Abhimantraṇa of the Tulā
Tulā Abhimantraṇa · tulā-abhimantraṇa, “the consecration of the scales”
The abhimantraṇa of the Tulā is the address by which the yajamāna consecrates the scales before the Tulāpurusha-dāna, the gift of one’s weight in gold. It is spoken to Tulā, the śakti of all the devatās, and to Govinda in the form of Tulāpurusha. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches it to Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa, as Pulastya Muni taught it to the ṛshis and King Priyavrata.
The setting
The devatās are invoked, the ṛtvijas are given gold ornaments, cloth and beds and the guru double, and homa is offered for the grahas, lokapālas and devatās. Then, while auspicious words are spoken, the yajamāna, consecrated by the knowers of the Veda, wearing white and holding flowers in his joined hands, goes three times round the scales and addresses them.
The address
“Tulā, you are the śakti of all the devatās; namaskāra to you. Jagaddhātrī, you abide in truth, the witness, made by Viśvayoni Brahmā. Doer of the world’s good: on one pan of yours are all truths, on the other a hundred untruths; you are set between the dhārmika and the pāpī. On earth you are declared the measure for all beings. Weighing me, lift me out of this saṃsāra; namaskāra to you. Devī, the twenty-fifth Purusha, lord of the tattvas, stands established in you alone; so again and again I bow to you. Govinda, known as Tulāpurusha, namaskāra again and again to you. Hari, carry us across this ocean of saṃsāra.”
After the address
At the puṇya-kāla he bows and mounts the scales, armed and adorned, holding golden images of Sūrya and Dharmarāja, looking towards the face of Vishṇu, while gold is heaped on the other pan; then, silent a moment, he prays to Tulā as the eternal witness of all beings, and afterwards gives the gold to the guru, the ṛtvijas and the poor. The giver goes in a vimāna to Sūryaloka and the other lokas and is born again as a dharmātmā king.
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 175