Chapter 12 - Yātrā (Pilgrimage): How It Is to Be Done

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Sārasvata said:

1-3. He, who carries water of Gaṅgā, honey and clarified butter, saffron, fragrant aloe-wood, sandal, guggula, bilva-leaves, baka-flower, who goes on foot, who has purified his body, who, having put the burden on his shoulders, who, having bathed at the holy place, who, after seeing the dear Viṣṇu, Brahmā, Śaṅkara, would make offerings (to the deities) is freed from all bonds of (i.e. due to) acts. That man becomes a (divine) attendant (Gaṇa) till the universal deluge.

4-8. If a man, along with his wife, friends, sons, brothers or with his relatives goes to a holy place and having thought about the deity, having fashioned an auspicious image of the deity, places it properly in a chariot, and having worshipped it with sandal, aloe-wood, camphor, and saffron, with various flowers, incense, lamp etc., goes, accompanied variously by songs, dances, musical instruments, laughters, dancing, and, O King, giving land, gold, cows, water, food, garments, grass, fuel, agreeable words, he, with his hands held by divine ladies, enjoys, after reaching paradise, beautiful pleasures, as long as the moon and stars (shine in the sky).

9. If a man, moving in a holy place, dies of diseases, without seeing the deity, he would obtain the fruit of having seen the deity.

10-11. Having thought over the various defects of the worldly existence, having been free from the bonds of his wife, sons, friends, having realised that the body is bound by main (vices) if he visits all holy places, O King, he, having burnt all sins (committed) from his birth and in other (i.e. previous) births, sees the bright, omnipresent, ancient source of Bhava, and is liberated.

12. At the holy place the words of a Brāhmaṇa should be accepted as authority. A man (visiting a holy place) should offer the (morning, noon and evening) prayer and worship etc. He should offer sesamum-seeds, food fit for an oblation; (such) acts done with faith (are the giver of religious merit).

13. (He should offer) auspicious leaves of Agastya, Bhṛṅgarāja, a flower with a hundred petals, camphor, aloewood, sandal, saffron, Tulasi-leaf.

14. (He should offer) fruits with sesamum and Darbhas with water, on grounds shining with lamps, balls of the size of Bilva-fruits.

15a. (All this) offered at a holy place by the mortals, multiplies indefinitely.

15b-17a. At the time of the Sun’s passage from one solstice to another, at an equinoctial point, on Saṃkrānti (i.e. on the day of the Sun’s passage from one Zodiacal sign into another), on eclipse-days, at the end of a month, in the second half of a month, on the day of the death of father or mother, at the time of the solar eclipse, on the thirteenth day of a month, when wealth is obtained, the best Brāhmaṇa should perform a Śrāddha at his house for paying off the debt of his dead ancestors.

17b. Śrāddha performed in (i.e. on the bank of) a river meeting the ocean is hundred times more effective.

18-19. O King, if a man performs Śrāddha at Prabhāsa, Puṣkara, in (i.e. on the bank of) Gaṅgā, at Piṇḍatāraka in Prayāga, in (i.e. on the bank of the river) Gomatī facing Bhava and Dāmodara, or at a holy place like (the bank of rivers like) Narmadā, being free from all sins, attains beatitude.

20. Getting good progeny, enjoying excellent pleasures, he, getting into a divine aeroplane, ultimately goes to Heaven.

21. One should perform Vṛddhiśrāddha (i.e. an offering made to the Manes on prosperous occasions like the birth of a son), at the sacrifices performed at the birth of a child, at the time of a marriage, performing a sacrifice, at the time of the installation of (the image of) a deity.

22. All deities are gratified, all dead ancestors are satisfied, everything auspicious takes place in the house of him who performs Vṛddhiśrāddha.

23-26. O best king, if a man lives in his house avoiding such faults as desire of sensual enjoyments, anger, greed, infatuation, drinking liquor, intoxication, deceit, jealousy, calumny, imprudence, doubt, ego, randam [random?] act, fickleness, unsteadiness, too much exertion, want of exertion, error, deceit, rash act, laziness, procrastination, enjoying another’s wife, eating less, fasting, lamentation, theft, he is the ornament of that land, the country and the city.

27. He is rich, learned and well-born. He alone is the best man. To him accrues (the religious merit of) bathing at all holy places.

28. Then the fruit of (staying at) a holy place is well produced in the case of him who has given up (i.e. who is free from) defects. A bath, prayer (at three times in a day), muttering of prayers, a sacrifice, pleasing manes, gods and sages, a Śrāddha, worship of the deities becomes (fruitful) in his case.

29-32. If a man (even) once visits any of the holy places on the earth like Prayāga, Kurukṣetra, (the bank of) Sarasvatī, (the coast of) an ocean, Gaṅgā, abode of Rudra, hermitage of Nara and Nārāyaṇa, Prabhāsa, Puṣkara, Kṛṣṇa, (the bank of) Gomatī, Piṇḍatāraka, Vastrāpatha, the holy mountain, Dāmodara, Bhīmeśvara, on the bank of Narmadā, place of Skanda, and Rāmeśvara and Mahākāla at Ujjayinī, (Śiva) at Vārāṇasī, any holy place on the earth, (bank of) Kālindī, Mathurā, he, (even) guilty of sins like the murder of a Brāhmaṇa, is freed.

33-35. O King, those—even a worm, a moth, a bird, or even a pig, a donkey, a camel, an elephant, a horse, a deer, a lion, or reptiles - who, knowingly or unknowingly die at (any one of) those places, all those, meritorious ones, having enjoyed great happiness in Heaven, are born among human beings of the four castes due to the bondage of their acts; and quickly casting off the bondage of acts, they are finally delivered.

36-37. After enjoying pleasures in Heaven due to death at a holy place, they having come to Bhārata Khaṇḍa, the land of their acts and very prosperous, full of many wonders, and adorned with many mountains, are delighted. (In Bharata) all rivers like Gaṅgā have met the oceans.

38. (In it) there are many holy places, by remembering which all the sins are destroyed.

39. Many roads leading to the Nether world (are seen). So also is seen the path to Heaven. The Sun is seen in the sky. Hara is seen in the heart.

40. The triad of the worlds is seen by means of meditation, contemplation, penance, speech, and by means of the words of the preceptors. The triad of the worlds is seen by means of truth and boldness only.

41. Those men, who do not see the world by means of the Vedas, Smṛtis and Purāṇas, so also the Nether world and the Heaven, are duped here.

42. So also are duped those who are lustful and stupid. The body of excellent ladies is of another kind; and they think it to be different.

43. Attached to their birth places the creatures are reborn. Again falling off from the path of deliverance they are born in the species of beasts.

44. They (not) of pure conscience, who having received (ample) wealth do not worship and offer (even) a cowrie to the chief Brāhmaṇa are mean men, ill-fated, and are (as good as) dead.

45a. Similar are persons, who in spite of getting a strong, unaging body, and youth, do not go to Gaṅgā etc.

46. How is the man who does not have (with him, his) mother, father, son, relative, wife, sister, daughter, and goes (all) alone (on a pilgrimage [i.e., yātrā]) not pained! The fool does not know Maheśvara. Those mean men who after bathing do not see Hara, the great Lord, are carried off by fate.