Shloka 463
सरस्वतीतीर्थानुक्रमः — बलरामस्य तीर्थयात्रा
Sarasvatī Tīrtha Itinerary — Balarāma’s Pilgrimage
यश्लेहोपस्पृशेत् कूपे स सोमपगतिं लभेत् । मुनिने देवताओंसे वर माँगते हुए कहा--“मुझे इस कूपसे आपलोग बचावें तथा जो मनुष्य इसमें आचमन करे, उसे यज्ञमें सोमपान करनेवालोंकी गति प्राप्त हो”
yaślehopaspṛśet kūpe sa somapagatīṁ labheta | muninā devatābhyaḥ varaṁ māṅgate huve uktam—“māṁ asmin kūpāt yūyaṁ trāyatāṁ, yaś ca manuṣyo ’sminn ācamanaṁ kuryāt, sa yajñe somapānavatāṁ gatiṁ prāpnotu”
Vaiśampāyana said: “Whoever touches this well for purification will attain the blessed state of those who have drunk Soma in sacrifice.” Thus the sage, while requesting a boon from the gods, spoke: “Rescue me from this well, and grant that any person who sips water here as a rite of purification may obtain the same exalted destiny as the Soma-drinkers in a yajña.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ritual acts performed with sacred intention—such as touching a sanctified well and doing ācamana—can become vehicles of merit when empowered by a sage’s boon and divine sanction, linking ordinary purification to the higher fruit associated with Soma-sacrifice.
A sage, trapped in a well, petitions the gods for rescue and simultaneously asks that the well become spiritually efficacious: anyone who performs ācamana there (or touches it for purification) should gain the exalted posthumous state attributed to participants in Soma-yajñas.