Āpastamba Tīrtha

Āpastamba Tīrtha, “the tīrtha of Āpastamba”

Āpastamba Tīrtha is a tīrtha on the Gautamī, the Godāvarī, in the Daṇḍaka forest, famous in the three worlds; merely remembering it destroys every pāpa. Bhagavān Śiva dwells there as Somanātha, Someśvara, Īśvara. Brahmā tells Nārada its origin in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa: the ṛshi Āpastamba asked Agastya Maharshi which of the three Devas is to be worshipped, learned from him that the three are one reality and that all is gained through Bhagavān Śiva, and went to the Gautamī, where he praised Somanātha with a stotra. Bhagavān Śiva granted his prayer that all who bathe here and have darśana of Īśvara should gain their cherished desires, and the tīrtha has borne his name since. It dispels the darkness of beginningless avidyā (ignorance).

Āpastamba and Agastya

Brahmā tells Nārada of a wise and famous ṛshi named Āpastamba. His wife Akshasūtrā was devoted to her husband’s dharma, and his son Karuki was very wise, a knower of the truth. Agastya Maharshi came to Āpastamba’s āśrama. After honouring him, Āpastamba and his disciples asked: “O excellent muni, of the three Devas, who is most worthy of pūjā? From whom come bhukti (enjoyment) and moksha? Who gives food? Who is the infinite one, the Deva of the devas, the one worshipped by yajñas, the one sung in the Vedas? Dispel my doubt.”

Agastya answered. In dharma, artha, kāma and moksha the śāstras are the authority, and among them the Vedas are the highest. The Purusha sung in the Vedas is greater than the greatest. What perishes is apara; the imperishable is para. The formless is para; the one with form is apara, and is of three kinds by the guṇas, sattva, rajas and tamas. That one reality is called by three forms, Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva, and the supreme is to be known through the three Devas. The one becomes many through the difference of guṇas and works, and the three forms arise for the good of the worlds. Only one who knows the highest truth is learned. One who speaks of difference between them is called a Liṅgabhedin, a splitter of the liṅga, and for him there is no prāyaścitta (atonement). The difference is only in their forms, which the Vedas teach; the formless is beyond them.

Āpastamba asked for the secret teaching, free of doubt. Agastya said: “Though there is no difference among these Devas, everything is gained only through Śiva, whose nature is bliss. Śiva is the supreme radiance, the cause of the universe. Worship him alone with utmost bhakti. The destroyer of all pāpas is in the Daṇḍaka forest on the Gautamī.” Āpastamba, full of joy, asked further which form gives bhukti and which moksha, which creates, protects and destroys. Agastya said: the form Brahmā creates, the form Vishṇu protects and the form Rudra destroys.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 60

Āpastamba’s stotra to Somanātha

Āpastamba went to the Gautamī and bathed. With self-control and holy observances he praised Bhagavān Śaṅkara with a stotra of nine verses, each ending “I take refuge in that Somanātha” or “in that Someśvara“:

  1. Who is present in all beings, as fire in wood, fragrance in flowers, the tree in the seed and gold in the stone.
  2. Who in play created this universe, maker and dispenser of the destiny of the three worlds, of cosmic form, beyond the existing and the non-existing.
  3. By remembering whom an embodied being is not touched by the great śāpa (curse) of poverty, sickness and the like, and by resorting to whom one gains all that one desires.
  4. By whom, after weighing the dharma of the three Vedas, Brahmā and the others were given their duties, and by whom the body was divided into two.
  5. To whom the namaskāra hallowed by mantras goes, to whom the havis in the fire and the pūjā go, and whose havis the devas partake of.
  6. Than whom there is none greater or more excellent, none subtler, greater than the greatest.
  7. At whose command this whole universe, varied, vast and beyond thought, moves as if in one act.
  8. In whom are lordship over all, being the maker and the giver, greatness, love, fame, happiness and the first dharma.
  9. Who is the eternal refuge of all, worthy of pūjā by all, ever loving the one who takes refuge, ever auspicious, the form of everything.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 60

Bhagavān Śiva’s vara

Bhagavān Śiva was pleased and said to the ṛshi: “Ask anything, for yourself or for others.” Āpastamba asked for others: “Let those who bathe here and have darśana of Bhagavān Īśvara, Lokeśa, obtain their cherished desires.” Bhagavān Śiva said, “Let it be so.” From then on the tīrtha has been called Āpastamba Tīrtha.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 60

The rite and its phala

  • Merely remembering Āpastamba Tīrtha destroys all pāpas.
  • Those who bathe here and have darśana of Īśvara obtain their cherished desires.
  • The tīrtha dispels the darkness of beginningless avidyā.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 60

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 60