A Flood

1.         In the morning they brought to Nanu water for washing, just now also they (are wont to bring (water) for washing the hands. When he was washing himself, a fish came into his hands.

2.         It spake to him the word, ‘Rear me, I will save thee!’ ‘Wherefrom wilt thou save thee!’ ‘A flood will carry away all these creatures: from that I will save the!’ ‘How am I to rear thee?’

3.         It said, ‘As long as we are small, there is great destruction for us: fish devours fish. Thou wilt first keep me in a jar. When I out grow that, thou wilt dig a pit and keep me in it. When I outgrow that, thou wilt take me down to the sea, for then I shall be beyond destruction.’

4.         It soon became a ghasha (a great fish); for that grows larges (of all fish). Thereupon it said, ‘In such and such a year that flood will come. Thou shalt then attend to me (i.e. my advice) by preparing a ship; and when the flood has risen thou shalt enter into the ship, and I will save thee from it.’

5.         after he had reared it in this way, he took it down to the sea. And in the same year which the fish had indicated to him, he attended to (the advice of the fish) by preparing a ship; and the flood had risen, he entered into the ship. The fish then swam up to him, and to its horn he tied the rope of the ship, and by that means he passed swiftly up to yonder northern mountain.

6.         It then said, ‘I have saved thee. Fasten the ship to a tree but let not the water cut thee off whilst thous are on the mountain. As the water subsides, thou mayest gradually descend!’ Accordingly he gradually descended and hence that (slope) of the northern mountain is called ‘Manu’s descent.’ The flood then swept away all these creatures and Manu aloned remained here.

(((stolen from Shatapatha-Brahmana’ I, 8, 1-6) which I found in “essential sacred writing from around the world” an anthology by Mircea Eliade)

This, like the Gilgamesh epic, rings very familiar with the Noah story. Both of which predate the Jews account by at least 1000 years. This story places emphasis on ‘the balance’ of things. That to recipient to the Devine aid must first nurture the massager. As if to say To be saved you must nurture and protect your ‘fish’ otherwise your ‘fish’ will not be there to advise you when every thing goes wrong and all that you know is destroyed. So what is the fish? The Holy Ghost? Christ? Or could it simply be faith?  One must nurture your faith before the storm other wise it is will not be strong enough to survive the competing faiths in the sea? The seeds of faith come unexpectedly during the normal routines of life. By protecting it you sanctify it. Simply by making a jar and keeping it is a form a love, and faith feeds on love (and fear). What is it… the Wizards First rule… People will always believe what they wish is true or what they fear is true.

Let your faith be your guide,

Kit

The oldest prayer is a single word, I guess that would make it a mantra, but that word is “TODAY”… ( I heard this from a radio interview of Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest who has worked with gangs in East Los Angeles since 1986. )