38 - The greatness of the Gañgä

Though Gañgä is mentioned in the Nadï-Sukta of the RV. X. 75. 5-6, it was in the age of Epics and Purånas that it came to be looked upon as the holiest of rivers. The Mbh. and other Puränas are vying with one another in singing the glory of the Gañgä (and borrowing such verses from each other). As this section of the NP. deals with pilgrimage to holy places, it is meet that it should start with the glory of the Gangå.

Vasishtha said

1. O leading king, that Vasu who was engaged in what was beneficial to all the worlds, spoke these soft words to Mohinï, beloved of his Yâjya (patron whose sacrifices Vasu performed).

Vasu said:

2. O Mohinï, listen. I shall narrate the characteristics of the holy places severally. On understanding them, the sinners can have the most excellent salvation instantaneously.

3. On the surface of the Earth, the most excellent of all the sacred places is the Gañgà. There is nothing else which is as destructive of sins as the Gañgâ.

4. On hearing these words of Vasu, her own priest, Mohinï who had great respect for a holy dip in the Gañgä, bowed to him and said

Mohini said:

5. O holy sir, the most excellent Bràhmana, now kindly recount the excellent greatness of the Gañgä, acknowledged by the Purânas.

6. After hearing the unequalled grandeur of the Gañgä that is destructive of sins, I shall go along with you, to take holy bath in that river that destroys all sins.

7. Those lands, countries, mountains and the hermitages are very holy if the sacred Gañgä is ever adjacent to them.

8. On hearing those words of Mohinï, Vasu who was conversant with the Puränas recounted the greatness of the Gañgã that is destructive of sins.

Vasu said:

9. A creature (living soul) does not attain by means of austerities, celibacy, Yajñas or renunciation, that state of existence or salvation which it may derive after resorting to the Gañgã.

10.Those men also who commit sins in the early years of their lives but resort to the Gañgä during the later years, attain great salvation.

11. The man who stands on a single leg for a thousand years (by way of penance), and the man who takes his holy dip into the Gañgâ for only a month, —these two attain equal benefits.

12. By way of penance a man may stand topsy-turvy for ten thousand Yugas. But, if a man stands on the Gañgä in any manner as he pleases he is superior to the former.

13. In the case of living beings there (in the world), whose minds are afflicted by misery and who are in search of salvation, there is no other place like the Gañgâ.

14.The Gañga may redeem per force those base men who are sinful on account of great and terrible sins. It will prevent them from going to the impure hell.

15. Those who always go near Gañgâ that is liked even by the gods, are certainly on a par with the sages and the Devas including their king Indra.

16. On every occasion, the Gañgâ is resorted to by the Devas including Indra, by sages and by human beings, for the sake of flourishing prosperity. The Gañgä has an immense cosmic form. It may sanctify even blind men, senseless men and the indigent ones.

17-19. O Mohini, in the beginning of the dark half of the month, the Gañgä is present on Earth for ten days ending with the sacred Amävâsyä day. From the first to the tenth of the bright half of the month, it is present in the netherworlds by itself. Beginning with the eleventh day in the bright half and ending with the fifth day (in the dark half), she is always present in heaven for ten days.

20. In the Krutayuga all sacred places are alike. In the Tretä the Pushkara lake is the greatest, in the Dväpara Kurukshetra is the holiest centre and in the Kali age the Gañgä is superior to all other holy places.¹

1. The same as Mbh. Vana 85.90. Also Kürma I. 27.37 except for Kruta-Yuga.

21. In the Kali age, the holy centres and sacred rivers cast off (deposit) their prowess in the Gañgâ naturally. But the divine Gañgä does not cast it off anywhere else.

22. Even those men who are habitually interested in sinful actions attain the greatest goal, even if they are touched with the wind blowing from a person wet with the drops of waters from the Gañgä.

23. There is no doubt that he who is Lord Vishnu, Janàrdana, embodiment of consciousness and all-pervading himself assumes the liquid form, it is then called the Gañgâ water.

24. The murderer of a Brâhmana, the slayer of his preceptor, the slaughterer of a cow, the thief and the defiler of the preceptor’s bed are sanctified by the waters of the Gañgä. No doubt need be entertained in this respect.

25. The water of the Gañgà shall dispel one’s sin committed till one’s death, if it is used as it is in a holy centre, or if it is taken out elsewhere or if it is taken in hot or cold weather.

26. Ordinary water kept overnight is to be avoided. The leaf or flower petal kept overnight is to be avoided, but not so in the case of the water of the Gañgâ or the leaf of Tulasï, the holy basil plant.

27. No one has the power to count the gold pieces or the jewels in mount Meru or to describe the extent of the special merits of the waters of the Gañgâ.

28. Even if a man does not fulfil the procedure laid down for the performance of pilgrimage, he too shall benefit by it, thanks to the greatness of the waters of the Gañgâ.

29. The drops of waters of the Gañgâ are superior to many wish-yielding jewels, since they grant the devotees whatever benefit they desire.

30. Even if a person gargles once with the waters of the Gañgä devoutly, he enjoys in heaven the divine juices originating from the udders of the wish-yielding cow.

31. He who sprinkles the Gañgä water on the Sälagräma stone, shines like the sun that dispels dense darkness at the time of rising.

32. There is no doubt that a man who is engulfed in different sins originating from (or committed by) mind, words, or body becomes purified on seeing the Gañgâ.

33. He who always partakes of alms sprinkled with the Gañgä water, sheds off all sins like the serpent that casts off its slough.

34. Heaps of sinful vicious actions as big as the Himalayas or the Vindhya mountains perish through the waters of the Gañgà like misfortunes through devotion to Vishnu.

35. At the very moment when men devoutly enter the Gañgä for taking ablution, their sins of Brähmana slaughter etc. cry out ‘Alas!’ and disappear.

36. The man who continuously stays on the banks of the Gañgä, and who drinks the water of the Gañgä always shall be liberated from the sins accumulated before.

37. Verily, he who, resorting to the Gañgä, always stays there fearlessly, deserves to be worshipped by gods, mortals and great sages.

38. Of what avail is the Yoga with its eight ancillaries? Of what use are the austerities? Of what advantage are the sacrifices? The residence on the banks of the Gañgä alone is superior to them all in every respect.

39. Why should you go in for many Yajñas, words of Japas, austerities and gifts of wealth? For, the Gañgä that can be easily served and that bestows heavenly pleasures and salvation is present nearby.

40. By means of Yajñas, observances, restraints, charitable gifts and renunciation one does not attain that benefit which one attains by resorting to the Gañgä.

41, The benefit that a man derives at Prabhäsa by giving away a thousand cows when the sun is swallowed by Rähu (i.e. at the time of solar eclipse), can be derived by taking bath in the Gañgä by a single day.

42. If a man is desirous of liberation, he must eschew other means and decisively stay happily on the banks of the Gañgã. Only then can he be the object of salvation.

43. In Varânasi particularly, the Gañgä bestows liberation immediately. Every month, on the eighth or fourteenth day, it confers emancipation from Samsära.

44-45a. The residence on the banks of the Gañgä as long as one lives, is the bestower of final beatitude. On the banks of the Gañgä, one obtains that benefit and happiness which is usually obtained after performing Krucchra rites or the Chändräyana expiation always.

45b-46a. O daughter of Brahma, even by hundreds of sacrifices it is not possible to obtain the benefit that one gets in half a day by being devoted to the service of Gañgä.

46b-47a. By staying on the banks of the Gañgâ with devotion, one gets that benefit which is obtained by all these rites viz. Yajña, austerities, charitable gifts, Yaugic practice and recitation of the Vedic passages.

47b-48a. By staying on the bank of the Gañgä that merit is obtained which life-long Brahmachärins (those who have taken the vow of celibacy) get through truthful words and which those who perform Agnihotra get.

48b-49a. Devotion to the Gañgä certainly redeems infinite crores of families belonging to the mother, father, and wife from the ocean of worldly existence.

49b-50. The devotee of the Gañgä attains contentment, great power and prosperity, knowledge of truth, happiness of the soul and the acquisition of humility and good conduct. Only by resorting to the Gañgà does a man become contented and blessed.

51-52a. There is no doubt about this that even after death he will be its devotee and engrossed in devotion. The man who devoutly touches its waters and drinks them, obtains the means of salvation without any strain.

52b-53. These men rejoice in the presence of Shiva, viz. the man who gets initiated in the Yajñas; the man who drinks Soma juice every day; the man whose rites are always performed through the waters of the Gañgä. They eschew their bodies and rejoice in the presence of Shiva.

54. Just as Indra and other Devas imbibe the nectarine juice present in the moon and the sun, so also men drink the Gañgä water through their mouths.

55-56. By drinking a handful of the Gañgã water, one derives hundred times the merits of the gifts of virgins (in marriage), plots of lands, cooked rice, cows, gold and other metals, chariots, horses and elephants (all gifts being) duly devoutly performed.

57. A benefit more than what is glorified in the case of thousands of Chândräyana observance, is obtained by drinking the waters of the Gañgä.

58. If one drinks a mouthful of the Gañgã water, one attains the benefit of a horse-sacrifice. Salvation is within the grasp of that person who drinks the water of the Gañgä freely.

59. The water of the Sarasvati becomes stale in three months; that of the Yamunâ in seven months, that of the Narmadä in ten months and that of the Gañgâ in a year.

60. If in the case of any dead person the obsequies and the water libations are not performed in accordance with the injunctions in the scriptures, they can have the subsequent benefit by casting the bones in the Gañgà.

61. Of the two—one performing a thousand Chândrâyana Vratas (vows) subjecting himself to bodily strain and the other drinking the Gañgä water as he pleases—it is the latter that excels the former.

62. He who sees, eulogises and bathes in the Gañgã and he who drinks water of the Gañgä, attains heavenly pleasures, pure knowledge, Yogic power and salvation.

63. He who drinks water of the Gañgä warmed by the rays of the sun gains merits. The drinking of the Gañgà water is superior to the partaking of barley grains soaked in cow’s urine.