History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.40

v5.c74.40

cleanliness, frequenting sacred places, learning—all these are not tīrthas, if the mind is not pure¹²⁶⁷ The Brahmapurāṇa (25.4-6) states 'a heart that is wicked is not purified by baths at holy places, just as a vessel in which *surā* (liquor) was carried remains impure even after being washed with water hundreds of times, that tīrthas, gifts, *vratas*, or (residence in) hermitages do not purify a man whose heart is wicked, who resorts to hypocrisy and whose senses run away (are uncontrolled). Wherever a man who has his senses under control may dwell, there are present Kurukṣetra, Prayāga and Puṣkara'. The Vāmanapurāṇa has a fine1267a *Rūpaka* about the soul being a river full of the water of control, flowing with truth and having character as the bank and the waves of compassion (for all beings) and states that the soul cannot be purified by water. The Padmapurāṇa (II. 39. 56-61) extends the meaning and scope of tīrthas by remarking that places where Agnihotra and śrāddha are performed, a temple, a house where Veda is being studied, a cowpen, the place where a soma drinker dwells, parks, a place where the Aśvattha exists, a place where Purāṇa is being recited or where one's teacher stands or where a chaste housewife dwells, or where a father and a worthy son dwell are all holy.