5b. Greatness of Gaṅgā

According to Agnipurāṇa, river Gaṅgā should be worshipped. She provides enjoyment and liberation. The countries through which she flows are holy and excellent.^[1] It is the guidance for the beings who exercise it always.^[2] One who worships the Ganges for a month gets the fruits of all sacrificial rites.^[3] The goddess destroys all the sins and access to heavens. One continues to stay in heavens as long as his bones remain in the waters of the Ganges.^[4] Blind people and others attain equal status with the celestials by worshipping her.^[5] The river purifies hundreds and thousands of holy men, who look at it, touch it, drink its waters and repeat the word Ganges.^[6]

According to Nāradapurāṇa, Gaṅgā is the bestower of auspicious things and salvation forever.Gaṅgā alone is the primordial Prakṛti. She is lord Nārāyaṇa. Gaṅgā is considered great Ātman and great Śiva. He, who recites this hymn everyday with devotion or listens to this with faith, is liberated from the tenfold defect, physical and verbal. The patient will be liberated from the ailment and the unlucky from miseries and mishaps. People are liberated from the enemies, from the bondage and fears, attains all desires. After death, he gets absorbed into the Brahman.^[7] In the house where this hymn is written down and is honoured, there is no fear from arson, larceny or sinful activities.^[8] The people who stand in the waters of the Gaṅgā and repeat this hymn ten times on the Daśamī (tenth) day attain all the benefit of worshipping Gaṅgā.^[9] Gaṅgā is the daughter of Brahmā. Those men who leave off their vital breaths by casting their bodies into the Gaṅgā go to the world of Viṣṇu acclaimed by those who are domiciled in the heaven.^[10] He, who dies partially due to observance of fast and partially due to being drowned in the Gaṅgā, is not reborn. He attains identity with Brahman.^[11] The man who dies in the Gaṅgā attains heavenly pleasures and salvation with or without knowledge. While dying, if a man remember the Gaṅgā or touches it, he attains the greatest salvation even if he is a habitual sinner.^[12] Gaṅgā came out of the cluster of the matted hair of Sambhū which is very rough and hard. It flowed over the sons of Sagara who were sinners and led them to the heaven.^[13] If any one’s bones are thrown away into the Gaṅgā water within ten days from his death, he attains salvation.^[14] Even a man staying a hundred yojanas away from the Gaṅgā and uttering repeatedly the name of Gaṅgā, is also released from all sins.^[15] Bath taken into the Gaṅgā is highly meritorious. Even sinners taking their bath in the Gaṅgā become absolved of all their sins.^[16] Gaṅgā sanctifies the world when bathed in it, or when its waters are drunk. Thus, it is called Pāvanī(purifier).^[17] He who mentions the two syllables Gaṅ-gā even for once becomes completely liberated from all sins and goes to the region of Viṣṇu.^[18] Gaṅgā is the holiest among all the holy rivers. There is no other sacred water like that of the Gaṅgā. The Gāyatrī is the mother of all Vedic metres. The Gaṅgā is the mother of the world. Both of them are the cause of destruction of all sins.^[19] If anyone is favoured Gāyatrī, the Gaṅgā too is pleased with him. Both of these possess the potency of Viṣṇu. Both equally bestow desired objects as well as renown.^[20] Both of them are quite pure. They are the fructification of the Puruṣarthas, i.e. desired objects of human life, viz. dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa from saṃsāra.^[21] The person, who is sprinkled with at least a drop of water of Gaṅgā, is liberated from all sins and he attains the highest region, Vaikuṇṭha.^[22]

The same description of the river Gaṅgā is found in the Padmapurāṇa also. According to Padmapurāṇa, a man who dies in Gaṅgā deliberetly or undeliberately obtains heaven and salvation.^[23] A man, who puts on his head the clay of the bank of Gaṅgā, is free from all sins, even without bathing in Gaṅgā.^[24] As long as a bone of a man remains in the water of Gaṅgā, he is honoured for a thousand years in heaven.^[25] The man, who would carry the piece of the bone of his parents to Gaṅgā, obtains the fruit of a horse-sacrifice.^[26] People obtain great religious merit, viz. the fruit of the bath in Gaṅgā by describing it to other.^[27] He who would utters the word Gaṅgā even from a distance of hundreds of yojanas from Gaṅgā, is liberated from all sins and goes Viṣṇu’s heaven.^[28]

The Mahābhārata also expresses the greatness of Gaṅgā. It states that after the death if the bones of the dead are deposited in Gaṅgā, the departed soul will attain heaven. Even, one had sinned throughout his life, he would attain Viṣṇu pada (heaven), if he worshipped Gaṅgā. If one bathes in the river Gaṅgā, it is as beneficial as performing hundred yajñas. It is stated in the Mahābhārata that as long as the bones of one remain in the waters of the Gaṅgā so long he will occupy an honourable seat in heaven. It is also said that he who has come in contact with its water will shine forth as the sun devoid of all darkness and the places which are not favoured by its waters will become barren like night without the moon and trees without flowers. The water of Gaṅgā is more than enough to satisfy living things in all the three worlds. The person who does penance standing on one leg for thousands years, and he who gives up his body in the waters of the Gaṅgā, are on a par with each other. It is said that god attaches more importance to him who has fallen into the Gaṅgā than to him, who has performed tapas hanging by his head for a thousand years. He who stains the sand on the banks of the Gaṅgā on his body will get the luster and glow of the devas. People will shine forth like the Sun if he stains the sand on his head. All the sins of those who have blown the air which had come in contact with Gaṅgā water will be swept away. It should be mentioned that Gaṅgā water can wash off all sins and purify mortals.^[29]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

gaṅgāmāhātmyamākhyāsye sevyā sā bhuktimuktidā | yesāṃ madhye yāti gaṅgā te deśāh pāvanā varāḥ || Agni Purāṇa,110.1

[2]:

gartirgaṅgā tu bhutānāṃ gatimanvesatāṃ sadā | gaṅgā tārayate cobhau vaṃśau nityaṃ hi sevitā || Ibid.,110.2

[3]:

cāndrāyanasahasrācca gañgāmbhaḥ pānamuttamam | gaṅgāṃ māsaṃ tu saṃsevya sarvajñaphalaṃ labhet || Ibid.,110.3

[4]:

sakalāghaharī devī svargalokapradāyinī | yāvadasthi ca gaṅgayāṃ tāvatsvarge sa tiṣṭhati || Ibid.,110.4

[5]:

andhādayastu tāṃ sevya devairgacccanti tulyatāṃ | gaṅgātīrthasamudbhūtamrdhārī so’ghahārkavat || Ibid.,110.5

[6]:

darśanātsparśanātpānāttathā gaṅgetikīrttanāt | punāti puṇyapurusāñccataśo’tha sahasraśaḥ || Ibid.,110.6

[7]:

yo’sau sarvagato viṣṇuścitsvarūpī janardanaḥ | sa eva drava rūpeṇa gaṅgābo matra saṃśayaḥ || Nāradīya Purāṇa, 43.84-87

[8]:

Ibid., 43.88

[9]:

Ibid., 43.89-90

[10]:

Ibid.,43.95

[11]:

Ibid., 43.96

[12]:

Ibid.,43.101-103

[13]:

Ibid.,43.108

[14]:

Ibid.,43.112

[15]:

Ibid., 6.12

[16]:

Ibid., 6.15,16

[17]:

Ibid., 6.33

[18]:

Idid., 6.27

[19]:

Ibid., 6.63

[20]:

Ibid., 6.64

[21]:

Ibid., 6.65

[22]:

Ibid.,6.69

[23]:

Padma Purāṇa, 1.62.53-56

[24]:

Ibid.,1.62.64

[25]:

Ibid.,1.62.66

[26]:

Ibid.,1.62.68

[27]:

Ibid.,1.62.73

[28]:

Ibid.,1.62.76

[29]:

Mahābhārata, Ch., 26