RURU KSHETRA
Lord Varah told Prithvi-“This holy place is named after Ruru-the daughter of Devadutt and an apsara named Pramlocha.Devadutt came from the lineage of sage Bhrigu.Once,Devadutt did an austere penance to please lord Shiva.His penance continued for ten thousand years.Indra became worried and sent a beautiful apsara named Pramlocha to disturb his penance.Unfortunately,Devadutt fell into the trap laid by Indra.He was infatuated by Pramlocha’s divine beauty and enjoyed an intimate life with her for a long time.Finally,he realized his mistake and regretted his foolishness.He decided to abandon Pramlocha and recommence his penance.Ultimately,he was successful in pleasing lord Shiva and attaining to shiva loka.”
“Meanwhile,Pramlocha who was pregnant, gave birth to a girl child and died.The baby girl was nurtured and brought up by a deer named Ruru after whom she got her own name.In course of time Ruru after Ruru grew up and decided to please lord Vishnu by her penance.She did an austere penance for one hundred years by remaining still at a place.At last I(lord Vishnu)became pleased by her total devotion and appeared before her.She requested me to name that place on her.I blessed her and thus that place became famous as Ruru kshetra.”
GONISHKRAMAN TEERTH
Lord Shiva told Prithvi-“Gonishkraman teerth is situated in the himalayas.Sage Aurva had his hermitage at this sacred place which was incidentally burnt to ashes by lord Shiva.Aurva cursed Shiva as the result of which Shiva started wandering throughout the world in a restless manner.”
“Once,lord Shiva visited the hermitage of sage Aurvanam accompanied by his consort-Uma.The purpose of the visit was to seek Aurvanam’s help in curing his restlessness.Sage Aurvanam advised him to have a bath with the milk of surabhi cow.I(lord Vishnu) then brought down seventy-seven surabhi cows from the heaven and thus helped Shiva take bath with their milk.At last,Shiva’s reastlessness came to an end and this holy place became famous as ‘Gonishkraman’ teerth.”
STOOTSWAMI TEERTH
Lord Varah then went on to describe the greatness of Stootswami teerth and told Prithvi-“I shall incarnate as Krishna at this place in the era of dwapar.I shall take birth in the house of Vasudeva and Devaki.There is a pond situated at about 5 kosas from Stootswami teerth.Anybody who take holy dips in it’s holy water for five days becomes absolved of all his sins.
DWARKA
Lord Varah told Prithvi-“There is a holy place called ‘Panchsar’ in Dwarka.Anybody who stays there for six days and takes holy dips in ‘Panchasar’ enjoys all the pleasures of life.Dwarka is situated at the sea-shore and the crocodiles living there never trouble people taking their bath.These crocodiles also have one unique characteristic-they never eat anything that is offered to them by a sinner but unhesitatingly accept anything from a virtuous person.There are several other holy places in and around Dwarka-Panchpind,Hanskunda,Hansteerth,Chakrateerth,Raivatak, Vishnu-sankaram,etc.Vishnu sankaram is the very place where I,in my incarnation as Krishna would be killed by a hunter named Jara.
SANANDOOR TEERTH
This holy place is situated between Malay mountain and the ocean. Nearby,there is another holy place called Sangaman where sri Ram while on his way to lanka had confronted the ocean.There are also many other sacred places in the vicinity like Shakrasar, Shurparak,etc.There are hermitages of sri Ram and Parshuram at Shurparak.
LOHARGAL TEERTH
Lord Varaha told Prithvi-“There is a region inhabited by mlecchas,situated at the distance of some 30 yojans.This region is surrounded by Himalaya mountain in it’s central as well as southern parts.Lohargal teerth is situated near this region and is well protected by nature which makes it very inaccessible. Once,demons tried to invade this holy place but all of them were killed by me(sri Hari).I also protected Brahma and Rudra from the wrath of the demons and named that place Lohargal.Lohargal is the most sacred place of pilgrimage and spread in the area of 25 yojans.It is a self manifested place and has immense religious significance.
MATHURA
Describing the majesty of Mathura,lord Varaha told Prithvi- “Mathura is very dear to me because this is the very place where I shall be taking incarnation as Krishna.Mathura is the most sacro-sanct place and no other holy place can be compared to it. There are many other holy places in and around Mathura-Vishranti, Surya teerth,Koti teerth,Vayu teerth,etc.Each one of them has it’s own religious significance.A holy pond named ‘Vatsa-krindan’ lies in Mathura region.Anybody taking a holy dip in that holy pond is certain to attain to the abode of ‘Vayu’.In the vicinity lies Vrindavan,the holiest place which would be witness to many of my divine plays.”
CHAKRA TEERTH
It is situated to the north of Mathura and lord Bhadreshwar has his dwelling place overthere.A person who makes a pilgrimage to Chakra teerth and observes a fast for a day becomes absolved of heinous of sins.
KAPIL TEERTH
Describing the origin of ‘Kapil Varah'(an idol of lord Varah made by sage Kapil)lord Varah told Prithvi-“Sage Kapil was a great devotee of mine.He had made my idol and worshipped it regularly. Later on,Indra acquired it and started worshipping it.The demon king Ravan took it to lanka after defeating Indra in a battle.In treta yuga I(sri Ram)defeated him and made Vibhishan,his brother the king of Lanka.This way,the idol came under the possession of Vibhishan but he agreed to part with it at my request.This was how I brought that idol to Ayodhya.After reaching Ayodhya,I presented it to Shatrughan as a reward for killing Lavanasur. Later on,while Shatrughan was going to Mathura he carried that idol along with him.”
GOVARDHAN TEERTH
Lord Varah,continuing with the description of various holy places told Prithvi about the magnificence of Govardhan parvat- “Govardhan parvat is situated near Mathura.It will have great religious importance because it will witness a great feat of mine in dwapar yuga.I shall lift this mountain to protect people from the incessant rain caused by Indra.There are numerous holy places of great religious significance in the vicinity of Govardhan mountain like Indra teerth,Yama teerth,Varun teerth and Kuber teerth.There is also a famous fresh-water lake called ‘Kadamb khand’where people perform tarpan of their ancestors.”
GOKARN TEERTH
Lord Varah told Prithvi about the greatness of Gokarna teerth- “Long long ago there lived a vaishya named Vasukarn at Mathura. Sushila,his wife was deeply religious but inspite of that she was issueless.One day,she had gone to take her bath in river Saraswati where she found many women taking their bath.The children of these women were playing nearby.Sushila became very sad and being unable to control her emotions started crying.”
“A sage saw her crying and asked her as to what made her so sad. Sushila narrated her woeful tale to him.The sage took pity on her and advised her to worship lord Gokarna.The sage said-‘You will definitely be blessed with a son.’ Sushila went home and narrated the whole incident to her husband.Both of them started worshipping lord Gokarna Mahadev with total devotion.After ten years,a son was born to them. Vasukarn named that child after lord Gokarna to express his gratitude to the deity.”
“In course of time,Gokarna grew up and got married but even after a long time he did not have a progeny.So,his father married him to three more women,one after another, but even this did not prove to be of any help to Gokarna because he remained a sonless person.This made Gokarna very sad and he engaged himself in various charitable activities thinking that the virtues thus attained might bless him in begetting a son.He got constructed many temples and ordered wells to be dug up for the benifit of the travellers.Very soon,all his money was spent and he became worried about the future of his family.So,he decided to go to distant places to earn wealth.” “Once,while on his journey he met a divine parrot who possessed tremendous knowledge.Gokarna was very much impressed by the parrot’s knowledge.He asked the parrot from where had it imbibed such divine knowledge.The parrot revealed to him that he was Shukodar in it’s previous birth and was a learned man.He had attained the form of parrot due to the curse of sage Shukdev. But,sage Shukdev had been kind enough to allow him to retain all the knowledge in his next birth.The parrot also told Gokarna how it had been kept inside a cage by a fowler and requested him to help it out from the captivity.”
“Gokarna requested the fowler to give the learned parrot to him. The fowler agreed but asked for all the virtues attained by Gokarna in return.Gokarna happily agreed to donate all his virtues and proceeded with that parrot.Now, Gokarna had become bereft of all his virtues he had attained so far.Once,while he was on a voyage in connection with his trade the ship was caught in a severe cyclone and the chances of survival looked very bleak.All his fellow travellers had a misconception that they had been struck by the misfortune only because of Gokarna’s sins.The parrot was saddened after hearing what people said about his master.It decided to help him and flew away towards north.While flying it found a vishnu temple where many divine women and other creatures had gathered to worship.The descendants of Jatayu were also among them.The parrot narrated the woeful tale of his master to all of them.All the divine birds decided to help Gokarna.”
“The divine birds instructed the parrot to follow them and then flew towards the place where Gokarna’s ship was stranded.Finally, they were successful in rescuing Gokarna and bringing him back to the same temple.Gokarna worshipped lord Keshav and performed the rituals of tarpan in the name of his ancestors.In the meantime,all the divine women also arrived there to worship.They were pleased to meet Gokarna and gave him divine food to eat.They also allowed him to stay there for as long as he wished.”
“Meanwhile the ship managed to reach the sea shore.Gokarna’s companions met his parents and narrated the whole incident to him. Gokarna’s parents were filled with sorrow at the fate of their son.On the other hand,Gokarna continued to live in that temple for a long period.He was worried about his father as it had been a long time since he saw him.He sent the parrot to bring his news.The parrot flew away to Mathura and met his father-Vasukarn. Vasukarn thanked the parrot for saving his son’s life.The parrot then flew back on his return journey and gave the good news to Gokarna.”
“One day Gokarna found the divine ladies extremely sad.When asked,they told him that the king of Ayodhya had destroyed the beautiful gardens of Mathura and this was the reason for their sadness. Gokarna assured them that he would convince the king to abandon his evil plan if he got a chance to meet him.The divine women then provided Gokarna with a divine aircraft boarded on which he reached Mathura.Gokarna met the king and managed to convince him against destroying beautiful gardens.The king was extrtemely impressed by his knowledge and presented great amount of wealth to him.This way all the divine women became happy once again.”
“Gokarna then went home and met his family members.His parents and his wives were very pleased to see him.Gokarna then got constructed a shukdev temple to honour his saviour-the learned parrot.It was only because of that parrot that he could acquire such wisdom and knowledge.To express his gratitude to the fowler he donated all the virtues he had acquired by taking bath in the holy confluence(triveni) because had it not been for the fowler he would never have got the knowledgeable parrot.Gokarna lived happily for a long time.”
