Skandapurana 3.2.5
English (machine translation) 3.2.5
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Vyāsa said:
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Hereafter I shall proclaim what is to be done by a dweller of Dharmāraṇya,
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by a man here who observes the duties of a householder. 1
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Those brahmins born in Dharmāraṇya, sprung from pure lineage,
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and eighteen thousand were created by the lords of Kāñcī,
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of good conduct and pure, brahmins best among knowers of the ultimate.
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Merely by the darśana of them, one is liberated from great sins. // 3
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Yudhiṣṭhira said:
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O son of Parāśara, lord, tell me also of good conduct;
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from [good] conduct one obtains dharma, from [good] conduct one gains the fruit,
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from [good] conduct one obtains prosperity; tell me that [good] conduct! // 4
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Vyāsa said:
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Immobile things, worms, water-born creatures, birds, beasts, [and] human beings—
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these are righteous in order, and more righteous than these are the gods. // 5
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By a thousandth part the first [are surpassed], and likewise in succession the second;
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all these fortunate ones have liberation from sin as their resort. // 6
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Even among the four kinds of beings, living creatures are exceedingly superior;
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and superior even to living creatures, O best of sages, are all those who live by intelligence. // 7
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Human beings are superior to the intelligent, and brahmins are superior to them;
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the learned are superior even to brahmins, and those with formed intellects are superior to the learned; // 8
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doers are superior even to those with formed intellects, and those intent upon the ultimate are superior to doers;
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there is no one superior to them in the three worlds, O descendant of Bharata. // 9
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They indeed worship one another, especially through austerity and knowledge,
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since the brahmin was created by Brahmā as the lord of all beings. // 10
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Therefore, the brahmin is entitled to everything in the world, and no one else;
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for one of good conduct is entitled to all, but not one fallen away from [good] conduct. // 11
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Therefore, a brahmin should always be possessed of [good] conduct;
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that which [virtuous men] practice, devoid of hostility and passion, O sage,
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the conduct of the virtuous—the wise know that as good conduct, the root of dharma. // 12–13a
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Even if devoid of auspicious marks, a man who is devoted to proper conduct,
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faithful, and free from malice, may live a hundred years. // 13b–14a
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Taught by revelation and tradition, in each of his own duties,
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he should practice good conduct, the root of dharma, without slackness. // 14b–15a
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A man devoted to bad conduct becomes blameworthy in the world,
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and is overcome by diseases, always short-lived and sharing in great sorrow. // 15b–16a
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Work that depends on another should be abandoned; work under one's own control should always be done; // 16b
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for one dependent on another is unhappy, while one under his own control is always happy.
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The action by the doing of which the inner self is pleased— // 17
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that action alone should be done, and never its opposite.
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The sum of dharma declared first is this: the restraints and observances. // 18
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Therefore, exertion should indeed be made in them by one desiring dharma:
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truthfulness, forbearance, straightforwardness, meditation, non-cruelty, non-violence, // 19
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self-control, serenity, sweetness, and gentleness—these are the ten restraints.
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Purity, ritual ablution, austerity, generosity, silence, sacrifice, study, vow, // 20
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fasting, and control of the sexual organ—these are remembered as the ten observances.
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Desire, anger, pride, delusion, malice, and greed— // 21
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having conquered these six enemies, one becomes victorious everywhere.
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One should slowly amass dharma, as [ants build] an anthill with a peak, // 22
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causing no injury to others, [accumulating it as] a helper in the other world.
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Only dharma, preserved, becomes a helper in the hereafter, // 23
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more than father, mother, son, brother, wife, or kinsmen.
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A living being is born alone, and dies alone; // 24
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alone he enjoys good deeds, and alone he experiences evil deeds.
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When the body has met its dissolution, leaving him alone like a piece of wood or a clod of earth, // 25
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his kinsmen turn their faces away and depart; dharma follows him as he goes.
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Therefore, one should amass dharma, one's helper here and in the hereafter; // 26
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having obtained dharma as a helper, one crosses over the darkness difficult to cross.
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The wise person should always form relationships with the highest and best; // 27
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avoiding the lowest of the low, he elevates his family to excellence.
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One should go only to the highest of the high, and avoid the inferior;
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a brahmin attains superiority [thereby], [or] through transgression becomes a śūdra. // 28
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A brahmin who does not study, who transgresses good conduct,
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who is lazy, and who eats bad food, is tormented by the End-Maker. // 29
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Therefore, the twice-born should always practice good conduct with effort.
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Even the sacred fords long for union with one who observes good conduct.
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The half-watch at the end of the night is called the hour of Brahmā.
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A wise man should always rise at that time and contemplate his own highest good.
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First he should remember the elephant-faced one, then the Lord together with the Mother,
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and Śrīraṅga along with Śrī, and Brahmā born from the lotus,
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all the gods beginning with Indra, and the sages beginning with Vasiṣṭha,
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all the rivers beginning with the Gaṅgā, and all the mountains beginning with Śrīśaila,
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the oceans beginning with the ocean of milk, the lakes beginning with Mānasa,
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the celestial groves beginning with Nandana, the cows beginning with the wish-granting cow,
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the trees beginning with the wish-granting tree, the minerals beginning with gold,
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the celestial women beginning with Urvaśī, and Hari's beloved devotees beginning with Prahrāda.
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Remembering the mother's feet, which are proclaimed superior to all sacred fords,
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and meditating in his heart upon his father and gurus with a serene mind,
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he should then go to the south-west direction to relieve himself.
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He should go one hundred bow-lengths from a village, and four times that from a town.
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Having covered the ground with grass and covered his head with a cloth,
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with his sacred thread placed on his ear, facing north during the day and at both twilights,
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he should silently discharge feces and urine, facing south at night.
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Not standing, not hastily, O brahmin, nor facing cattle, fire, or the wind,
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not on ground ploughed with a ploughshare, not on ground traversed by public roads,
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he should not look at the quarters, the celestial sphere, or impurities in the sky.
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Holding his penis with his left hand, he should carefully rise.
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Then he should take earth that is free from worms and pebbles,
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avoiding [earth] dug up by mice, impure leftover [earth], and [earth] mixed with hair.
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He should apply one lump of earth to the private part and wash it with water; then,
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again using the left hand in this way, he should wash the anus five times.
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He should apply one [lump of earth] to each foot, and likewise three to both hands.
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In this manner a householder should perform purification until the smell and smearing are gone.
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In the three [stages of life] beginning with studentship, he should perform progressively double [the amount].
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At night he should perform half of the purification prescribed for the daytime;
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in another village half of that, and on the road half of that indeed;
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half of that for the sick, but when healthy he must not reduce it.
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Even with the waters of all rivers and with mounds of earth resembling mountains,
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if he merely performs external purification while corrupted in mind, he attains no purity.
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The portions of earth for purification are prescribed to be the size of a fresh āmalaka fruit.
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All oblations are likewise of this size, as are the mouthfuls in the cāndrāyaṇa penance.
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Facing east or facing north, seated well on clean ground,
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he should sip [water] that is free from chaff, charcoal, bones, and ashes,
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and with very clear water, in such quantity that it reaches the heart, without haste.
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A brahmin should sip [water] purified by sight with the brahmatīrtha.
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A king is purified by water reaching the throat, and a vaiśya likewise by water reaching the palate;
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a woman and a śūdra are purified even by mere contact.
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With his head covered, making sound with his throat, standing in water, or with his topknot untied,
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or having both feet unwashed, even though he has sipped water he is considered impure.
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Having drunk water three times for complete purity, he should then cleanse the cavities [of the face].
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With the base of the thumb he should wipe both lips.
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Having touched the chest with water, he should touch the head with all fingers;
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likewise with the tips of the fingers both shoulders, touching every part with water.
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Though he has sipped water, he should sip water again after walking on a road,
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after bathing, after eating, after drinking milk, at the beginning of auspicious rites,
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after sleeping, after putting on a garment, or after seeing something inauspicious.
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If through carelessness he remembers an impure thing, by sipping water twice he becomes pure.
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He should clean his teeth according to what is stated in the dharmaśāstra,
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for even if he has sipped water, he is impure without having cleaned his teeth.
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On the first day of the lunar fortnight, the new moon, the sixth, the ninth, and on Sunday,
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the contact of a wooden stick with the teeth will burn the family up to the seventh generation.
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In the absence of tooth-sticks, or on a forbidden day,
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twelve mouthfuls [of water] should be taken for the complete purification of the mouth.
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Measuring the thickness of the tip of the little finger, having bark, free from wounds and decay,
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twelve finger-breadths in length, and fresh: such should be the tooth-cleansing stick.
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One should chew that tooth-stick inch by inch
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and perform morning ritual ablution for purification, especially at a sacred ford. // 3.2.5.60
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Because through morning ritual ablution this body, which is always impure, is purified—
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its filth verily flows continuously through the nine openings day and night. // 61
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It promotes energy, intellect, good fortune, beauty, and prosperity;
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they say it equals the Prājāpatya penance, destroying great sins. // 62
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Morning ritual ablution removes sin, misfortune, and weariness,
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as well as impurity and bad dreams, and bestows satisfaction and vigor. // 63
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Wicked beings never approach a person who bathes in the morning;
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therefore one should perform morning ritual ablution, since its fruit is both seen and unseen. // 64
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In this context I shall explain the rule of ritual ablution, O best of kings,
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for they declare that an ablution done according to rule is a hundred times superior to an ordinary bath. // 65
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Taking pure earth, sacrificial grass, sesame seeds, and cow dung,
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depositing them in a pure place, and sipping water, one should perform ritual ablution. // 66
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Holding blades of grass in hand and with topknot bound, one should enter the water;
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one should perform ritual ablution duly according to the rule prescribed in one's own Vedic branch. // 67
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Having thus bathed and wrung out the cloth, one should take two washed garments;
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and then, having sipped water, one should perform the morning twilight devotion holding kuśa grass. // 68
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A brahmin performing breath-controls with firmly restrained mind
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is freed instantly from the sins committed by day and night. // 69
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If ten or twelve breath-controls are performed
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with a restrained mind, then great austerity has been practiced by him. // 3.2.5.70
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Sixteen breath-controls, however, performed with the Vyāhṛtis and the Praṇava
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day after day, purify even the killer of an embryo within a month. // 71
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Just as the impurities of metallic ores are burned away by smelting,
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so the faults committed by the senses are consumed by restraint of breath. // 72
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The single syllable is the supreme Brahman; breath-control is the supreme austerity;
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and there is nothing more purifying than the Gāyatrī, O best of kings. // 73
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Whatever sin one commits at night through action, mind, or speech,
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standing during the morning twilight devotion, one should purify through breath-controls. // 74
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Whatever sin one commits during the day through actions of mind, speech, and body,
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seated during the evening twilight devotion, one dispels through breath-controls;
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seated during the evening twilight devotion, he destroys the taint done during the day. // 75
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He who does not stand for the morning devotion, nor worship in the evening,
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is to be cast out like a śūdra from all duties of the twice-born. // 76
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Having approached the water, one should perform the obligatory daily rite;
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then one should perform sipping of water in proper sequence according to rule. // 77
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Then one should perform sprinkling with the three verses beginning with 'āpo hi ṣṭhā',
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on the ground, on the head, and in the ether; in the ether, on the earth, on the head; // 78
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and on the head, likewise in the ether, and on the ground—one should sprinkle nine times.
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By the word 'ground' the two feet are meant, and 'ether' is understood as the heart;
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the word 'head' applies to the head itself: by these the sprinkling is explained. // 79
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Higher than the Vāruṇa, the Āgneya, the Vāyavya, and the Aindra,
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even higher than the mantra-bath, is this supreme Brāhma ablution;
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he who has bathed with the Brāhma ablution is pure both outwardly and inwardly, // 3.2.5.80
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and attains eligibility everywhere in the worship of deities and other rites.
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Do fishermen become pure by plunging into the waters day and night? // 81
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Likewise, even if they bathe hundreds of times, those corrupted in mind are not pure;
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and sacred ash purifies those whose inner faculties are pure. // 82
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Are donkeys grey with ashes celebrated as pure?
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He has bathed in all sacred fords, freed from all impurities,
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and by him a hundred sacrifices have been offered, whose mind here is spotless.
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Hear, O sage, how that mind may become truly spotless: // 84
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if the Lord of the Universe is pleased, then it happens, never otherwise.
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Therefore, for the purification of the mind, one should take refuge in the Lord of Kāśī; // 85
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abandoning this body, one attains the supreme Brahman.
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Then, having recited up to the end of the Drupada verse and taken water with the palm,
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one who knows the rules should perform the sin-expelling rite with the mantra 'ṛtaṃ ca'. // 86
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The wise man who, plunging into the waters, recites the Aghamarṣaṇa hymn three times,
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or who performs the sin-expelling rite either in water or on dry land,
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his mass of sin is destroyed, just as darkness is destroyed at sunrise. (88)
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Standing and reciting the Gāyatrī, preceded by the great Vyāhṛtis and
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commencing with the praṇava, [even] without its head, he should offer three handfuls of water. (89)
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By that vajra-water, the rākṣasas named Mandehas,
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who attempt to destroy the brilliance of the sun, are melted away like mountains before the sun. (3.2.5.90)
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And that twice-born who, to aid the sun, does not offer three handfuls
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for the destruction of the Mandehas, he too shall become a Mandeha. (91)
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In the morning, he should stand reciting until the sight of the sun;
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seated in the evening, he should recite until the stars become visible. (92)
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A twice-born desiring his own welfare must not allow the proper time to elapse;
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therefore, at the moment of half-rise and half-setting, he should cast the vajra-water. (93)
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Even if performed according to rule, a saṃdhyā performed past its proper time becomes fruitless;
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indeed, this is the very example: just like intercourse with a barren woman. (94)
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The saṃdhyā performed by twice-born with the left hand placed in water
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is to be known as a śūdra woman, bringing joy only to the hordes of rākṣasas. (95)
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Then, he should perform the worshipful standing according to the rule declared in his branch [of the Veda].
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- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit