The Eleventh Book. Chapter 4
The Eleventh Book
Chapter Iv
On The Greatness Of The Rudrksam
p. 1064
1-11. Nrada said :-- O Sinless one! The greatness of the Rudrksa seed that you have described is verily such. Now I ask why is this Rudrksam so much entitled to worship by the people. Please speak clearly on this point. Nryana spoke :-- O Child! This is the very question that was asked once by Krtika, the sixfaced One, to Bhagavn Rudra, dwelling in Kails'a. What He replied, I say now. Listen. Rudra Deva spoke :-- O Child Sadnana. I will dwell briefly on the secret cause of the greatness of the Rudrksa seed. Hear. In days of yore, there was a Daitya called Tripur who could not be conquered by any body. Brahm, Visnu and the other Devas were defeated by him. They then came to Me and requested Me to kill the Asura. At their request, I called in my mind the Divine Great weapon, named Aghora, beautiful and terrible and containing the strength of all the Devas, to kill him. It was inconceivable and it was blazing with fire.
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For full divine one thousand years I remained awake with eyelids wide open in thinking of the Aghora weapon, the destroyer of all obstacles, whereby the killing of Tripursura might be effected and the troubles of the Devas be removed. Not for a moment my eyelids dropped. There by my eyes were affected and drops of water came out of my eyes. Note here. How enemies are to be killed. It requires great thought, great concentration, great yoga and great powers. O Mahsena! From those drops of water coming out of my eyes, the great tree of Rudrksam did spring for the welfare of all. This Rudrksa seed is of thirty-eight varieties. From My Srya Netra, i.e., My right eye, symbolizing the Sun, twelve yellow coloured (Pingala colour) varieties have come; and from my left eye representing the Moon, the Soma Netra, sixteen varieties of white colour and from my third eye on the top, representing Fire, i.e., the Agni Netra, ten varieties of black colour have come out. Of these the white Rudrksams are Brhmins and they are used by the Brhmanas; the red coloured ones are the Ksattriyas and should be used by the Ksattriyas and the black ones are Sdras and should be used by the Vaisyas and the Sdras.
12-19. One faced Rudrksa seed is the Siva Himself, made manifest and rendered vivid; even the sin incurred in killing a Brhmana is destroyed thereby. Two faced or two headed Rudrksam is like the Deva and the Dev. Two sorts of sins are destroyed thereby. The three faced Rudrksam is like fire; the sin incurred in killing a woman is destroyed in a moment. The four faced Rudrksa seed is like Brahm and removes the sin of killing persons. The five faced Rudrksam is verily an image of Rudra; all sorts of sins, e.g., eating prohibited food, going to the ungoables, etc., are destroyed thereby. The six faced Rudrksam is Krtikeya. It is to be worn on the right hand. One becomes freed of the Brahmhaty sin. There is no manner of doubt in this. The seven faced Rudrksam is named Ananga. Holding this frees one from the sin of stealing gold, etc., O Mahsena! The eight faced Rudrksa is Vinyaka. Holding this frees one from the sin of holding an illicit contact with a woman of a bad family and with the wife of one's Guru, etc., and other sins as well. It enables one to acquire heaps of food, cotton, and gold; and in the end the Highest Place is attained.
20-35. The fruit of holding the eight faced Rudrksa seed has been said. Now I will talk of the nine-faced Rudrksam. It is verily the Bhairava made manifest. On the left hand it should be worn. By this, the people get both Bhoga (enjoyment) and Moksa (liberation)
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and they become powerful like Me and get themselves freed at once, without the least delay, of the sins incurred by committing thousands of abortions, hundreds of Brahmhattys (killing the Brhmanas). Holding the ten-faced Rudrksa is verily wearing Janrdana, the Deva of the Devas. The holding of which pacifies the evils caused by planets, Pis'chas, Vetlas, Brahm Rksasas, and Pannagas. The eleven-faced Rudrksam is like the Eleven Rudras. The fruits, the efficacy of which I now describe. Hear. The fruits obtained through the performance of one thousand horse sacrifices, one hundred Vjapeya sacrifices, and making gifts of one hundred thousand cows are obtained thereby.
If one wears the twelve-headed Rudrksam on one's ear, the dityas get satisfied. The fruits of performing Gomedha and As'vamedha sacrifices are obtained thereby. No fear comes from burned buffaloes, armed enemies and wolves and tigers and other murderous animals. Also the several diseases of the body never come to him. The holder of the twelve-faced Rudrksa seed feels always happy and he is the master of some kingdoms He becomes freed of the sins incurred in killing elephants, horses, deer, cats, snakes, mice, frogs, asses, foxes and various other animals.
O Child! The thirteen faced Rudrksam is very rare; if anybody gets it, he becomes like Krti Keya and gets all desires fulfilled; and the eight siddhis are under his grasp. He learns how to make gold, silver and other metals; he attains all sorts of enjoyments. There is no manner of doubt in this. O Sadnana! If anybody holds the thirteen faced Rudrksam, he becomes freed from the sins incurred in killing mother, father and brothers.
O Son! If one holds on one's head the fourteen faced Rudrksam always, one becomes like Siva. O Muni! What more shall I speak to you! The Devas pay their respects to one holding the fourteen faced Rudrksas and he in the end attains the Highest Goal, the state of Siva. His body becomes verily the body of Siva.
36-40. The Devas always worship the Rudrksa seed; the highest goal is attained by wearing the Rudrksam. The Brhmanas should hold on their heads at least one Rudrksam with devotion. A rosary of twenty-six Rudrksams is to be made and tied on the head. Similarly a rosary of fifty seeds is to be worn and suspended on the breast; sixteen each on each of the two arms; twenty-four Rudrksams to be worn on the wrists, twelve on each. O Sadnana! If a rosary be made of one hundred and eight, fifty or twenty-seven Rudrksams and if japam be done with that, immeasurable merits are obtained. If anybody wears a rosary of one hundred and eight seeds, he gets at every moment
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the fruit of performing the As'vamedha sacrifices and uplifts his twenty-one generations and finally he resides in the Siva Loka.
Here ends the Fourth Chapter of the Eleventh Book on the Greatness of the Rudrksam in the Mahpuranam S'r Mad Dev Bhgavatam of 18,000 verses by Mahrsi Veda Vysa.
Chapter Iv
On The Greatness Of The Rudrksam
p. 1064
1-11. Nrada said :-- O Sinless one! The greatness of the Rudrksa seed that you have described is verily such. Now I ask why is this Rudrksam so much entitled to worship by the people. Please speak clearly on this point. Nryana spoke :-- O Child! This is the very question that was asked once by Krtika, the sixfaced One, to Bhagavn Rudra, dwelling in Kails'a. What He replied, I say now. Listen. Rudra Deva spoke :-- O Child Sadnana. I will dwell briefly on the secret cause of the greatness of the Rudrksa seed. Hear. In days of yore, there was a Daitya called Tripur who could not be conquered by any body. Brahm, Visnu and the other Devas were defeated by him. They then came to Me and requested Me to kill the Asura. At their request, I called in my mind the Divine Great weapon, named Aghora, beautiful and terrible and containing the strength of all the Devas, to kill him. It was inconceivable and it was blazing with fire.
p. 1065
For full divine one thousand years I remained awake with eyelids wide open in thinking of the Aghora weapon, the destroyer of all obstacles, whereby the killing of Tripursura might be effected and the troubles of the Devas be removed. Not for a moment my eyelids dropped. There by my eyes were affected and drops of water came out of my eyes. Note here. How enemies are to be killed. It requires great thought, great concentration, great yoga and great powers. O Mahsena! From those drops of water coming out of my eyes, the great tree of Rudrksam did spring for the welfare of all. This Rudrksa seed is of thirty-eight varieties. From My Srya Netra, i.e., My right eye, symbolizing the Sun, twelve yellow coloured (Pingala colour) varieties have come; and from my left eye representing the Moon, the Soma Netra, sixteen varieties of white colour and from my third eye on the top, representing Fire, i.e., the Agni Netra, ten varieties of black colour have come out. Of these the white Rudrksams are Brhmins and they are used by the Brhmanas; the red coloured ones are the Ksattriyas and should be used by the Ksattriyas and the black ones are Sdras and should be used by the Vaisyas and the Sdras.
12-19. One faced Rudrksa seed is the Siva Himself, made manifest and rendered vivid; even the sin incurred in killing a Brhmana is destroyed thereby. Two faced or two headed Rudrksam is like the Deva and the Dev. Two sorts of sins are destroyed thereby. The three faced Rudrksam is like fire; the sin incurred in killing a woman is destroyed in a moment. The four faced Rudrksa seed is like Brahm and removes the sin of killing persons. The five faced Rudrksam is verily an image of Rudra; all sorts of sins, e.g., eating prohibited food, going to the ungoables, etc., are destroyed thereby. The six faced Rudrksam is Krtikeya. It is to be worn on the right hand. One becomes freed of the Brahmhaty sin. There is no manner of doubt in this. The seven faced Rudrksam is named Ananga. Holding this frees one from the sin of stealing gold, etc., O Mahsena! The eight faced Rudrksa is Vinyaka. Holding this frees one from the sin of holding an illicit contact with a woman of a bad family and with the wife of one's Guru, etc., and other sins as well. It enables one to acquire heaps of food, cotton, and gold; and in the end the Highest Place is attained.
20-35. The fruit of holding the eight faced Rudrksa seed has been said. Now I will talk of the nine-faced Rudrksam. It is verily the Bhairava made manifest. On the left hand it should be worn. By this, the people get both Bhoga (enjoyment) and Moksa (liberation)
p. 1066
and they become powerful like Me and get themselves freed at once, without the least delay, of the sins incurred by committing thousands of abortions, hundreds of Brahmhattys (killing the Brhmanas). Holding the ten-faced Rudrksa is verily wearing Janrdana, the Deva of the Devas. The holding of which pacifies the evils caused by planets, Pis'chas, Vetlas, Brahm Rksasas, and Pannagas. The eleven-faced Rudrksam is like the Eleven Rudras. The fruits, the efficacy of which I now describe. Hear. The fruits obtained through the performance of one thousand horse sacrifices, one hundred Vjapeya sacrifices, and making gifts of one hundred thousand cows are obtained thereby.
If one wears the twelve-headed Rudrksam on one's ear, the dityas get satisfied. The fruits of performing Gomedha and As'vamedha sacrifices are obtained thereby. No fear comes from burned buffaloes, armed enemies and wolves and tigers and other murderous animals. Also the several diseases of the body never come to him. The holder of the twelve-faced Rudrksa seed feels always happy and he is the master of some kingdoms He becomes freed of the sins incurred in killing elephants, horses, deer, cats, snakes, mice, frogs, asses, foxes and various other animals.
O Child! The thirteen faced Rudrksam is very rare; if anybody gets it, he becomes like Krti Keya and gets all desires fulfilled; and the eight siddhis are under his grasp. He learns how to make gold, silver and other metals; he attains all sorts of enjoyments. There is no manner of doubt in this. O Sadnana! If anybody holds the thirteen faced Rudrksam, he becomes freed from the sins incurred in killing mother, father and brothers.
O Son! If one holds on one's head the fourteen faced Rudrksam always, one becomes like Siva. O Muni! What more shall I speak to you! The Devas pay their respects to one holding the fourteen faced Rudrksas and he in the end attains the Highest Goal, the state of Siva. His body becomes verily the body of Siva.
36-40. The Devas always worship the Rudrksa seed; the highest goal is attained by wearing the Rudrksam. The Brhmanas should hold on their heads at least one Rudrksam with devotion. A rosary of twenty-six Rudrksams is to be made and tied on the head. Similarly a rosary of fifty seeds is to be worn and suspended on the breast; sixteen each on each of the two arms; twenty-four Rudrksams to be worn on the wrists, twelve on each. O Sadnana! If a rosary be made of one hundred and eight, fifty or twenty-seven Rudrksams and if japam be done with that, immeasurable merits are obtained. If anybody wears a rosary of one hundred and eight seeds, he gets at every moment
p. 1067
the fruit of performing the As'vamedha sacrifices and uplifts his twenty-one generations and finally he resides in the Siva Loka.
Here ends the Fourth Chapter of the Eleventh Book on the Greatness of the Rudrksam in the Mahpuranam S'r Mad Dev Bhgavatam of 18,000 verses by Mahrsi Veda Vysa.
