Adhyaya 84
Description of the Greatness of the Mother-and-Father Tīrtha
Chapter 84 exalts one’s mother and father (and the guru) as living tīrthas: devoted service to them yields extraordinary merit. Through exempla—Yayāti’s sons Pūru and Turu, and Yadu and Turu under a curse—it teaches that a father’s favor or anger powerfully shapes a lineage, and that answering a parent’s call with reverence is comparable in fruit to bathing in the Gaṅgā. Acts of service—washing the feet of the worthy, massaging the teacher, and providing food, clothing, and bathing—are declared equal to pilgrimage, even to Aśvamedha-level merit. The chapter also issues grave warnings: reviling parents leads to Raurava hell, neglecting aged parents brings suffering, and reviling one’s guru is proclaimed beyond expiation. Closing within the Vena narrative frame, it stresses daily worshipful conduct toward mother, father, and teacher as the foundation of knowledge, prosperity, and spiritual ascent.
Shlokas
Verse 1
सुकर्मोवाच । एतत्ते सर्वमाख्यातं चरित्रं पापनाशनम् । पुत्राणां तारकं दिव्यं बहुपुण्यप्रदायकम्
Sukarma said: “All of this has been fully related to you—a sacred narrative that destroys sin, becomes a divine deliverer for one’s sons, and bestows abundant merit.”
Verse 2
प्रत्यक्षं दृश्यते लोके ययातिचरितं श्रुतम् । पूरुणाप्तं महद्राज्यं दुर्गतिं गतवांस्तुरुः
In this world, the well-known story of Yayāti is seen as a clear, living example: Pūru attained the great kingdom, while Turu fell into misfortune.
Verse 3
पितृप्रसादात्कोपाच्च यथा जातं तथा पुनः । पुत्राणां तारकं पुण्यं यशस्यं धनधान्यदम्
Whether it arises from a father’s favor or from his anger, it still becomes again a holy deliverer for sons—bringing merit, fame, and the gift of wealth and grain.
Verse 4
शापयुक्ताविमौ चोभौ तुरुश्च यदुरेव च । पितृमातृसमं नास्ति अभीष्टफलदायकम्
Both—Turu and also Yadu—were bound by a curse. Nothing equals father and mother, for they bestow the fruit one longs for.
Verse 5
साभिलाषेण भावेन पिता पुत्रं समाह्वयेत् । माता च पुत्रपुत्रेति तस्य पुण्यफलं शृणु
If, with loving and tender intent, a father calls his son, and a mother calls her son saying, “Son, son,” then hear the meritorious fruit (puṇya-phala) of that.
Verse 6
समाहूतो यथा पुत्रः प्रयाति मातरं प्रति । यो याति हर्षसंयुक्तो गंगास्नानफलं लभेत्
Just as a son, when called, goes toward his mother, so whoever goes forth filled with joy attains the merit of bathing in the Gaṅgā.
Verse 7
पादप्रक्षालनं यस्तु कुरुते च महायशाः । सर्वतीर्थफलं भुंक्ते प्रसादात्तु तयोः सुतः
Whoever, O illustrious one, washes the feet of the worthy partakes of the merit of all tīrtha, the sacred pilgrimage places; and by the grace of those thus honored, his son too receives that benefit.
Verse 8
अंगसंवाहनाच्चान्यदश्वमेधफलं लभेत् । भोजनाच्छादनस्नानैर्गुरुं यः पोषयेत्सुतः
By massaging the limbs of the teacher, one attains the merit of an Aśvamedha sacrifice. The son who supports his guru with food, clothing, and bathing services is greatly rewarded.
Verse 9
पृथ्वीदानसमं पुण्यं तत्पुत्रे हि प्रजायते । सर्वतीर्थमयी गंगा तथा माता न संशयः
Merit equal to the gift of the earth is indeed born in her son. The Gaṅgā embodies all sacred fords, and so does one’s mother—of this there is no doubt.
Verse 10
बहुपुण्यमयः सिंधुर्यथा लोके प्रतिष्ठितः । अस्मिल्लोंके पिता तद्वत्पुराणकवयो विदुः
Just as the Sindhu is renowned in the world as exceedingly meritorious, so too in this very world the Purāṇic sages know the father to be of like stature.
Verse 11
सुकर्मोवाच । भ्रंशते क्रोशते यस्तु पितरं मातरं पुनः । स पुत्रो नरकं याति रौरवाख्यं न संशयः
Sukarma said: The son who reviles and repeatedly shouts at his father and mother goes to the hell called Raurava—of this there is no doubt.
Verse 12
मातरं पितरं वृद्धौ गृहस्थो यो न पोषयेत् । स पुत्रो नरकं याति वेदनां प्राप्नुयाद्ध्रुवम्
That householder who does not support his mother and father in their old age—such a son goes to hell and certainly attains suffering.
Verse 13
कुत्सते पापकर्ता यो गुरुं पुत्रः सुदुर्मतिः । निष्कृतिर्नैव दृष्टा वै पुराणैः कविभिः कदा
That evil-minded son who, being a doer of sin, reviles his own guru—for such a one, the Purāṇas and the seers-poets have never at any time described any expiation.
Verse 14
एवंज्ञात्वाह्यहंविप्रपूजयामिदिनेदिने । मातरं पितरं नित्यं भक्त्या नमितकंधरः
Knowing thus, O brāhmaṇa, I worship and honor you day after day; and every day I bow in devotion to my mother and father, my neck bent in reverent humility.
Verse 15
कृत्याकृत्यं वदेच्चैव समाहूय गुरुर्मम । तत्करोम्यविचारेण शक्त्या स्वस्य च पिप्पल
My teacher, having summoned me, tells me what is to be done and what is not to be done; and I carry it out without hesitation, according to my own ability—O Pippala.
Verse 16
तेन मे परमं ज्ञानं संजातं गतिदायकम् । एतयोश्च प्रसादेन संसारे परिवर्तते
Through that, supreme knowledge has arisen in me—knowledge that bestows the highest goal. And by the grace of these two, one’s course within saṃsāra is transformed.
Verse 17
यच्चकिंचित्प्रकुर्वंति मानवा भुवि संस्थिताः । गृहस्थस्तदहं जाने यच्च स्वर्गे प्रवर्तते
Whatever human beings do while living upon the earth—I know the householder (gṛhastha) to be the very cause of it; and likewise of whatever proceeds in heaven.
Verse 18
नागानां च इहस्थोपि चारं जानामि पिप्पल । एतयोश्च प्रसादाच्च त्रैलोक्यं मम वश्यताम्
O Pippala, even while remaining here, I know the movements of the Nāgas; and by the grace of these two, may the three worlds come under my control.
Verse 19
गतं विद्याधरश्रेष्ठ भवानर्चतु माधवम् । विष्णुरुवाच । एवं संचोदितस्तेन पिप्पलो हि स्वकर्मणा
“Go, O best of the Vidyādharas; worship Mādhava (Viṣṇu).” Viṣṇu said: “Thus urged by him, Pippala—impelled by his own past karma—acted accordingly.”
Verse 20
आनम्य तं द्विजश्रेष्ठं लज्जितोऽपि दिवं ययौ । सुकर्मासोऽपि धर्मात्मा गुरुं शुश्रूषते नृप
Bowing to that best of the twice-born, he departed for heaven, though still ashamed. O king, even Sukarmāsa—righteous-souled as he was—served his guru with devoted attendance.
Verse 21
एतत्ते सर्वमाख्यातं पितृतीर्थानुगं मया । अन्यत्किं ते प्रवक्ष्यामि वद वेन महामते
All this I have fully explained to you, in accordance with the sacred tīrthas connected with the ancestors. What else shall I tell you? Speak, O Vena, great-minded one.
Verse 84
इति श्रीपद्मपुराणे भूमिखंडेवेनोपाख्याने मातापितृतीर्थमाहात्म्यवर्णनंनाम चतुरशीतितमोऽध्यायः
Thus, in the Śrī Padma Purāṇa, in the Bhūmi-khaṇḍa, within the Vena narrative, ends the eighty-fourth chapter, entitled “The Description of the Greatness of the Mother-and-Father Tīrtha.”