Shloka 78
Tīrtha-yātrā: Phalaśruti and Sacred Geography from Lohitya to Prayāga
Pulastya’s Instruction
तत्र स्नात्वार्चयित्वा च दैवतानि थ। न दुर्गतिमवाप्रोति वाजपेयं च,राजन्! ये सब तीर्थ रुद्रकोटिमें, कूपमें और कुण्डोंमें हैं। भरतशिरोमणे! वहीं इलास्पदतीर्थ है, जिसमें स्नान और देवता-पितरोंका पूजन करनेसे मनुष्य कभी दुर्गतिमें नहीं पड़ता और वाजपेययज्ञका फल पाता है
tatra snātvārcayitvā ca daivatāni tathā | na durgatim avāpnoti vājapeyaṁ ca, rājan | ye sarva-tīrthā rudrakoṭyāṁ kūpeṣu ca kuṇḍeṣu ca santi | bharata-śiromaṇe! tatraivailāspada-tīrthaṁ, yasmin snāna-devatā-pitṛ-pūjanena manuṣyo na kadācit durgatiṁ gacchati, vājapeya-yajñasya ca phalaṁ prāpnoti ||
Ghūlastya said: “O King, having bathed there and worshipped the gods, a person does not fall into misfortune and attains the merit of the Vājapeya sacrifice. All those sacred fords are there—at Rudrakoṭī, in wells and in ponds. O crest-jewel of the Bharatas, there itself is the holy place called Ilāspada; by bathing there and offering worship to the gods and the ancestors (pitṛs), a man never comes to an evil end and gains the fruit of the Vājapeya rite.”
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that disciplined pilgrimage—bathing (snāna) and worship (arcana), including offerings to ancestors—purifies one’s destiny and yields great religious merit, symbolically equated with the fruit of the Vājapeya sacrifice.
A speaker named Ghūlastya is describing the greatness of specific sacred sites (Rudrakoṭi and Ilāspada-tīrtha) to a king, explaining that bathing and performing worship there protects one from durgati (an evil end) and grants exalted sacrificial merit.