Matsya Purana — Questions on Padmanabha’s Lotus-Creation in the Padma Mahakalpa; Prelude to N...
शृणुयां परया भक्त्या ब्रह्मन्नेतदशेषतः वक्तुमर्हसि धर्मिष्ठ यशो नारायणात्मकम् //
śṛṇuyāṃ parayā bhaktyā brahmannetadaśeṣataḥ vaktumarhasi dharmiṣṭha yaśo nārāyaṇātmakam //
“O Brahmin, I wish to hear this in full with supreme devotion. O most righteous one, you ought to narrate the glory—whose very essence is Nārāyaṇa.”
This verse does not directly discuss pralaya; it establishes a devotional setting where the listener requests a complete narration of Nārāyaṇa’s glory, which in the Purāṇic frame often precedes cosmological accounts.
It models a core dharmic duty shared by kings and householders: śravaṇa (reverent listening) to sacred teachings with para-bhakti, and approaching a dharmic teacher to receive the full account without omission.
No explicit Vāstu or iconographic rule appears here; the ritual takeaway is the emphasis on bhakti-driven śravaṇa and proper address to a qualified, dharma-established narrator before receiving sacred instruction.