Tīrtha Yātrā

Tīrtha Yātrā, “the journey to sacred waters”

Tīrtha yātrā is pilgrimage to holy places. The Agni Purāṇa (Chapter 109) teaches that it gives the same fruit as all the yajñas together, and that it gives both bhukti (worldly enjoyment) and mukti (liberation). The Nārada Purāṇa (Uttarardha, Chapter 62) adds more teachings.

Agni says that the pilgrim who holds his hands, feet and mind in check, who has vidyā (learning), tapas (austerity) and kīrti (good name), who gives up taking gifts (pratigraha), and who eats only a measured amount with his senses fully under control, is the one who gains the full fruit of tīrtha yātrā. The same chapter lists the tīrthas of Bhārata-varsha by region. Pushkara stands first. Vārāṇasī, Prayāga, Gayā and Naimishāraṇya are among the foremost.

What makes a tīrtha sacred

A tīrtha is a ford, a place of crossing. The Agni Purāṇa teaches that the fruit of doing a yajña is equal to what a person gains by tīrtha yātrā. In some tīrthas, above all Pushkara, the fruit is greater than that of the greatest yajñas. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 109)

A tīrtha is holy for these reasons:

  • Devatās live there always, as Brahmā does at Pushkara.
  • Its place on the earth is holy: the meeting of rivers (saṅgama), the tops of holy mountains, and forests where great ṛshis did tapas.
  • A great deva has declared the place sacred.
  • Many generations who came before have done tapas and śrāddha there.

(Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 109)

Rules for the pilgrim

The Agni Purāṇa gives exact rules of conduct (ācāra-niyama) for tīrtha yātrā.

Inner qualities

Only one who has these qualities gains the full fruit:

  • Saṃyama of hands, feet and mind. These three must be held in check at all times.
  • Vidyā, tapas and kīrti. The pilgrim must be learned, keep tapas and have a good name.
  • Freedom from pāpa. The pilgrim must be pure within.

(Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 109)

Conduct during the yātrā

  • Pratigraha-varjana: do not take gifts from anyone during the pilgrimage.
  • Niyamitāhāra: eat only a measured, small amount of food.
  • Indriya-vaśatā: keep all the senses under control.
  • Pāpa-rahitā: stay free of wrong acts of body, speech and mind.
  • Pādacāra: travel on foot, as laid down for the Gayā yātrā in particular.
  • Snāna, dāna, japa, homa, śrāddha: do these rites at each tīrtha with full śraddhā (faith).

(Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 109)

Upavāsa

The Agni Purāṇa says that a person who has not kept an upavāsa (fast) of three nights, and has not gone on tīrtha yātrā, remains poor (daridra) in spirit. So tīrtha yātrā stands beside fasting as a basic sādhana against spiritual poverty. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 109)

The glory of Pushkara

Agni Deva begins his account of the tīrthas with Pushkara, the best of them. At the three sandhyās Brahmā is present there with all the devatās. Those who sought their desires, the munis and the devas bathed there and gained siddhi.

  • One who worships the devas and the pitṛs at Pushkara gains the fruit of an aśvamedha yajña and goes to Brahmaloka.
  • One who gives food (anna-dāna) there on Kārtika pūrṇimā becomes pure in mind and reaches Brahmaloka.
  • To get the chance to go to Pushkara, to do tapas there and to give dāna there is very hard; the good fortune of living there is hardest of all.
  • One who lives at Pushkara and does japa and śrāddha there uplifts a hundred generations of his line.

(Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 109)

The tīrthas by region

The Agni Purāṇa names the great tīrthas of Bhārata-varsha, region by region. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 109)

North and west (Uttara and Paścima Deśa)

  • Pushkara: the supreme tīrtha, first among all tīrthas. Brahmā lives here at all three sandhyās.
  • Jambū-mārga and Taṇḍulikāśrama: near Pushkara.
  • Kaṇvāśrama, Koṭi-tīrtha, Varnadā and Ārbuda: uttama (best) tīrthas.
  • Carmaṇvatī (the Chambal) and Sindhu: holy rivers.
  • Somanātha, Prabhāsa, the meeting of the Sarasvatī and the ocean, and Sāgara: supremely holy.
  • Piṇḍāraka-kshetra, Dvārakā and Gomatī: tīrthas that give every siddhi.

Madhya Deśa and Kurukshetra

  • Bhūma-tīrtha, Brāhmatuṅga-tīrtha and Pañcanadī (the five rivers, Śatadru and others): uttama tīrthas.
  • Bhīma-tīra, Girīndra-tīrtha, Devikā-sṛti, Vinaśana-tīrtha, Nāgodbheda, Āpadana and Jāmūra-koṭi: tīrthas that give every phala.
  • Kurukshetra: merely saying “I shall go to Kurukshetra, I shall live in Kurukshetra” purifies a person and gives svarga. Vishṇu and all the devatās live here. Living there leads to Vishṇu-loka. The Sarasvatī flows nearby, and one who bathes in her reaches Brahma-loka. Even the dust of Kurukshetra gives the highest place.
  • Dharma-tīra and Suvara-tīrtha: uttama.
  • Gaṅgādvāra (Haridvāra) and Kanakhala: holy, and givers of good (bhadra-karma-pradā).
  • The meeting of the Gaṅgā and Sarasvatī, and Brahmāvarta: destroyers of all pāpa.
  • Bhṛgutuṅga, Kuṭṭāma and Godbheda: destroyers of pāpa.

East and the Gaṅgā valley (Pūrva Deśa)

  • Vārāṇasī (Pāraṇasī): the best of all tīrthas (sarvottama). Avimukta-kshetra lies next to it, and so does Kapālamocana-tīrtha.
  • Prayāga: among the tīrthas of the Gaṅgā region, Prayāga, Gomatī and the meeting of the Gaṅgā are supremely purifying. Prayāga is the king (rāja) of tīrthas.
  • Gaṅgā: wherever she flows, svarga is certain.
  • Rāja-gṛha: a pure tīrtha. Śālagrāma: destroyer of heaped-up pāpa.
  • The meeting-places Vāsanā and Kālikā: uttama.
  • Rauhitya-tīrtha, the river Karatoya, Śokadrama and Ṛshara-tīrtha: all give good fruit.

South (Dakshiṇa Deśa)

Other tīrthas

The rank of the tīrthas

The Agni Purāṇa declares Pushkara the first among all tīrthas. Vārāṇasī is the best tīrtha of the middle region. Prayāga is the foremost among the tīrthas of the Gaṅgā region. Gayā is the supreme tīrtha for the pitṛs. Naimishāraṇya is the most pure tīrtha of the eastern regions. Each lesser tīrtha still gives its own fruit. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 109)

Principles of tīrtha yātrā

The Agni Purāṇa’s teaching on tīrtha yātrā rests on these principles:

  1. Journey outside and journey within. The journey to the tīrtha must go with the inner journey of saṃyama (self-control), vairāgya (detachment) and śraddhā. Without these the full fruit is not gained.
  2. The same fruit as yajña. The fruit of tīrtha yātrā equals that of all yajñas, so those who cannot do long yajña rites can still gain it.
  3. Freeing the family lines. The fruit of tīrtha yātrā reaches whole vaṃśas (family lines). Both the mother’s line and the father’s line gain from one person’s pilgrimage.
  4. Śraddhā comes first. Without śraddhā no tīrtha gives its fruit. With śraddhā even a small touch of a tīrtha, such as seeing it or touching its dust, gives great puṇya (merit).

(Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 109)

Tīrtha yātrā in the Nārada Purāṇa

The Nārada Purāṇa (Uttarardha, Chapter 62) gives a fuller rule for tīrtha yātrā. Vāsu tells it to Mohinī, just before the Prayāga Māhātmya. It adds these teachings.

The three nights of fasting and the tīrtha

“On the three nights of Daśamī, Ekādaśī and Dvādaśī, one who does not fast, does not go to a tīrtha, does not give gold (svarṇa-dāna) and does not give a cow (go-dāna), becomes daridra.”

So tīrtha yātrā stands beside the Ekādaśī vrata, and gifts of gold and cows are pillars of a life of dharma.

Even an ignorant pilgrim gains

The Uttarardha makes this comforting statement. Even one who goes on tīrtha yātrā out of ignorance, not knowing all the vidhi, not knowing the deva, and doing the rites in part only, still gains all his wishes, svarga-loka and great wealth, and lifts up his ancestors. So tīrtha yātrā is open to people at every level.

Five pilgrims who do not gain the full fruit

  • the śraddhā-hīna (one without faith)
  • the pāpārdha
  • the nāstika (one who denies the Veda)
  • the saṃśayī (one who doubts)
  • the hetuvādi (one who reasons against what is beyond the senses)

For everyone else, even a person who has done pāpa, some purification takes place.

Qualities that give the most fruit

  • Holding the hands, feet and mind in check
  • Taking only what comes of itself, with no begging or asking
  • Being content with what is at hand, with no craving for comfort
  • Having no ahaṃkāra (pride of self)
  • Being free of kalpanā (worldly scheming)
  • Eating little (ekabhukta) or fasting (upavāsa)
  • Holding the senses in check in every situation

(Nārada Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 62)

The full round of tīrthas in the Uttarardha

The Uttarardha tells in order of the full round of the greatest tīrthas of Bhārata. It gives eighteen places, with their chapters:

Sources

  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 109 to 116 (the teaching and the lists of tīrthas are from Chapter 109)
  • Nārada Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 62 (the rules of tīrtha yātrā), and Chapters 38 to 80 (the round of tīrthas)