173 - The story of Gokarna (continued)

Varaha said:

1. Remaining in that auspicious place, Gokarna honoured the parrot Shuka, his own parents and the four wives.

2. He then made the residents of Mathura make gardens according to their capacity.

3. He himself then conducted a great sacrificial festival in which Brahmins were fed and gifts given every day.

4. He also provided for vocal song and instrumental music and did everything conducive to progeny.

5. He then prostrated separately at the feet of his father and mother.

6-7. Then looking at Shuka he shed tears and exclaimed: “It was because of your favour that I got my life, dharma and introduction to the path of salvation and the king gained profound merit”.

8. Living happily with his family and friends, Gokarna constructed this temple of Shiva and named it Shuka.

9. He installed Shukeshvara (Shiva) there and then constructed the rest house named ‘Shukasatra’ where two hundred Brahmins are sumptuously fed.

10. Shuka died there, and entering an aerial car went to heaven.

11. Gokarna had given to the hunter, in exchange for the parrot, the merit of his bath at the confluence and the Shraddha and gift of gold and cows there.

12. (As a result) the hunter and his wife also entered the same aerial car as Shuka’s and went to heaven.

  13. Thus have I told you about the great merit that accrues at Mathura, at the confluence of river Sarasvati and Yamuna and at the temple of Shiva Gokarna.

14. The meditation on Gokarna confers great merits, enormous enjoyment and salvation in the end.