Restrictions While Observing the Kartika Vow

Shaunaka said:

1. O Suta, O sage, please tell me properly the rites and restrictions (to be observed) in the best month Kartika. Suta said:

2-7. O best brahmana, a man, being pure, should (begin to) observe the vow of the Kartika month on (i.e. from) the full moon of Asvina (and should continue it) till the Udbodhini (i.e. the eleventh day of the bright fortnight of Kartika). O brahmana, a man should excrete or pass urine by facing the north during the day time. He should observe silence (while excreting or passing urine); and O you omniscient one, he should excrete or pass urine by facing the south during the night. O brahmana, he who has undertaken the vow (of Kartika) should not excrete or pass urine on a path, in water, in a cowpen, in a crematory or an anthill. He should not excrete or pass urine at excellent places. Taking pure clay he should first wash his left hand with clay and water for cleansing it twenty times. He should apply it (i.e. the clay) once to his generative organ and five times to his anus, ten times to his left hand, and then ten times to both (his hands), and three times to (each of) his feet. Then he should cleanse his face and then resolve to bathe.

8-10a. Meditating on Damodara (i.e. Krishna) in his mind, he should then recite this hymn: " O Janardana, in (the month of) Kartika I shall every morning have a bath that destroys sins, to please Krishna with Radha.. O ShriKrishna, my salutation to Pankajanabha (i.e. Vishnu) lying in water; my salutation to you along with Radha. Accept the objects (I am offering and) be pleased with me."

10b-21a. Then he should bathe and put on the mark. If he, being without the Urdhvapundra1 (i.e. upright lines made on the forehead), does any act, all that (i.e. the entire) act of him becomes fruitless. This is the truth that I am telling. That body of a human being which is without the Urdhvapundra should not be seen. If one sees it, one should look at the sun. Even a candala, on whose forehead white upright lines are made with clay, is of a pure soul. There is no doubt that he is venerable. There is no doubt that on the heads of those mean men who make the Urdhvapundra without a hollow, the foot of a dog is always (placed). O brahmana, having finished the rite spoken (i.e. laid down) for the morning, he should, according to his capacity, worship TulasI that destroys sins. Then, O brahmana, having, with his mind concentrated, listened to Vishnu's account from a Purana, he who observes the vow, should devoutly and duly worship him. O brahmana, a man should always avoid (using) the seat of another person, avoid food of others, so also the bed of another person, and another man's wife; (he should) especially (avoid these) in Kartika. He who observes the vow (of the Kartika month), should always avoid a jujube, beans, meat and honey, royal beans etc. in Kartika. O brahmana, (he should also avoid) the citron fruit, meat, flower and stale food. Masurika (a kind of pulse) is declared among the grains; the milk of cows is said to be vegetarian; O brahmana, salt is produced from earth; the limb of an animal is meat. O best brahmana, he should use all fluids bought by a brahmana, water remaining in a small lake, practice celibacy in the fourth period, and eat food from a dish made of rows of leaves. He should avoid besmearing his body with oil.

1. Urdhvapundra — Upright lines made on the forehead with some colouring substance. It is one of (he five sariiskaras that a devotee ofVasudeva was supposed to undergo. The other four are: Tapa (branding on the arm and other limbs), Name (Names, of Vasudeva), Mantra (a hymn), Yaga (worship of the images of Vasudevao).

21b~35. He who observes the Kartika-vow, should avoid mushrooms, lotus-stalks, asafoetida, onions, leave of (a kind of herb called) putikii, garlic, radish, potherb, so also a gourd, wood-apple, egg-plant, a pumpkin gourd, eating from (a vessel of) bell metal, (food) cooked twice, the food prepared by a lying-in woman, fish, bed and a woman in her period, food prepared by two women and the company of women. O brahmana, a householder should always avoid the dhatri-fruit on a Sunday. On (eating) a pumpkin gourd a man would lose his wealth; on (eating) a brhati he would not remember Vishnu; on (eating) a cucumber there would be no prosperity; on (eating) a radish there would be a loss of strength. One becomes defamed on (eating) bilva; he is born in the stock of an animal on eating nimba; on eating a pahn-fruit there is the loss of the body; there would be folly on (eating) a coconut; a gourd is like the flesh of a cow; on eating kalindaka (the sin) would be (equal to that of) killing a cow. Kidney-beans are said to cause sin. The putika-herb is declared to be causing the murder of a brahmana. On (eating) the egg-plant one's son would be lost; on (eating) beans one would be ill for a long time. On (eating) meat there would be a great sin (incurred); he should avoid (these) on the first day etc. (of the month). A man should give that food, which he would avoid, to a brahmana, and have it in his meal at the end of the vow. As elephants flee away on seeing a lion, the messengers of Yama run away on seeing a man who duly observes the Kartika-vow. O brahmana, the vow of (in honour of) Vishnu is the best; even a hundred sacrifices are not equal to it. By performing a sacrifice he would go to heaven, (while) one who observes the Kartika-vow would go to Vishnu's world. O brahmana, whatever bad deed a man has done through mind, speech or act, perishes in a moment on seeing him who observes the Kartika vow. Even the four-faced Brahma would not be able to narrate the religious merit of him who observes the Kartika-vow as (already) told, observing which, O brahmana, all the sin would go (away) through the fear of him who performs the Kartika-vow (saying to itself): 'Where shall I go? Where shall I stay? ' O brahmana, a man should give according to his capacity food, garments etc. (to brahmanas), and should also feed brahmanas to please Vishnu. The observers of the vow should keep awake at night by dancing, singing etc. The sin of him who devoutly listens to this, perishes.

 

CHAPTER TWENTYTWO

The Greatness of Tulasi

Shaunaka said:

1. O you omniscient one. kindly tell me, for the good of all creatures, the greatness of Tulasi which destroys the sins of those who listen to it. Suta said:

2-13. The servants of Yama do not come to his house in the vicinity of which there is a grove of Tulasi, due to the house having the nature of a holy place, O brahmana. O brahmana, the Tulasi-grove is auspicious and removes all sins. Those excellent men who plant it do not see the Sun's son (i.e. Yama). O best brahmana, all the sin of him who plants it, nourishes it, attends upon it, looks at it and touches it, perishes. O brahmana, those high-souled ones who worship Vishnu with tender Tulasi-leaves do not go to Yama's abode. The best rivers like Ganga, the best (gods) Vishriu, Brahma and Shiva, along with deities and holy places like Puskara, remain in a Tulasl-leaf. A sinner.who, endowed with Tulasi-leaves, casts his life, goes to Vishnu's abode. I have told (you) the truth. The man who, besmeared with the clay of TulasI (i.e. in which Tulasi is growing), casts his life, goes, though full of hundreds of sins, to Vishnu's abode. O brahmana, sin does not touch the body of the man who would wear the sandal-likeTulasl-wood. He goes to the highest position. He, who, though impure and of bad conduct, wears the rosary of (the beads made of) Tulasl-wood round his neck, goes, due to his devotion, to Vishnu's house. That man on whose body is seen the rosary made of Dhatrl-fruits or (beads of) Tulasl-wood, is a devotee of Vishnu. He again who, putting round his neck the garland (of the leaves) of Tulasi, would worship Vishnu, obtains, for each flower, a myriad of cows.

14-19. Those men who, of wicked minds, are sceptics, and who do not wear the (Tulasl)-garland, being burnt by the fire of the wrath of Vishnu, do not return from hell. A man should not abandon a garland of Tulasl-(leaves), especially of the fruits of Dhatri, which destroys great sins and gives religious merit, worldly prosperity and sensual enjoyments. A man lives in Vishnu's house for as many thousands of years as the hair (on his body) the Dhatri-garland would touch. That man who after having offered the rosary of (the beads of) Tulasl-wood to Vishnu, devoutly wears it, has no sin at all. On seeing the rosary made of the beads of Tulasl-wood, the messengers of the king of the dead (i.e. king Yama) run away as a leaf shaken up by the wind. O best brahmana, the dead ancestors of him who offers them pindas in the shadow of Dhatri in the Tulasi-grove, are emancipated.

20-25. O brahmana, he who keeps the Dhatri-fruit in his hand, on his head, round his neck or in his ears should be known as Vishnu himself. O brahmana, the sin earned during crores of existences of him who would worship Vishriu with the leaves and fruits of Dhatri, at once perishes. O brahmana, sacrifices, gods, sages and holy places always remain by resorting to the Dhatrl-tree in Kartika. A man who collects a leaf of Dhatri or a leaf of Tulasi on the twelfth day in Kartika, would not go to hell full of torment. O brahmana, the sin, due to the contact of food of the man who eats food under the shadow of Dhatri in Kartika perishes for a year. O brahmana, a man should worship Vishnu in a Tulasi-grove and at the root of a Dhatri in Kartika; he certainly goes to Vishnu's world.

26-27. O best brahmana, if a sinner devoutly holds on his head the water remaining at the root of Tulasi, he goes to Vishnu's abode. He who would hold on his head the water flowing from a Tulasl-leaf, has bathed (i.e. has obtained the fruit of having bathed) at all sacred places, and in the end he goes to Vishnu's house.

28-41. O great sage, formerly in the Dvdpara age there was an excellent brahrnana. Once, having bathed and having offered a sacrifice to Tulasi, he went home. He became like the sun in lustre, and like Martanda in religious merit. A glutton, a great sinner, oppressed with thirst, came there, and having drunk the water at the root of Tulasi, had his sins perished. A hunter named Asimardana, came quickly, and said: " The food is eaten." Having eaten it and shattered the food in the cooking vessel has he gone? He killed him. Yama's servants, angry and with nooses and hammers in their hands came by Yama's order to take him to Yama's abode. (When) they thought of binding and taking him, Vishnu's servants came (there). Then having cut off the leather-straps, they quickly put him in a charming chariot. They (i.e. Yama's servants) politely asked them: " O good ones, due to which religious merit of him are you taking him (to Vishnu's abode? )" They said: " Formerly he was a king. He has done many (acts of) religious merit. He kidnapped some beautiful woman. Due to this sin, the king went to Yama's abode. There you tortured him by Yama's order. Lying there he sported with a woman of a coppery red colour. Due to this sin the king went to Yama's abode. By Yama's order you tortured him there. He remained there. He embraced misery and suffered for a long time. In Yama's abode he was sprinkled with streams of salt water. Then for the remaining part of his stay in hell, he was repeatedly born in sinful stocks, and suffered unhappiness as a result of his own deeds. After drinking the water at the root of Tulasi he goes (i.e. would go) to Vishnu's abode." Hearing these woids of them the messengers (of Yama) went as they had come. The messengers of Vishnu went with him to Vishnu's abode. O brahmana, I have told you Tulasi's abode.

42. O brahmana, I have told you Tulasi's importance which destroys sins. I do not know what would happen to them who serve (Tulasi) with devotion, O sage.

 

CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE

⇐ Предыдущая153154155156157158159160161162Следующая ⇒

Поделиться: