Adhyaya 115

Chapter PP.6.115 concludes the Kārttika-māhātmya instruction by naming five essential observances—Harijāgara (night vigil), dawn-bathing, tulasī-sevā, udyāpana (the concluding rite), and lamp-offering—declaring that these complete the Kārttika vow and bestow both bhukti (worldly enjoyment) and mukti (liberation). It then teaches crisis-ethics for keeping the vow amid illness, lack of water, or being stranded: one may sustain it through nāma-smaraṇa (remembrance of the Divine Name) and by performing the practice at any temple, at the root of an aśvattha, or in a tulasī grove. Merit-sharing is praised through music, dance, sponsorship, and even by simply praising or beholding the rite. Service to the aśvattha and vaṭa (banyan) is exalted as vow-fulfillment, for they are identified with Viṣṇu and Rudra (and the palāśa with Brahmā). An embedded myth recounts Pārvatī’s curse—provoked by divine interference through Agni—by which the devas become trees, grounding sacred tree-worship in Purāṇic theodicy.