One who daily narrates this description of the Matsya incarnation will certainly have all his ambitions fulfilled, and he will go to Vaikuṇṭha.

One who daily narrates this description of the Matsya incarnation will certainly have all his ambitions fulfilled, and he will go to Vaikuṇṭha.

|| 8.24.61 ||

pralaya-payasi dhātuḥ supta-śakter mukhebhyaḥ

śruti-gaṇam apanītaṁ pratyupādatta hatvā

ditijam akathayad yo brahma satyavratānāṁ

tam aham akhila-hetuṁ jihma-mīnaṁ nato 'smi

I offer my respectful obeisances unto Matsya, the cause of all causes, who, after killing the demon, restored to Lord Brahmā the Vedic literature stolen from his mouths while Brahmā had no powers during sleep at the time of the devastation, and who explained the essence of Vedic literature to King Satyavrata.

The purposes of the two avatāras are summarized for clarity. Diti-jam (born from Diti) means a demon. Here the conventional meaning is take over the literal meaning (he was not really Diti’s son.) Satyavratānām is in the plural out of respect. Jihma-mīnam means “having a corrupted fish form.” It was a distorted form because the fish had a horn which was tied to the boat. Another form of distorted fish is known commonly as āḍi. 

 

The commentary Śārātha-darśinī on twenty-fourth chapter of the Eighth Canto has been completed to give pleasure to the hearts of the devotees in accordance with the views of the ācāryas. I do not have detachment or a trace of bhakti. I do not have a trace of knowledge nor good conduct. I do not write a commentary but make a net to catch my intelligence which is quivering in the waves of saṁsāra. The commentary of the Eighth Canto has been completed on the sixth lunar day in the waxing phase of Phalguna month on the banks of Rādhā-kuṇḍa. I offer respects to Rādhā-kuṇḍa, Śyāma-kunḍa, Govardhana and my guru.

 

Canto 9