Chapter 129 - The Greatness of Brahmatīrtha (Brahma-tīrtha)

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:

1-6. Thereafter, O king, a person should go to the excellent Brahma Tīrtha which is greater than the greatest of all the other Tīrthas.

There at that Tīrtha, Brahmā, the most excellent one among Suras, the grandfather of all the worlds, resorted to the banks of Narmadā. Merely by seeing him the Lord of Devas washes off the sins of the four Varṇas, committed earlier, including all mental and verbal ones and those arising from activities of the body.

The eminent Brāhmaṇas who take their holy bath and perform the expiatory rites enjoined by Śrutis and Smṛtis have their residence in heaven.

Those who are oppressed by lust and greed and abandon the scriptural texts and then prescribe expiatory rites (as they please) fall into hell.

A sinner should take his holy bath at the outset and bow down to Brahmā. Then he shall confess his sin. His sin perishes quickly like darkness at sunrise.

7-15. He who takes his holy bath there in the Tīrtha and adores Pitṛs and deities, derives the excellent benefit of Agniṣṭoma Yajña.

Whatever is gifted away as Dāna there at that Tīrtha with Brahmā in view, becomes everlasting in its benefits. So said Śaṅkara.

If Japa is carried out merely of the Gāyatrī Mantra there, it shall become as meritorious as one of the Ṛk, Yajus and Sāma Vedas. There is no doubt about it.

If anyone were to cast off his body, usually very difficult to be cast off, in the Tīrtha there, his return from the world of Brahmā is undoubtedly impossible.

He is honoured in Devaloka for as many thousand years as there are bones of embodied beings in the Brahma Tīrtha.

Thereafter, he comes down into the world (here) and is reborn as one knowing Brahman in a noble family. He shall be the most excellent one among all the Varṇas like the great deity among Devas.

He will be well-versed in all the lores and a master of the Vedas and their Aṅgas. He will be undoubtedly honoured in the world by kings.

He will be accompanied by sons and grandsons and will be free from all ailments. By the power of Brahma Tīrtha, he will live more than a hundred years.

The noble souls who visit this meritorious Tīrtha, the most excellent one for those endowed with knowledge, a Tīrtha that destroys all sins, attain immortality.