Mārgaśīrsha Māsa Māhātmya
Mārgaśīrsha Māsa Māhātmya, simply known as Margashirsha Masa Mahatmya, Sanskrit: मार्गशीर्ष मास माहात्म्य, Telugu: మార్గశిర మాస మాహాత్మ్యం, Hindi: मार्गशीर्ष मास माहात्म्य.
The Mārgaśīrsha Māsa Māhātmya is Bhagavān Vishṇu-Kṛshṇa’s own account of the greatness of his most beloved month. He tells it to Brahmā at Śvetadvīpa. It forms chapters 1 to 17 of the Mārgaśīrsha Māsa Māhātmya in the Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa.
Mārgaśīrsha is supreme among the months. In it Bhagavān Vishṇu-Kṛshṇa is won more easily than through yajñas, Vedic study, dāna, tīrtha journeys, renunciation or yoga in any other month. The gopīs of Gokula who took the Mārgaśīrsha bath won Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself. The month ends with the full moon at Mathurā, the greatest tīrtha observance of the year.
The supremacy of Mārgaśīrsha
Bhagavān Vishṇu-Kṛshṇa tells Brahmā: “I have never been won over by men by means of yajñas, study of the Vedas, gifts, bathing in all the tīrthas, renunciation or yoga. In other months I am not as easy to reach as in Mārgaśīrsha, by holy bath, gifts, worship, meditation, a vow of silence, japa and other means. This is a secret.” The devas themselves guarded this secret well, knowing it as the direct way to reach Bhagavān Vishṇu-Kṛshṇa.
The Māhātmya gives this order of puṇya (merit) among the months:
- Māgha, when the Sun is in Makara (Capricorn), gives the puṇya of eight months.
- Vaiśākha gives a hundred times the puṇya of Māgha.
- The Sun in Tulā (Libra) gives a thousand times.
- The Sun in Vṛścika (Scorpio) gives a crore of times.
- Mārgaśīrsha is above them all.
Men in Bhārata who do not do holy rites in Mārgaśīrsha are described as people who commit pāpa (sin), deluded by Kali. (Chapter 1.)
The vrata of the gopīs
Bhagavān Vishṇu-Kṛshṇa himself set the example. In Nanda’s Gokula, thousands of gopīs whose minds were fixed on Kṛshṇa’s form took the early-morning Mārgaśīrsha bath every day. They worshipped, ate only havishyānna (pure food fit for an offering) and bowed down.
Bhagavān Kṛshṇa was delighted and gave them the highest vara (boon): his own self. This is why the Mārgaśīrsha bath was a closely guarded secret. Those who know it win Bhagavān Kṛshṇa directly. (Chapter 1.)
The daily morning rite
The devotee rises before dawn and does ācamana (sipping water). He recites the Vishṇu Sahasranāma with restrained speech. He goes out for his morning needs, then takes clay from the root of a Tulasī plant. While plucking leaves he recites the Gāyatrī or the Mūlamantra. He applies the clay over the whole body and bathes, reciting the Aghamarshaṇa mantra (Ṛgveda X.190).
The water is made into a tīrtha by calling on Gaṅgā with twelve names, and each mantra is repeated seven times. The twelve names are:
- Nandinī
- Nalinī
- Dakshaputrī
- Vihaga
- Viśvagā
- Vidyādharī
- Suprasannā
- Lokaprasādinī
- Kshemā
- Jāhnavī
- Śāntā
- Śāntipradāyinī
After the bath he offers tarpaṇa (water offerings) to the devas, the pitṛs and the ṛshis. Then he puts on clean white clothes. (Chapter 2.)
Ūrdhvapuṇḍra, the sacred marks
Three materials are used: clay from the root of Tulasī, Gopīcandana from Dvārakā, and Haricandana.
Gopīcandana is praised most. It makes holy rites a crore of times more fruitful. Bhagavān Vishṇu, with Lakshmī, lives in person wherever it is applied. Yama has no power over such a person. Even the greatest doers of pāpa who die with Gopīcandana marks on the forehead, arms, chest and head go to Vishṇu’s world.
The puṇḍra must leave a gap in the middle. That gap is the home of Bhagavān Hari and Lakshmī. (Chapters 2 and 3.)
Seals of the weapons and avatāras
Besides the Ūrdhvapuṇḍra, the devotee should mark the body with the signs of Bhagavān Vishṇu’s avatāras (the fish and the tortoise) and of his weapons (Śaṅkha, Sudarśana, Gadā and Padma). Bhagavān Vishṇu says: “There is no difference between such a man and me.”
The Sudarśana cakra worn as an amulet of metal, with 12 spokes, 6 angles and 3 folds, protects the devotee completely. A body marked in this way is the same as Bhagavān Vishṇu’s own body.
Famous devotees who wore these marks were Prahlāda, Vibhīshaṇa, Bali, Dhruva, Śuka, Māndhātṛ, Ambarīsha and Mārkaṇḍeya. (Chapter 3.)
Pāñcajanya worship and the Pañcāmṛta bath
The Pañcāmṛta gives rewards in this order: milk, with the puṇya of 100 horse-sacrifices for each drop; then curds, ten times that; ghee, ten times that; honey, ten times that; sugar, greater still; and scented flower-water, better than all.
In Mārgaśīrsha in particular, a milk bath gives an earthly kingdom with elephants and horses. Bathing the mūrti with the milk of a tawny cow equals giving 100 tawny cows. Water in a conch becomes Gaṅgā water, whatever its source. (Chapters 4 and 5.)
The order of flowers
The Māhātmya ranks 28 flowers for the worship of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The best is Jāti (Jasminum grandiflorum). It is 1000 times better than Kunda, which is already 1000 times better than Trisandhyā Śveta, and so on down 28 grades, beginning with Droṇa.
A garland of a thousand Jāti flowers gives a home in Vishṇu’s city for thousands of crores of kalpas. Tulasī alone is above all flowers, and even above the Kaustubha gem. (Chapters 7 and 8.)
The naivedya
The Mārgaśīrsha naivedya is described in great detail.
- A plate of gold or silver, or a large Palāśa leaf.
- Milk-pudding as white as the moon.
- Mudga pulse, white as crystal.
- Three rows of dishes with pickles, relishes and side-dishes made of fruit.
- Kaṭhikās (spiced broth).
- Nine kinds of Vaṭakas (pulse cutlets) in nine marinades: curds, milk, tamarind, mango, grape, sugarcane, mustard-water, sugar with four juices, and dry.
- Maṇḍakas, Pūrikās, Apūpas, Parpaṭas, Varpaṭas, Phenikās, Polikās and Modakas.
- Chutneys of more than 25 fruits in mustard oil, pickled for three years.
The smallest offering is one Laḍḍu, one Pūrī, two Phenās, three Kokarasa, sixteen Maṇḍakas and eight Vaṭakas. Of the one who offers this, the text says: “this man will never see naraka.” (Chapter 9.)
The Dāmodara mantra and the closing rites
After the naivedya come ācamana, betel leaves, sandalpaste, showing a mirror, nīrājana (waving a light) with camphor, and prostrations with ashṭāṅga praṇāma (the prostration of eight limbs).
The main japa mantra is “Namaḥ Dāmodarāya”. Yaśodā gave Bhagavān Kṛshṇa the name Dāmodara when she tied him to a mortar after he broke the pot of curds at Gokula. The daily japa is 3,000 times, until the total reaches 350,000. Then comes the udyāpana (concluding rite): a libation, a homa, and the feeding of brāhmaṇas at one tenth of that count.
Five hymns and prayers (pañcastava) are dear to Bhagavān Vishṇu:
- Vishṇu Sahasranāma
- Bhīshma Stava-rāja
- Gajendra Moksha
- Anusmṛti
- Bhagavad Gītā
Pādodaka is the foot-water of the Śālagrāma. One drop means there is no rebirth. It is greater than thousands of Pañcagavya. It makes holy those cast out of society, those who have taken forbidden food and drink, and those who have fallen from dharma. Even at the moment of death it gives the highest goal. (Chapter 10.)
The Vīrabāhu narrative and Ekādaśī
This is the narrative of King Vīrabāhu of Kāmpilya and his queen Kāntimatī. It also tells of a śūdra ancestor who was lifted up through his kindness to a brāhmaṇa, and through the Akhaṇḍa Ekādaśī Vrata of his grandson. It shows the great power of these observances.
The Dvādaśī without Daśamī overlap is Bhagavān Vishṇu’s own tithi. One day of Hari, which is Ekādaśī, is greater than thousands of Śiva-vratas and crores of Saura-vratas. (Chapters 11 and 12.)
Jāgaraṇa on the night of Dvādaśī
Jāgaraṇa is an all-night vigil on the night of Ekādaśī and Dvādaśī, with 26 characteristics. Its puṇya is a crore of times that of a thousand horse-sacrifices and a hundred Vājapeya yajñas. Ārātrika (waving of lamps) must be done at the end of every yāma, a period of three hours. Without jāgaraṇa, even a Gayā śrāddha cannot save the ancestors. (Chapter 13.)
The Matsya festival on Mārgaśīrsha Śukla Dvādaśī
A golden fish, for the Matsya avatāra, is set in a vessel and surrounded by four pots that stand for the four oceans. It is worshipped and then given to the ācārya. The four pots are given to Vedic scholars in the four directions at dawn. (Chapter 14.)
Kṛshṇa-nāma, the highest secret
Bhagavān Vishṇu-Kṛshṇa says: “This is my vow. Even the suras (devas) and the asuras do not know this.” The name Kṛshṇa, said without a break, gives everything: worldly desires and Vaikuṇṭha. Said at the time of death, it frees one from Yama at once.
He also says: “The pāpas that people can commit cannot be as many as my name is able to burn down.” The two syllables HA-RI, said even once, set one on the path to moksha. (Chapter 15.)
Śrīmadbhāgavata in Mārgaśīrsha
The Māhātmya gives these rewards for the Bhāgavata:
- A tawny cow for each syllable of the Bhāgavata read.
- The puṇya of all 18 Purāṇas for reading one verse daily.
- All tīrthas, rivers, yajñas and holy mountains are present wherever the Bhāgavata is kept.
- Bhagavān Vishṇu-Kṛshṇa says: “Wherever there is Bhāgavata, I go to that place like a cow fond of her calf.”
- One who does not rise to honour the Bhāgavata on seeing it loses a year’s puṇya.
The Dāmodara mantra is the main mantra of Mārgaśīrsha. (Chapter 16.)
Mārgaśīrsha at Mathurā
This is the highest observance of the month. Mārgaśīrsha at Mathurā gives more puṇya than a thousand years at Prayāga. One day at Mathurā in Mārgaśīrsha is greater than a thousand years at Vārāṇasī.
All creatures that die at Mathurā, including worms, insects, and blind and deaf people, reach sārūpya (one kind of moksha). All four kinds of moksha, sālokya, sārūpya, sāmīpya and sāyujya, can be reached through Mathurā. The Mārgaśīrsha Pūrṇimā is the greatest day: every rite done on it gives puṇya that does not end. (Chapter 17.)
Sources
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Mārgaśīrsha Māsa Māhātmya, Chapters 1 to 17
- Ṛgveda X.190 (the Aghamarshaṇa mantra)