Chapter 125 - The Greatness of Ravitīrtha (ravi-tīrtha)

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:

1-8. Thereafter, O king, a person should go to the excellent Ravitīrtha where the Thousand-rayed Lord performed a penance and went to heaven.

Yudhiṣṭhira said:

How (is it that) Lord Bhāskara, Ravi (Sun-god), the sustainer of the universe, who is bowed to by all the Devas, performed penance? Is the Lord of Devas a sage? He is worthy of being propitiated by all living beings. He is adored by all the Devas. He is seen directly in the world. He is the cause of creation and annihilation (of the world). How did he attain the name Āditya? How is he called Bhāskara? O sinless one, describe all this succinctly.

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:

O great king, what you have asked is a great and relevant question. After making obeisance to the Self-born Lord, I shall describe everything.

Everything in the universe was once enveloped in darkness. It was all unknown and featureless. It was incomprehensible, beyond knowledge; everything was as it were in deep sleep all round.

Thereafter a divine refulgence (appeared) like a highly heated, excellent ball (of iron). Like a meteor from the sky, it came down with face directed downwards for the creation (of the world).

Within that refulgence, a Puruṣa (Person) was born well-adorned with everything. He was without legs and hands. He is Lord Śiva by whom all these visible objects are created and permeated.

9-18. After the appearance of that Being in the form of refulgence Prajāpati who became Kāla (time) appeared in due course. He then became fire for (the sake of) all living beings, mortals, Asuras and Rākṣasas. He is the overlord of all the Devas. Hence he is called Āditya.

Obeisance to him should be paid at the outset and to the others only after him. So it is done by all the deities and all the great sages.

In the solar disc three Sandhyās (junctions of time) and three Devas are present. So when the Sun is bowed to, all the Devas are also (automatically) bowed to.

O king, had there been no Sun-god, neither day, nor night, neither the southern transit lasting for six months nor the northern transit would appear.

Without Sūrya (Sun-god) there is neither Snāna (holy bath) nor Dāna, neither Japa nor Homa, neither self-study of the Vedas nor adoration of the deities. Hence Ravi is the most worthy of adoration.

Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara are to be known through words of the Śruti (Vedas) chiefly. But Lord Sun is directly visible. He is the sanctifier of all the worlds.

He is the source of origin; the cause of annihilation and dissolution, the storehouse and the immutable seed. The Lord of the universe, the sole cause is none other than Bhāskara. After thus making the universe consisting of mobile and immobile beings issue out of himself, he established the path of piety for the sake of the welfare of the worlds.

He resorted to the banks of Narmadā and installed his own physical form, the thousand-rayed storehouse of refulgence. He then went up to the immutable sky.

19-27. If a devotee takes his holy bath there in that Tīrtha and adores the Thousand-rayed Lord, the great Lord, in accordance with the injunctions regarding the Mantras in the forms of the names (of deities) it is as good as though penance has been performed by him, Homa has been carried out, nay everything has been duly performed. By doing all these things perfectly, the greatest position is attained by him.

Those who take their holy bath in the waters of Narmadā and visit Lord Bhāskara are blessed. They are noble-souled ones. Their life is well lived.

The devotees should constantly repeat the Mantra thrice, O great king and circumambulate the Lord with single-pointed devotion. Thereby they become purified. Their sins are dispelled by that Mantra. Listen with concentration of mind to the merit that shall accrue to them.

There is no doubt about it that the entire earth consisting of mountains, parks and forests along with oceans and caves, has been circumambulated by him.

This entire group of the three worlds consisting of mobile and immobile beings has Mantras at its root. Hence, bereft of Mantras, no undertaking in the world succeeds.

Just as a wooden image of an elephant or a leathern deer cannot be effective in action, so also a pious rite without Mantras (is futile).

Just as an oblation offered on ashes or offering of a gift without use of water is futile, so also (is) Dana bereft of Mantras.

28-36. In regard to idols made of wood, stone or a lump of clay, particularly in the case of earthen ones, people perform the adoration along with relevant Mantra. They do not make it without uttering Mantra.

By performing Namaskāra (obeisance) once with due utterance of Mantras, one derives the benefit that is usually obtained by ordinary Namaskāras (prostrations) done continuously for twelve years with devotion.

If a devotee takes his holy bath in the waters of Narmadā and worships Ravi during Saṅkrānti, Vyatīpāta, Ayana and Viṣuva, his sins committed knowingly or unknowingly, in course of twelve years, get dissolved immediately like husk burned by fire.

A devotee of controlled sense-organs, observing fast, should take his holy bath during solar and lunar eclipses. By seeing the face of the deity, Āditya, he is liberated from all sins.

On the seventh lunar day in the month of Māgha, O excellent king, one should control anger and stay in the shrine of Sūrya observing fast. In the morning he should take his holy bath in accordance with the injunctions and offer Arghya to the Sun duly reciting the Mantras. He shall obtain excellent merit.

After offering the libations to the Pitṛs, Devas and human beings, in the temple of the Lord of Devas, the devotee should perform the worship by means of sweet scents, flowers, incense, lights and auspicious Naivedyas, After worshipping, he should recite the Mantra.

37-44. He shall repeat the twelve names (of the Sun-god) viz. Viṣṇu, Śakra, Yama, Dhātṛ, Mitra, Varuṇa, Vivasvān, Savitṛ, Pūṣan, Caṇḍāṃśu and Bharga (Ravi, the 12th name also) and circumambulate.

Listen attentively to know the benefit that he attains, O son of Kuntī. He will never be poor, sick, dumb, deaf and sluggish for seven births. So said Śaṅkara.

He who wishes for excellent merit should devoutly propitiate Ravi after completely studying and then uttering the Mantra in accordance with the injunctions. The wise devotee then attains the merit.

He who professes to be a devotee without uttering the Mantra, O descendant of Bharata, deceives himself like brutes, worms and insects.

Whoever abandons the excellent physical body there in the Tīrtha, shall go to heaven being adored by the Devas and great sages.

There he lives as he pleases for a long time. Then he shall become a king here in this world richly endowed with sons and grandsons, elephants, horses and chariots etc. He is born in a large family with hundreds of men and maid servants.