The Greatness of Kasi (concluded)

1. Now I shall narrate to you the excellent glory of the Ganga as it flows through Varanasi. It yields worldly pleasure as well as Liberation from Samsara after death.

2. Whatever meritorious deed is performed in Avi- mukta shall attain everlasting benefit. No sinner, after going to Avimukta, falls into the hell.

3-4a. О auspicious lady, the sin that is committed at Avimukta shall remain adamantine.1 All the salvation-yielding Tirthas in the three worlds, all of them entirely resort to the Ganga which flows towards the north at Kasi.

4b-6a. He who takes bath, at Dasasvamedha and visits Shiva, Visvesvara (Lord of the universe) shall immediately become free from sins and is liberated from worldly ties. Everywhere the Ganga is holy and dispeller of the sin of murder of a Brahmana. Especially it is so at Varanasi where (the Ganga) flows towards the north.

6b-7a. Merely by taking bath at the confluence of Varana, Asl and Jahnavl, a man is liberated from all sins.

7b-8a. By taking the holy dip in the Ganga that flows towards the north at Kasi, in the months of Karttika as well as Magha, men are liberated from Mahapatakas (great sins) and other evils.

8b-9. О highly blessed lady, the well-known Tirthas in all the worlds come always to the Jahnavl at Kasi at the time of Parvans (holy occasions) alongwith the holy shrines.

10-11a. It is to wipe off their own sins originating from their contact with persons defiled by the defects of great sins, that they go everyday to the Ganga that flows towards the north at Kasi. The waters of Ganga are conducive to liberation from all sorts of sins.

11b-13a. О gentle lady, salvation may or may not be obtained in the course of a hundred births by an intelligent devotee who is engaged in holy rites in other holy centres. But here, by the death in the Ganga at KashI, salvation is attained in the course of a single birth by a man whose Atman is not turned round (to the good path?).

13b-14. О beautiful lady, a deep pool named Dharma- nada is famous there itself. Dliarma (piety) stands embodied there and destroys great sins. The dust thereof purges all sins. It is auspicious and it consists of all Tirthas.

15-16. The river Dhutapapa shall dispel multitudes of great sins like the tree on its banks. The following five rivers have been glorified: — viz: Kirana, Dhutapfipa, Sarasvati of the holy waters, Ganga and Yamuna. Hence, the holy centre Paftcanada1 (spot of five rivers) has become well-known in all the three worlds.

17-I8a. He who plunges into that holy river does not take up the physical body consisting of five elements (i.e. is liberated). Merely by taking bath in this confluence of five rivers, that dispels all sins, a man pierces through the bower of cosmic egg and goes to the Brahman and realises salvation.

18b-19a. Certainly, one attains in a single day by a holy dip in the Panchanada at Kasi, the same benefit as is obtained by means of an elaborate bath and ablution at Prayaga throughout the month of Magha.

19b-20a. By taking the holy dip in the Tirtha of Panchanada, by performing the rite of Tarpana for the Pitrs and by worshipping Vishnu, the lord of Lakshmi, one never takes rebirth.

1. VV. 15-40 describe the glory of Райса-nada. It is so-called as there is a confluence of five rivers viz. the Kirana, Dhuta-Papa, Sarasvati, Gafiga and Yamuna. And Panchaganga ghat at Varanasi is regarded as the place of this confluence. Actually there is only the Ganga at the Ghat, the existence of other four rivers is a matter of faith. Dharma-nada, Dhuta Papaka, Bindu-saras and Райса-nada are the names of the same holy centre chronologically in Krta, Treta, Dvapara and Kali ages. Cf. Sk. P. IV. 59.115-117. VV. 101-113 of the same chapter give interesting stories regarding the names of tributaries (to the Ganga) viz. Dhuta-Papa, Kirana.

20b-21a. The satisfaction of the Pitrs lasts for as many years as the number of gingelly seeds offered to the Pitrs in the course of the water-libation in the holy Tlrtha of Paftcanada.

21b-22a. The ancestors of those by whom the Ssaddha rite has been performed in the splendid Tlrtha of Paftcanada with great faith, shall be liberated, though they may have been born in different wombs.

22b-24a. In the world of Yama this song is being sung by the groups of Pitrs. “After seeing the greatness of Panchanada in regard to the performance of Sraddha rites, some-one belonging to our family may perform Sraddha whereby we may be able to go to the Panchanada Tlrtha at KasI and be liberated”.

24b-26a. If any wealth is given as gift in the holy centre of Panchanada, the merit that accrues to one does not dwindle even after Kalpas pass away. Even a barren lady will certainly give birth to a son if she takes her holy dip in the deep pool of the Panchanada for a whole year and worships Mangala Gauri.

26b-27a. By performing holy ablution of the goddess well-known in all quarters (Dik-Sruta) with the holy waters of the Panchanada filtered by means of the cloth, one attains great benefit.

27b-28a. A drop of the water of the Panchanada was weighed against pots of Panchamrta hundred and eight in number and was found to be superior to it.

28b-29a. By drinking a drop of the waters of Panchanada with great faith, one attains that purity which is said to be acquired when Pancha-gavya is drunk.

29b-32. By taking the holy dip in the waters of the Paftcanada, one attains hundred times the benefit acquired by Rajasuya and Asvamedha sacrifices. The Rajasuya and Asvamedha sacrifices may be the means for attaining heaven, but through the waters of Paftcanada liberation is attained from Dvandva (mutually opposing pairs e.g. Pleasure-Pain) that covers up even the Brahman (i.e. Avidya). Even the ablution with the waters of heavenly river is not so much approved of by good men as that of the Paftcanada. It is the bestower of boons not obtained from others. By taking the holy dip for once in the Paftcanada in the month of Karttika, one derives the same benefit as is obtained by performing penance in the Krta age for a hundred years.

33-36. In the bath through the waters of the Paftcanada, one gets more benefit than is obtained through the holy rites of Istapurta performed in the course of whole life elsewhere. There is no other Tirtha on the whole of the Earth, like Dhiitapapa since, through a single bath therein, the entire sin accumulated in the course of three births perishes. In the Krta age Dharmanada is the holy Tirtha, in the Treta, it is Dhiitapapa; in the Dvapara it is Bindutlrlha and in the Kali it is Paftcanada. By making the gift of gold of the weight of a Guftja-berry in the Bindutirtha, no man shall ever become indigent. He is never devoid of happiness.

37-38a. By giving anything, whether it is a cow, a plot of land, gingclly seeds, gold, a horse, clothes, cooked rice, position or ornament, in the Bindutirtha, one shall attain an ever lasting benefit.

38b-39a. By offering a single Ahuti in accordance with the injunctions in a well-kindled fire in the holy Tirtha of Dharmanada, one shall attain the benefit of a crore of Hoinas.

39b-40. No one is competent to describe adequately the endless greatness of the Paftcanada Tirtha that is the abode of all splendour of the four-fold aims of life. Thus, О gentle lady, the excellent greatness of Kasi has been recounted to you.

It is destructive of sins. Even a Brahmana-slayer, a drink-addict, a thief of gold, a defiler of the preceptor’s bed or a person guilty of principal and subsidiary sins shall attain purity on hearing the greatness of Avimukta.

43. A Brahmana shall become a great scholar of the Vedas; a Kshatriya shall be victorious in battle; a Vaisya shall be the lord of wealth and a iSftdra shall be an associate of the devotees of Vishnu.

44-46. О blessed lady, by listening to this, by reading this frequently, one attains all those benefits that are mentioned in the case of all Yajfias (sacrifices) and all the merits in the case of all Tirthas. He who seeks learning shall obtain learning. He who seeks wealth shall obtain wealth. He who seeks wife shall get a wife and he who seeks son shall obtain a son. The greatness of Avimukta has been recounted #to you by me.

47-48. This must be imparted to a devotee of Vishnu or to one engaged in devotion to!shiva or to a devotee of the mother of the universe or to one who serves the sun and Vighnesvara. By giving this to a person rendering service to his preceptor, one shall attain the benefit of the holy dip in a Tirtha. By giving this to a rogue, a person who censures, a person who hates Brahmanas, cows, and Devas, a person who is malicious towards the elderly persons or a person who is jealous of them, one may attain death.

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