History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.181

v5.c71.s1.181

Not only were certain Vedic hymns and passages recommended for recitation with the object of removing sins some works, particularly the Purānas, proposed an easy way for all viz. that the remembrance of God Nārāyana (or Hari or Krsna) removed all sins The Brahmapurāna (chap. 176) contains a stotra (hymn of praise) of Visnu, which when recited is said to free a man from all sins (mental, vocal or bodily). The Pr. V. p 31 quotes a verse from the Bhavisyapurāna118a and three verses from the Visnupurāna as follows.—‘even a great sin is removed by (the resolve of) not doing it again, by gifts, by confessing it to others, and by meditation (on Visnu) and not only by prāyaścittas’ (Bhavisya); ‘of all the expiations (for sins declared by the sages) such as *tapas* (Cāndrāyana and others ) and other actions (*japa*, *homa*, gifts) the meditation on Kṛṣṇa is the highest. If a man remembers Nārāyaṇa in the morning, at night, at twilight, at midday and the like, he at once secures the removal of sin' (Viṣṇupurāṇa). The Brahma-purāṇa¹¹⁹ (216. 87-88) gives expression to a popular belief as follows:—"Men, even after committing sins many times through folly, do not go to Hell if they prostrate themselves before Hari who destroys all sins. Those men also who always remember Janārdana even by roguery go to the world of Viṣṇu after death " The Viṣṇupurāṇa affirms that those who contemplate upon the mantra of twelve letters (viz. '*om namo bhagavate Vāsudevāya*') do not return to the cycle of births and deaths. The great power of mantras is mentioned in the Ādiparva (161. 14) by Kuntī. The Nṛsiṁha-purāṇa in chap. 18 eulogises the mantra of eight letters (*om namo Nārāyaṇāya*) and chap. 63.6, states "what is the use of many mantras and the performance of many *vratas*, when the mantra '*om namo Nārāyaṇāya*' is capable of securing all desired objects". The mantra of five letters '*namaḥ Śivāya*' is dealt with in Liṅgapurāṇa (pūrvārdha, chap. 85) and Saura-purāṇa 65. Brahma-purāṇa speaks of *vaidika mantras* and *āgamokta mantras* (41. 63). The Nityācāra-paddhati (p. 67) says that it is necessary to understand the meaning of vedic mantras in śrauta rites but in smārta rites it is not so.