they try to save? The Vedas, knowledge. That means that when complete destruction occurs, when you die, only the Vedas will go with you. Only knowledge will come with you. Nothing else will come.
The fish incarnation is symbolic of death in our lives. What will help you to transcend are the seven Rishis who sit as the guides of the seven lokas. And they will help you to transcend the lokas through Vidya, Vedas. And it is the fish incarnation who will pull you through you all this. A tremendous pull it has. It will give you moksha and take you to this little land from where you will not come back again. And give you a new existence where you will not have to be born anymore. THAT IS WHY KETU IS MOKSHA KARAKA . The seven Rishis are the Sapta Rishis up in the sky, you can see them. They are symbolic of the number seven which is ruled by Ketu also. So when you do Vedic numerology from the fish incarnation story, the Matsya avatar story we know that the number seven has to do with Ketu, the graha Ketu. So people who are born on the seventh day of a month, know that Ketu is very strong in your chart. Seven, sixteen, or people who are born on twenty-five, these are the three dates where you know that Ketu must be a strong influence in your chart. So now, we have understood the fish incarnation.
Why does the fish have to do with Ketu? Because he is mokshakaraka because it was the fish who pulled you out. But why is Ketu in the first place associated with the fish? He is headless, that is the attribute. You are not supposed to use your head. Remember I told you that. The king was told throw away the oars, don’t use your head. When you will steer with the strength of your hand? Will you row? Forget it; the sea is so terrible that you will drown and the whole ship will go, with your boat you will go in the water. Forget it, don’t try, also surrender the oars. We will pray and Matsya avatar will come and take us. This head of yours is your worst enemy. Your own mind is your enemy. You want moksha? Your own mind is your enemy. There are no enemies outside. That is the important message. That is why Ketu is headless, it is a tail. You have to let go of the oars. Keep that in mind. Don’t try steering your own ship, it will not work. Just surrender to the Rishis, sit down quietly over there. Do the mantra. Don’t try to understand what the mantra is going to do; you cannot understand it. Do it and you will see the difference. That is the lesson here. The more you try to reason it does not work because it is the reason that is eclipsing the soul. It is the mind that has caused the eclipse, so what excuse is it going to give you? It is like the bully trying to tell you that you must do this so it is good for you. You are a bully so naturally you will do that. The mind is the bully, your own mind is the bully. And the tormented one is your own soul. The real you is tormented by your own mind. That is the entire lesson of the Matsya avatar. That is why Ketu indicates the great escape where you lose your head, where you let go of your mind. That is why they said Ketu is the one who eclipses the mind and causes the soul to come out. That is why when in anyone’s horoscope you find the sun to be terribly afflicted you give a cat’s eye. Cat’s eye is the gemstone for Ketu. Ketu will break everything and take the soul out, save the soul.
The important thing you must understand about Ketu is we are asked to throw away our oars. So who is the oar? The fish. Who is going to steer us? Somebody has to steer and propel us, right? Somebody has to steer and pull the boat. The fish is going to do that. And how does the fish do it? It does it with a tail. Your entire direction, all the propulsion, is coming from the tail of the fish. The entire vibration of the tail is causing the fish to move. The propulsion is with the tail. The submarines follow this propulsion of the fishes. There is a rudder in the back as well as a fan, a turbine which is actually propelling the sub. That intuitive flow with the currents. A huge wave is about to come. How to cut and go. Even before the wave comes you must know about the wave and cut and go. Intuitive flow comes from Ketu. Then you should not wait for the wave to come and see what follows, now what will I do. The moment you apply your mind you are gone. You have to use your intuition. That is Ketu; so Ketu rules intuition. Fishes have great intuition. Observe the fishes, study the fishes and you will understand all about Ketu. That is the important teaching. You must study the fish to understand Ketu. So, if you want that the graha Ketu should be favorable that after you die you will get a direction, someone to steer you through, at least symbolically. Do not kill fish. Do not harm the fish, instead feed the fish. When you are in great danger and Ketu is creating havoc in your life give some food to the fishes and you will come out of its eclipse. That is the important message for us.
(Q) Is there a problem with keeping fish in aquariums?
(S) Our king started with an aquarium. So long as you are feeding them and looking after them, what is the problem? When the fish becomes big you are supposed to release them back into the waters. How many of us are releasing the fish back? We don’t. When the fish become big you are supposed to release them. You are not supposed to wait for them to die or give them to your cat to eat it.
That is the reason why, at least after listening to this story, and when you think more and more, you will start loving the fish, you’ll start respecting the fish. And you’ll see that fishes are a symbol of God. So they are very much part of nature; we can’t destroy fishes. So naturally you can’t eat fishes. So the important thing about this lesson of this avatar it tells you if you really feel for the fishes, somewhere, some energy is being released from you, some connection is being made somewhere by which you will be saved when your time of destruction comes. The deluge is a symbol of complete destruction or death. Death or almost death like situation. When you die or when you are passing through such a stage in your life which is like death then it is your intuition that will save you. It is the Rishis that will protect you and it is the Vedas that will carry you through. The knowledge alone stays with you, nothing else comes with you after death. That is the important message of the Matsya avatar.
Anandamayee 