Glories of applying Vaisnava tilak

From Garga Samhita, Canto Six, Chapter Fifteen,

Translation by Sri Kushakratha Das

Text 15

yasya sravana-matrena

karma-bandhat pramucyate

gopinam yatra vaso ‘bhut

tena gopi-bhuvah smrtah

Simply by hearing about Gopi-bhumi, which is so named because the gopis resided there, one become free from the bondage of karma.

Text 16

gopy-angaraga-sambhutam

gopi-chandanam uttamam

gopi-chandana-liptango

ganga-snana-phalam labhet

In Gopi-bhumi gopi-chandana was manifested from the gopis’ cosmetics. A person who marks his limbs with gopi-chandana tilaka attains the result of bathing in the Ganga.

Text 17

maha-nadinam snanasya

punyam tasya dine dine

ngopi-chandana-mudrabhir

mudrito yah sada bhavet

A person who daily wears gopi-chandana tilaka attains the pious result of daily bathing in all sacred rivers.

Text 18

asvamedha-sahasrani

rajasuya-satani ca

sarvani tirtha-danani

vratani ca tathaiva ca

krtani tena nityam vai

sa krtartho na samsayah

A person who daily wears gopi-chandana tilaka attains the result of performing a thousand asvamedha-yajnas and a hundred rajasuya-yajnas. He attains the result of giving charity and following vows at all holy places. He attains the goal of life. Of this there is no doubt.

Text 19

ganga-mrd-dvi-gunam punyam

citrakuta-rajah smrtam

tasmad dasa-gunam punyam

rajah pancavati-bhavam

Twice as sacred as the mud of the Ganga is the dust of Chitrakuta. Ten times more sacred than that is the dust of Panchavati-tirtha.

Text 20

tasmac chata-gunam punyam

gopi-chandanakam rajah

gopi-chandanakam viddhi

vrndavana-rajah-samam

A hundred times more sacred is the dust of gopi-chandana. Please know that gopi-chandana is equal to the dust of Vrindavana.

Text 21

gopi-chandana-liptangam

yadi papa-satair yutam

tam netum na yamah sakto

yama-dutah kutah punah

Even if in the past he has committed hundreds of sins, if a person wears gopi-chandana tilaka, then Yamaraja cannot take him away. How, then, can Yamaraja’s messengers touch him?

Text 22

nityam karoti yah papi

gopi-chandana-dharanam

sa prayati harer dhama

golokam prakrteh param

A sinner who daily wears gopi-chandana tilaka goes to Lord Krishna supreme abode, Goloka, which is beyond the world of matter.

Text 23

sindhu-desasya rajabhud

dirghabahur iti srutah

anyaya-varti dustatma

vesya-sanga-ratah sada

In Sindhu-desa there was a king named Dirghabahu. He was cruel and sinful and he was addicted to visiting prostitutes.

Text 24

tena vai bharate varse

brahma-hatya-satam krtam

dasa garbhavati-hatyah

krtas tena duratmana

While he was on the earth this cruel sinner murdered a hundred brahmanas and ten pregnant women.

Text 25

mrigayayam tu banaughaih

kapila-go-vadhah krtah

saindhavam hayam aruhya

mrgayarthi gato ‘bhavat

One day he mounted a sindhu horse and went hunting. With a flood of arrows he accidentally killed with a brown cow in that hunt.

Text 26

ekada rajya-lobhena

mantri kruddho maha-khalam

jaghanaranya-dese tam

tiksna-dharena casina

One day, greedy to get his kingdom, with a sharp sword his angry minister killed him in the forest.

Text 27

bhu-tale patitam mrtyu-

gatam viksya yamanugah

baddhva yama-purim ninyur

harsayantah parasparam

Seeing him fallen to the ground and dead, the Yamadutas came, bound him, and, joking as they went, took him to the city of Yamaraja.

Text 28

sammukhe ‘vasthitam viksya

papinam yama-rad bali

citraguptam praha turnam

ka yogya yanatasya vai

Seeing this sinner brought before him, powerful Yamaraja said to his scribe Chitragupta, “What is the proper punishment for him?”

Text 29

sri-chitragupta uvaca

catur-asiti-laksesu

narakesu nipatyatam

nihsandeham maha-raja

yavac candra-divakarau

Sri Chitragupta said: O great king, he should be thrown into eight million four hundred thousand hells for as long as the sun and the moon shine in the sky.

Text 30

anena bharate varse

ksanam na su-krtam krtam

dasa-garbhavati-ghatah

kapila-go-vadhah krtah

On the earth he did not perform a single pious deed. He killed ten pregnant women. He killed a brown cow.

Text 31

tatha vana-mriganam ca

krtva hatyah sahasrasah

tasmad ayam maha-papi

devata-dvija-nindakah

He killed thousands of deer in the forest. He offended the demigods and the brahmanas. He is a great sinner.

Texts 32 and 33

sri-narada uvaca

tada yamajnaya duta

nitva tam papa-rupinam

sahasra-yojanayame

tapta-taile maha-khale

sphurad aty-ucchalat-phene

kumbhipake nyapatayan

pralayagni-samo vahnih

sadyah sitalatam gatah

Sri Narada said: Then, by Yamaraja’s order, the Yamadutas took that sinner and threw him into a terrible, eight-thousand mile wide cauldron of bubbling boiling oil in the hell of Kumbhipaka. The moment that sinner came to it, the boiling oil, which was as hot as the great fires at the time of cosmic devastation, suddenly became cool.

Text 34

vaideha tan-nipatanat

prahlada-ksepanad yatha

tadaiva citram acakhyur

yama-duta mahatmane

O king of Videha, as Prahlada was unhurt in the same situation, that sinner was not hurt by the boiling oil. Then the Yamadutas described that great wonder to noble-hearted Yamaraja.

Text 35

anena su-krtam bhumau

ksanavan na krtam kvacit

citraguptena satatam

dharma-rajo vyacintayat

Yamaraja and Chitragupta carefully reviewed the sinner’s case and concluded that while he was on the earth the sinner had not for a moment performed even a single pious deed.

Text 36

sabhayam agatam vyasam

sampujya vidhivan nrpa

natva papraccha dharmatma

dharma-rajo maha-matih

Then Vyasadeva arrived in that assembly. Bowing down before Him, and carefully worshiping Him, saintly and noble-hearted Yamaraja asked Vyasadeva the following question.

Text 37

sri-yama uvaca

anena papina purvam

na krtam su-krtam kvacit

sphurad-agny-ucchalat-phene

kumbhipake maha-khale

asya ksepanato vahnih

sadyah sitalatam gatah

iti sandehatas cetah

khidyate me na samsayah

Sri Yamaraja said: When a certain sinner, who had never performed even a single pious deed, was thrown into the terrible boiling oil of Kumbhipaka, the oil suddenly became cool. Because of this my mind is now tortured with doubts.

Text 39

sri-vyasa uvaca

suksma gatir maha-raja

vidita papa-punyayoh

tatha brahma-gatih prajnaih

sarva-sastra-vidam varaih

Sri Vyasadeva said: O great king, the intelligent sages, who have studied all the scriptures, know that the ways of piety, sin, and spiritual progress are very subtle and difficult to understand.

Text 40

daiva-yogad asya punyam

praptam vai svayam arthavat

yena punyena suddho ‘sau

tac chrnu tvam maha-mate

Somehow or other, by destiny, this sinner did perform a pious deed, and by that deed he became purified. O noble-hearted one, please hear the story of this.

Text 41

kasyapi hastato yatra

patita dvaraka-mrdah

tatraivayam mrtah papi

suddho ‘bhut tat-prabhavatah

That sinner died in a place where from someone’s hand some gopi-chandana from Dvaraka had accidentally fallen. Dying in gopi-chandana, that sinner became purified.

Text 42

gopi-chandana-liptango

naro narayano bhavet

etasya darsanat sadyo

brahma-hatya pramucyate

A person who wears gopi-chandana tilaka attains a spiritual form like that of Lord Narayana. Simply by seeing him one becomes free of the sin of killing a brahmana.

Texts 43 and 44

sri-narada uvaca

iti srutva dharma-rajas

tam aniya visesatah

vimane kama-ge sthapya

vaikuntham prakrteh param

presayam asa sahasa

gopi-chandana-kirti-vit

evam te kathitam rajan

gopi-chandanakam yasah

Sri Narada said: Hearing this, Yamaraja, who understands the glories of gopi-chandana, took the sinner, placed him a an airplane that goes anywhere one wishes, and sent him to Vaikuntha, which is above the worlds of matter. O king, thus I have described to you the glories of gopi-chandana.

Text 45

gopi-chandana-mahatmyam

yah srnoti narottamah

sa yati paramam dhama

sri-krishnasya mahatmanah

One who hears this account of gopi-chandana’s glories becomes exalted. He goes to the supreme abode of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.