Skandapurana 2.4.33
English (machine translation) 2.4.33
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Īśvara said:
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Listen, O best of the gods, to the māhātmya of Prabodhinī, which destroys sin and increases merit,
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granting liberation to those whose intellect is fixed on truth.
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The Gaṅgā, the Bhāgīrathī, roars on the earth only so long,
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until Haribodhinī, which destroys sins, arrives in Kārtika.
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The sacred fords and the lakes reaching as far as the ocean roar only so long,
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until Prabodhinī, the lunar day of Viṣṇu, arrives in Kārtika.
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[The fruit of] thousands of horse sacrifices and hundreds of Rājasūya sacrifices
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is obtained by a single fast on Prabodhinī.
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Whatever is rare and hard to obtain in the three worlds, with its moving and unmoving beings,
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even that, when sought, O twice-born one, Pratibodhinī bestows.
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Sovereignty, offspring, knowledge, kingdom, and the fortunes of happiness—
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all these Haribodhinī, when fasted upon, easily bestows, O twice-born one.
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Even sins accumulated that are equal to Mount Meru and Mandara,
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Haribodhinī burns away by a single fast.
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A man who fasts on Prabodhinī by his very nature,
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according to the rules, O tiger among men, obtains the stated reward.
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Whatever sin has been accumulated during thousands of previous births,
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is burnt away by keeping vigil on Prabodhinī, like a heap of grass.
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Listen, O six-faced one, I will describe the characteristics of the vigil,
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by merely knowing which Janārdana is not hard to attain:
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Song, musical instruments, dance, and the recitation of the Purāṇas;
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incense, lamps, food-offerings, flowers, perfumes, and unguents;
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fruits, guest-water, faith, charity, and restraint of the senses;
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accompanied by truth, free of censure, full of joy, and accompanied by ritual acts;
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with wonder and great enthusiasm, free of laziness and the like;
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joined with circumambulation and other rites, preceded by prostrations;
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accompanied by the waving of lamps, with a despondency-free mind;
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performing the waving of lamps to Hari at every watch of the night, O fortunate one—
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one should keep the vigil of the Lord endowed with these qualities.
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He who [does so] with a one-pointed mind is never born again on earth.
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Whoever performs the vigil thus with devotion, free from deceit regarding wealth,
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on the day of Viṣṇu, merges into the Supreme Self.
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Whoever constantly worships Hari in Kārtika with the Puruṣasūkta,
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by him Keśava has been worshipped for thousands of crores of years.
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According to the procedure declared in the Pañcarātra,
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if a man worships daily in Kārtika, he becomes a partaker of liberation.
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Whoever worships Hari in Kārtika with the mantra “Obeisance to Nārāyaṇa”
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is freed from hellish sorrows and goes to the sorrowless abode.
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And the thousand names of Hari and the Liberation of the King of Elephants:
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one who recites [these] in Kārtika experiences no rebirth.
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For thousands of crores of yugas and hundreds of manvantaras,
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one who keeps a night-vigil on the twelfth lunar day in the month of Kārtika dwells in heaven.
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And those born in his family, by hundreds and by thousands,
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attain the abode of Viṣṇu; therefore one should keep a night-vigil.
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Whoever performs praise and singing during the final watch of the night in Kārtika,
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O one of virtuous vows, dwells on Śvetadvīpa along with his ancestors.
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For as many food offerings as are made to Hari at twilight in Kārtika,
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for so many yugas one dwells in heaven, O best of sages.
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Worship with mālatī jasmine and lotus is imperishable, O tiger among sages;
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whoever worships the God of the gods goes to the supreme abode.
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Having observed the eleventh lunar day in the bright fortnight of Kārtika,
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a man who gives auspicious water pots in the morning goes to my abode.
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Right at this time, indeed, the awakening of Hari is to be performed, O bird.
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The Daitya Śaṅkhāsura was slain during the bright fortnight of Nabhas [Śrāvaṇa].
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Then, on the eleventh lunar day, Viṣṇu fell fast asleep for the four months of the rainy season;
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he awakens in the ocean of milk on the eleventh lunar day in Kārtika.
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Therefore, the awakening ceremony should be performed on the eleventh lunar day by Vaiṣṇavas:
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“Arise, arise, Govinda! Arise, O Garuḍa-bannered Lord!
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Arise, O beloved of Kamalā, and bring auspiciousness to the three worlds!”
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Having spoken thus, one should sound conches, kettle-drums, and other instruments in the morning;
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one should cause vīṇās, flutes, mṛdaṅga drums, dancing, singing, and other arts to be performed.
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Having awakened the Lord of the gods and having performed his worship,
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in the evening one should perform the rite belonging to the wedding of the tulasī plant.
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The eleventh lunar day is always meritorious, especially known as such in Kārtika.
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Whatever sins there are, such as the killing of a brahmin,
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take shelter and reside in food when the day of Hari arrives.
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Whoever eats on the day of Hari eats pure sin.
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Therefore, by every effort, one should observe the vow of the eleventh lunar day.
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If out of delusion the lowest of men does not fast,
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his dwelling in hell along with his ancestors is certain indeed.
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A wise person should not abandon the fast even in times of birth-pollution or death-pollution.
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And the eleventh lunar day overlaps with the tenth must be avoided in the vow.
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Anciently, even Gāndhārī kept a fast on such a day, O Guha;
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her hundred sons were destroyed, therefore one should abandon that day born of ruin.
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One should fast on the eleventh lunar day preceded by ritual ablution and giving of gifts.
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Even the royal seer Rukmāṅgada, despite his union with Mohinī,
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enjoyed happiness in this world and in the end went to the city of Viṣṇu.
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Thus ends the Festival of Awakening.
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Now begins the māhātmya of the twelfth lunar day.
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The twelfth lunar day is declared to bestow merit and to destroy the whole mass of sins.
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What need is there for gifts, what for austerities, and what indeed for vows that must be maintained?
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What need for sacrifices and even sons for someone by whom the twelfth lunar day has been observed?
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Whatever fruit [one earns] by feeding a crore of people every day at the Gaṅgā during a famine,
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that fruit one obtains by taking a single meal on the twelfth lunar day.
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Whatever gift is given to a worthy recipient on the bright, auspicious twelfth lunar day,
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how many brahmins are fed with each single grain of cooked rice [given] by someone—
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that greatness I truly cannot even know, O one of virtuous vows.
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Whoever makes a gift of a Śāligrāma stone on the twelfth lunar day
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obtains that fruit which a man gains by giving the earth with its seven continents
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at the Gaṅgā during a solar eclipse.
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Whoever bathes Viṣṇu with the five nectars with devotion, O twice-born,
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he, having redeemed his whole family, is honored in the world of Viṣṇu.
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On the supreme festival of the twelfth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Kārtika,
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whoever performs ritual ablution, giving of gifts, and the like, beginning in the morning,
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attains liberation; no doubt should be entertained on this matter.
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Rites such as ritual ablution and twilight devotion on the twelfth lunar day in the month of Kārtika...
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having performed [them], worships Dāmodara endowed with devotion and faith.
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That lowest of men who does not offer a food offering of soup on that [day],
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his dwelling is surely in hell—so we have heard.
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Therefore, on the auspicious Dvādaśī in Kārtika, an offering of soup
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one should offer, endowed with devotion, O Brahmā; otherwise he would go to hell.
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That man who feeds married couples on that day,
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the boundless extent of his fruit cannot be told by me.
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He who goes into the shade of an āmalakī tree and worships Hari on the Dvādaśī,
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and who feeds brahmins right there,
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and himself eats soup, delicacies, and the like there,
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for him there is no return [to rebirth] even in hundreds of millions of kalpas.
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Having thus performed the worship of Dāmodara in the morning,
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the ritual of worship of Hari must be performed again at night, O twice-born one.
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Having erected in the presence of the tulasī [plant] an excellent pavilion adorned with pennants and banners,
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strewn with flower garlands, embellished with various gems,
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[and] covered with strands of pearls,
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one should worship Viṣṇu calmly, with one's mind focused entirely on him,
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according to the method spoken in the Pāñcarātra, with perfume, flowers, unbroken grains, and the like.
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Fresh butter, curds, milk, and likewise solid ghee,
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along with various edible offerings and fragrant water,
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he should offer to Viṣṇu, combined with betel accompanied by clove.
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And having sprinkled varied and abundant fragrant flowers according to rule,
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and having offered them with auspicious leaves,
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he should also worship with leaves and fruits of the tulasī and of the āmalakī.
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Then, having performed the waving of lamps, he should offer mantra-flowers.
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Having performed the whole worship according to rule, without the consecration bath,
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and having concluded the worship of Viṣṇu, he should worship the brahmins
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endowed with devotion, O brahmin, and give them fruit and other gifts.
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Then, having given betel, he should offer a priestly fee according to his ability.
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Then, having worshipped the elders, fathers, and mothers according to rule,
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the wise man may then himself partake of the food offering together with his wives.
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He who observes the Dvādaśī vow in this manner according to the ritual,
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his heavenly worlds do not diminish even in hundreds of millions of kalpas.
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Surrounded by sons and grandsons, having enjoyed delightful pleasures,
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at the end of his pleasures he attains liberation along with seven preceding ancestral generations.
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Therefore, O Nārada, the māhātmya of Dvādaśī and of Kārtika
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cannot be fully spoken by me, much less by other men.
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The man who reads this supreme, meritorious māhātmya of the Dvādaśī,
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or hears it, O best of sages, goes to the supreme state.
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The royal seer Ambarīṣa also observed this auspicious vow
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according to the rules, steadfast in austerity; by that he attained liberation.
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Thus ends the thirty-third chapter, named 'Description of the Duties on the Awakening Festival Dvādaśī Tithi', in the Kārtikamāsamāhātmya, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the Skandapurāṇa comprising eighty-one thousand verses.
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Other passages concerning Prabodhinī Ekādaśī:
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Garuḍa 1.123 (Kārtika Śukla Ekādaśī: instruction on the Bhīṣmapañcaka vow; the conjunction of Ekādaśī, Dvādaśī, and Trayodaśī being auspicious, and the conjunction of Ekādaśī and Daśamī being stated as demonic); Nārada 1.19 (Kārtika Śukla Ekādaśī: the vow of raising the flag); Padma 6.30.91 (Kārtika Śukla Ekādaśī: the yearly lamp vow, memory of previous birth given to the king and queen in a temple at Puṣkara); 6.61 (Kārtika Śukla Ekādaśī: the māhātmya of the Ekādaśī named Prabodhinī); 6.90.19 (Kārtika Śukla Ekādaśī: the awakening of Viṣṇu and of the Vedas asleep in the ocean); 6.124 (Kārtika Śukla Ekādaśī: the name Prabodhinī, its māhātmya, commencement of the Bhīṣmapañcaka vow); Skanda 6.190 (Kārtika Śukla Ekādaśī: commencement of the Pāñcarātra, concluding with the ceremonial bath and related rites); 6.231 (Kārtika Śukla Ekādaśī: Viṣṇu rising from above the wolf and going to the Ocean of Milk, the Aśūnyaśayana vow); 7.3.13 (Kārtika Śukla Ekādaśī: Ambarīṣa's worship of Hṛṣīkeśa, reception of instructions concerning jñānayoga and kriyāyoga); Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa 1.261 (māhātmya of the Kārtika Śukla Prabodhinī Ekādaśī vow: liberation of the base brahmin and the rākṣasa).
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Note on Ekādaśī
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit