The Padma Purana

by N.A. Deshpande | 1951 | 1,261,945 words | ISBN-10: 8120838297 | ISBN-13: 9788120838291

This page describes greatness of vaishakha which is chapter 85 of the English translation of the Padma Purana, one of the largest Mahapuranas, detailling ancient Indian society, traditions, geography, as well as religious pilgrimages (yatra) to sacred places (tirthas). This is the eighty-fifth chapter of the Patala-Khanda (Section On The Nether World) of the Padma Purana, which contains six books total consisting of at least 50,000 Sanskrit metrical verses.

Disclaimer: These are translations of Sanskrit texts and are not necessarily approved by everyone associated with the traditions connected to these texts. Consult the source and original scripture in case of doubt.

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Ambarīṣa said:

1-2. Well (done), well (done), O greatest sage who favour the world, since you told (me about) the meditation of Viṣṇu, with and without qualities. O you who favour the good, now explain (to me) devotion of what kinds (it is), by whom (it is done), how (it is done), where (it is done), and when (it is done).

Sūta said:

3-4a. Hearing these words uttered by the best king, the delighted sage again spoke to the king: “O king, listen; I shall (now) properly tell you (about) devotion to Hari, which removes all sins. (Now) I shall tell you (about) devotion of various kinds, which destroys sins.

4b-13a. Devotion is said to be of various kinds: mental, of speech and of body. It may also be (divided as) secular, Vedic and spiritual. Mental devotion is said to be the one in which recollection of the Vedas is done with the idea of having meditation and concentration which brings about devotion to Viṣṇu. That which is done through utterances of prayers and (hymns of) the Vedas, through untired reflections, and mutterings in the forest, is called verbal (devotion). That which accomplishes all objects and is done through vows, fasts, restraints and curbing of the five senses, is said to be physical (devotion). That devotion which is the worship done by men through (offerings made) with ornaments, marked (i.e. decked) with gold and jewels, so also with beautiful words, with ribbons of garments put round the waist, with large purifying fans, with dancing, musical instruments, songs, with all offerings and presents, with eatables, food and drinks, and which is intended for Nārāyaṇa is said to be secular. The same, accomplishing all objects is said to be physical. That devotion in which mutter-ings of hymns from the Ṛgveda, Yajurveda and Sāmaveda are done, and studies of the hymnical texts of the Vedas are done with reference to Viṣṇu is said to be Vedic. (So also) the act (of devotion) done through the Vedic hymns, and sacrifices where offerings are made (into fire) is looked upon as Vedic (derived from the Vedas).

13b-18. Offering into fire should be done on the new-moon day and the full-moon day. (Offering) food, giving gifts, a sacrificial oblation made of ground rice and offered in a vessel, an oblation of rice, barley and pulse boiled (and presented to) gods and manes, sacrifices, drinking Soma—are all sacrificial acts. All rites performed in honour of Fire, Earth, Wind, Sky, Light, Śaṅkara and the Sun, (reach) the deity Viṣṇu. O king, spiritual devotion is of various kinds: One is called Sāṃkhya; (another) has come up from Yoga. O king, listen as it is described. The principles like Pradhāna (i.e. Prakṛti), twenty-four in number, are insentient and are objects of enjoyment. The Puruṣa is the twenty-fifth (principle) described to be sentient, and is the agent of acts and the enjoyer (of their fruits). The soul is eternal, immutable, controller, and employer. Puruṣa is unmanifest and eternal and Maheśvara would be the cause.

19-25. Really (there are three creations): Creation of principles, psychic creation and physical creation. The Prad-hāna of the Sāṃkhya is of the nature of guṇas (constituents). The similarity and difference and that the Pradhāna is of a different nature should be known; so also the cause of Brahman is said to be desire. The being directed of the Pradhāna is said to be the difference. Brahman is all action; Puruṣa also has absence of action. This is said to be the similarity with the insentient Pradhāna. There is a difference among the principles, and they are related to one another as cause and effect. The wise who ponder over all true principles call it Sāṃkhya, knowing through the number of the principles, the employment and the state of being employed (of the principles). Knowing in this way its existence, and the number of principles correctly, the wise know that the physical principle is in addition to the principle of Brahman. This devotion formulated by the Sāṃkhyas is known as spiritual devotion. O king, I shall also tell you (about) the devotion, due to (i.e. in accordance with) the Yoga (school).

26-30. A man always given to controlling his breath, (always) reflecting and controlling his senses, eating what is obtained by begging, having controlled all senses, having reflected upon the mental representation (of Viṣṇu) in his heart, reflects upon the great god seated in the pericarp of the lotus of heart, wearing a yellow garment, and having charming eyes, and seeing (the lord) with a bright face, and having the sacred thread round his waist, of a white complexion, having four arms, and having the hand giving boons and fearlessness. This mental accomplishment due to Yoga is said to be great devotion to Viṣṇu. He who is thus devoted to the lord, is called Viṣṇu's devotee. O prince, I have thus explained various kinds of devotion, according to these divisions, viz. Sāttvikī (endowed with the quality of sattva or goodness), Rājasī (endowed with the quality of rajas or passion) and Tāmasī (endowed with the quality of tamas or darkness).

31-35. Many kinds should be known (of devotion) to Viṣṇu of unlimited lustre. As fire with highly blazing flames reduces fuel to ashes, in the same way devotion to the lord burns sins at that moment only. Till a man does not, on the earth, hear about devotion to Viṣṇu which is actually nectar, the essence of all other liquids, he obtains hundreds of striking afflictions (in the form) of old age, death, birth, due to many bodies (i.e. many existences). The endless lord, when described, when his fame is thought about, when his majestic lustre is heard (i.e. known) internally, destroys all sins, as wind does the clouds, or the sun does the darkness. The heart does not obtain that purity by means of gifts, worship, sacrifice, bath at a sacred place, behaving as laid down in sacred texts, and austerities, which it has when the eternal lord is in the heart. O lord of men, the stories are pure; they are true; these true stories about Hari are alone wholesome.

36-41. (As) these stories of him of a pure form are heard here by you whose good fame is heard, you are blessed. O brave king, you are the leader of the right path. Your heart is concentrated on Puruṣottama, since your firm heart, your good luck, have become prone to listening to the good deed of lord Śrīkṛṣṇa. O king, how can a self-respecting man have religious merit without propitiating with devotion Viṣṇu who grants boons and who is immutable? He, the guileless one, is born of illusion, and is won over through sincere devotion. You being a good man, know it yourself. O king, the truth about the way of life is not unknown to you. Yet you are asking me about the pure sacred place on this occasion. There is no greater sweetness than this, viz. the glorification of Viṣṇu’s devotee. I do not see greater nourishment of delight and proper religious merit mutually (i.e. enhancing each other). The good having greater devotion very much enjoy his unlimited qualities, having unending religious merit.

42-47. Brāhmaṇas, a cow, truth faith, sacrifice, austerities, sacred texts, Smṛti-texts, compassion, initiation and tranquillity are the bodies of Hari. The lord (occupies) the sun, the moon, wind, earth, water, the sky, quarters, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Rudra—is full of all beings. He, of the form of the universe, himself created this mobile and immobile world. Having entered (the body of) a brāhmaṇa, he himself always eats food. Therefore, worship the brāhmaṇas, the dust of whose feet is a sacred place, who are gods on the earth, the abode of the mountains, who are high-souled, who are all-in-all of the auspicious Lakṣmī, and the souls of all. He who properly looks upon a learned brāhmaṇa as Viṣṇu, and who is attached to his own duties, is alone the devotee of Viṣṇu. I have told a secret (to you). It is time for me to go and bathe in Gaṅgā. There is (now) no more time for the story (to be continued).

48-51. The auspicious month of Vaiśākha, dear to Mādhava, has come. In it also the seventh day (for bathing) in Gaṅgā is extremely difficult to get. Formerly on the seventh day of the bright half of Vaiśākha, Jāhnavī (i.e. Gaṅgā) was drunk through anger by Jahnu, and let out from the cavity of his right ear. A man should, after having bathed in her (water), propitiate Gaṅgā, the girdle of the sky, according to proper rites. Such a man is blessed and fortunate. A mortal (i.e. a man) who would, according to the proper rites, gratify deities and manes in her (water), would see (himself as) the one who has had ablution there, and whose sins have gone away.

52-59. There is no month like Vaiśākha; there is no river like Gaṅgā. Such a difficult combination is secured only through devotion to Hari. She (i.e. Gaṅgā) has sprung up from the water (flowing) from the feet of Viṣṇu; she came (down) from Brahmā’s heaven. She is not tired (though flowing) in three streams, and she purifies the three worlds. She is a ladder for climbing to the heaven; she always gives joy; she removes the streams of many sins; she helps to surmount a difficulty. She remains in the twisted hair of Śiva. She removes grief. She destroys the lover’s sport (i.e. lust) in the heart of the man who worships her. She is the cause of the emancipation of Sagara’s family. She sustains Dharma (righteousness). The goddess moves along three paths; she adorns the worlds. By means of her sight, touch, bath (in her water), recital (of her virtues), reflection (on her) and resorting to her, she purifies, in thousands, virtuous and non-virtuous men. Even when those away from her say ‘Gaṅgā, Gaṅgā, Gaṅgā’ at dawn, noon and sunset, she destroys their sins earned (i.e. committed) during three existences. If a man at (a distance of) thousands of yojanas remembers Gaṅgā, he, even though a sinner, obtains the highest position (i.e. salvation).

60-67. Especially on the seventh day of the bright half of Vaiśākha, she is difficult to reach; (but) is obtained through the favour of the brāhmaṇa in the form of Hari, the protector of the world. There is no month like Vaiśākha; there is none so supreme as Mādhava (Viṣṇu or Vaiśākha). The stream of the water of the sins of him who dips (in Gaṅgā in Vaiśākha) is gone. O king, that which is given, uttered, offered, or the bath taken devoutly (in Gaṅgā) in the month of Vaiśākha, would become inexhaustible religious merit hundreds of crores of times more (that what is given etc.). As among gods is the soul of the universe, viz. god Nārāyaṇa Hari, (or) as Gāyatrī is among the muttered hymns, so is Jāhnavī among rivers. As Umā (i.e. Pārvatī) is (best) among all females, or as the sun is (best) among those that shine, as the gain of health is among gains, as Brāhmaṇa is among bipeds, as obliging others is among the acts of religious merit, as the Vedas are among lores, as Om is among the prayers, as self-reflection is among reflections, as truth and abiding by the rules of one’s own class are superior to austerities, as purity about wealth is among purities, as grant of fearlessness is among gifts, as the end of greed is said to be the chief among virtues, in the same way the month of Vaiśākha is said to be the best among months.

68-77. The śrāddha (offered in it), (or) the sacrifice (performed in it), (or) the gift (given in it), (or) a fast (observed in it), so also austerities (practised) in it, or study or worship etc. done in it—all this is said to have inexhaustible fruit. Sins end in Vaiśākha; darkness ends with (the rise of) the Sun; harm done to others and wickedness end with good deeds. O king, all that bath, gifts etc. (done or given) in the month of Kārtika, when the Sun is in Libra, would be a parārdha-fold more (meritorious). Thousand times more (is the religious merit) when (bath etc. is had) in the month of Māgha when the Sun is in Aquarius. It is hundred times more when, in Vaiśākha, the Sun is in Aries. Those men who having bathed in the morning worship (Viṣṇu), the enemy of (the demon) Madhu, in the month of Vaiśākha, according to the proper rites, are fortunate and blessed. Taking morning bath in Vaiśākha, (offering) sacrifices, (giving) gifts, (observing) fasts, (offering) oblations, and practising celibacy (in Vaiśākha) destroy great sins. Again, O king, in Kaliyuga the greatness of Mādhava (i.e. Vaiśākha) is to be kept secret (like) Aśvamedha etc. The meritorious Aśvamedha (i.e. the horse-sacrifice) does not take place in Kali (age). This rite of Vaiśākha is similar to that of Aśvamedha. The sinners of wicked minds do not realise in Kali (age) the religious merit of the horse-sacrifice, viz. attaining heaven and salvation. Men born in it being sinners, must go into the ocean of hell. Therefore its spread is made rare by him.”

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