Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 11
English (machine translation) 11
- Language
- English
Contents
- 11.94 — 2 parts
11.1
Yudhiṣṭhira said: / Ah, most meritorious, distinguished, which does not perish here at the end of an age; / therefore it is always to be resorted to by the foremost sages devoted to meditation, worship, and sacred bathing.
11.2
Relying upon which the ṛṣis devoted to righteousness have attained liberation; / but the observances of the ṛṣis ordained by the Veda that were spoken of by you,
11.3
by which diverse observances their attainment of liberation would occur— / whether in ten or twelve, or in six or eight,
11.4
or in three or four years, and likewise in months, / they are freed from the faults of Kali through the worship of the lord of the gods.
11.5
Worshiping Brahmā, O best among the gods, or Keśava, teacher of the world, / one certainly casts off all sin, without a doubt.
11.6
Tell me all this in detail, O sinless one: / all creatures are submerged in this dense wilderness of worldly existence; / how have they attained heaven? Tell me, as this is my doubt.
11.7
The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Human birth is obtained through many other lives, / and here, somehow, devotion to Śaṅkara arises.
11.8
Through pilgrimage places, gifts, fasts, sacrifices, and worship of gods and the twice-born, / attainment occurs for men through supreme faith, O king.
11.9
Therefore, faith must be cultivated by men who cherish righteousness; / even Īśa is won through faith, hence faith is superior.
11.10
Otherwise, devoid of faith, everything is fruitless, O descendant of Bharata; / therefore, one should resort to devotion to Rudra, the supreme deity.
11.11
Fruitful indeed is the birth of those whose devotion is unwavering; / and that devotion is threefold: sāttvika and rājasa,
11.12
[and] tāmasic for all people, and one obtains a threefold fruit. / Through connection with the fruit of actions, they return again and again.
11.13
Through hundreds of other births, for those wise men who sacrifice to the gods, / devotion to the triad of deities arises from the destruction of sinful karma.
11.14
From Īśāna, however, liberation arises beyond doubt. / Furthermore, those best of the twice-born who have resorted to the bank of the Narmadā,
11.15
free from doubt in the path of the three Vedas, go to the supreme state. / But those who, with one-pointed mind, devoted to worshipping
11.16
Śaṅkara, the imperishable Śiva here, those people quickly achieve success. / Elsewhere, success comes to embodied beings only after a long time,
11.17
but on the bank of the Narmadā, success is attained quickly. / Those people who know Sāṃkhya achieve success in six years;
11.18
the Vaiṣṇavas endowed with knowledge also achieve success before long. / And those who know all yogas, like rivers into the ocean,
11.19
become one at the end of the kalpa, having entered into the yoga of Maheśvara. / Of all yogas indeed, the yoga of Maheśvara is supreme.
11.20
Having attained it, even those born of sinful wombs are liberated. / Having worshipped Śiva on the river bank, they are not reborn in [worldly] wombs.
11.21
This path is difficult to ascend and destroys all sins. / Creatures resorting to the Revā are swiftly liberated from worldly existence.
11.22
Therefore, one should bathe constantly and likewise smear oneself with ashes; / having reached the bank of the Narmadā, one will quickly attain success.
11.23
Whatever calm man reverently worships the liṅga at the three times of day, / freed from all diseases, goes to the supreme state.
11.24
He achieves success in six months, even if he were a committer of sins; / but those of pure mind are purified in three months.
11.25
Just as snow touched by the sun falls away from a mountain, / even so sin touched by auspicious particles of ashes is dissolved.
11.26
Just as serpents perish in terror of Garuḍa, / even so sins sprinkled with ashes indeed perish.
11.27
Those who dust themselves with ashes purified by the water of the Narmadā / are immediately freed from the mass of sins; there is no doubt about this.
11.28
Those who maintain the Pāśupata vow with devotion as prescribed, / abstaining from the food of a Śūdra, go to the supreme state.
11.29
The food of a Brāhmaṇa is considered nectar; the food of a Kṣatriya is milk; / the food of a Vaiśya is mere food; the food of a Śūdra is considered blood.
11.30
Those best of the twice-born who die nourished by the essence of a Śūdra's food, / deprived of asceticism and knowledge, become crows and vultures.
11.31
For the evil deeds of human beings reside in their food. / Whoever eats someone's food eats his sin.
11.32
Particularly those who, having adopted an ascetic's duty, succumb to greed in austerities, / go to hell without doubt; thus Śaṅkara declared.
11.33
And whatever Brahmins of such form are established in the Pāśupata [vow], / they certainly burn away a great accumulation of sins; there is no doubt.
11.34
Those who are joined with hypocrisy and afflicted by greed / are not to be received: such is the injunction of revelation.
11.35
Some are ruined by the faults committed by their mother and father, others by their own actions; / some by the pride of knowledge, and others by egotism.
11.36
Those who have set out on the Śaiva path but are excluded from the injunctions of tradition, / though troubled by time, go to the supreme state.
11.37
Men lacking faith, foolish, swollen with ostentation, / evil-minded, who cite bad examples to justify their ends, do not succeed.
11.38
Even amidst the great greatness of a pilgrimage place, those undertaking the vow of Śaṅkara, / if filled with greed, go beyond doubt to a degraded womb.
11.39
An evil deed is not erased by pilgrimage places nor by gifts; / only sin committed through ignorance and heedlessness is destroyed.
11.40
Knowing this, twice-born people must act according to rule, / and repeating the supreme Brahman, they should conduct themselves again and again.
11.41
Whoever recites [the Vedic texts praising] the upward-faced, the uneven-eyed Rudra, / freed from attachment, sees Īśāna visibly within six months.
11.42
Whoever, well restrained, makes ten recitations of the saṃhitā / on the bank of the Narmadā, is freed from all sins.
11.43
Or whoever recites a Purāṇa saṃhitā, whether Śaiva or Vaiṣṇava, / before Śiva on the bank of the Narmadā, becomes identical with Śiva.
11.44
He is honored in the heavenly world until the destruction of all beings. / For the abandonment of the distress of worldly existence, it was formerly proclaimed by Nandin,
11.45
in the assembly of divine seers, siddhas, and gandharvas, in the abode of Śiva. / Listen with single-minded attention, O King, to this auspicious song of Nandin,
11.46
which grants heaven and liberation, is sacred, and destroys the fear of worldly existence:
11.47
"If, tormented at every step by the heat of existence, you wish to abandon this cavernous abyss of transmigration, / bound by the diverse and numerous snares of action made by yourselves, listen for your well-being to the one wholesome thing spoken by me:
11.48
O Śakra, do not follow a crooked path! O Yama, do not inflict torment! / O Varuṇa, calm your mind! O Kubera, abandon greed!
11.49
Give away all wealth to the poor, the helpless, and the distinguished, / if you are afflicted by the tossing waves of the ocean of worldly existence.
11.50
The man distressed by birth, terrified of death, seized by desire and other passions, / who has fallen from restraints and observances—will the purifying Pināka-bearer not protect him?
11.51
Do not be arrogant, O Yama! In oppressing [him], you will become an object of ridicule; / that living being has universal refuge, which will also be your refuge.
11.52
What is terrible Kāla? A mere child! What is death? What is base Yama? / For what fear can there be for men who are devoted to Śiva and Viṣṇu?
11.53
For beings afflicted by the burden of worldly existence who dwell on the bank of the Revā, / both Bharga and Bhagavān are the destroyers of the fear of worldly existence.
11.54
Worship Śiva, meditate on Śiva, praise Śiva, sacrifice to Śiva, / bow to Śiva, you wretched one, if you desire knowledge and liberation!
11.55
Recite the scripture of the five-faced one, mutter the five-syllable mantra, / meditate upon the fivefold principle, sacrifice to the supreme five-faced one!
11.56
What use are those lamentable hosts of actions distinguished by diverse states of mind, / if the glorious, five-faced Śiva is served in every way?
11.57
What use are the loud trumpeting roars of the mad elephant of worldly existence, / if the five-faced god is worshipped with the fragrance of devotion?
11.58
O fool, why despair having attained mistreatment by karma? / Mutter [the names of] the beloved of Bhavānī, the formidable one, the destroyer of fear!"
11.59
Dwelling on the bank of the Narmadā, dissolving the flood of suffering,
bestowing heaven and liberation—worship Bharga, O fool, the lord of gods!
11.60
Abandoning the Revā served by the celestial river, and Hara and Hari dwelling upon its bank,
where are you going to distant quarters, O fool, devoid of devotion like a madman?
11.61
Resort to the holy water of the Revā; sacrifice to eternal Rudra;
mutter the five-syllable mantra, and go to the desired abode!
11.62
What is the use of distressing your own body with many expedients?
Resort to the Revā, and having reached Śiva, [attain] the supreme state easily accomplished!
11.63
Having thus reached Kailāsa, that [praise of] the river in the presence of Śiva
which he sang before the world guardians—that I have now told you.
11.64
Mārkaṇḍeya said:
He who is devoted to sacred baths and gifts, ever observing righteousness,
taking refuge on the bank of the Narmadā, is released from all sins.
11.65
Even if destitute of rule, he who recites all the Vedas daily for a hundred years,
equal in virtues though he may be to reciting the Mṛtyulāṅgala [mantra], or even greater,
11.66
just as one impure in seed and womb does not find Rudra,
so even the Lāṅgala mantra does not remain with one whose life is exhausted.
11.67
Endowed with the recitation of the Gāyatrī, self-restrained and greater in virtues,
[reciting] "I praise Agni" [Ṛgveda 1.1.1], or "For food, for strength" [Yajurveda 1.1], or "Come, O Agni" [Sāmaveda 1.1], daily,
11.68
[or] "May the divine waters be for our bliss" [Atharvaveda 1.6.1]—dwelling on the bank, reciting [these], he is freed from sins.
11.69
Reciting daily with a concentrated mind the Vedas with their auxiliary and secondary branches,
one does not obtain that fruit which a self-restrained man attains through the Gāyatrī.
11.70
Having recited the Rudrādhyāya once, a brāhmaṇa endowed with the Veda
is freed from all sins and goes to the world of Viṣṇu.
11.71
Or another collection for recitation, a hymn or an Āraṇyaka—
he is freed from all sins and goes to the world of Viṣṇu.
11.72
Whatever recitation is performed, and whatever gift is given,
taking refuge in the water of the Narmadā, all that becomes inexhaustible.
11.73
Those who ever take refuge in the Narmadā with vows of such a kind,
when dead, go to the abode of Viṣṇu or the imperishable abode of Śiva.
11.74
Some men go to the realm of truth, and others likewise to the world of the Sun,
surrounded by hosts of apsarases until the cosmic dissolution.
11.75
While this world was thus enduring, O bull among kings,
one hundred million ṛṣis residing in Kurukṣetra,
11.76
together with me, O highly fortunate one, took refuge on the bank of the Narmadā;
subsisting on fruits and roots, they remained worshipping Śiva.
11.77
And that was a hundred divine years according to the reckoning of time,
which are twenty-six thousand by human reckoning.
11.78
Then, when that twilight had passed, O best of kings,
there remained one human century in that time.
11.79
Then a drought occurred, bringing about the destruction of the worlds,
by which the whole world suffered a dreadful and recurring destruction.
11.80
The ṛṣis who were formerly perfected here, who had crossed to the end of the Vedas—
by their spiritual power, the blessed slayer of Bala and Vṛtra rained.
11.81
A great rain with abundant water was produced all around;
then indeed, by that rain, their livelihood came to be.
11.82
Again, when the end of the yuga arrived, with a little left in the Kali age,
everything completely dried up, both stationary and moving.
11.83
Devoid of trees, herbs, and shrubs, bereft of grass and climbing plants,
the entire surface of the earth was severely struck by drought.
11.84
Then all those thousands of ṛṣis, afflicted with hunger and thirst,
overcome by the inherent nature of the yuga, became devoid of vitality, O king.
11.85
When burnt offerings and the svadhā-call were ruined and the end of the yuga approached, [they said:]
“What should be done? Where indeed shall we go? Who can be our refuge?”
11.86
To them I said repeatedly, “Do not fear!
Many such cycles of time have been witnessed by me.
11.87
Taking refuge on the bank of the Narmadā, they have all been passed through by me.
For this goddess is indeed the refuge when the destruction of the yuga arrives.
11.88
No other resort exists for us here, O best of the twice-born!
She is the mother of all beings, and especially of the best of the twice-born.
11.89
The grandfathers, the fathers, and whatever other great-grandfathers [there were]—
they all went to heaven having taken refuge in the great river.
11.90
The seven who were my ancestral grandfathers, beginning with Bhṛgu,
and Dhaumṛṇī, my highly fortunate wife of pure smiles,
and Manasvatī who is regarded as mother, and Bhārgava and Aṅgiras,
11.91
Pulastya, Pulaha, Vasiṣṭha, Atreya, and Kāśyapa,
and other highly fortunate ones practicing restraints and vows,
and hundreds of thousands of others have attained perfection here.
11.92
Therefore, this highly fortunate [river] must never be abandoned;
no other river is capable of granting the fruits of the three worlds.
11.93
From numerous pairs of opposites, and from great fears such as hunger and thirst,
those men dwelling on the bank of the Narmadā are instantly freed.
11.94
Therefore, with every effort, this best of rivers must be attended upon
by those desiring supreme welfare in this world and in the beyond.”
11.94.p1
|| Thus ends the eleventh chapter, named "Description of the Glorification of the Holy Narmadā", in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth section, Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].
11.94.p2
Revākhaṇḍa, Chapter 12
Linked texts (1)
- Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit