6 - Attainment of Liberation Uttering the Pundarikakshapara hymn

Earth asked: 

1. Having cleared their doubt by the words of Bruhaspati, what did Vasu and Raibhya do? 

Varäha replied:

2. The virtuous king Vasu ruled over his country-and performed munificently many sacrifices.

3. Meditating solely on Vishnu and doing righteous actions, the great king pleased the Lord.

4. As time went on, the king who crossed the ocean Of Dvandvas (opposite things like pain and pleasure, cold and heat etc.) developed in his mind complete detachment from royal pleasures.

5. Then he entrusted his kingdom to Vivasvat, the eldest of his hundred sons, and went to the forest.

6. There was the sacred lake named Pushkara where Vishnu is worshipped by His devotees in the name. Of Pundarikäksha.

7. The saintly sage Vasu, ruler of Kashmir, went there and doing extremely severe penance emaciated his body.

8. Reciting the Pundarikakshapara hymn in devotion, the wise king worshipped the sinless God Näräyana, and at the end of it, the excellent king became dissolved in Him.

Earth asked:

 9. O Great God! tell me clearly what the Pundarikaksha para hymn is.

Varäha replied:

10.“Bow to you, O (one having eyes resembling white lotuses)! Bow go you, O Madhusüdana (one who killed the demon Madhu)! Bow to you, O lord of all worlds! Bow to you having a scorching disc (in the hand)!

11. Obeisance to Pundarikäksha, the embodiment of all worlds, the long-handed, the giver of boons, the great-prowessed, the omnipresent, and the one having the form of both Vidyä (knowledge) and Avidyä (ignorance).

12. Salutation to the primordial great God, who crossed the ocean of the Vedas and Vedäñgas, profound of all gods and having eyes like lotus-petals.

13. Salutation to the supreme God who has thousand heads thousand eyes, long hands, and who stands pervading the whole world.

14. Salutation to God Vishnu, the victorious, the primordial, the repose to all devotees, one resembling the dark cloud, and having a disc in hand.

15. Salutation to the pure, eternal and all-pervading Vishnu who has the form of sky and is freed from both Bhäva (existence) and Abhäva (non-existence).

16. O Achyuta (imperishable)! I can see nothing other than you. I see all these movable and immovable beings identical with you!”

17-18. As he finished this prayer, out of his body arose a person with a small body in blue complexion, extremely terrible, having reddish eyes, and resembling a burning pillar. With folded hands, he asked the king: ‘O great king! What is to be done by me?’

The king said:

19. Who are you? What do you want? Where do you come from? Tell me, O hunter.

The Hunter said:

20. “O king! in Kaliyuga, formerly, you were the king of Dakshinäpatha (South India), quite righteous and skilful, reigning at Janasthäna.

21. One day, O brave king! You with your horses went to a forest for hunting.

22.There a sage in the form of a deer was thrown down on the earth with two sticks by you, although unwittingly.

23. Immediately the sage breathed his last. You were, O king, very happy thinking that the deer was dead.

But when you went forward, on the Prasravana mountain, you found dead the Brahmin in the form of deer.

24. Seeing him, O great king, you went to your palace with a mind extremely distressed and told some one about this incident.

25. As some more days passed, at one night, O king, you got struck with the fear for the sin of killing a Brahmin and you thought: “I will do something by which I will be freed from the sin”.

26. Then, meditating on Lord Näräyana, you performed the sacred Dvädašhi fast.

27. Saying ‘Narayana’ is pleased with me’, on a sacred day, a cow was offered by you according to religious rules. Then and there, you fell down dead due to stomach-ache.

28-29. I shall tell you why your Dvádašhi fast did not result in good. Your wife, Náräyani, was an auspicious lady. You called her by her name when your life breath was leaving your neck (and not the name of the Lord).

30. For a Kalpa, O great king, you were in Vishnu region. I was living in your body and I know all that occurred.

31-32. I felt, being the terrible ghost of the dead Brahmin, I could harass you. But then I was driven out by Vishnu’s servants by their clubs and I came out of the pores of your skin. And I remain my own even in heaven.

33-34. After this, when the day-kalpa was followed by the night-kalpa, O best of kings, in the first creation, you were born in the palace of king Sumanas who ruled over Kashmir. I was then in your hairs. During that occasion, you performed many sacrifices munificently.

35-36. I was not released from your hairs by those sacrifices which were lacking in the remembrance of But, now, when you uttered the Pundarikäkshapära hymn, by its power, I was released from your hairs and I have attamed the form of a hunter.

37. Just sometime before, I heard the hymn to the God with my sinful body. Hence my liberation. Now, O lord, I am changed into a completely righteous-minded man.”

38. Having heard this, the great king was struck with wonder and pleased the hunter giving a boon to him.

The king said:

39. As you have reminded me of my previous birth, O hunter, you will be famous by the name ‘Dharmavyädha’ (a righteous hunter).

40. One who hears this Pundarikäkshapära hymn will get the same result as that of bathing in the sacred lake Pushkara.

Varäha said:

41. After saying this, the king entered into the aerial car. O Earth, then he attamed union with the Supreme light.