Skandapurana 5.232

English (machine translation) 5.232

Language: English

5.232.1

The seers said:
O Sūta, O fortunate Sūta, we wish to hear / from you the detailed greatness of the Cāturmāsya vows.

5.232.2

Therefore, O fortunate one, having shown compassion, speak to us now; / by drinking the nectar of your words, [our] faith increases further.

5.232.3

Sūta said:
Listen, all you sages; I shall recount before you in full detail / the greatness arising from the vows of Cāturmāsya.

5.232.4

Formerly, having heard the rules of various vows from the mouth of Brahmā, / Nārada respectfully questioned Brahmā again.

5.232.5

Nārada said:
O God of gods, O highly fortunate one, though very many vows / have been heard from your mouth, O Brahmā, contentment is not reached.

Now I wish to hear the auspicious Cāturmāsya vow.
Brahmā said:
Listen from me, O divine sage, to the auspicious Cāturmāsya vow, / hearing which, liberation is not hard to obtain for men in the land of Bhārata.

5.232.8

This Blessed Lord gives liberation, the means of crossing over worldly existence, / by the mere remembrance of whom one is freed from all sins.

5.232.9

Human birth is hard to attain in this world, and even there noble birth; / there too, compassion, and there auspicious association with the virtuous.

5.232.10

Where there is no association with the virtuous, devotion to Viṣṇu and vows [are hard to find]; / especially during Cāturmāsya, one who performs vows to Viṣṇu is auspicious.

5.232.11

He who is without vows during Cāturmāsya, his merit is useless; / all sacred fords, gifts, and holy temples

5.232.12

abide depending upon Viṣṇu when Cāturmāsya has arrived; / even with a well-nourished body, his life is [only then truly] splendid.

5.232.13

When Cāturmāsya arrives, the wise person who bows before Hari
finds that the gods are fulfilled [in him] and grant boons as long as he lives. (13)

5.232.14

Having obtained a human birth, one who turns his back on Cāturmāsya—
they say hundreds of sins reside in his body; of this there is no doubt. (14)

5.232.15

Human birth is hard to attain in this world, and devotion to Hari is hard to attain,
especially during Cāturmāsya, while the god Janārdana is asleep. (15)

5.232.16

During Cāturmāsya, a person should perform ritual ablution at dawn itself;
obtaining the fruit of all sacrifices, he rejoices in heaven like a god. (16)

5.232.17

One who performs ritual ablution during Cāturmāsya attains perfection;
likewise, if he bathes in a waterfall, a pond, or in small wells, (17)

5.232.18

his thousands of sins vanish in an instant.
Whether at Puṣkara, at Prayāga, or in any great body of water,
the merit of one who bathes during the Cāturmāsya months is beyond reckoning. (18)

5.232.19

In the Revā, in the Bhāskarakṣetra, or at the eastern confluence with the ocean,
one who has bathed even for a single day during Cāturmāsya incurs no fault. (19)

5.232.20

And one who, with composed mind, bathes for three days in the Narmadā
while the god, the Lord of the Universe, is asleep, his sin disperses a thousandfold. (20)

5.232.21

One who bathes for a single fortnight in the Godāvarī at daybreak,
breaking through the body born of karma, attains Viṣṇu's realm. (21)

5.232.22

One who bathes with sesame-water, or with clear water,
or with water infused with bilva leaves during Cāturmāsya, incurs no fault. (22)

5.232.23

Whoever constantly remembers the Gaṅgā near a water jar,
that water turns into Gaṅgā water; with that he should perform his ritual ablution. (23)

5.232.24

Even the Gaṅgā, flowing from the big toe of the God of Gods,
is declared ever destructive of sin, especially during Cāturmāsya. (24)

5.232.25

Because Viṣṇu, when remembered, burns away thousands of sins,
therefore his foot-wash water borne upon the head during Cāturmāsya brings auspiciousness. (25)

5.232.26

During Cāturmāsya, the god Nārāyaṇa enters the water;
ritual ablution imbued with a portion of Viṣṇu's fiery energy surpasses all sacred fords. (26)

5.232.27

The ten kinds of ritual ablution should be performed; the name of Viṣṇu brings great fruit;
especially while the god is asleep, a man attains godhood. (27)

5.232.28

Whatever rite, consisting of holy works and auspicious, is performed without ritual ablution
becomes fruitless, O brahmin; the rākṣasas seize it. (28)

5.232.29

Through ritual ablution one attains truth; ritual ablution is eternal duty;
attaining the fruit of liberation through duty, one never suffers again. (29)

5.232.29_1

Those holy men who know the supreme Self, those who have mastered the Vedāṅgas,
and those who give every gift—their purification comes through ritual ablution. (30)

5.232.31

And Hari resides in the body of one who has performed ritual ablution;
he bestows the full fruit in all collections of rituals. (31)

5.232.32

For the destruction of all sins and the propitiation of the deity,
ritual ablution in water during Cāturmāsya brings about the destruction of all sins. (32)

5.232.33

One should not bathe at night, nor at twilight, except during an eclipse;
ritual ablution is not done with hot water; purification does not occur at night. (33)

5.232.34

Purification is prescribed in all rituals by looking upon the sun;
especially during Cāturmāsya, the purification of water will surely occur. (34)

5.232.358

In case of physical incapacity, one is purified by ash-ablution,
by mantra-ablution, O chief of brahmins, or by Viṣṇu's foot-wash water. (35)

5.232.358_2

One of purified soul who performs ritual ablution before Nārāyaṇa,
in sacred fields, sacred fords, and rivers, especially during Cāturmāsya— (36)

5.232.358_3

Thus ends the two hundred and thirty-third chapter, entitled 'Description of the Greatness of the Fruit of Bathing in Gaṅgā Water,' in the conversation between Brahmā and Nārada, within the Greatness of Cāturmāsya, in the narrative of Him Who Reclines on Śeṣa, in the Greatness of Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the sixth Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the venerable Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit