167 - The power of Vishränti tirtha

Varäha said:

1. O goddess, listen to me. I shall tell you what the Räkshasha said about Vishränti tirtha to the Brahmin.

Earth said:

2. Tell me why the spoke about Višhränti tirtha and why the Brahmin asked about it.

Varäha said:

3. In Ujjayini there was a Brahmin who never cared for the rules of virtuous life. He never worshipped gods and never bowed to the saints.

4. He never bathed in any holy tirtha. He knew neither the Vedas nor the Vedäñgas. He was lustful and longed for the wives of others.

5. He used to sleep during dawn and dusk. He never gave the honour due to superior men and never did anything to propitiate the manes.

6. His mind was wicked, deeds sinful and his company bad. He was always immersed in the pleasures of conjugal life.

7. To discharge the duties of a householder is, of course, proclaimed to be a virtuous action and that all beings are sustained by that.

8. Just as all beings depend on the mother, so too they depend on wedded life.

9. So (when he felt the need for more money to maintain his family) he began to steal, and when once he was running in the night, he was caught by the king’s sentinels.

10. He ran away from them, but while doing so, fell into a well and died. He then became a Räkshasa of terrific form.

I l. A caravan of traders happened to pass by that place.

12. Amidst them was a Brahmin who was protecting the entire group by uttering the Rakshoghna mantra (meant to drive away Räkshasas).

13. Then the Räkshasa came to the Brahmin and told him:

14. “O Brahmin, I shall give you whatever you need.

Don’t deprive me of my food which I have got after a long time.

15. Get up from here and go and sleep somewhere else. Let me eat my food (these men) to my heart’s content”.

16. Hearing these words of the Räkshasa, the Brahmin said:

“I have come along with this group and I shall not forsake it.

17. This charavan is to be looked after by me like my wife. You may, therefore, go away from here. You will not be able to see it because of the power of my mantra.”

The Räkshasa said:

18. “By depriving me of my fo6od you will be doing a great wrong. Please take pity on me and don’t stand in the way of my food”.

19. Then the Brahmiñ asked him about the particular misdeed as a result of which he had become the Räkshasa.

20. Then he told him about his previous life and how by the violation of the rules of virtuous life he was turned into a Räkshasa on death.

21. Then sympathising with him, the Brahmin said, O Räkshasa, you have become my friend now. So tell me what I may give you and what I may do to be helpful to you”

The Räkshasa said:

22-23. If you are pleased to grant me my wish, then give me the fruit of your bath at Višhränti tirtha in Mathurä so that I may gain release from my present state.

The Brahmin said:

24. How do you know, O Räkshasa, about the Višhränti tirtha. Tell me how it got the name.

The Räkshasa said:

25. “I was living in the city named Ujjayinï and once I happened to go to the temple of Vishnu there.

26. There a Vaidika Brahmi n was discoursing on the greatness of Višhränti tirtha.

27. By listening to it, devotion set in in my mind. I also came to know how it got the name.

28. Janärdana, the great lord of the worlds, reposes there. Hence it got the name Višhränti”.

29. Hearing these words of the Räkshasa, the Brahmin said: “I give you the merit of one bath there”.

30. As he was saying this, the Räkshasa attained release.