Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 34

English (machine translation) 34

Language: English

34.24 — 2 parts

34.1

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Right there is another [tīrtha] of the great-souled Āditya. / I shall proclaim it, O best of men, if you have a mind to listen.

34.2

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / Having heard this matchless wonder coming from your mouth, / my hair stands on end with amazement, O best of sages.

34.3

The thousand-rayed god is the destroyer, creator, and spotless one; / through his descent, he is the redeemer of the worlds on the bank of the Narmadā.

34.4

Was the Lord in human form, or was it by the fruit of penance? / In whose lineage was he born? To whom did the god become subservient?

34.5

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / A pure, devout brāhmaṇa born in the Kulika lineage, / resolving, 'I will behold Ravi at that pilgrimage place,' made effort to journey there.

34.6

Having travelled over a hundred yojanas, fasting and without water, / he set out, but was restrained by the god of gods at the end of a dream:

34.7

"O sage, great-spirited one, enough of such an ascetic vow!
Look upon me as abiding, pervading the whole [universe], the unmoving and the moving."

34.8

"I burn, and thence I hold back rain and send it forth;
and he who sees death and what is not supported, sees [truly]."

34.9

"Choose a boon for yourself, good fortune to you, whatever you desire."

34.10

The brāhmaṇa said:
"If you are pleased with me, O god, if a boon is to be given to me,
be always present on the northern bank of the Narmadā."

34.11

"For those self-controlled ones who, standing a hundred yojanas away,
shall remember [you] with supreme devotion, O god, be a giver of boons to them!"

34.12

"Whoever are hunchbacked, blind, deaf, mute, or have impaired senses,
[and] bow before your feet, be a giver of boons to them!"

34.13

"Upon those whose noses are decayed, whose minds are gone, who are reduced to bone and skin,
show your compassion swiftly, O god!"

34.14

"And those who, having bathed in the waters of the Narmadā there day after day,
worship you, O Lord of the World, be a giver of boons to them!"

34.15

"To those who will praise [you] at dawn with Vedic and worldly hymns,
give their desired boon, O god, O infallible one!"

34.16

"To the men on earth who have tonsure performed before you,
O Lord, a boon should be given: this is my supreme boon."

34.17

Having said to the sage, "So be it," out of compassion again,
and having remained by a hundredth part, O best of kings, he vanished from sight.

34.18

A person who goes with devotion to that pilgrimage place and performs a sacred bath,
and satisfies the ancestors and gods, attains the fruit of an Agniṣṭoma sacrifice.

34.19

O ruler of men, one who enters fire at that pilgrimage place,
illuminating all the directions indeed, goes to the world of Agni.

34.20

One who, having reached that pilgrimage place, abandons the body here,
goes to the world of Varuṇa: thus Śaṅkara has spoken.

34.21

Whoever relinquishes the body at that pilgrimage place by renunciation,
is honored in heaven for sixty thousand years.

34.22

Dwelling [there] filled with hosts of apsarases and resounding with celestial sounds,
he comes indeed to the mortal world and becomes a knower of the Vedas and auxiliary sciences of the Veda.

34.23

Freed from disease and sorrow, he becomes a lord of ten million in wealth;
endowed with sons and a wife, he lives for a hundred autumns.

34.24

One who rises at dawn and then remembers Bhāskara there
is freed from the sin generated since birth; of this there is no doubt.

|| Thus ends the thirty-fourth chapter, named 'Description of Ravitīrtha,' in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].

34.24.p2

RKV Chapter 35

Linked texts (1)

Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit