Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 10
English (machine translation) 10
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- English
Contents
- 10.73 — 2 parts
10.1
Yudhiṣṭhira said: / In which kalpa, O best of the twice-born, was this fortunate Narmadā / divided by all the great-souled sages endowed with ascetic power?
10.2
Tell me all this in detail, O best of speakers, / and indeed the truth of what hardship befalls creatures at the end of a kalpa.
10.3
Tell, O lord, how she existed formerly in the past kalpa, O sinless one, / and the established state of this final kalpa. / Addressed thus in the midst of the assembly, Mārkaṇḍa spoke these words:
10.4
Mārkaṇḍeya said: / I shall speak; let everyone listen to this account heard of old.
10.5
This is a great, distinguished story concerning what happens beyond this kalpa, / when there was a dreadful, most terrible time that brought about the destruction of the worlds.
10.6
Listen to this narrative, how even in that great and dreadful [time] she remained unharmed, / and was divided by the well-pleased [sages].
10.7
When the end of the yuga arrived, during the three days of the Grandfather, / the mind-born sons of Brahmā, the best of beings, who are like Brahmā himself manifest—
10.8
the great-souled ones beginning with Sanaka, and the hosts of celestial-chariot-dwellers, / and the world protectors beginning with Yama, Indra, and Varuṇa—for three days,
10.9
intent on the condition of the world, waited for that time. / Then, when the end of the kalpa arrived, their unequalled knowledge [remained],
10.10
and the lifespan of all perished according to the nature of the yuga. / Leaving the earth realm, they then went to the atmosphere,
10.11
and to the heavenly realm, the realm of Mahas, the realm of Janas, then to Tapas, / and to the refuge of the realm of truth, which is the highest of all worlds.
10.12
Accompanied by sons and grandsons, they stay in the realm of truth / for a period lasting until the end of a thousand yugas, until the world is born again.
10.13
And whatever sons of Brahmā do not exist at the beginning of the kalpa, / they depart the three worlds and become supportless.
10.14
Together with them, those brāhmaṇas and other ascetics, / Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, Piśācas, and other hosts of celestial-chariot-dwellers,
10.15
and the fortunate sages and other various classes of beings, / together with those others dwelling in the subterranean realms, suffer on the earth.
10.16
There arose a great drought lasting a hundred years, / destroying creatures, terrible, wiping out trees and plants,
10.17
convulsing the three worlds, drying up the seven oceans. / Then creatures, overcome by hunger, wander about, as it were, in the ten directions.
10.18
Deeply distressed, they subsist on bulbs, roots, or fruits; / they frequent rivers, oceans, wells, and purifying waters.
10.19
Even there, all oceans along with the rivers dry up. / Then those living beings on the surface of the earth that possess little strength
10.20
are dissolved first of all, severed indeed from copious water. / Then, as the rivers along with the oceans were perishing,
10.21
sixty thousand sages dwelling in Kurukṣetra, / and those brāhmaṇa Vaikhānasa ascetics, and those who use their teeth as mortars,
10.22
the ascetics who dwell hidden in the caves of the Himālaya mountains— / all those ascetics, afflicted with hunger and thirst, approached me,
10.23
and with folded hands they all said: “We are suffering, O great sage! / The world, up to its rivers, oceans, and mountains, is drying up, O twice-born one.
10.24
Where shall we go together until the turn of time? / You are long-lived, O best of brāhmaṇas; you did not die at the end of the yuga.
10.25
The past, the present, and the future—everything resides in your heart; / therefore you know all; tell us, O you of great vows!
10.26
What kind of time shall we endure, O fortunate one, O you of good vows? / Smitten by drought, everything moving and unmoving is perishing.
10.27
Protect us, O fortunate one, so that we do not meet destruction!” / Then, having reflected in mind, I promptly spoke to the brāhmaṇas:
10.28
“Abandon Kurukṣetra together with your sons and wives! / Leaving the northern direction, let us all go to the supreme southern one,
10.29
rich in cities, villages, and cowherd settlements, adorned with towns and capitals! / Let us go to the bank of the Narmadā, frequented by many perfected beings,
10.30
which was born from the body of Rudra, most holy, destroying all sins! / Let us behold that fortunate one, crowded with dwellings beneath banyan trees,
10.31
well frequented by Māheśvaras, Bhāgavatas, Sāṃkhyas, and perfected beings! / Afraid of the danger of drought, let us [settle] on both of its banks!
10.32
Let us, of subdued vows, build divine hermitages within the hermitage [lands]!” / Addressed thus, all of them, together with their assembled followers,
10.33
reached the bank of the Narmadā and stayed, freed from fear of anything, / remembering somewhat earlier the terror caused by the beginning of kalpas in the past.
10.34
They arrived at the bank of the Narmadā at the very beginning of the Kali yuga; / then they dwelt on the bank of the Revā for a full hundred divine years,
10.35
which is twenty-six thousand human years. / There a wonder was seen by me while the sages were living [there], O king:
10.36
when the world was smitten by drought, when moving and unmoving things were parched, / when the order of yugas and the like was broken, when all was lamentation and senseless,
10.37
when the four social classes had dissolved, and the procedure of oblations and offerings was lost, / devoid of the svāhā and vaṣaṭ utterances, and abandoned by purity and good conduct,
10.38
this single best of rivers was frequented by tens of millions of sages; / no other [river] in the three worlds was so delightful, O lord of men!
10.39
Just as this river of holy water [shone] like Indra’s Amarāvatī, / with bright temples of deities and well-constructed hermitages,
10.40
so the goddess Narmadā shines like the Mandākinī in heaven; / as far as there were trees and great mountains, as far as her origin from the sea,
10.41
for that extent both of her banks were adorned with bright shrines, / and filled with the smoke of sacrificial offerings from the agnihotra fires being offered.
10.42
The goddess Narmadā became like a night in the rainy season; / adorned with the rites of worship at numerous temples of deities,
10.43
the best of rivers shines like the city of Śakra and the city of Bhāskara. / Some practised the asceticism of the five fires, while others maintained the agnihotra fire;
10.44
some inhaled smoke, established in severe asceticism; / some were devoted to the sacrifice of the self, while others partook of devotion;
10.45
some, having attained knowledge of Viṣṇu, observed the Śaiva vow; / some fasted for one night or two nights, and some ate only on the sixth mealtime.
10.46
And by procedures of the lunar penance, practicing the severe penance and the most severe penance, / and by such austerities adorned by the bank of the Narmadā,
10.47
worshiping the god Śaṅkara [or] Keśava, [the bank] constantly shines. / And for those worshiping Maheśvara in unity and in differentiation,
10.48
they have attained unsurpassed perfection in the terrible Kali age. / For whatever devotion each person has, and whatever knowledge he possesses,
10.49
towards whichever god, the Lord, the master, grants him precisely that. / Approaching that devotion through the singularity of his inherent nature, he dissolves within.
10.50
Men who worship separately wander in the cycle of transmigration; / those who abandon the great tree Īśāna and cling to the branches
10.51
return again and are indeed born across the four ages, / wandering sequentially in the cycle of transmigration from gods down to inanimate beings.
10.52
Again birth, again in heaven, and again in the terrible Raurava hell. / Those, on the other hand, firmly established in devotion to God Īśāna, Bhava,
10.53
who worship on the bank of the Narmadā do not exist [in transmigration] again. / Worshiping until the fall of the body, some have attained the supreme.
10.54
Some, rich in austerity, [attain it] in twelve years, others in six, / some in three years, and some in a single year,
10.55
while others are perfected in six months, and likewise others in three months. / Sages who rely upon the god and the renowned Narmadā,
10.56
having severed the faults of the cycle of transmigration, have gone to eternal Brahman. / Thus, in the terrible Kali age, by the hundreds and by the thousands,
10.57
sages, having sought refuge on the bank of the Narmadā, entered Rudra.
10.58
The brahmins who, having approached the bank of the Narmadā, undertake effort in the Śaiva observance, / plunging into the water at the three junctions of the day, having devoutly worshiped the god, go to Śiva.
10.59
Or those who constantly remember Nārāyaṇa through meditation, worship, silent recitations, and great observances— / like royal swans with washed white plumage, they cross to the far shore of the water of the ocean of worldly existence.
10.60
Raising my arm, it is proclaimed: truth, truth, again truth! / This one conclusion has been established: Nārāyaṇa is always to be meditated upon.
10.61
Or he who, self-controlled, worships Hara and dwells for a month or a fortnight, O lord of men, / taking refuge at the Revā, that magnanimous man becomes the god of gods, the bow-bearing Pinākin.
10.62
Insects, moths, and ants that die in the water of the Narmadā / take on divine forms, are born into good families, and remain devoted to righteousness for a hundred years.
10.63
Even trees that in time fall, their roots severed by the mass of great waves, / with their sins cast away by the waters of the Narmadā, go to heaven radiant.
10.64
Both those without desires and those with desires who die on the bank having sought refuge at the Revā, / even if dull-witted, blind, or mute, go to heaven; how much more then brahmins endowed with devotion to Bhava?
10.65
Even those whose limbs are emaciated by month-long fasts do not attain that destination which those shedding their bodies / attain when their forms are purified by the water of the Revā, endowed with the spirit of Keśava in the worship of Śiva.
10.66
The foremost sages subsist here on wild rice, panicum, barley, inguda fruits, and other [foods]; / taking shelter on the bank praised by the gods, they do not enter death from the Narmadā.
10.67
Those who wander, having approached the bank of the goddess, purified by the truth of worshiping God at the three junctions of the day, / do not dwell again in the belly of a young woman, covered by feces, urine, skin, and bones.
10.68
What need have they of many sacrifices and gifts, or of all the excellent pilgrimage places visited? / They who attend the southern or northern bank of the Revā sequentially attain the state of followers of Rudra.
10.69
Those mortals in this world are deceived, rendered lame, dull-witted, and blind, equal to beasts, / who have not taken refuge at the Revā, which is the body of Rudra, a flight of steps to heaven.
10.70
Whatever foremost twice-born man wishes never to behold this terrible Kali age again, / he, having approached the bank of the Narmadā, freed from all attachment, should worship entirely.
10.71
Those who, though beset by numerous obstacles, do not abandon the bank of the Narmadā, / exist for the benefit of all, worthy of salutation, and honored by all people.
10.72
Bhṛgu, Atri, Gārgeya, Vasiṣṭha, and Kaṅka, accompanied by hundreds and countless restrained ones, / with their bodies bathed in water, attained the supreme perfection and the worlds of the gods, and none others.
10.73
Those of ever-pure nature who recite this great, most meritorious, pure wisdom / go to the supreme state, magnanimous ones, for the word of Rudra is authoritative.
10.73.p1
Thus ends the tenth chapter, titled 'The Declaration of the Fruit of the Revelation on Bathing in the Narmadā,' in the glorification of the Narmadā, in the Revākhaṇḍa, in the fifth Avantīkhaṇḍa, in the Skandamahāpurāṇa containing eighty-one thousand verses.
10.73.p2
RKV Chapter 11
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit