Slokam 4

The Paramathma in the form of a little fish is taken by Satyavrata to his palace.  He places it in a pot of water. As the fish was preserved in a pot, it became too big for the successive  containers and finally grew into a huge fish which filled in an entire Ocean. 

Satyavrata gives it bigger and bigger ponds and rivers before finally it goes from a pond to a lake, to a river and finally into the Ocean. 

The slokam mentions that it was only at the prompting of the Paramathma that Satyavrata took care of the little fish that grew into a gigantic form. Unlike the universal earthworm,  the bird, butterfly,  frog,  cobra, which are tasked with only one function,  which is self sustenance, as man or women,  we are tasked with multiple objectives. None of these multiple tasks can be achieved without the Paramathma’s guidance.  So it is essential that the conscious channel within us must be kept open for two way communication with the Paramathma. 

Why do we have to communicate via our consciousness,  when we have ears to receive and voicebox to talk?  The answer is that when we use our senses to communicate,    the mind comes into play.  When the mind comes into play,  conflicts, contradictions, personality issues, all come into play, resulting in truth and untruth becoming intermingled.  The quality of consciousness is that it filters out the conflicts of the mind and allows only the truth to pass through. When thoughts from the mind are communicated through consciousness,  the untruths, the dominance of the ego or the projection of a false identity are all eliminated.  There are no conflicts.  Most importantly,  the very opening of the channel of communication through the consciousness involves complete surrender to the supreme first and foremost. Without that the channel will not be opened.

Creatures other than man lead their lives only in the mode of surrender to the supreme.  Their physical limitations also comes with the endowment of natural surrender to the supreme. 

Extract from https://vaniquotes.org/wiki/King_Satyavrata_later_became_the_son_of_the_sun-god_and_was_known_as_Sraddhadeva

The fish, being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, wanted to show His potency to King Satyavrata, and thus He immediately expanded His body in such a way that He could no longer be kept in the jug of water. The King then put the fish in a big well, but the well was also too small. Then the King put the fish in a lake, but the lake was also unsuitable. Finally the King put the fish in the sea, but even the sea could not accommodate Him.

As he watches the tiny fish grow to gigantic proportions, Satyavrata realizes that the small fish is the Paramathma Himself.

Thus the King understood that the fish was no one else but the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and he requested the Lord to describe His incarnation as a fish. The Personality of Godhead, being pleased with the King, informed him that within a week there would be an inundation throughout the universe and that the fish incarnation would protect the King, along with the ṛṣis, herbs, seeds and other living entities, in a boat, which would be attached to the fish's horn. After saying this, the Lord disappeared. King Satyavrata offered respectful obeisances to the Supreme Lord and continued to meditate upon Him.

The Paramathma reveals Himself to Satyavrata,  just as He did to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, to Hiranyakashipu as Narasimha Avataram, as Bala Krishna to Kamsa,  as Vamana to Bali.  Revelation of His unlimited attributes, expanse and characteristics immediately induces the seer to lose all traces of disbelief and lack of conviction.  Our belief system is strongly based on sense perception.  If we see something through our own eyes,  there is no need for any other confirmation. However, it is very important to be like Prahalada, to be able to perceive the Paramathma in all perceptible objects and beings.  Once we do this,  the Paramathma will appear from every nook and corner.  His messages will then become very clear and there will be no ego that blocks the shravanam.

The Paramathma lets Satyavrata know that a deluge is coming that will submerge the entire universe.  The oceans would have risen to completely cover everything on earth.  The Paramathma tells Satyavrata to wait at a particular spot to which he will be bringing a boat.  He requests that Satyavrata not be afraid of the deluge.  He assures Satyavrata that holding onto His horns (as a fish), will give him the necessary courage to complete the journey. 

The deluge is for the entire universe, not just the earth.  The Paramathma collects the elevated beings from earth and symbolically transports them to the safety of his abode, until the next cycle of creation begins.

May we perceive the Paramathma’s expanse and diversity in all objects and beings and may we ever be in shravanam state and absorb and perform all the import from the supreme.