Chapter 21 - Importance of Viṣṇu worship at Gomatī Tīrtha

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Śrī Prahlāda said:

1. The son of Danu said, “O Kṛṣṇa! you have killed me fraudulently and quite cunningly. I cannot overstep or disregard the Śivaliṅga

2. Śrī Viṣṇu said, “O demon! I have been quite pleased with your might obtained under the protection of Śiva. O great mind! you may gracefully solicit the boon as desired in your mind.”

3-5a. Kuśa said, “As I worship Mahādeva so do I intend to worship Hari. Let there be an idol combining both these forms which would be a boon for me. O Lord! you have already placed the Śivaliṅga on top of my body. Let it be named after me and remembered as Kuśeśvara. If you have to favour me with your grace, let my fame actuate in this way.”

5b. After this, the celebrated God said, “It will be like that” Then the demon stayed put there.

6. Then Mādhava sent some of the demons to region below the surface of earth. Some of the demons also went back accompanied by Viṣṇu.

7. The eternal Viṣṇu remained placed there since then. Durvāsā—the foremost of the sages did also acknowledge it as a centre of pilgrimage conferring liberation on one.

8. Considering that the God Trivikrama (i.e. Viṣṇu) would be present there at Cakratīrtha on the banks of Gomatī, Durvāsā got convinced that the same place of pilgrimage would therefore be a giver of liberation. Hence, he also placed himself there.

9. In this way the Lord Trivikrama has been present there since then. And this is how the Lord has descended on the earth in the Kaliyuga again inhering part and portion of his essential character of Kṛṣṇa.

Prahlāda said:

10. O Brāhmaṇas! now listen with attention to the ways Hari needs to be worshipped. Worship of Hari here in the months of Caitra (i.e. March) and Vaiśākha (i.e. April) has been said to yield fruits in particular.

11-14. A man who after making an idol of Madhusūdana at Dvārāvat undergoes such rituals like taking a bath, then applying perfume on the idol to worship the God Kṛṣṇa and then decorates it with clothes, lights up incense sticks and earthen lamps, offers ornaments, betel leaves, fruits and other offerings associated with the very act of worship, and then conforms to the practice of staying up for the night reciting the name of God, lighting up an earthen lamp full of ghee and then falls flat on the ground to make his obeisance as well as sings accompanied by beating of drums and reads out religious books, he gets all his desires fulfilled by worship with such procedure and with due faith.

15. By putting on the sacred thread on body and worshipping (Viṣṇu) in the month of Śrāvaṇa (i.e. July-August) one can ensure undecaying happiness of one’s forefathers along with successful attainment of one’s desires in mind.

16. The virtuous Brāhmaṇas, by worshipping the Lord Kṛṣṇa on the eleventh day of the brighter period of Moon in the month of Kārtika (i.e October-November) one can obtain that ultimate passage.

17. Besides, by bearing the sacred thread on the body and worshipping Viṣṇu in the month of Śrāvaṇa (i.e. July-August) one can obtain the abode of Viṣṇu with accomplishment of all desires.

18. Worship Lord Viṣṇu on that special day which is considered to be above all the auspicious moments transcending the four yugas and falls on the twelfth day in the months of Aṣāḍha [Āṣāḍha?] (i.e. June-July), Jyeṣṭha (i.e. May-June), Pouṣa [Pauṣa?] (i.e. December) and Māgha (i.e. January) when the sun is usually placed in the Southern hemisphere of the earth.

19. By worshipping Kṛṣṇa at the confluence of Gomatī with the. sea in the Kaliyuga, one can attain that divine and sacred world. There can be no doubt to rethink about this.