Varaha Purana 136.79: Adhyaya 136, Shloka 79
A Sūtra-like Manual of Expiations for Ritual Transgressions
Pūrva Bhāga · Vrata–Dāna–Prāyaścitta (Ritual Observance and Expiation)
अष्टभक्तं ततः कृत्वा मम भक्तिपरायणः ॥ माघस्यैव तु मासस्य शुक्लपक्षस्य द्वादशीम् ॥
aṣṭabhaktaṃ tataḥ kṛtvā mama bhaktiparāyaṇaḥ || māghasyaiva tu māsasya śuklapakṣasya dvādaśīm ||
aShTabhaktaM tataH kRRitvA mama bhaktiparAyaNaH || mAghasyaiva tu mAsasya shuklapakShasya dvAdashIm
پھر ‘اشٹ بھکت’ کا ورت اختیار کر کے، میری بھکتی میں یکسو ہو کر، ماہِ ماگھ کے شُکل پکش کی دوادشی تِتھی کا انوشتھان کرے۔
Varāha
Receptive, ready to transmit/embody the prescribed vow
Which concrete vow, on what tithi and month, should be performed to complete the expiation and stabilize devotion?
Bhakti is enacted through regulated practice tied to sacred time; right timing and restraint transform fault into purification.
Mark Māgha-śukla Dvādaśī; undertake the aṣṭabhakta discipline with focused worship, restraint, and remembrance of the Lord.
Varāha prescribes a specific observance (aṣṭabhakta) and calendrical timing (Māgha śukla Dvādaśī) to Bhū-devī for devotees’ purification.
The vow’s measured intake/discipline (aṣṭa-bhakta) mirrors yajña-like regulation of the senses; Varāha as yajña-lord receives the regulated offering of conduct.
Implicit: regulated ‘bhakta’ (food/portion) as oblation; Dvādaśī as a Viṣṇu-tithi aligning the practitioner with the Lord’s cosmic order.
Niyama and bhakti purify antaḥkaraṇa; disciplined observance becomes a support for knowledge and freedom from saṃsāra.
Undertake the Aṣṭabhakta observance and observe Māgha-śukla Dvādaśī with devotion as part of expiation/discipline.
Proper observance purifies the earlier fault and supports steadiness in bhakti; neglect leaves the prior demerit operative.
Purification through prāyaścitta and strengthening of bhakti leading toward release from saṃsāra (as framed in 136.86).
Foreshadowing is indirect: Dvādaśī and Māgha are strongly Vaiṣṇava calendrical markers later prominent in Kṛṣṇa-bhakti traditions, but Kṛṣṇa is not named here.
Varāha Purāṇa 136.86 (mahaujasa prāyaścitta; crossing saṃsāra)
FAQs
It reflects the Purāṇic integration of lunar calendrics (tithi-based timing) with devotional discipline, a common feature of medieval Hindu ritual culture.
No specific geographic site is named in this verse; it is primarily calendrical (month and tithi).
To undertake a regulated observance with mental orientation toward devotion, timed according to the Māgha bright-fortnight Dvādaśī.
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