Sundarasena and Śivarātri

The Garuḍa Purāṇa tells how a hunter-king named Sundarasena kept the Śivarātri pūjā without knowing it and was freed from the cycle of birth and death. Bhagavān Śiva, called Parameśvara, tells the account to Pārvatī as the teaching of the Śivarātri vrata (a vow kept with fasting and prayer). It shows that even an unplanned keeping of Śivarātri gives moksha. The parts of that keeping are upavāsa (fasting), jāgaraṇa (a night-long vigil), bilvapatra-pūjā (offering bilva leaves) and liṅgābhisheka (bathing the Śivaliṅga).

Sundarasena the hunter-king

In the land of Arbuda lived a nishāda king, a hunter-king, named Sundarasena. He was a pāpātman, one who had gathered much pāpa (sin). One day he went hunting in a forest with his dogs. By divine arrangement (daivavaśāt) he could find no game at all.

He ran out of food and water and was desperate with hunger and thirst. He wandered through the night and could not find his way back. At last he came to a lake. On its shore, under a tree, there was a Śivaliṅga. Tired out, Sundarasena climbed the tree to spend the night.

The unplanned pūjā

All through the night, as Sundarasena moved about in the tree, bilva leaves fell from the tree onto the Śivaliṅga below. It was a bilva tree, so the falling leaves were an offering of bilvapatra to Bhagavān Śiva.

The water vessel he had brought to drink from also spilled. The water fell on the Śivaliṅga and became an abhisheka (sacred bathing).

An arrow fell from his quiver near the Śivaliṅga. Sundarasena reached down to pick it up, and his hand touched the Śivaliṅga. This was maushṭi-pūjā (pūjā with the hand) and Śiva-sparśana (the sacred touch of Bhagavān Śiva).

Hunger and thirst kept him awake all night, so without knowing it he kept jāgaraṇa. And because he had no food, he also kept upavāsa without knowing it.

That night was Śivarātri. Sundarasena did not know this.

The grace of Parameśvara

Some time later Sundarasena died. The yamadūtas (the messengers of Yama) came to bind him and carry him away. But the Śivadūtas (the messengers of Bhagavān Śiva) stopped them. The Śivadūtas told the yamadūtas that this man had done the Śivarātri pūjā in a single night: upavāsa, jāgaraṇa, bilvapatra-pūjā, liṅgābhisheka and the touch of the Śivaliṅga. So he did not belong to Yama’s realm. He belonged to Kailāsa. The yamadūtas gave way. The Śivadūtas took Sundarasena, together with his dogs, to Kailāsa.

The teaching

Bhagavān Śiva (Parameśvara) ends the account for Pārvatī with this teaching:

“If a person who did this pūjā without intending it (asaṅkalpa) reached such moksha, what need is there to say anything of one who keeps Śivarātri with full resolve (saṅkalpa), knowledge and devotion? Both bhukti (well-being in this world) and mukti (liberation) are sure for such a person.”

Sources

• Garuḍa Purāṇa (Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa), Ācāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 124 (Adhyāya 124)