Inner and Outer Tīrthas

A tīrtha is a sacred place, often a river crossing or holy site, where people go on pilgrimage to bathe and be purified. The Kāśī Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa gives a full teaching on the meaning of tīrthas. It comes as a conversation between Agastya Ṛṣi and his wife Lopāmudrā as they travel south.

Agastya teaches that holy places exist both outside us, as real places on the earth, and inside us, as mānasa tīrthas (tīrthas of the mind). Outer tīrthas purify the body and carry the puṇya (merit) of dharmic acts. Inner tīrthas, such as satya (truth), kṣamā (forbearance), dama (self-control) and dayā (compassion), purify the mind. A true tīrtha-snāna (holy bath) is not just getting the body wet; it is washing away the impurities of the mind. Both kinds of tīrtha lead to the same goal: freedom from saṃsāra, the cycle of birth and death.

The Seven Mokṣa-Purīs

Agastya tells Lopāmudrā that among all tīrthas, seven cities hold a special place as mokṣa-purīs, “cities of liberation”. They grant liberation directly to all who visit them and die within their borders:

1. Ayodhyā, the city of Bhagavān Rāma
2. Mathurā, the city of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa
3. Māyā (Haridvāra, or Gaṅgādvāra), where Gaṅgā comes down to the earth
4. Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), the city of Śiva’s tāraka-mantra (the mantra that carries one across); the highest of the mokṣa-purīs
5. Kāñcī, the city of Kāmākṣī and Ekāmreśvara
6. Avantikā (Ujjain), the city of Mahākāleśvara
7. Dvārakāvatī, the holy city of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa

These seven are the standard list found in the Purāṇas.

Outer Tīrthas: Holy Places on Earth

Agastya names Prayāga as the Tīrtharāja, the king of all tīrthas. It cleanses even the other tīrthas of the pāpa (wrongdoing) that has gathered in them, and it grants dharma, artha (wealth), kāma (fulfilment of desire) and mokṣa (liberation). After Prayāga he lists many other tīrthas:

Naimiṣa, Kurukṣetra, Gaṅgādvāra, Avantikā, Ayodhyā, Mathurā, Dvārakā, Amarāvatī, the meeting of the Sarasvatī and the Sindhu at the sea, the meeting of the Gaṅgā and the ocean, Kāñcī, Tryambaka, Saptagodāvarī, Kālañjara, Prabhāsa, Badarikāśrama, Mahālaya, Oṃkārakṣetra (Amarakaṇṭaka), Jagannāthapurī (the finest of all the shrines of Viṣṇu), Gokarṇa, Bhṛgukaccha, Bhṛgutuṅga, Puṣkara, Śrīparvata and Dhārātīrtha, among others.

He also names Gayā-tīrtha as the tīrtha that brings liberation to the pitṛs (ancestors). Sons who perform śrāddha (rites for the ancestors) there are freed from their debt to their forefathers.

Mānasa Tīrthas: The Holy Places Within

Agastya’s deepest teaching is about the mānasa tīrthas, the inner holy places that lie within one’s own mind and conduct. He gives it in answer to Lopāmudrā’s question: “If seeing the peak of Śrīśaila (another tīrtha) prevents rebirth, why do people seek Kāśī? What makes them different?”

Agastya teaches that outer tīrthas are real and powerful, but that in the end liberation comes from inner purity:

“Holy ablution is not the mere drenching of the body in water. He who has the purificatory bath of mental control is really the one who has had his holy ablution; he is really clean; he has removed all the impurities of the mind.”

“One who is covetous, slanderous, cruel, a hypocrite, and a sensualist is full of pāpa (sin) and dirty, even if he takes a plunge in all the sacred waters.”

The mānasa tīrthas named by Agastya are:

“Wherever a man who has curbed all his organs of sense and action lives, there he has his Kurukṣetra, Naimiṣa, Puṣkara, etc.”

“He who takes his holy bath in the mental holy spot that is cleansed with perfect knowledge, that has meditation for its waters and that removes the dirt of attachment and hatred, attains the greatest goal.”

Outer and Inner Together

The Kāśī Khaṇḍa holds a balanced view: both outer and inner tīrthas are real and both are needed. The outer tīrthas, Kāśī above all, have a real liberating power of their own. The teaching of the tāraka-mantra at the time of death shows this: liberation in Kāśī comes by itself and does not depend on how pure the devotee is. Yet Agastya also teaches that a person with an impure mind who bathes in every tīrtha without feeling is like “a pot of toddy washed hundreds of times in water”: clean on the outside but still impure within.

The answer is that the outer tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage) itself, done sincerely, with śraddhā (faith) and good conduct, purifies the mind from within. The story of Śivaśarman shows this. The two kinds of tīrtha support each other. The outer tīrtha purifies the physical body and passes on puṇya; the inner tīrtha purifies the subtle mind and gives rise to the śraddhā that makes outer pilgrimage fruitful.

Helping Others: The Highest Dharma

Agastya also teaches a principle that frames the whole conversation: para-upakāra, helping others, is the highest dharma. The puṇya of helping others is greater than that of all the outer tīrthas:

“What is obtained by extending help cannot be derived through severe austerities; that purity cannot be had through holy ablution in sacred waters; that benefit cannot be had through plentiful gifts.”

Brahmā himself once weighed the puṇya of helping others against the puṇya of gifts and tīrtha-snāna on a single scale, and helping others weighed more. Agastya’s own life shows this teaching. For the good of all the worlds he gave up what he loved most, living in Kāśī, in order to subdue the Vindhya mountain.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapters 6–7