Skandapurana 2.5.8
English (machine translation) 2.5.8
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Brahmā said:
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Describe properly the glorious māhātmya of tulasī, O Lord,
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by whose mere presence your affection increases greatly.
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The Blessed Lord said:
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Flowers made of jewels and gold, as well as those fashioned of pearls,
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are not worth a sixteenth part of offering a single tulasī leaf. // 2
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Whoever performs my worship with tulasī blossoms
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shall not enter a womb: that man shall share in liberation. // 3
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Planting tulasī, dear child, and worshipping me with its leaves,
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he rejoices in heaven, and in my abode on Śvetadvīpa. // 4
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Whoever indeed worships me even once with splendid tulasī, with fragrant, pure, and unbroken leaves,
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Yama, after examining his sin recorded on the cloth, then wipes it clean. // 5
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Those who have not procured tulasī for my worship on the auspicious day of Ekādaśī—
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fie on their youth, life, and stream of wealth! No happiness is seen for them here or in the hereafter. // 6
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Having seen my liṅga worshipped in the month of Saha
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with heaps of tulasī leaves, one is freed from the killing of a brahmin. // 7
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Whoever constantly worships me, the Lord of Ramā, with tulasī,
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his great sins are destroyed—what need be said of secondary sins? // 8
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Stale flowers are to be avoided, stale water is to be avoided;
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a tulasī leaf is not to be avoided, and Ganges water is not to be avoided. // 9
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Flowers such as jasmine roar [with pride], O son,
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only so long as the holy tulasī, dear to me, is not obtained. // 2.5.8.10
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A person who worships me even once with a bilva leaf
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shall share in liberation, free from fear, and go to my side. // 11
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More than the bilva leaf, the śamī leaf, the jasmine petal, and the lotus,
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the tulasī leaf is dear to me, even more than the Kaustubha gem. // 12
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An unbroken tulasī, delightful and endowed with blossoms,
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born from the milk ocean, is always dear to me like Padmā. // 13
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Whether pale or dark, tulasī is dear to me,
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just as the twelfth day [of the lunar fortnight], whether light or dark, is dear to me. // 14
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Taking a tulasī leaf, whoever worships me with devotion,
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by him the entire universe, with gods, asuras, and humans, has been worshipped. // 15
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Countless jewels such as the Kaustubha roar [with pride]
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only so long as the dark sprout of black tulasī is not obtained, O Kṛṣṇa! // 16
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A person who worships Kṛṣṇa with black tulasī with devotion
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goes to the radiant world where Viṣṇu dwells with Śrī. // 17
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Those who give a tulasī leaf to mendicants for the purpose of worshipping me,
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and also to other devotees, reach the imperishable state. // 18
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Whether tulasī is dark or fair, whoever worships me with it,
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that person, abandoning the body, attains the eternal Vaiṣṇava destination. // 19
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Brahmā said:
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The māhātmya of offering incense and of [offering] a lamp, O Keśava,
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and what fruit a mortal obtains—tell me that truly. // 2.5.8.20
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The Blessed Lord said:
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Listen, O son, and I will declare what the fruit of offering incense is,
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and the supreme māhātmya of offering a lamp, which brings me joy. // 21
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Offering agallochum and camphor with the heavenly fragrance of sandalwood
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to me in the month of Saha, one delivers a hundred ancestral lines. // 22
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The Vaiṣṇava who censes my abode with incense
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arising from black agallochum is freed from the ocean of hell. // 23
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Whoever offers to me incense of buffalo-bedellium
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mixed with ghee and sugar, I grant him his desire. // 24
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Guggulu, when burned, destroys all misfortunes;
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and agallochum bestows various kinds of desires. // 25
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Incense arising from agallochum purifies both body and home;
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incense produced from resin destroys yakṣas and rākṣasas. // 26
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Jasmine flower, cardamom, guggulu, harītakī,
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kuṣṭha, resin, jaggery, śaila, chada,
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combined with nakha—these are called the ten-ingredient incense. // 27
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If one offers the ten-ingredient incense in the month of Saha, which is very dear to me,
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I grant even desires most difficult to attain, strength, vitality, sons, wives, and devotion. // 28
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In the incense of nut grass lies affection among humans; jaggery brings auspiciousness and subjugation.
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Whoever performs this before me in the month of Saha, having cast off sins, shall attain me. // 29
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There is no fear for him arising from heaven, earth, or mid-space,
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whose body has been anointed with the residue of my incense.
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And no misfortune befalls him; all fortunes attend him,
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when incense is offered before me during the month of Sahas with constant faith.
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Incense bestows handsome beauty; incense is the supreme purifier,
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a divine sap of trees, supreme, purifying, and clean.
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Hereafter, I shall proclaim the supreme māhātmya of the lamp,
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by performing which a man goes to Vaikuṇṭha—there is no doubt about this.
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Fitted with multiple wicks and provided with an abundance of ghee,
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whoever performs the waving of lamps would dwell in heaven for ten million kalpas.
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Whoever beholds the waving of lamps before me in the month of Sahas
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becomes a brahmin for seven births and reaches the supreme abode at the end.
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And whoever performs [it] with camphor and with devotion before me,
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offering the waving of lamps, O best of brahmins, enters into me, the endless.
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Whatever worship of mine has been performed devoid of mantras or rituals
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all attains completeness once the waving of lamps has been performed, O son.
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He who makes a lamp with camphor in the month of Sahas
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attains [the fruit of] a horse sacrifice and redeems his family.
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One should offer a lamp before me, for brahmins, and at a crossroads;
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a man becomes intelligent, endowed with knowledge, and clear-sighted.
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If a man lights a lamp with either ghee or oil
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before me in the month of Sahas, hear the meritorious fruit for him:
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Having discarded all sin, resembling a thousand suns,
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he is exalted in my realm by means of a luminous aerial chariot.
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Therefore, a wise man should give a lamp with every effort;
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and whoever, having given it, damages it—he will surely fall into hell.
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Whatever sinner steals a lamp out of greed or hatred, O best of brahmins,
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because of stealing that lamp, he is born dumb and blind.
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Thus ends the eighth chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of the Lamp', in the dialogue between Brahmā and Viṣṇu in the Mārgaśīrṣamāhātmya of the second [section], the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the Skandapurāṇa comprising eighty-one thousand verses.
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit