Chapter 3 - The Greatness of Agnitīrtha and Śilās of Nārada and Mārkaṇḍeya

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Skanda said:

1. O Lord, O lord of all living beings, O expert in all holy rites, O father, kindly narrate to me the greatness of Agnitīrtha.

Śiva said:

2. This is an extremely secret Tīrtha, resorted to by all the (other) Tīrthas. Out of deference to you I shall relate it succinctly.

3. Those who have committed (the five) Mahāpātakas (great sins), those who have committed sins called Atipātakas,^[1] O son, become pure without any exertion merely by bathing (in it).

4. A sin lasting till death, which cannot be dispelled even by expiatory rites, is destroyed merely by ablution in Vahnitīrtha.

5. Just as gold excessively contaminated by impurities becomes pure (in fire), so also by resorting to Agnitīrtha the embodied soul becomes rid of sins.

6. Merely by taking his bath here a man gets the merit which one gets in other holy spots by performing severe penance for three years and taking (nothing but) drops of water from the tip of a Kuśa blade.

7. If people feed Brāhmaṇas here in accordance with their affluence, there shall never be poverty in their families.

8. One who casts off his life in Agnitīrtha by observing fast, breaks through the worlds of the Sun etc. and reaches the world of Viṣṇu.

9. By taking his holy bath in Vahnitīrtha, a man obtains that merit which is acquired by thousands of Cāndrāyaṇas and crores of Kṛcchras.^[2]

10. This is my opinion that people who have committed the five kinds of sins, O Six-faced One, will become pure by Japa as well as Prāṇāyāma here.

11. Those base men who knowingly commit sins out of delusion, are born in the wombs of vampires (and stay therein) as long as fourteen Indras (i.e. for a period of a Manvantara).

12. Whether a person is Āśramī (one who follows the four orders or stages of life) or Anāśramī (non-Āśramī), he should not commit any sin knowingly in Vahnitīrtha as long as he is alive.

13. Holy bath, charitable gift, Japa, Homa, Sandhyā-prayers and worship of the Deities, O Six-faced One, all these performed here, have infinite number of times more merit than those in other Tīrthas.

14. There are many sacred and great Tīrthas. Bui there never was a Tīrtha equal to Vahnitīrtha, nor will there ever be any.

15. Neither Brahmā, nor Śiva, nor Śeṣa, neither Devas nor ascetics are competent enough to recount the merit originating from Vahnitīrtha. They cannot.

16. Of what avail are many Yajñas, charitable gifts, observances and restraints to them, if people can take holy bath in Vahnitīrtha for ten days?

17. One who casts off his life in Vahnitīrtha by observing fast, one who fasts for three (days) and worships Janārdana in Vahnitīrtha becomes comparable to Fire-god.

18. There is perpetual presence of Hari in the middle of the five rocks. It is there alone that Vahnitīrtha is destructive of all sins.

Skanda enquired:

19. How did the five rocks (come) there? By whom were they created there? What is the merit and what is the fruit of them. It behoves you to relate this entirely.

Śiva replied:

20. The five rocks are well-known as Nāradī, Nārasiṃhī,Vārāhī, Gāruḍī and Mārkaṇḍeyī.^[3] They yield all Siddhis.

21-23. Nārada, the noble sage, performed a very severe penance for securing the vision of Mahāviṣṇu. He remained standing on a rock taking in air and sustaining himself with the products of trees for sixty thousand years. At that time, Lord Viṣṇu came there in the guise of a Brāhmaṇa. He appeared in front of him with great compassion and spoke these sweet words to the excellent sage: “O sage whose sins have been destroyed through penance, why are you undergoing this great strain? What is it that you wish (to have)? Tell me.”

Nārada said:

24. Who are you, O excellent Brāhmaṇa? In this forest devoid of people, you have come to me with a desire to bless me. My mind is delighted on seeing you.

25-28. On being spoken thus by Nārada, Lord Janārdana who held a conch, a discus and an iron club, who was adorned with garlands of lotus and sylvan flowers, shining along with yellow robes, who appeared splendid with Śrīvatsa scar and Kaustubha jewel, who was the pure abode of Kamalā (Lakṣmī) and who was eulogized (by sages) headed by Sanandana, revealed his own form to Nārada with great compassion. On seeing him who came like the vital air into the body, Nārada rose up immediately. With palms joined in reverence he bowed down again and again. In great humility, he eulogized the lord of the chiefs of all the worlds.

Nārada said:

29. May that Lord of sanctifying divine form be pleased, the Lord who is the witness unto all, who is the overlord of the worlds, who richly endows himself with bodies in accordance with the wishes of devotees and who is the ocean of mercifulness for those who resort to him.

30. May the Lord whose form is the abode of Sattvaguṇa be pleased, the Lord who glances with delightfully graceful smiles for the welfare of the world and for producing excessive delight in the minds of the good through (creating therein) eagerness and yearning etc.

31. May the Lord whose mind is moved with pity for the poor be pleased, the Lord who is handsome with the grace and charm of Kandarpa (god of Love), who makes Indirā (Lakṣmī) delighted with his pleasingly majestic words and who is the excellent Kalpa tree for those who resort to him.

32. People whose minds have become devoid of impurities by worshipping his lotus-like feet, cut off all the causes of bondage with the sword of knowledge. They realize the bliss of Brahman and become free from weariness. May that Lord whose mind is filled with pity for the wretched, be pleased.

33. May the Lord, the very experience of the bliss of Brahman, be pleased: the Lord who is the bridge built across the ocean of worldly existence, who is the cause of creation, sustenance and annihilation, who is called Upendra (‘brother of Indra’) and who has acquired physical forms from Guṇas.

34. Let that one and only Lord and Master be pleased: the Lord who is the cause of development from subtle form of the elements stabilized in the sense-organs(?), who is the most excellent one among the refulgent ones and who assumes the state of individual soul by his own Māyā.

35. May the Lord who is most excellent among those who are merciful towards the wretched and the poor be pleased—the Lord by whom Mahaṭ is spread over (controlled) by his dṛg-guṇas (the qualities of his vision?), by whom the world consisting of five Bhūtas (elements) is made dependent on his guṇas. Though he is one (without a second), he is united with many qualities.

36. Devas are your followers. As such they convert the ocean of miseries into an insignificant pit dug by the hooves of calves and live in heaven without any fear.

37. Obeisance to you, to Vāsudeva. Obeisance to Saṅkarṣaṇa; bow to Pradyumna, to Aniruddha,^[4] to the Ātman of all living beings.

38. Today my life has become blessed; today my penance has become fruitful; today my knowledge has borne fruits, because of your sight, O Janārdana.

Śrī Bhagavān said:

39-40. I am delighted with this penance and eulogy of yours, O Nārada. Nowhere in the three worlds is there a devotee of mine greater than you. Welfare unto you. Choose your boon. I am the bestower of boons standing in front of you. Know this, O Nārada, that your desires will become realized on seeing me.

Nārada said:

41-42. O Lord, if you are (intend) to grant me boons, if I deserve a boon, O Lord, grant me unflinching devotion to your lotus-like feet.

Your presence in my rock should never be stopped by you. (Finally) this is the third boon to be given to me—No one should have union with physical bodies any further (i.e. everyone should be liberated from Saṃsāra) if he sees or touches my Tīrtha, takes bath in it or drinks its water.

Śrī Bhagavān said:

43. Let it be so. Due to my love for you, I shall reside in your Tīrtha for the purpose of enabling all the creatures, both mobile and immobile, to get rid of their bodies for good. There is no doubt about it.

44. After saying thus Hari vanished there itself. Nārada of great splendour stayed at Badarī along with (the Lord) for a few days. Being delighted he went to Madhupurī (Mathurā) from there.

Skanda said:

45. Recount to me the greatness of the rock of Mārkaṇḍeya. What is its merit? What is the benefit therefrom? How did it come to have that designation?

Śiva said:

46. Formerly, at the end of Tretāyuga, the great son of Mṛkaṇḍu, knowing that he would be short-lived, repeated the greatest Japa (i.e. Mantra).

47. Hari, the immutable one, was worshipped by means of the twelve-syllabled Mantra (viz. oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya). Realizing that his span of life was seven Kalpas (? i.e. granting him that span of life), Hari went away from there.

48-49. Mārkaṇḍeya heard about the wearisome nature of pilgrimage to Tīrthas. He saw Nārada at Mathurā, O Six-faced One. Nārada, the excellent sage, who was worshipped and saluted by him, told him about the greatness of Badarī where Keśava stayed.

Nārada said:

50. O excellent one, why do you trouble yourself by resorting to tiresome wanderings to various holy places. There is a great holy place named Badarī where Hari is perpetually present.

51. Go there. You will see Hari directly with your physical eyes.

On hearing it, the sage was struck with wonder. He came to Viśālā (Badarī).

52. After taking his holy bath, he sat on a rock and repeated the eight-syllabled Mantra, viz. oṃ narāyaṇāya namaḥ. Lord Janārdana was pleased within three days (and appeared before him).

53. On seeing him holding conch, discus, iron club and lotus and adorned with garlands of sylvan flowers, he got up immediately. Mārkaṇḍeya bowed down to Janārdana and eulogized him with words faltering due to devotion. He eulogized Janārdana.

Mārkaṇḍeya said:

54. In this unstable world your lotus-like feet alone are stable. (Otherwise) how can men be uplifted? Save me, O great Lord.

55. O Acyuta, mercifully save me; I am utterly weary and exhausted on account of the three-fold distress. There are many kinds of ignorance developing (within me). I am disoriented in this hole of the world.

56. O ocean of mercy, I have suffered great pain brought about by the stay in wombs and the egress from many wombs as if from mechanical contrivances.

57. In the womb full of clusters of entrails worms have eaten all parts of my body and I have been overcome and troubled due to hunger and thirst. Save me, O Slayer of Madhu.

58. I have been smeared with unclean filth etc. Due to weariness I have become inactive. I have been confounded. I am thinking of the fruits of my own Karmas. Save me, O Slayer of Madhu.

59. I have been unable to speak, to handle things and even to breathe. I have become frightened. I have experienced great miseries during the stay in wombs. Save me, O Slayer of Madhu.

60. I have been afflicted by the worldly existence full of miseries due to old age, death, infancy etc. I (foolishly) consider this ocean of misery as one of happiness. O ocean of compassion, protect me.

61-62. Sometimes I attained the state of worms. Sometimes I became an insect born of sweat. Sometimes I was a plant or (a germinating seed) and sometimes I was a man. Thus I have been through all sorts of wombs. I have undergone miseries. I have lost lustre. I have become helpless. Now I have resorted to you. O Acyuta, save me.

63. On being thus eulogized by the intelligent Mārkaṇḍeya, Kṛṣṇa became pleased. He said to him: “O Brahminical sage, let the boon be chosen from me.”

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said.

64. If you are pleased with me, O Lord fond of the wretched and the poor, grant me steady devotion to you in worshipping and seeing you. Let there be your presence in the rock. This is to be my boon.

Sūta said.

65. Saying “so be it” Mahāviṣṇu vanished. O Brāhmaṇa, Thereupon, Mārkaṇḍeya who was pleased, went to his father’s hermitage.

66. This is a holy place which is destructive of all sins. The man who listens to or recites to others (its glory or this episode of Mārkaṇḍeya) will have access to Govinda (or his residence in Vaikuṇṭha).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Atipātakas: Sins due to sexual intercourse with nearest relatives such as brothers and sisters, father and daughter.

[2]:

Cāndrāyaṇa is a penance involving increase and decrease in the intake of morsels of food according to the increase and decrease in the digits of the moon (HD IV, 134-138). Kṛcchra is a general term for several penances (HD IV, 138-141).

[3]:

These rocks are in the Bishenganga i.e. Alakanandā which flows near the temple of Badrīnāth. The Purāṇa writers are experts in creating mythical legends. This Purāṇa writer glorifies the rocks by associating legendary names like Nārada, Nṛsiṃha, Varāha, Garuḍa and Mārkaṇḍeya with these rocks.

[4]:

The influence of Pāñcarātrism is evident by the mention of these four Vyūhas—Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa etc.