text stringlengths 0 182 |
|---|
diverse tribes of Apsaras. Riding in the foremost of cars and his person decked with celestial ornaments, he sports for countless |
years in great felicity in the company of celestial damsels. That man who having fasted for three and twenty days eats a little |
ghee on the twenty-fourth day, and bears himself in this way for a full year, pouring libations on his sacred fire, resides for |
countless years in great happiness in the regions of the Adityas, his person decked with celestial robes and garlands and |
celestial perfumes and unguents. Riding in an excellent car made of gold and possessed of great beauty and drawn by swans, he |
sports in joy in the company of thousands and thousands of celestial damsels. That man who having fasted for four and twenty |
days eats a single meal on the twenty-fifth day and bears himself thus for a full year, succeeds in obtaining a car of the |
foremost kind, full of every article of enjoyment. He is followed in his journeys by a large train of cars drawn by lions and |
tigers, and producing a rattle as deep as the roar of the clouds ridden by celestial damsels, and all made of pure gold and |
possessed of great beauty. Himself riding on an excellent celestial car possessed of great beauty, he resides in those regions for |
a thousand Kalpas, in the company of hundreds of celestial damsels, and subsisting upon the succulence of ambrosia that is |
sweet as nectar itself. That man who having fasted for five and twenty days eats only one meal on the twenty-sixth day, and |
bears himself thus for a full year in the observance of such a regulation in respect of diet, keeping his senses under control, |
freed from attachment (to worldly objects), and pouring libations every day on his sacred fire,--that blessed man,--worshipped |
by the Apsaras, attains to the regions of the seven Maruts and of the Vasus. When performing his journeys he is followed by a |
large train of cars made of excellent crystal and adorned with all kinds of gems, and ridden by Gandharvas and Apsaras who |
show him every honour. He resides in those regions, in enjoyment of such felicity, and endued with celestial energy, for two |
thousand Yugas. That man who having fasted for six and twenty days eats a single meal on the twenty-seventh day and bears |
himself in this way for a full year, pouring libations every day on his sacred fire, acquires great merit and proceeding to Heaven |
receives honours from the deities. Residing there, he subsists on nectar, freed from thirst of every kind, and enjoying every |
felicity. His soul purified of every dross and performing his journeys on a celestial car of great beauty, he lives there, O king, |
bearing himself after the manner of the celestial Rishis and the royal sages. Possessed of great energy, he dwells there in great |
happiness in the company of celestial damsels of highly agreeable manners, for three thousand Yugas and Kalpas. That man |
who having fasted for seven and twenty days eats a single meal on the twenty-eighth day and bears himself in this way for a |
full year, with soul and senses under perfect control, acquires very great merit, which, in fact, is equal to what is acquired by |
the celestial Rishis. Possessed of every article of enjoyment, and endued with great energy, he blazes with the effulgence of the |
midday sun. Sportive damsels of the most delicate features and endued with splendour of complexion, having deep bosoms, |
tapering thighs and full and round hips, decked with celestial ornaments, gladden him with their company while he rides on a |
delightful and excellent car possessed of the effulgence of the sun and equipped with every article of enjoyment, for thousands |
and thousands of Kalpas. That man who having fasted for eight and twenty days eats a single meal on the twenty-ninth day, |
and bears himself in this way for a full year, adhering all the while to truthfulness of speech, attains to auspicious regions of |
great happiness that are worshipped by celestial Rishis and royal sages. The car he obtains is endued with the effulgence of the |
sun and the moon; made of pure gold and adorned with every kind of gem, ridden by Apsaras and Gandharvas singing |
melodiously. Thereon he is attained by auspicious damsels adorned with celestial ornaments of every kind. Possessed of sweet |
dispositions and agreeable features, and endued with great energy, these gladden him with their company. Endued with every |
article of enjoyment and with great energy, and possessed of the splendour of a blazing fire, he shines like a celestial, with a |
celestial form having every excellence. The regions he attains are those of the Vasus and the Maruts, of the Sadhyas and the |
Aswins, of the Rudras and of Brahman himself. That man who having fasted for a full month takes a single meal on the first |
day of the following month and bears himself in this way for a full year, looking on all things with an equal eye attains to the |
regions of Brahman himself. There he subsists upon the succulence of ambrosia. Endued with a form of great beauty and |
highly agreeable to all, he shines with energy and prosperity like the sun himself of a thousand rays. Devoted to Yoga and |
adorned with celestial robes and garlands and smeared with celestial perfumes and unguents, he passes his time in great |
happiness, unacquainted with the least sorrow. He shines on his car attended by damsels that blaze forth with effulgence |
emitted by themselves. Those damsels, the daughters of the celestial Rishis and the Rudras, adore him with veneration. Capable |
of assuming diverse forms that are highly delightful and highly agreeable, their speech is characterised by diverse kinds of |
sweetness, and they are able to gladden the person they wait upon in diverse kinds of ways. While performing his journeys, he |
rides on a car that looks like the firmament itself in colour (for subtlety of the material that compose it). In his rear are cars that |
look like the moon; before him are those that resemble the clouds; on his right are vehicles that are red; below him are those |
that are blue; and above him are those that are of variegated hue. He is always adored by those that wait upon him. Endued |
with great wisdom, he lives in the region of Brahman for as many years as are measured by the drops of rain that fall in course |
of a thousand years on that division of the earth which is called Jamvudwipa. Verily, possessed of the effulgence of a deity, he |
lives in that region of unalloyed felicity for as many years as the drops of rain that fall upon the earth in the season of showers. |
The man who, having fasted for a whole month, eats on the first day of the following month, and bears himself in this way for |
ten years, attains to the status of a great Rishi. He was not to undergo any change of form while proceeding to heaven for |
enjoying the rewards of his acts in his life. Verily, even this is the status to which one attains by restraining speech, practising |
self-denial, subjugating wrath, sexual appetite, and the desire to eat, pouring libations on the sacred fire, and regularly adoring |
the two twilights. That man who purifies himself by the observance of these and similar vows and practices, and who eats in |
this way, becomes as stainless as ether and endued with effulgence like that of the sun himself.[499] Such a man, O king, |
proceeding to haven in even his own carnal form, enjoys all the felicity that is there like a deity at his will. |
'I have thus told thee, O chief of the Bharatas, what the excellent ordinances are in respect of sacrifices, one after another, as |
dependent upon the fruits of fasts.[500] Poor men, O son of Pritha (who are unable to perform sacrifices) may; nevertheless, |
acquire the fruits thereof (by the observance of fasts). Verily, by observing these fasts, even a poor man may attain to the |
highest end, O foremost one of Bharata's race, attending all the while, besides, to the worship of the deities and the Brahmanas |
I have thus recited to thee in detail the ordinances in respect of fasts. Do not harbour any doubt in respect of those men that are |
so observant of vows, that are so heedful and pure and high-souled, that are so freed from pride and contentions of every kind, |
that are endued with such devoted understandings, and that pursue their end with such steadiness and fixity of purpose without |
ever deviating from their path.'" |
SECTION CVIII |
"Yudhishthira said, 'Do thou tell me, O grandsire, of that which is regarded as the foremost of all Tirthas. Indeed, it behoveth |
thee to expound to me what that Tirtha is which conduces to the greatest purity.'[501] |
"Bhishma said, 'Without doubt, all Tirthas are possessed of merit. Listen, however, with attention to me as I tell thee what the |
Tirtha, the cleanser, is of men endued with wisdom. Adhering to eternal Truth, one should bathe in the Tirtha called Manasa, |
which is unfathomable (for its depth), stainless, and pure, and which has Truth for its waters and the understanding for its |
lake.[502] The fruits in the form of cleansing, that one acquires by bathing in that Tirtha, are freedom from cupidity, sincerity, |
truthfulness, mildness (of behaviour), compassion, abstention from injuring any creature, self-restraint, and tranquillity. Those |
men that are freed from attachments, that are divested of pride, that transcend all pairs of opposites (such as pleasure and pain, |
praise and blame, heat and cold, etc.), that have no spouses and children and houses and gardens, etc., that are endued with |
purity, and that subsist upon the alms given to them by others, are regarded as Tirthas. He who is acquainted with the truths of |
all things and who is freed from the idea of meum, is said to be the highest Tirtha.[503] In searching the indications of purity, |
the gaze should ever be directed towards these attributes (so that where these are present, thou mayst take purity to be present, |
and where these are not, purity also should be concluded to be not). Those persons from whose souls the attributes of Sattwa |
and Rajas and Tamas have been washed off, they who, regardless of (external) purity and impurity pursue the ends they have |
proposed to themselves, they who have renounced everything, they who are possessed of omniscience and endued with |
universal sight, and they who are of pure conduct, are regarded as Tirthas possessing the power of cleansing. That man whose |
limbs only are wet with water is not regarded as one that is washed. He, on the other hand, is regarded as washed who has |
washed himself by self-denial. Even such a person is said to be pure both inwardly and outwardly. They who never concern |
themselves with what is past, they who feel no attachment to acquisitions that are present, indeed, they who are free from |
desire, are said to be possessed of the highest purity. Knowledge is said to constitute the especial purity of the body. So also |
freedom from desire, and cheerfulness of mind. Purity of conduct constitutes the purity of the mind. The purity that one attains |
by ablutions in sacred waters is regarded as inferior. Verily, that purity which arises from knowledge, is regarded as the best. |
Those ablutions which one performs with a blazing mind in the waters of the knowledge of Brahma in the Tirtha called |
Manasa, are the true ablutions of those that are conversant with Truth. That man who is possessed of true purity of conduct and |
who is always devoted to the preservation of a proper attitude towards all, indeed, he who is possessed of (pure) attributes and |
merit, is regarded as truly pure. These that I have mentioned have been said to be the Tirthas that inhere to the body. Do thou |
listen to me as I tell thee what those sacred Tirthas are that are situate on the earth also. Even as especial attributes that inhere |
to the body have been said to be sacred, there are particular spots on earth as well, and particular waters, that are regarded as |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.