Piśāca Mokshaṇa

This account from the Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa tells of a merchant who met pretas (hungry spirits of the dead) wandering in a desert. One of them told him why they were in this state and how they could be freed. The account is the teaching narrative for the Śravaṇa Dvādaśī. This is the Dvādaśī of the bright fortnight of Bhādrapada that falls on the Śravaṇa nakshatra. Its puṇya (merit) equals the puṇya of visiting all tīrthas at once.

The merchant meets the pretas

A merchant was travelling through a desert. He met a group of pretas, beings tormented by hunger and thirst who could not take food or water. Their form showed the pāpa (sin) of earlier lives, which held them in a state between death and rebirth.

The preta’s account

One of the pretas told the merchant why they were in this state and how they could be freed. In an earlier life he had kept the Śravaṇa Dvādaśī at the meeting of the rivers Candrabhāgā and Toshī. Yet he and his companions had become pretas. He was now waiting to be freed.

He told the merchant to go to Gayā and perform śrāddha for the pretas. Gayā is the most powerful tīrtha for freeing the pitṛs. Through the śrāddha done at Gayā the pretas would be released from their state.

The release

The merchant went to Gayā and performed the śrāddha as told, on behalf of the pretas. By this act the pretas were freed from their suffering.

The Śravaṇa Dvādaśī

The account is the example that goes with the teaching on the Śravaṇa Dvādaśī. This is the twelfth lunar day of the bright fortnight of the month of Bhādrapada, when the moon is in the Śravaṇa nakshatra. It is very auspicious. When it also falls on a Wednesday it is rare and most powerful. The puṇya of keeping this dvādaśī equals the puṇya of visiting all tīrthas at once.

The tīrtha named in the account for this dvādaśī is the meeting of the rivers Candrabhāgā and Toshī. It is a sacred saṃgama, and its power is called on when the vrata (vow) is kept.

Sources

• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 162