Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa (RKV) 95

English (machine translation) 95

Language: English

95.27 — 2 parts

95.1

Glorious Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then one should go, O king of kings, to the excellent hermitage of Badarī, / the best of all pilgrimage places, holy, spoken of of old by Śambhu.

95.2

And he who became perfected there for the sake of the Bhārata [war], the diadem-wearer, / your brother named Phālguna—know him to be the deity Nara.

95.3

Those two, Nara and Nārāyaṇa, came to the bank of the Narmadā. / Knowledge belongs to him alone, O King, who is devoted to Janārdana,

95.4

who sees equally in all things, unmoving and moving, / a Brahmin and a dog-eater; with him Janārdana is pleased.

95.5

‘See unity of self, O son of Kuntī; there is no difference between me and the Self.’ / The Badarikā hermitage was indeed made by Nara and Nārāyaṇa;

95.6

Śaṅkara was established there for the sake of showing grace to the worlds; / the liṅga established by the three forms grants liberation following the path to heaven.

95.7

Having gone there and become pure, having fasted for one night, / having abandoned passion and darkness, one should resort to a sattvic state of mind.

95.8

Having kept a night-vigil on the eighth day of the spring month, / or on the fourteenth, in both fortnights one should observe it.

95.9

Particularly of the month of Āśvina it has been told to you, O Pāṇḍava. / One should bathe [him] with supreme devotion with milk along with honey,

95.10

combined with curd and sugar, adorned with clarified butter; / with this holy pañcāmṛta one should bathe the bull-bannered god.

95.11

He who, free from jealousy, gazes with devotion upon Śiva being bathed— / his dwelling is near Śiva in the realm of Śakra, there is no doubt.

95.12

Even a bow offered with deceit to the wielder of the spear in hand / unties those bound at the root of worldly existence.

95.13

By him has been studied, by him has been heard, by him has everything been performed, / by whom the practice of the mantra ‘Oṃ namaḥ śivāya’ has been made firm.

95.14

He, moreover, who bathes [him] with devotion, single-minded and with subdued senses— / of his fruit also, O Pārtha, I shall tell you a fraction.

95.15

Afflicted by old age, I speak out of devotion to you: / Having pierced the orb of the sun, they go to the supreme abode.

95.16

They become the receptacles of all pleasures in worldly existence, / a wonder to their kinsmen, and the receptacles of virtues;

95.17

supplied with all desires they are on earth, O lord of the earth. / Whoever performs a śrāddha there mixed with the water of the Narmadā,

95.18

O king, by means of worthy brāhmaṇas of noble birth who have mastered the Vedas, / handsome, well-behaved, devoted to their own wives, and auspicious,

95.19

born in the land of the Āryas, gentle and handsome, / one should have the offering of funeral cakes made when the sun has reached midday.

95.20

If one desires the highest world for one's ancestors, O son of Dharma, / one should carefully avoid those who are one-eyed, wicked, and hypocritical.

95.21

Therefore, with every effort, one should resort to a worthy brāhmaṇa; / [thus] one frees the spirits of the dead from hell, foremost of which is Kumbhīpāka.

95.22

Liberation comes to all the ancestors, O son of the king. / One should give gold to the brāhmaṇas, [saying,] “May my grandfather be pleased!”

95.23

And there one should devoutly have food and clothing given, O descendant of Bharata; / one should give a cow, a bull, land, an umbrella, [and] a weapon, O best of kings.

95.24

That man attains heaven; so Śaṅkara has declared. / And whoever gives up his life by fire or by water,

95.25

or again by fasting, he goes to Śiva's abode. / Whoever [dies] on the bank of the Naranārāyaṇī and in Devadroṇī, O king,

95.26

dwells before the Lord as long as fourteen Indras [rule]. / Again, falling from heaven, he becomes a mighty king,

95.27

endowed with all royal qualities and power, intent on protecting his subjects; / then he remembers that pilgrimage place and will return again.

|| Thus ends the ninety-fifth chapter, titled ‘Description of the Glorification of the Nārāyaṇī Pilgrimage Place,’ in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Avantīkhaṇḍa, in the Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses, the glorious Skandapurāṇa.

95.27.p2

Revākhaṇḍa ascribed to the Vāyupurāṇa, Chapter 96

Linked texts (1)

Revākhaṇḍa (Vāyupurāṇa) — Sanskrit