Shloka 25

The Greatness of Bathing in the Ganges

Gaṅgā-snānā-mahātmya

Devanagari script

करोति पुण्यवाहिन्याः सोऽपि स्वर्गस्य भाजनम् । सर्वावस्थां गतो वापि सर्वधर्मविवर्जितः ॥ २५ ॥

Transliteration

karoti puṇyavāhinyāḥ so'pi svargasya bhājanam | sarvāvasthāṃ gato vāpi sarvadharmavivarjitaḥ || 25 ||

Translation

ဓမ္မအားလုံးမှ ကင်းလွတ်နေသူတစ်ဦးပင်—ဘဝအခြေအနေ မည်သို့ကျရောက်နေစေကာမူ—ပုဏ္ဏဝါဟိနီ သန့်ရှင်းသော မြစ်နှင့် ဆက်စပ်သော ဘုရားဝတ်ပြု-ဝန်ဆောင်မှုကို ပြုလုပ်လျှင် ကောင်းကင်ဘုံ၏ အကျိုးခံစားသူ ဖြစ်လာသည်။

Word by Word

• karoti: makes / becomes
• karoti: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: kṛ (धातु)
• Form: लट् (Present), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन

• puṇya-vāhinyāḥ: of the merit-bearing (river, i.e., Ganga)
• puṇya-vāhinyāḥ: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/Genitive)
• Type: Noun
• Root: puṇya (प्रातिपदिक) + vāhinī (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, षष्ठी (Genitive/6th), एकवचन; तत्पुरुष (puṇyaṃ vahati iti vāhinī = 'carrier of merit')

• saḥ: he
• saḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (Nominative/1st), एकवचन

• api: also / even
• api: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: api (अव्यय)
• Form: particle (also/even)

• svargasya: of heaven
• svargasya: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/Genitive)
• Type: Noun
• Root: svarga (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी (Genitive/6th), एकवचन

• bhājanam: a recipient / a fit vessel
• bhājanam: Karma (कर्म) / Phala (फल)
• Type: Noun
• Root: bhājana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (Accusative/2nd), एकवचन

• sarva-avasthām: every condition/state
• sarva-avasthām: Karma (कर्म) (of 'gataḥ' in sense 'having reached every condition')
• Type: Noun
• Root: sarva (प्रातिपदिक) + avasthā (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (Accusative/2nd), एकवचन; कर्मधारय (sarvā avasthā = sarvāvasthā)

• gataḥ: gone / having reached
• gataḥ: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Verb
• Root: gam (धातु) → gata (कृदन्त, क्त)
• Form: कृदन्त (past participle, क्त), पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; 'saḥ' इत्यस्य विशेषण

• vā: or / even if
• vā: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: vā (अव्यय)
• Form: विकल्पार्थक-अव्यय (particle: 'or/even if')

• api: even
• api: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: api (अव्यय)
• Form: particle (even/also)

• sarva-dharma-vivarjitaḥ: devoid of all righteousness
• sarva-dharma-vivarjitaḥ: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: sarva (प्रातिपदिक) + dharma (प्रातिपदिक) + vivarjita (कृदन्त, क्त; varj धातु with vi-)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (Nominative/1st), एकवचन; बहुपद-तत्पुरुष (sarvebhyaḥ dharmebhyaḥ vivarjitaḥ = 'devoid of all dharma')

Speaker

Suta (narrating Narada Purana discourse; Uttara-Bhaga Tirtha-Mahatmya passage)

Vrata Kalpa

Vrata: none

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: karuna

Secondary Rasa: shanta

Characters & Entities

• Puṇyavāhinī (holy river, traditionally identified with Gaṅgā in Tirtha-Māhātmya contexts)
• Svarga

FAQs

What is the spiritual significance of this verse in Narada Purana?

It emphasizes the extraordinary purificatory power of a sacred tirtha/holy river: even a person who has lapsed from righteous conduct can gain heavenly merit through sincere performance of the prescribed river-related act (such as bathing, worship, or service).

How does this verse explain the path of devotion (Bhakti)?

By highlighting that grace and spiritual uplift are accessible through humble, faith-filled action connected to a sacred locus (tirtha); devotion expressed as service/worship at the holy river can override one’s fallen condition and generate transformative merit.

What practical Vedic knowledge (Vedanga) is highlighted here?

Primarily Kalpa (ritual procedure): it implies that specific tirtha-related rites—such as snāna (sacred bath), tarpaṇa, and pūjā—carry defined results (phala), a hallmark of dharma-śāstric ritual reasoning.