Chapter 24 - Kṛṣṇa’s boon and the account of Candra Śarmā (Candraśarman)

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

[Full title: Dvārakā’s greatness: Kṛṣṇa’s boon and the account of Candra Śarmā [Candraśarman]]

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:

1. O king! after the forefathers in the appearance of ghosts made such statements, Candra Śarmā [Candraśarman]—the best of Brāhmaṇas then went to Dvārakā.

2. The foremost Brāhmaṇa visited regularly that particular spot at Dvārakā where Kṛṣṇa happened to be present along with Rukmiṇī. He also visited other centres of pilgrimage there.

3. The gods always remain there, where yajñas are performed regularly. The sages and ascetics adept in yoga also put up there.

4. Dvārakā is such a city which grants wishes of all and the city is served by all—the accomplished, the divine singers, the divine beauties and men including those having deformed bodies.

5. Dvārakā is the city where Gomatī—one of the stepping stones to heaven flows. The prominent Brāhmaṇa happened to have a sight of the same city which grants liberation to human beings.

6. One gets rid of sins like Brahmicide by entering into its territory. So, who will not like to serve this city repositing such power of remittances by a mere sight only?

7. After going to the city of Kṛṣṇa, i.e. Dvārakā, Candra Śarmā [Candraśarman] had a sight of both the Gomatī and the sea. Thinking within to have become self-fulfilled he considered his youthful life to be quite fortunate.

8. After seeing the beautiful city of Kṛṣṇa as well as the lotuslike face of Kṛṣṇa, the Brāhmaṇa felt gratified enough to consider himself fortunate on earth.

9. After seeing the face of Kṛṣṇa and the attractive idol of Rukmiṇī as well as the city of Dvārakā, the Brāhmaṇa thought to himself, “What use, crore of centres of pilgrimage are left with for him to serve?”

10. The Brāhmaṇa told himself that he got the opportunity to have a look of the auspicious Dvārāvat by virtue of thousands and lakhs of meritorious deeds on his part. It was indeed a matter of his great fortune that he had availed the same opportunity on the twelfth day of the brighter period of moon in the month of Vaiśākha (i.e. April) implying observance of religious rites for the sake of Madhusūdana (i.e. Kṛṣṇa).

11. The twelfth day of the month of Vaiśākha (i.e. April) demarcated for religious observance in respect of Madhusūdana and known as Trispruśo [Trispṛśā?] is a destroyer of hundreds and crores of sins. Those human beings who religiously observe this day may be considered as fortunate.

12. If the day meant for religious observance called Trispruśo [Trispṛśā?] falls on a Wednesday, by worshipping Lord Viṣṇu at Dvārākā with performance of yajña men can attain those fruits which may not be possible even through service of crores of centres of pilgrimage.

13. Telling himself within like this that best of Brāhmaṇas (i.e. Candra Śarmā [Candraśarman]) took resort to the shore of Gomatī. He took a bath there as per the decrees of Śāstras and followed it up with the observance of prescribed religious rituals.

14. After bathing he made libations in honour of his divine forefathers as per stated procedure. Then the king, after obtaining the auspicious stone having the imprint / image of discus of Kṛṣṇa on it from Cakratīrtha he did the religious duty of worship of the same as per laid down procedure in the Puruṣa hymn of Ṛg Veda.

15. After this, remembering words of his forefathers, he worshipped Śiva and made offering of balls of cooked rice in honour of his forefathers as per laid down procedure.

16. He offered masseuse, clothes, flowers, incense sticks and lighted earthen lamps. Fully aware in mind, he offered sweet potato as food to the deity.

17. He made offering of betel leaves (to the God), Then he lighted lamps and thereafter adding camphor to the flame of the same lamp, paid homage to the God reciting hymns repeatedly. While moving the lighted lamp before the deity as a functional need of worship, he made round of the circumference of deity again and again.

18-39. He stayed up the entire night as a matter of religious observance and pleaded for God’s pardon while making round of the deity. In the process, the three broad divisions of the day as per the time framework of eight hours per each division passed. Then Candra Śarmā [Candraśarman] said, “O Kṛṣṇa! listen to the words of mine—the pitiable and helpless. Keśava! please rescue me as I have been deeply affected with the fear of worldly existence. Even the devotees who might have committed sins in their lives, do not put up with sorrows by service at your lotus-feet. So what to speak of men who are sinless and who comply with the religious observance meant for the twelfth day of the month of Vaiśākha (i.e. April) specifically demarcated for your worship? My ancestor forefathers told me that they had been afflicted with sins for committing religious observance on the forbidden tenth day of a month. Janārdana! I have come to you seeking your favour/kindness so as to do away with the effects on them as part of their bad/unconducive/unfavourable deeds on that count. O Kṛṣṇa! they stayed awake for the entire night as part of the religious observance meant for the twelfth day of the month on that day which as it is, was a forbidden day. Let their sins get nullified like dissolution of salt in water. Due to their religious observance on that forbidden day, my grandfathers have got into the highly sorrowful state of ghost-hood. O Lord of the world! please tell me as to how could I liberate my ancestor grandfathers from their state of ghost-hood? I shall try my best to comply with the same for the sake of their release. O foremost of the Yadus (i.e. Kṛṣṇa)! shower your grace on them. Infatuated with ignorance, they could not worship you. Me the sinner, has taken complete refuge in the faithful devotion for Śiva. Neither have I shown devotion towards you nor have I complied with the religious observance of that particular day meant exclusively for you. O Kṛṣṇa! neither had I visited Dvārakā ever before nor had I have a bath in the waters of Gomatī. I did not also take a look of this lotus-feet of yours which is. a giver of liberation. All the good fruits earned by my having a look of the Lord Someśvara had become futile by my not undertaking a visit to Dvārakā. O chief of the Gods! my ancestral forefathers have already told all this minutely to me. Hence, O Keśava! let you grace me so that the merits earned by me before by my good deeds do not go in vain. O son of Devakī! I have seen your face which is difficult to have in the three worlds and about which I did not hear in the Purāṇas. I may remember that even though Śīśupāla, etc. tried to harm you and invited your anger, they attained liberation by getting killed in your hands. Since today, it will be my earnest duty to worship you every day. I shall continue to do so even on the day forbidden specially for your worship and shall have food after observing ritual for half of a day. It will be my avowed duty to observe the religious activities meant for the twelfth day of a month which you are quite fond of. Besides, due regard of those having faith in Bhāgavat (i.e. cult espousing faith in Viṣṇu) will be my averred duty superior to life and wealth. I shall always read out the book containing your one thousand names. It will be my duty to regularly worship you with your favourite basil leaves. On the advent of the day meant for religious observance by staying up the entire night in your reverence, I shall bear the garland made of basil wood onto myself and engage in dancing and singing. Visit to Dvārakā everyday will be my duty. I shall listen to the sayings in books on you to be conversant with your varied accounts. Every day, with all devotion, I shall touch my head to the water of your feet. I shall also eat the food which I offer as a matter of worship with all devotion. With due regard, I shall bear on my head the flowers left over after offering to you. I shall always offer you eatables of which you are fond of. Like this, all that by virtue of which your pleasure may be induced, will be my duty in the most significant manner. In this way, O Kṛṣṇa! I have put forth before you, my desirable pursuit of devotion/faith in you.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa said:

40-41. Let there be your welfare Candra Śarmā [Candraśarman]—the good Brāhmaṇa. Along with you, your grandfathers will come to my world. Look at your ancestral grandfathers being seated on Garuḍa, i.e the Golden eagle. The good Brāhmaṇa, they have become free from ghost-hood by my grace.”

The grandfathers said:

42-70. O son! we have obtained liberation undoubtedly by your grace. We have got release from the ghost wombs by having a look of the face of Kṛṣṇa. Fortunate are the human beings in the world as well as their sons, grandsons and great grandsons who after having a look of Somanātha have taken a look of Kṛṣṇa at Dvārakā. Fortunate is that widow who has undergone a visit for the sake of having a look of Kṛṣṇa (at Dvārakā). Such action on her part rescues a hundred members of her clan besides her from the Hell. The outcaste who undertakes such a conjugated visit (i.e. visit to have a look of Śaṃkara followed up by a visit to have a look of Hari), he obtains the ultimate liberation and he gets accompanied by his forefathers in such attainment. After undergoing repeated pilgrimage to the same place, i.e. Dvārakā, one who stays there as a follow-up to asceticism he never returns from the abode of Viṣṇu for hundreds and crores of years of the subsistence of creation. What use of earning merits for one by visiting crores of centres of pilgrimage located on the shores of water bodies if after having a look of the Lord Someśvara, he neither takes a look of the face of Kṛṣṇa nor does he take a bath in the waters of Gomatī? He definitely deprives himself (by doing so). His forefathers in the divine kingdom reprobate him for such sinful action of not visiting Dvārakā after having a sight of Someśvara. The merit that is derived from a hundred pilgrimages is implied in just having a look of Kṛṣṇa following a look of Someśvara, i.e. Śiva. Souperṇya [Sauparṇya?], i.e. the Garuḍa Purāṇa states so. All his deeds in worldly existence have gone in vain under the tutelage of infatuation/ignorance who has not taken a look of the God Kṛṣṇa after having a look of Someśvara. By coming to Prabhāsa and having a sincere look of Kṛṣṇa, a man can earn fruits amounting to ten thousand visits to Prabhāsa. This is because all pilgrimages, all gods and all yajñas materialize by remaining present before or in proximty of Kṛṣṇa and having a look of him—the embodiment of yajñas in the three time durations of the day. So the son! what is the use of visiting various centres of pilgrimage or for that matter of choosing to stay in many places of pilgrimage? The fruits of all centres of pilgrimage can be acquired by a sight of Dvārāvat. After killing Kaṃsa, Jarāsandha and the demon Naraka, Kṛṣṇa—the son of Devakī had relieved the Earth of the burden of their sinful deeds. Then he set up the beautiful city of Dvārāvat near the sea. With an exalted mind Kṛṣṇa put up there seeking the pleasure of company of beautiful women. Brahmā, Agni (i.e. Fire God) Vayu (i.e. Air God) Sun God, Vāsava (i.e. Indra), the rising day, mortals, Brāhmaṇas, kings, the king of Nāgas from Hell remain there. Rivers, rivulets, mountains, natural forests as well as implanted forests and big forests, cities, villages, seas as well as streams remain present there. Yakṣa, demons, Gandharva, the accomplished, Vidyādhara, Rambhā including other divine beauties, sons of Diti like Prahlāda etc., demons like Bibhiṣaṇa [Bibhīṣaṇa/Vibhīṣaṇa?], the wealth-giver and the leader of Yakṣa, i.e. Kubera, sages, saints, the accomplished (i.e. Siddhas) yogis like Sanaka, etc., planets and stars like Dhruva and whatever mobile and inert objects present on earth, always stay there in proximity of Kṛṣṇa. They do not give up the auspicious city of Dvārakā which Kṛṣṇa has made his own. O son! as you have served the city and equally had a sight of Kṛṣṇa, we shall be free from the wombs of ghosts and attain the ultimate passage. Our existing state has been the result of sin of religious observance meant for the twelfth day of a month in honour of Kṛṣṇa on a prohibited day other than this. O son! you have undoubtedly dissipated the same and we shall obtain the ultimate position. The sins incurred on your part for observance of the religious vow meant for the twelfth day on that day marked with debilitations have got minimised by your taking a look of Kṛṣṇa. (Hence, in future) continue the religious observance of the twelfth day of the month meant for Kṛṣṇa. You must always protect yourself from the debilitating effect associated with the religious observance in honour of Kṛṣṇa meant for the twelfth day or the tenth day of the month. Otherwise, you shall again return to the womb of ghost without any doubt. The son! sins as far as possible in the three worlds can equally happen to occur on the earth’s surface by religious observance laid down for the twelfth day of the month in the name of Kṛṣṇa on some other forbidden day. There is no room for atonement of religious observance of the day meant for Hari on the day marked with poignancy/ stake. Those who do so cannot go to heaven even after passing out of one hundred ages of creation as per calculation of Manu. O son! ghost-hood is intolerable. More intolerable than this are the torments inflicted upon by Yama. Hence, the son! one can never be called upon to observe the religious vow of twelfth day implicated with poignancy. Those who do so, do it out of ignorance and motivated by fraud or some elements of roguism. They all along with their fathers get into the wombs of ghosts. Observance of the religious vow meant for the twelfth day on the stakeful tenth day is destructive for children. Besides, it destroys all good deeds of the past as well as the reposing of faith in Kṛṣṇa. Let there be your welfare (O son!). We shall head to the abode of Viṣṇu following our obtaining His position. We shall not come back again to the denomination of life and rebirth.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa said:

71-91. O Candra Śarmā [Candraśarman]—the best of Brāhmaṇas! I have been pleased with your devotion. Though a Śaiva, you have become a Vaiṣṇava. Though you have not religiously observed the day of mine for seventy-nine years, the same has become complete beyond doubt by my grace. Through your heart-touching observance of fasting on the day meant for me and called Trispruśo [Trispṛśā?] and by the grace of Dvārakā as well as by your having a look of mine, this has become possible. You did not worship me due to your ignorance and due to your infatuation under devotion towards Śiva. I have however actuated the same by my grace. The best of Brāhmaṇas! those who take a look of mine at Dvārakā in the month of Vaiśākha (i.e. April) or otherwise do the same on the specific day meant for me and known as Trispruśo [Trispṛśā?] and on the day called Banjula [Vañjuli?], i.e. the day when cows give maximum milk and during the period when days begin to open up and extend in duration and during the fortnight showing rising or growing period of the moon, no crime including the crime of Brahmicide committed by them will even continue to have any validity for them. Even a man who by his natural disposition continues to do good deeds since his birth like a learned one can have his share of fruits by taking a sight of my city (i.e. Dvārakā). Fruits resulting from visit to all centres of pilgrimage on the surface of earth including Prabhāsa can equally be had by having a look of my city and listening to its accounts. By reading out - wherever it may be—the eminence of the city of Dvārakā on my birth day (i.e. the eighth day of the dark period of the fortnight of Śrāvaṇa i.e. month of August) one can earn merits by my grace. The virtues one earns by residing in my city (i.e. Dvārakā) and by taking a look of mine without fail for three times a day, i.e. during morning, noon and evening, can be had equally in the Kaliyuga by reading its (i.e. the city’s) account. In this Kaliyuga, O the best of Brāhmaṇas! Kāśī, Mathurā, Avantī, Ayodhyā, Māyā (i.e., Gayā), Kāñcī, my city (i.e. Dvārakā), the beautiful Śāligrāma, the prolific Badarī, sites denomitated as auspicious like Kurukṣetra, Bhṛgukṣetra and Puṣkara, Prayāga, Prabhāsa, Hātakeśvara [Hāṭakeśvara?], Gaṅgādvāra, the place of confluence of Gaṅgā with the sea where elephants throw water by their trunks, the forests such as Naimiśa, Dandaka [Daṇḍaka Araṇya?] and Vṛndāvana, places of pilgrimage on the shores of Sindhu, i.e. Indus as well as all the temples on Arbuda—are all similar to Dvārakā. O the best of Brāhmaṇas! even all (auspicious) forests, (meritorious places in) Magadha [Māgadha?], various pools of water, the foremost mountain Himālaya including its snowcapped peaks, all rivers flowing on the earth’s surface like Gaṅgā, etc. and all centres of pilgrimage encompassing three time zones are equal to the city of Dvārakā. The exception of my city in the Kaliyuga is that it holds together all these places of pilgrimage. O Brāhmaṇa! access to my city as well as an enabling look of mine can only be possible for you by putting in efforts of one hundred years. The virtuous soul! your death will occur by my grace on my day named as Trispruśo [Trispṛśā?] during the brighter fortnight of the month of Vaiśākha, i.e. April. Life-force will leave your body before me passing through the tenth door of my land here, i.e. Dvārakā on Wednesday. And the learned soul! this will happen undoubtedly by my grace. (Now) the Brāhmaṇa, go back to your own place. All of your desires will be fulfilled. My devotees do not get destroyed even at the final end of creation. My human devotees never get carried away by anything ominus. Indeed nothing ominus can really exist for crore of their clan members.

Mārkaṇḍeya said:

92-95. Then as one hundred years passed out, in the process of the Brāhmaṇa, i.e. Candra Śarmā [Candraśarman]’s regular visits to Dvārāvat, he gave up life as per the advice of Kṛṣṇa and attained liberation. Indradyumna! I have thus narrated to you the greatness of Dvārakā and how it happened. I shall describe you again if there is any question or inquisitiveness (arising) in your mind. By listening to or reading about the magnificient greatness of Dvārakā one can obtain all fruits. Kṛṣṇa has said so. By propagating about the abode of Kṛṣṇa here, i.e. Dvārakā through writing, one can derive the same virtues attended with an actual visit to Dvārakā invoking Kṛṣṇa’s grace.