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Vāsudeva-māhātmya · Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Unit 210 of 221Vāsudeva-māhātmya · Chapter 21Vāsudeva-māhātmya · Chapter 211 source entries

Vāsudeva-māhātmya · Chapter 21

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श्रीनारायण उवाच ।। ब्रह्मचारी गृहस्थश्च वानप्रस्थो यतिस्तथा ।। एत आश्रमिणः प्रोक्ताश्चत्वारो मुनिसत्तम ।। १ ।। संस्कारैः संस्कृतो यस्तु शुद्धयोनिर्द्विजातिताम् ।। प्राप्तः स हि ब्रह्मचारी तद्धर्मानादितो ब्रुवे ।। २ ।। वर्णी वेदमधीयीत वसन्गुरुगृहे शुचिः ।। जितेन्द्रियो जितक्रोधो विनीतस्तथ्यभाषणः ।। ३ ।। सायं प्रातश्चरेद्धोमं भिक्षाचर्यां च संयतः ।। कुर्यात्त्रिकालं संध्यां च विष्णुपूजां तथान्वहम् ।। ४ ।। गुर्वाज्ञयैव भुञ्जीत मितमन्नमनाकुलः ।। गुरुसेवापरो नित्यं भवेद्व्यसनवर्जितः ।। ५ ।। स्नाने च भोजने होमे जपे मौनमुपाश्रयेत् ।। छिन्द्यान्न नखरोमाणि दन्तान्नैवातिधावयेत् ।। ६ ।। नातिधावेच्च वासांसि भवेन्निष्कपटो गुरौ ।। आहूतोध्ययनं कुर्यादादावन्ते च तं नमेत् ।। ७ ।। अस्पृश्यान्न स्पृशेच्चासौ नाऽसंभाष्यांश्च भाषयेत् ।। अभक्ष्यं भक्षयेन्नैव नाऽपेयं च पिबेत्क्वचित् ।। ८ ।। मेखलामजिनं दण्डं बिभृयाच्च कमण्डलुम् ।। सिते द्वे वाससी ब्रह्मसूत्रं च जपमालिकाम् ।। ९ ।। दर्भपाणिश्च जटिलः केशसंस्कारवर्जितः ।। अङ्गरागं पुष्पहारान्भूषणानि च वर्जयेत् ।। 2.9.21.१० ।। तैलाभ्यङ्गं न कुर्वीत कज्जले नाञ्जनं तथा ।। वर्जयेच्च प्रयत्नेन संसर्गं मद्यमांसयोः ।। ११ ।। स्त्रीणां निरीक्षणं स्पर्शं भाषणं क्रीडनादि च ।। वर्जयेत्सर्वथा वर्णी स्त्रियाश्चाप्यवलेखनम् ।। १२ ।। विना च देवप्रतिमां काष्ठचित्रादियोषितम् ।। अपि नैव स्पृशेद्धीमान्न च बुद्ध्यावलोकयेत् ।। १३ ।। प्राणिमात्रं च मिथुनीभूतं नेक्षेत कर्हिचित् ।। स्त्रीणां गुणाश्चाप्यगुणाञ्छृणुयान्नैव नो वदेत् ।। १४ ।। अस्पृशन्नेव वन्देत गुरुपत्नीमपि स्वकाम् ।। जनन्यापि न तिष्ठेत रहःस्थाने तु कर्हिचित् ।। १५ ।। एवंवृत्तो वसेत्तत्र यावद्विद्यासमापनम् ।। ततो विरक्तो न्यासी स्याद्वर्णी वा नैष्ठिको भवेत् ।। अनधिकारिता प्रोक्ता नैष्ठिकव्रतिनां कलौ ।। १६ ।। न संधाविति विज्ञेयं कलीति शब्दसंग्रहात् ।। वनी स्यादथ वा ब्रह्मन्नविरक्तो भवेद्गृही ।। १७ ।। प्राजापत्यं च सावित्रं ब्राह्मं नैष्ठिकमेव च ।। चतुर्विधं ब्रह्मचर्यं तत्रैकं शक्तितः श्रयेत् ।। १८ ।। इति श्रीस्कान्दे महापुराण एकाशीतिसाहस्र्यां संहितायां द्वितीये वैष्णवखण्डे श्रीवासुदेवमाहात्म्ये ब्रह्मचारिधर्मनिरूपणं नामैकविंशोऽध्यायः ।। २१ ।।

śrīnārāyaṇa uvāca || brahmacārī gṛhasthaśca vānaprastho yatistathā || eta āśramiṇaḥ proktāścatvāro munisattama || 1 || saṃskāraiḥ saṃskṛto yastu śuddhayonirdvijātitām || prāptaḥ sa hi brahmacārī taddharmānādito bruve || 2 || varṇī vedamadhīyīta vasangurugṛhe śuciḥ || jitendriyo jitakrodho vinītastathyabhāṣaṇaḥ || 3 || sāyaṃ prātaścareddhomaṃ bhikṣācaryāṃ ca saṃyataḥ || kuryāttrikālaṃ saṃdhyāṃ ca viṣṇupūjāṃ tathānvaham || 4 || gurvājñayaiva bhuñjīta mitamannamanākulaḥ || gurusevāparo nityaṃ bhavedvyasanavarjitaḥ || 5 || snāne ca bhojane home jape maunamupāśrayet || chindyānna nakharomāṇi dantānnaivātidhāvayet || 6 || nātidhāvecca vāsāṃsi bhavenniṣkapaṭo gurau || āhūtodhyayanaṃ kuryādādāvante ca taṃ namet || 7 || aspṛśyānna spṛśeccāsau nā'saṃbhāṣyāṃśca bhāṣayet || abhakṣyaṃ bhakṣayennaiva nā'peyaṃ ca pibetkvacit || 8 || mekhalāmajinaṃ daṇḍaṃ bibhṛyācca kamaṇḍalum || site dve vāsasī brahmasūtraṃ ca japamālikām || 9 || darbhapāṇiśca jaṭilaḥ keśasaṃskāravarjitaḥ || aṅgarāgaṃ puṣpahārānbhūṣaṇāni ca varjayet || 2.9.21.10 || tailābhyaṅgaṃ na kurvīta kajjale nāñjanaṃ tathā || varjayecca prayatnena saṃsargaṃ madyamāṃsayoḥ || 11 || strīṇāṃ nirīkṣaṇaṃ sparśaṃ bhāṣaṇaṃ krīḍanādi ca || varjayetsarvathā varṇī striyāścāpyavalekhanam || 12 || vinā ca devapratimāṃ kāṣṭhacitrādiyoṣitam || api naiva spṛśeddhīmānna ca buddhyāvalokayet || 13 || prāṇimātraṃ ca mithunībhūtaṃ nekṣeta karhicit || strīṇāṃ guṇāścāpyaguṇāñchṛṇuyānnaiva no vadet || 14 || aspṛśanneva vandeta gurupatnīmapi svakām || jananyāpi na tiṣṭheta rahaḥsthāne tu karhicit || 15 || evaṃvṛtto vasettatra yāvadvidyāsamāpanam || tato virakto nyāsī syādvarṇī vā naiṣṭhiko bhavet || anadhikāritā proktā naiṣṭhikavratināṃ kalau || 16 || na saṃdhāviti vijñeyaṃ kalīti śabdasaṃgrahāt || vanī syādatha vā brahmannavirakto bhavedgṛhī || 17 || prājāpatyaṃ ca sāvitraṃ brāhmaṃ naiṣṭhikameva ca || caturvidhaṃ brahmacaryaṃ tatraikaṃ śaktitaḥ śrayet || 18 || iti śrīskānde mahāpurāṇa ekāśītisāhasryāṃ saṃhitāyāṃ dvitīye vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍe śrīvāsudevamāhātmye brahmacāridharmanirūpaṇaṃ nāmaikaviṃśo'dhyāyaḥ || 21 ||

English translation

Śrī Nārayaṇa said :

1. Brahmacārī (celibate student), Gṛhastha (householder), Vānaprastha (forest-hermit) and Yati (ascetic)—these four belong to the four periods of religious life.

2. He who is born of a pure family, is consecrated by sacred rites, and ṃus has attained the status of a twice-born is called a Brahmacārī (a celibate student). I shall narrate his duties from the beginning.

3. Residing in the house of a preceptor, a religious student should study the Vedas . [1] He should be pure, have subdued his senses, have control over his anger, be disciplined and be a speaker of truth.

4. He should perform fire-worship in the morning and in the evening. Remaining self-controlled, he should go out to beg alms. He should perform the Sandhyā prayer thrice a day and worship God Viṣṇu everyday.

5. Remaining calm and collected, he should partake of a limited quantity of food with the permission of the preceptor. He should always be solely devoted to the service of the preceptor and be free from evil habits.

6. He should observe silence at the time of bath, taking meals, performing fire-worship and muttering prayers. He should not pare the nails or cut his hair and should not over-cleanse his teeth.

7. He should not over-cleanse his garments and should be sincere to his preceptor. When called, he should study (learn) and should bow down at the beginning of and after the completion of the lesson.

8. He should not touch the untouchable, nor speak with persons undeserved for verbal exchange. He should not eat prohibited articles of food, and never drink forbidden drinks.

9. He should wear and possess a waistband, a deer-skin, a staff, a Kamaṇḍalu (pot of gourd as a water-bottle), two white cloths, the sacred thread and a rosary of beads (for muttering mantras ). [2]

10. He should have Darbha grass in his hands and should have matted hair without combing and other embellishments. He should abstain from application of perfumed unguents to the body, garland of flowers and ornaments.

11. He should not smear his body with oil, and should not use a cosmetic ointment like collyrium. He should assiduously avoid contact with, (abstain) from, liquor and meat.

12. A celibate should totally abstain from eying, touching, speaking, playing with women and combing (the hair) of a woman.

13. With the exception of idols of gods, an intelligent student should never touch even a woman-figure of wood or a woman’s picture etc. Nor should he look at them intently.

14. He should never see the sexual intercourse of animals. He should not listen to, nor should speak of, the good or bad qualities of women.

15. Without touching (the person of) one’s own preceptor’s wife, he should pay obeisance. Even with one’s mother, he should not sit in a secret or solitary place.

16. Behaving thus, he should stay there (in preceptor’s house) till the completion of education. Then, if free from worldly attachment, the celibate student should be either a recluse ( Sannyāsin ) or Naiṣṭhika

i.e. a perpetual religious student who continues with his preceptor, vowing life-long abstinence and chastity. But it is proclaimed that in the Kali Age, eligibility for adopting the vow of a Naiṣṭhika is prohibited.

17. By the term Kali one should understand ‘not in the junction of Kali-age’. He should be either a forest-hermit or, if he is not averse to worldly life, he should be a householder.

18. Celibacy ( Brahmacarya ) is of four types: Prājāpatya , Sāvitra , Brāhma and Naiṣṭhika . One should adopt any of these according to one’s capacity.

[1]: [1] : The practice of residence with the teacher away from home was current even in the Brāhmaṇa period (vide the story of Nabhānedīṣṭha in Aitareya Brāhmaṇa 22.9; also cf Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa XI.5.4.1-17).

[2]: [2] : For principal duties of a celibate see HD II.i, pp. 305 ff.

Complete chapter-aligned witnesses. Sanskrit Wikisource page 23192, revision 71870 (2016-06-24T10:19:54Z). English is G. V. Tagare’s complete translation, controlled against its chapter page at https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-skanda-purana/d/doc371760.html and the archival publication witness. The witnesses are aligned at chapter level; no unsupported verse-by-verse equivalence is asserted.