210 - Means to destroy sin 

Narada said: 

1. “You have now told me about the duties and greatness of chaste women as propounded by god Sun. 

2. I now wish to know about something which relates to all beings. 

3-4. There are people who stricken with sorrow perform penance, undertake vows with steadfast mind and without consideration of pain and pleasure. Why do they meet with impediments? 

5. It is always said that all our virtuous actions lead to welfare. Then how is it that the mind sometimes turns to sinful actions? 

6. Whose doing is this? Who is the doer and who is that makes him do so? Who is it that restrains this world of the four kinds of beings? 

7. Why does the mind act with anger? How is there the horrible mixture of joy and sorrow in the world? 

8. If I can be told this secret which cannot be known even by gods, please do so.” 

9. Requested thus by the sage, the great lord of dharma spoke to him in all humility. 

Yama said: 

10. O Sage, I shall tell you what you wish to know. Please listen. 

11. Everything is established in supreme dharma. I don’t find really any doer or actuator of action other than that. 

12. It is this that is applauded, it is this that orders, it is this that speaks, it is this that does. 

13. I shall tell you what I have seen and heard about this in this celestial assembly full of great sages. 

14. One gets the cumulative result of one’s own actions. It is the self that brings down itself by the wrong action it does. 

15. The air gives it consciousness and it is made firm in worldly life and here the being gets the fruit of actions according as they are good or bad. 

16. Overpowered by obstructions, one should redeem one’s own self. One’s own self is one’s friend as well as foe. The self has nothing other than itself. 

17. The nature and extent of the bondage is determined by the previous actions and the soul undergoes it in hundreds of lives. 

18. It is wrong to say that everything is wrought by the world. Whatever action one does, it is all one’s own. 

19. The more and more the bad effect gets reduced, the more and more the thought for good works in man. 

20. The soul that takes birth in the world because of its evil, can redeem itself when the effect of the evil is over. 

21. One gets the mind to do good or bad according to one’s action, good or bad, in the previous lives. When good actions are done, the sin and suffering are removed. 

22. Good or bad, is thus acquired according as the action is proper or improper. When once the good actions alone are there, one becomes exalted among gods. 

23. Heaven is the result of good actions and hell that of bad ones. There is no giver or remover of this.

Nārada said: 

24. It is one’s own actions that bring about good or bad results; good action paves the way for progress and bad one for downfall, 

25. It behoves you to tell me how by thought, action, penance and conduct one can attain the birthless state.

Yama said: 

26. I shall tell you about this sacred matter, how the sins can be dissolved and how even the bad can be made to yield good. 

27-28. I first of all make obeisance to the creator of the world, who dispenses the good and the evil, who is without a beginning or end, and who is difficult to be known by gods as well as demons. 

29. The man of knowledge, who knows the whole Vedas, who is calm in mind and has control of the senses and looks at all beings alike, gets absolved of all sins. 

30. He who knows the truth about Puruşha and Prakruti and. having known it, is never deluded, attains the eternal abode 

31. He who has the capacity to discriminate between virtue and vice and between the eternal and ephemeral, and is able to get over delusion by contemplation, gets absolved of all sins. 

32. He who always inquires about the pleasure and pain in oneself as well as in others, gets absolved of all sins. 

33. He who never injures anything, is free from desire and anger, and is always just, gets absolved of all sins. 

34. He who holds his breath by proper prāņāyāma and keeps the mind steady as a result, gets absolved of all sins. 

35. He who remains free from desire for everything, including such things as are naturally liked, and gives up life in tranquillity, gets absolved of all sins. 

36. He who is ever attentive, free from anger, free from desire for another’s wealth, and free from jealousy, gets absolved of all sins. 

37. He who always attends on elders, is sworn to non-violence and is never mean in his conduct, gets absolved of all sins. 

38. He who performs only praiseworthy deeds and never what is not so, and always considers only the auspicious, gets absolved of all sins. 

39. He who resorts to the tirthas with purity in mind and does not commit anything bad, gets absolved of all sins. 

40. He who greets a Brahmin with reverence by going to wards him, gets absolved of all sins. 

Nārada said: 

41. What you have said is suitable, convincing, and conducive to the good of all. 

42. Seeing discerning people resorting to various means, I had a doubt and that has been now cleared by you. 

43. O great knower of Yoga, be pleased to tell me if there is any means still more simple for the destruction of sin. 

44. The difficult practice of yoga you have already explained. What I wish to know is whether there is anything easier to practice, 

45. What will be simple and pleasant and capable of removing every kind of sin, 

46. What can be practised by oneself, is not very elaborate, and fully favourable for this world as well as the world beyond. 

47. What is capable of exploding the effect of all bad actions that leads to birth of various kinds.

Yama said: 

48. Bowing to the creator, I shall tell you about the dharma he has expounded in this connection. 

49. Listen to this course of action which is meant for the benefit of the world and for the removal of sin. 

50. He who is desirous of attaining Absoluteness, should do with a steady mind what is ordained by dharma. 

51. He who does so with pure mind gets free from all sins and attains all desires. 

52. He who makes the form of the creator in the form of the constellation Shiśhumāra and bows to it with concentration of mind, gets absolved of all sins. 

53. He who sees with intensity the moon in its body, gets absolved even of great sins, 

54. If he sees it in the forehead, then also he is absolved of all sins, so also when he sees it in the neck or chest. 

55. Seeing it in the abdomen removes all sins committed through thought, word or deed. 

56. Seeing the sun in its Lăngala form also brings about removal of all sins committed through thought, word or deed. 

57. He who performs circumambulation on seeing Jupiter in it, gets free from every kind of sin. 

58. He who contemplates on him as the one without dissolution, becomes free from al sins. 

59. He who performs circumambulation considering him as Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars and the benign Moon and contemplates on him with pure mind, becomes pure like the moon in autumn. 

60. One gets absolved of all sins by a hundred präņāyāmas also. 

61. O sage, seeing the moon in the best of form and bowing to him in reverence, removes all sins. 

62-63. He who contemplates on him (by the mantra of) hundred and eight syllables and alternately sees the sun and moon in their full effulgence and purity, gets free from all sins. 

64. Seeing there the Brahmin Vamana, Varaha that arose from water holding Earth, and the Lion and bowing to them in austerity, consuming only milk, he gets absolved of all sins. 

65. He who performs Prāņāyāma also gets free from all sins.