Ishṭāpūrta
Ishṭāpūrta · ishṭa-āpūrta, “what is offered and what is built”
Grammar: neuter noun; a compound of ishṭa (what is offered in yajña) and pūrta (what is filled, completed: works of public good).
Meaning: the puṇya (merit) of yajñas and of works done for the good of all; the two kinds of dharma-giving, ishṭa and pūrta, named together.
In the scriptures: Agnideva, teaching dāna-dharma to Vasishṭha Maharshi, says that dāna is of two kinds, ishṭa and pūrta, and that one who practises dāna-dharma gains everything.
- Pūrta is the founding of a vāpī (step-well), a kūpa (well), a taṭāka (tank), a devālaya (temple) and an anna-satra (a house giving free food), and the making of gardens. Pūrta gives mukti. Dāna given at an eclipse, at the Sūrya saṅkrānti and on tithis such as dvādaśī is also pūrta, and gives the fruit of svarga.
- Ishṭa is the agnihotra, speaking the truth, svādhyāya (study of the Veda), honouring guests and the bali-vaiśvadeva. Ishṭa gives svarga.
Dāna made with the right place, time and recipient gives a crore-fold fruit (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 209).
In the nirvāṇa-dīkshā, Bhagavān Śiva teaches that in the sabīja dīkshā the ācārya contemplates, within the kalās, the subtle binders that obstruct consciousness. These are distinct from the samayācāra-pāśa, from the dharma that begins the burning, from the fruit of mantra-siddhi, and from the dharma of ishṭāpūrta (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 83).
In the teaching on divyas (ordeals), where only a slight doubt arises, a man is made to swear a śapatha (oath) on truth, vehicles, weapons, cows, seeds, gold, the devatās, the feet of the guru, and his ishṭāpūrta and other puṇya works (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 255).
Related terms: Ishṭa · Pūrta · Dāna · Agnihotra · Svādhyāya · Śapatha
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 83, 209, 255