Chapter 174 - Expiations for discontinuing the worship of gods

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Fire-god said:

1-3. (I shall describe) the expiation for omission in the worship of gods and orders. One should repeat one hundred and eight times and worship twice for omission in worship. After having made oblations with the five upaniṣadic sacred syllables brahmins should be fed. One should repeat hundred times if (the idol of) the deity has been touched by a woman who has delivered a child, a woman of the lowest caste and a woman in her courses. (One should do) worship with the five upaniṣadic (sacred syllables) and two times bathing. When there is omission in the oblations brahmins should be fed. (Then one should do) oblation, bathing and worship.

4-5. When the materials for the oblation have been eaten by rats, etc., or abound with worms, that part alone should be rejected, sprinkled (with water) and the deities worshipped. When it is broken or damaged to the extent of a sprout it should be rejected. When it has been touched by an untouchable it should be transferred to another vessel.

6. If the sacred syllable or the materials get altered at the time of worship or in destroying the impediments due to the gods and mortals one should mutter the basic (syllable) and repeat again.

7. (One should) repeat one hundred times if the pot is lost. If (the image of) the deity has fallen from the hand and got broken or lost there will be welfare only after fasting and (doing) oblations hundred times.

8. For a man who repents after doing a sin, the best expiation is to remember lord Hari.

9. The practice of cāndrāyaṇa or parāka or prājāpatya destroys the sin. The repetition of the sacred syllables of the Sun, Īśa (lord Śiva), Śakti (consort of lord Śiva), Śrīśa (lord Viṣṇu) and others would destroy the sin.

10-11. The repetition of gāyatrī, praṇava (oṃ), hymns and sacred syllables destroy sins. The sacred syllables of the Sun, Īśa, Śakti and Śrīśa beginning with the (letters) ‘ka’ etc. and their basic syllables and ending with the respective letters are separately more than a crore. (The sacred syllables) such as oṃ, hrīṃ etc. and ending with (the name) in the fourth case and (the word) ‘salutation’ are capable of yielding all desires.

12. The sacred syllables of (lord) Nṛsiṃha (man-lion form of lord Viṣṇu) consisting of twelve and eight letters etc. destroy sin. The reading and hearing etc. of Āgneyapurāṇa (would also be expiation to remove all sins).

13-16. Lord Viṣṇu is of two forms of Vidyā^[1]. He is praised in the form of fire. The supreme lord is praised in all scriptures as the face of the celestials. He is worshipped as the conferer of enjoyment and emancipation in taking active part in worldly life as well as in inactivity. The oblations, contemplation, worship, repetition (of sacred syllables), hymns and obeisance made to lord Viṣṇu of the form of Fire (god) would destroy sins relating to one’s body. Making a gift of ten gold (things), twelve (kinds) of grains, sixteen great gifts such as making a gift of something equal to one’s own weight and other great gifts such as giving food remove all sins.

1 7. Practising vows on the phases of the moon, weeks, asterisms, movement (of planets from one constellation to another), good periods of the day and period of Manu for the Sun, Īśa, Śakti and others would destroy sins.

18-19. The sacred places such as Ganges, Gayā, Prayāga, Kāśī, Ayodhyā, Avantikā, Kurukṣetra, Puṣkara, Naimiṣa, Puruṣottama (Purī), Śālagrāma, Prabhāsa and others also destroy sins. The contemplation that ‘I am the brahman, the supreme effulgence’ would destroy sins..

20-24. The Brahmapurāṇa and the Āgneyapurāṇa, (lords) Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara, the manifestations (of the god), all kinds of worship, the installation of the images (of deities) etc. (also remove one’s sins). The science of astrology, Purāṇas, codes of law, penance, vow, the science of politics, sarga^[2] etc., the medical lore, the science of archery, phonetics, metrics, grammar, etymology, lexicon, manual of rituals, logic, mīmāṃsā (the science investigating the vedic texts) and all other things are the lord Hari (himself). The sins of others get destroyed by seeing one who has got the knowledge about the single lord without the second from which (all are produced) and in which (all repose) and who is everything. He is verily the lord Hari. Lord Hari remains in the form of eighteen vidyās^[3]. He is subtle and gross. He is the most supreme. He is the effulgence and the sentient, immutable, brahman, supreme, omni-present and blemishless.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Vidyā, knowledge, is of two kinds: aparā and parā, standing respectively for the vedas etc. and for the knowledge about supreme Brahman.

[2]:

The primary and secondary creation, genealogy of gods and sages, periods of Manus and accounts of royal genealogy.

[3]:

The four Vedas, the six accessory texts, mīmāṃsā, nyāya, dharmśāstra, purāṇa, āyurveda, dhanurveda, gāndharvaveda and arthaśāstra.