King Satyavrata prayed, “The ignorant human being binds himself due to his fruitive activities. He performs actions seeking happiness but ultimately ends up grieving. In other words he becomes the victim of his own activities performed solely with intent of obtaining happiness. By serving Lord Srihari such ignorant human being is freed from spiritual ignorance. You, the Supreme Lord Srihari are our Guru. Please destroy this knot called spiritual ignorance from our hearts.

Silver, which emanated from the tears of Rudra, rids itself of all impurities through contact with fire. Thereby it obtains its natural shine and form. Likewise the ignorant human being should serve Lord Srihari solely to destroy the impurity called spiritual ignorance that exists within him. When this impurity is destroyed he shines in Supreme Knowledge and he realizes his true form. Such indestructible Supreme Lord is the Guru for all Gurus. May such Supreme Lord Srihari become our spiritual Guru!

When individually or collectively Devatas, Gurus or others shower their grace upon us, in reality it is not even 1/10,000th of the grace You shower. O Lord of all living entities! I seek refuge under You!

Considering an ignorant person who lacks wisdom as a Spiritual-guru is akin to one blind man leading another. To You O Lord, the Sun is the eye. You are the all-pervading Pure Consciousness who enliven all the senses. I seek You as my Guru for the sole purpose of understanding Self-essence.

If a spiritually ignorant Guru imparts to other spiritually ignorant persons the worthless knowledge pertaining to material earnings (artha) and fulfilment of desires (kāma) then because of his teachings these students are further thrown deeper into the dark web called repeated re-births from which there is no exit. In other words they are thrown into hell. However, O Lord, the Self-knowledge that You preach is deathless. It is indestructible. Through this, the human being easily understands Self-essence and obtains liberation.

O Lord, You cause the well-being of all living entities. You are the Self that is very dear. You are none other than Iśwara. You are the Guru. The knowledge and the accomplishments obtained by human beings are nothing but Your forms. Even then trapped in desires the ignorant person is deprived of wisdom and thus he fails to realize You, who are situated within the heart.

O Supreme Lord! You are the ruler for all the Devatas. You are the Lord who is worthy of worship. I therefore pray to You to impart me the Spiritual Essence. With statements that illumine the Spiritual Essence (tattva) please destroy the knots called desires that exist within me. Thereafter please bless me with the vision of Your true form”.

Hearing this prayer of King Satyavrata, the Supreme Lord Srihari, who is the cause for the entire creation and who is complete in every aspect, began imparting the Supreme Knowledge to the king even as He sported in the fiery waters of dissolution in the form of a gigantic fish. He preached completely to King Satyavarata, the Matsya Purana, which had been earlier composed by Him, along with the secrets of His form.

King Satyavrata, who was seated in the boat together with the seven great saints, listened to the Self-essence preached by the Lord and clarified all his doubts. Meanwhile the Lord, who was in the form of the gigantic fish, killed demon Hayagriva and retrieved the Vedas.

As in the past, at the end of the period of annihilation, Lord Brahma awakened from his slumber. Lord Matysa handed over the Vedas back to him. Not only did King Satyavrata indirectly obtain the Self-knowledge, he also obtained Self-experience. With Lord Vishnu’s grace in this Kalpa, he is reborn as Vaivaswata Manu.

The person who listens to this great episode which contains the preaching imparted by Lord Srihari, who incarnated as a gigantic fish using His illusionary energies, to King Satyavrata is absolved of all sins.

Avatāraṁ harer yo ’yaṁ kīrtayed anvahaṁ naraḥ Saṅkalpās tasya sidhyanti sa yāti paramāṁ gatim

The person who daily unfailingly glorifies the marvellous deeds of Lord Srihari fulfills all his intentions. Moreover he obtains the supreme state called liberation.

At the time of annihilation, Lord Brahma withdrew the entire creation and went into deep slumber. Demon Hayagriva stole the Vedas that emanated from Brahma’s face when he was asleep. At that time Lord Srihari killed the demon and restored the Vedas to Brahma. The Supreme Lord Srihari, who is the cause for the entire creation, using his illusionary energies playfully incarnated as a fish in order to show his transcendental glories. He preached the Supreme Essence to King Satyavrata and to the sages. To such Supreme Lord I offer obeisance.

With this the twenty fourth chapter of the eighth canto comes to an end.

With this the Eighth skanda concludes.

Hari Om tat sat. Śri Krishnārpana mastu