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10-Teerth of Bhaarat
Varsh
8-Agni Puraan, Ch
109-114 , p 235-241
Teerth of Bhaarat Varsh
Teerth of Bhaarat Varsh
Agni Dev said - "Hey
Vashishth, Now I will tell you about all Teerth which give pleasures and
Moksh. Who has his Indriyaan under control, only he is worthy to get the
fruits of Teerth. Who eats regulated food, only he gets the fruits of
Teerth. Who has not fasted for 3 nights, who has never gone to any Teerth,
has not donated gold or cow, he is poor. Whatever fruit one gets from
Yagya, he gets from Teerth.
Pushkar -
Pushkar Teerth is the highest. 30 million Teerth are present there during
all three Sandhyaas. There live Brahmaa Jee with all Devtaa. Who worships
Devtaa and Pitar there, he gets the fruits of Ashwamedh Yagya. Who donates
grains or food there on Kaartik Poornimaa, he goes to Brahm Lok. Going
there is difficult, getting opportunity of doing Tap or Daan there is
difficult, and the most difficult is to live there.
Kanv Aashram, Koti
Teerth, Narmadaa and Arbud (Aaboo), Pindaarak Kshetra (area), Dwaarakaa,
they all give all kinds of Siddhi. Who always says, "I will go to Kuru
Kshetra, I will live in Kuru Kshetra", he becomes clean. Taking a dip in
Saraswatee River, which flows near Kuru Kshetra, goes to Brahm Lok.
Haridwaar, Kanakhal,
Ilaahaabaad, all
destroy sins. Vaaraanasee is the highest Teerth. This area is called Free
area also. [When Harishchandra had donated all Prithvi to Vishwaamitra Jee,
he lived in Kaashee. Prayaag is the king of all Teerth. Sangam of Gomatee
and Gangaa, Raaj Grih, Shaalgraam Teerth destroy all kinds of sins.
Mandaakinee, Chitrakoot, Shringverpur, Avantee, Naimishaaranya - all
Teerth give pleasures and Moksh.
Gangaa River -
Gangaa River uplifts families of both father and mother. Drinking Gangaa
water is better than doing 1,000 Chaandraayan Vrat. Who drinks Gangaa
Water for one month, he gets the fruits of all Yagyas. Gangaa destroys all
sins and gives Swarg Lok. Till the bone in Gangaa River, a person lives in
Swarg till then. Who chants "Gangaa" name, he uplifts his hundreds of
generations.
Prayaag - Agni
Dev said - "Brahmaa, Vishnu, Mahesh live here with many Devtaa and Muni.
All rivers, seas, Siddh, Gandharv and Apsaraa live here. There are 3 Agni
Kund. Gangaa flows through them carrying all Teerth, that is it is the
highest. Place of Vaasuki Naag are Bhogvatee Teerth also very good Teerth.
Whatever fruit one gets by donating millions of cows, that one gets by
taking a dip in them for three days. Who donates in Prayaag, he goes to
Swarg. Who dies near Akshaya Vat (immortal banyan tree) or in Sangam, he
goes to Vishnu's Dhaam. Sandhyaa Vat, Koti Teerth, Dashaashwamedh Ghaat,
Sangam (Prayaag) - they all are good Teerth.
Vaaraanasee -
Agni Dev said - "Who lives here pronouncing Hari's name, he gets all kinds
of plaeasures and Moksh. Mahaadev has told Gauree its importance like this
- "Gauree, I have never left this area, I always live there, that is why
it is called "A-Vimukt". All Jap, Tap, Daan, Hom etc done here are A-Kshaya
(immortal). One may break his legs by stone, but never leave Kaashee.
There are 8 secret A-Vimukt Kshetra - (1) Harishchandra, (2)
Aamraatkeshwar, (3) Japyeshwar, (4) Shree Parvat (see below under "Narmadaa
River"), (5) Mahaalaya, (6) Bhrigu, (7) Chandeshwar, and (8) Kedaar Teerth.
My A-Vimukt Kshetra (Kaashee) is the most secret one among all secret
Kshetra. This is 2 Yojan long and 1.2 Yojan wide. Vaaraanasee is situated
between two rivers - Varanaa and Naasee (Asee). Whatever you do here, all
gives you pleasures and Moksh.
Narmadaa River
- Agni Dev said - "Gangaa water purifies a person immediately, but even
the Darshan of Narmadaa water purifies a person. It is 100 Yojan long and
2 Yojan wide.
600,060,000 Teerth are
on Narmadaa which flows around Amarkantak mountain. Kaaveree Teerth is
also good. Shree Parvat - Once Gauree did a severe penance assuming the
form of Shree Devee (Lakshmee). Pleased with this Shree Hari said to her -
"Devee, You will obtain Adhyaatm Gyaan (spiritual knowledge) and this
mountain will be known as Shree Parvat. 100 Yojan are around this mountain
will be holy. Whatever Daan, Tap, Dharm is done here all is Akshaya. Shiv
always enjoys with Paarvatee on this mountain. Hiranyakashyap did his Tap
here only.
Gayaa - Agni
Dev said - "Gayaa is the highest rated Teerth among all Teerth. Once it so
happened, that Gaya named Asur did severe penance here. Devtaa got scared
and came to Vishnu and said - "Bhagavan, Please protect us from Gayaasur."
Vishnu went to Gayaasur and asked him to ask for any boon. He said - "Prabho,
I should be the holiest Teerth among all the Teerth." Bhagavaan said, "So be
it." and disappeared. Now all people went to him to have his Darshan
[because he was the greatest Teerth now].
Earth became without people [because all people went to Vishnu's Param
Dhaam after his Darshan and never came back to Prithvi]. Brahmaa and Devtaa again went to
Vishnu and said
- "Prabho, Prithvi and Swarg have become without people, because
everybody has gone to
your Lok
by seeing only that Daitya." Hari
said - "You go to Gayaasur and ask him to give you his body to do Yagya."
Brahmaa Jee went to Gayaasur and asked his body to do Yagya.
Gayaasur said, "So be
it." and immediately lay down on the ground. Brahmaa Jee started his Yagya
on his forehead. When the time came for Poorn Aahuti, Gayaasur got scared
and his body started shaking. Brahmaa Jee said to Vishnu - "Bhagavan,
Gayaasur is scared at the time of Poorn Aahuti, and his body is shaking."
Vishnu called Dharm and asked him to keep the Dev Shilaa (Divine stone)
and He asked all Devtaa to sit on that stone. He asked them to keep His
Gadaadhar (who bears Gadaa) idol also along with Devtaa. Hearing this
Dharm kept that Dev Shilaa on Daitya's body."
Now what was this Dev
Shilaa? - Dharm had a daughter from his wife Dharmvatee, her name was
Dharmvrataa. She was a great ascetic. Brahmaa's son Mareech married her.
As he was enjoying with her, that one day Maharshi got tired after
bringing flowers and Kushaa from the forest. He took his food and asked
his wife to massage his feet. Dharmvrataa started massaging Mareechi's
feet. Muni slept. At that time Brahmaa Jee came there. Dharmvrataa
thought, "What should I do? Should I continue with Muni's service or
worship Brahmaa Jee? Brahmaa Jee is the Guru of Guru, he is the Guru of my
husband also, so I should worship Brahmaa Jee."
Thinking thus she rose
and worshipped Brahmaa Jee. In the meantime, Mareechi woke up and did not
find his wife there. He got furious and cursed her - "You become a stone."
Hearing this Dharmvrataa also got angry and said - "Hey Muni, I am
innocent because leaving your service, I have served your father. You have
cursed me in this situation, you will also be cursed by Shiv Jee." Saying
thus, that Pativrataa kept Muni's Shaap at one side and entered the fire.
She performed severe penance for thousands of years. Pleased with her
Vishnu etc Devtaa asked her to ask for any boon. She said - "Please, Free
me from my curse."
Devtaa said - "Devee,
Curse by Maharshi Mareechi cannot go waste, but from our footprints you
will become a holy stone. You will have to assume the form of stone to
stabilize Gayaasur's body. At that time you will be called as Devavrataa,
Dev Shilaa, Sarv Dev Swaroopaa, Sarv Teerthmayee and Punya Shilaa."
Dharmvrataa said - "If you are so pleased with me, then I ask that after I
become a stone, all Vishnu, Brahmaa and Rudra etc Devtaa and Lakshmee,
Gauree etc Devee should always live on me." All Devta said, "So be it."
and went away. So Dharm kept the same Dev Shilaa on Gayaasur's body. But
still Gayaasur's body was shaking. Seeing this Rudra etc Devtaa sat on
that stone, but his body was still shaking. Then Devtaa had to please
Vishnu to help them. Vishnu gave them His Gadaadhar idol, they kept it on
that stone, and thus Vishnu Himself had to be present on that body.
The same Bhagavaan is
present in Gayaa in the form of Aadi Gadaadhar.
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