The Efficacy of Campaka Flower

Jaimini said:

1. O preceptor, through your grace I have heard this (description of the) greatness of Ganga. Now, I desire to listen to the fruit of Vishnu's worship. Vyasa said:

2-3. O dear, listen to the excellent fruit of the worship of the lord of Lakshmi, hearing which all men obtain excellent knowledge. O brahmana, listen to the rules according to which the Eternal One should be worshipped in the twelve months like Magha. I shall (now) tell them.

4-8. When the auspicious month of Magha, the best of all months, comes, the best devotee of Vishnu should give up (eating) flesh and coitus. He should everyday bathe in the morning; he should also avoid (the use of) oils; he should avoid taking food twice (a day) and also the food of others in the month of Magha. A man, wearing a white garment, should, with a firm mind, begin worshipping Vishnu in the morning after having performed the five major sacrifices (viz. brahmayajna etc.). With lukewarm, pure water he should give bath to (the image of) the immutable Vishnu. He should besmear the parts of the body (of the image) of Vishnu with loose (i.e. soft) sandal. He should worship these of the lord of the world, the chief of gods, the Disc-holder. He should dry the vessels that are washed.

9-11. Having bathed (the image of) the lord of the world with lukewarm water, he should carefully dry his body with a divine garment.' O best brahmana, I (shall) tell about the fruit which he who bathes (the image of) Vishnu with lukewarm water in the month of Magha, gets. Freed from all sins committed in former existences, he enjoys all pleasure in this world, and (to enjoy) the remaining pleasure he goes to Vishnu's abode.

12-14. Listen to the religious merit of (i.e. obtained by) him who, after having washed the vessels and having purified them with water, would worship the (image of) the lord of the world. Free from all diseases, he, enjoying all desired objects here (i.e. in this world), would finally dwell for thousands of yugas in Vishnu's abode. In the morning and in the entire evening a devotee of Vishnu should place a smokeless, burning fire in front of (the image of) the Disc-holder (i.e. Vishnu).

15-19. Listen to the fruit of, i.e. obtained by, that devotee of Vishnu, who would burn fire in the morning and in the evening before (the image of) Vishnu in the month of Magha to keep off cold. He, along with his sons and grandsons, enjoys all desired objects in this world, and in the end goes to Vishnu's city, difficult to be reached even by deities. As is his soul (to him) so is Vishnu. There is no doubt about this. A man should keep away cold from (the imags of) Vishnu sleeping on the bed as he keeps away cold from himself. What does the best god, being pleased, not give to him who would bathe (the image of) Vishnu with milk during the month of Magha? In the same way he should remove the cold (of the image) of the Disc-holder with a divine garment.

20-26. I shall tell the fruit of (i.e. obtained by) him who would worship (the image of) Vishnu after bathing him (it) with cocoanut water and milk in the month of Magha. He, having lifted up a crore of men of his family sinking due to their own acts in the ocean of hell, difficult to cross, goes to the position of the Disc-holder (i.e. Vishnu). O best brahmana, especially during the worship of Vishnu on the fifth day of the bright half in the month of Magha, so also on the Ekadashi day and the fifth day1 (in the dark fortnight) rice boiled in milk along with a lamp should be offered to Mura's enemy, the god of gods along with (his spouse) Lakshmi. O Jaimini, O devotee of Vishnu, I shall tell you about the fruit of (i.e. obtained by) him who, everyday in the month of Magha, offers rice boiled in milk along with incense to the Disc-holder (i.e. Vishnu). (Please) listen. Having at the end (of his life) gone to Vishnu's city, he enjoys (there) charming pleasures for four periods of Manu due to the grace of the Disc-holder. Again having come to the earth he would be a sovereign emperor. (There) he enjoys pleasures for a very long time and when dead (i.e. after death) goes to Vishnu's abode.

27-29. O Jaimini, a devotee of Vishnu, who is unable to give (rice boiled in milk) to the enemy of Mura on the fifth day, the seventh day or the eleventh day, should offer him best food. O best brahmana, the bright half is especially superior to the dark half. On the days (mentioned above) of the bright half one should give food to Vishnu. Vishnu is not difficult to be attained by him who would give rice boiled in milk along with cakes to Vishnu, the conqueror of demons, at least on one day in Magha.

30-33. There is no doubt that whatever is offered by a man to please a brahmana in the month of Magha, would be inexhaustible for him. O brahmana, there is no destruction of the (fruit of the) act, good or bad, done in the month of Magha, even after hundreds of ages of Manu. He who would worship Vishnu with campaka flowers in the month of Magha would, after being freed from all sins, go to the highest abode. He stays in Vishnu's abode for as many thousand yugas as the number of campaka flowers offered to Vishnu by him.

1. The reading should have been 'saptamydm' in place of 'paricamyam', as it rightly occurs in line 27 a below.

34-37. That fruit which is (obtained) by giving gold.equal (in weight) to Meru, is obtained by worshipping Vishnu with (only) one campaka flower. O best brahmana, a campaka flower is always dear to Vishnu. Especially in the month of Magha it is pure and dear to Vishnu. He who has not worshipped Vishnu with divine campaka flowers, would be without gems, without gold etc. in every birth. I am specially telling you the fruit of (the offering of) a campaka flower. O best brahmana, listen to it, the excellent one, along with its history.

38-44. O brahmana, a king named Suvarna, knowing all holy texts, became powerful in the entire Aryavarta1 due to his vigour. O brahmana sage, he, mad with royal glory, knowledge and youth, was always engaged in sins. By the words of his heretic ministers, he, through his greed for money, punished the good (even) without their fault, O brahmana. He, without sacrifices and gifts (i.e. who did not perform sacrifices and give gifts), surrounded by music and musical instruments squandered ail the wealth obtained unjustly. He, always deluded by sins, did not support his kinsmen, did not feed deities and brahmanas, and did not gratify the suppliants. He, always attached to sins, never honoured a guest. That king, the abode of sins, everyday went (away) from a temple. Was anyone among the indiscriminate ones able to count, even for hundreds of years, the other sins which he had committed?

45-52. Once that wicked-hearted king, deluded by lust, went to a prostitute's house at night. Seeing the king coming, (the prostitute) named Ujjvala, suddenly getting up from the bed saluted him. Having washed his pair of feet with water from a golden pitcher, she, embracing the king with her arms, seated him on the bed. That king, sprinkled with the streams of the nectar of her love, and being curious remained on that bed. Then that harlot who was quite young, herself gave, with a smile, campaka flowers to the king. A flower from the garland of flowers dropped on the ground from the hand of the king, and pervaded the atmosphere with its fragrance. Seeing the flower that had fallen down, the king, through great confusion said (the words) 'Namo Ndrayanaya (salutation to Narayana)' preceded by the syllable 'Orri' All the sins of the king perished due to (his having uttered) the word 'Narayana' and due to the offering of the campaka flower.

1. Aryavarta: Abode of the noble or the excellent (Aryas). Name of the region extending from the eastern to the western sea, and bounded on the north and south by the Himalaya and the Vindhya respectively.

53-58. All the villagers also gathered there and killed him that night in the prostitute's invincible house. Yama, who was very angry, sent his servants to take the king, the greatest sinner (to his abode). The messengers ordered by him, with their eyes red due to anger and having nooses and mallets in their hands came there very speedily. Yama's messengers exerted to take him to their abode. Then Narayana's (i.e. Vishnu's) servants holding conches, discs and maces, and mounted upon Garuda came to take the king (to Vishnu's abode). Seeing the king bound by a noose, the very powerful servants of Vishnu struck Yama's messengers with discs and maces. Putting him into a divine chariot, they blew excellent conches.

59-61. Then the king who had got in the chariot, who was adorned with tulasl (leaves and) flowers, who had put on yellow silken garments, who was adorned with golden ornaments, who was being praised by hosts of sages, masters of the Vedas and the Vedangas, who was surrounded by Vishnu's messengers, came to Vishnu's world. Then, O best brahmana, Vishnu himself got up, embraced the king with his four long arms and said to him: The lord said:

62-65. O king, O best among all meritorious souls, tell (me) about (your) welfare. Now let us know what still remains to be attained by you. I always look after him who would even once say: 'Salutation to Narayana.' He is my brother; he is my father. I accomplish all the desired objects, like a father to his son, of the man who would sometime remember my name 'Narayana'. O best king, you are my devotee. Therefore, disclose your desire. What wonderful object shall I give you now? The king said:

66-73a. O ocean of pity, you have undoubtedly given (me) everything. Even a sinner like me has reached your inaccessible place. By these words of him Lakshmi's lord was pleased, and he affectionately made him sit. Listen to it (i.e. that account). He, full of pity, himself adorned him with golden ornaments fashioned by Visvakarman. Vishnu, the extremely tolerant one, gratified the king with various kinds of eatables, very difficult to be had even by the divine ones. In this way the king lived in Vishnu's abode everyday for thousands of Manu's ages and nine hundred years. The righteous king protected his subjects. With great devotion he always worshipped Vishnu with charming campaka flowers and various kinds of offerings of eatables. When the span of his life was over the king died in the water of Ganga and obtained liberation by the grace of Vishnu. Vyasa said:

73b-78. O brahmana, I have told you this efficacy of campaka flowers. Sinful persons have been liberated after worshipping Vishnu with campaka flowers. O brahmana sage, revered Vishnu, worshipped with a full-blown campaka flower gives the highest position in a short time. Those who worship the highest soul intentionally or even without an intention are freed from all sins, and they also go to the highest position. When Vishnu is pleased, nobody is a sinner, since that king, even though he had committed a sin, crossed this deep worldly ocean through Vishnu's favour and attained liberation. That man who, abandoning sin, would, with devotion and great respect, worship Narayana (i.e. Vishnu), having large eyes like lotus-petals, with divine, fragrant campaka flowers would go (to Vishnu).

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

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