Markandeyapurana 92

English (machine translation) 92

Language: English

92.38 — 2 parts

92.1

The Devi said: / "Whoever, concentrated in mind, constantly praises me with these hymns, / I shall destroy all of his distress, without doubt.

92.2

And those who will recite the destruction of Madhu and Kaiṭabha, / the slaying of the asura Mahiṣa, and likewise the killing of Śumbha and Niśumbha,

92.3

and who, single-minded on the eighth, fourteenth, and ninth [days of the fortnight], / will praise this supreme majesty of mine with devotion—

92.4

no sin will be theirs, nor misfortunes born of sin; / there will be no poverty, nor separation from loved ones.

92.5

Fear will never arise for him from an enemy, / nor from a robber, nor from a king, / nor from weapons, fire, or floods of water.

92.6

Therefore, this majesty of mine is to be recited with a concentrated mind, / and always listened to with devotion; it is a great, supreme benediction.

92.7

May my majesty pacify all calamities / arising from plagues, / and likewise threefold portents.

92.8

Where this is recited properly and constantly in my sanctuary, / I will never abandon that place; my presence is established there.

92.9

In the presentation of offerings, in worship, in fire rituals, and during great festivals, / this entire narrative of mine should be recited and made to be heard.

92.10

Whether done with knowledge or without knowledge, / I will accept with love an offering, worship, or an oblation made into fire in that manner.

92.11

And at the great annual worship that is performed in the autumn season, / having listened to this majesty of mine with devotion during it,

92.12

a human being will be freed from all distress / and endowed with wealth and grain by my grace; of this there is no doubt.

92.13

Having heard this majesty of mine, and likewise [my] various auspicious births / and valor in battles, a man becomes fearless.

92.14

Enemies go to destruction, welfare arises, / and the family of men who hear my majesty rejoices.

92.15

In every rite of pacification, and likewise upon seeing a bad dream, / and during fierce afflictions by planets, one should listen to my majesty.

92.16

Calamities and severe planetary afflictions are pacified, / and a bad dream seen by men turns into a good dream.

92.17

It brings peace to children possessed by child-seizing spirits, / and when discord arises among men, it is the best creator of friendship.

92.18

It is the supreme reducer of the power of all wicked beings; / by its mere recitation, destruction of rakṣasas, bhūtas, and piśācas takes place.

92.19

All this majesty of mine brings about my presence.

92.20

With cattle, flowers, arghya, and incenses, / and with excellent perfumes and lamps; / with feedings of brahmins, oblations, / and waters of sprinkling, day and night,

92.21

Whatever satisfaction is made to me by various other offerings and gifts over a year, / that same [satisfaction is made to me] when this noble narrative is heard just once.

92.22

Heard, it takes away sins and likewise grants good health; / the recitation of my births provides protection against spirits.

92.23

When this deed of mine in battles, the destruction of wicked Daityas, / is heard, no fear caused by enemies arises in men.

92.24

And the hymns of praise made by you, and those made by the brahmin seers, / and those made by Brahmā—they bestow an auspicious state.

92.25

Whether surrounded by a forest fire in a wilderness or barren tract, / or encircled by robbers in a desolate place, or captured by enemies,

92.26

or pursued by lions and tigers, or by wild elephants in a forest, / or condemned to death by an angry king, or cast into bonds,

92.27

or tossed by wind while on a vessel in the great ocean, / or when weapons fall upon him in a terrible battle,

92.28

in all dreadful afflictions, or afflicted with pain— / remembering this deed of mine, a man is freed from distress.

92.29

By my power, lions and the like, as well as robbers and enemies, / flee far away from one who remembers my deeds.

92.30

The seer said: / Having spoken thus, the blessed Caṇḍikā of fierce valour / vanished right there, even as the gods were watching.

92.31

And the gods, freed from anxiety by the goddess, their enemies slain, / all took their respective offices as before, enjoying their shares of the sacrifice.

And when Śumbha, the enemy of the gods, the destroyer of the world, exceedingly fierce and of peerless valour, / and the very powerful Niśumbha were slain in battle by the goddess, the remaining Daityas went to the underworld.

92.33

In this way the blessed goddess, though eternal, again and again / taking birth, carries out the protection of the world, O king.

92.34

By her this universe is deluded; she alone brings forth the universe; / and when besought, she grants spiritual discernment; pleased, she bestows prosperity.

92.35

By her, in the form of the Great Destructive Plague at the time of the Great Dissolution, / this entire egg of Brahmā is pervaded, O lord of men.

92.36

At that time she alone is the Great Destructive Plague; she alone is the unborn creation; / she alone, the eternal one, maintains living beings at that time.

92.37

In times of prosperity she alone is Lakṣmī, bestowing increase in the house of men; / and in times of misfortune she herself comes into being as Alakṣmī, bringing about ruin.