Kartik Mahatmya Adhyay 25: The Gift of Half a Lifetime's Punya

This page retells chapter 25 of the Kartik Mahatmya from the Padma Purana. Dharmadatta gives Kalaha half the punya of the Kartik vrat he has kept all his life. She is freed from her preta body and carried away towards Vaikuntha, and two parshads explain what his gift has done for him.

The full list is on the Kartik Mahatmya Katha page.

संक्षेप में: धर्मदत्त ने कार्तिक व्रत का आधा पुण्य कलहा को दिया। वह दिव्य देवी बनी और पुण्यशील-सुशील उसे विमान से वैकुंठ ले चले। पूरा लेख हिंदी में पढ़ें →

The story

Dharmadatta tells Kalaha that tirthas, charity and vows remove sins, but in a preta body she has no right to these acts. So he makes a decision. From his birth until this moment he has kept the Kartik vrat, and he gives her half of that punya. It is half a lifetime of Kartik vows, handed over for one suffering soul.

Saying this, he recites the twelve-syllable mantra, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, and sprinkles her with water mixed with tulsi. In that very moment she leaves the preta state behind and becomes a divine woman, radiant as a flame.

She lies flat on the ground in prostration, and her voice breaks with feeling. By his grace, she says, she has been released from this hell. She was drowning in a sea of sin, and he became her boat.

Just then a shining divine vimana comes down from the sky. At its door stand two parshads in the form of Vishnu, Punyashila and Sushila. They lift her up and seat her in the vimana.

Astonished, Dharmadatta falls at their feet. The parshads raise him up and praise him. He is always absorbed in worship of Hari, they say, he is kind to the poor and he keeps the Kartik vrat. They tell him that giving away half his punya has doubled it, and that the sins of hundreds of births have been wiped away.

This woman is now being taken to Vaikuntha, they say, and at the end of this life he too will go to the Lord's abode along with his family.

The parshads then ask what the Lord will not give when he is rightly worshipped. It was he who gave Dhruva, the son of Uttanapada, the place of Dhruva. And the king of elephants, held by a crocodile, was freed simply by remembering his name. They end by saying that there is no yajna, no charity and no tirtha greater than the Kartik vrat, which satisfies the Lord.

The teaching of this chapter

The chapter turns ordinary arithmetic upside down. Dharmadatta gives away half of what he has, and according to the parshads he ends up with double. Punya that is shared, it says, does not shrink.

It also places compassion for one who suffers at the very top of dharma. Kalaha had no good deed of her own to offer, and Dharmadatta helped her anyway. And the parshads hold up the Kartik vrat, kept with a true heart, as the greatest means of all.

Frequently asked questions

Why could Kalaha not free herself through vows or tirthas?
Dharmadatta explains that these acts remove sins, but in a preta body she had no right to perform them.

What exactly did Dharmadatta give her?
He gave her half the punya of the Kartik vrat he had kept from birth up to that moment.

Which mantra did he recite?
He recited the twelve-syllable mantra, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, while sprinkling her with water mixed with tulsi.

Who came for Kalaha after she was freed?
A divine vimana came down from the sky with two parshads at its door, Punyashila and Sushila, who were in the form of Vishnu. They seated her in it.

What did the parshads say about Dharmadatta's punya?
They said that giving half had doubled his punya, that the sins of hundreds of births were gone, and that he would reach Vaikuntha with his family at the end of this life.

Which examples of the Lord's grace do the parshads give?
They speak of Dhruva, son of Uttanapada, who was given the place of Dhruva, and of the elephant king freed from a crocodile by remembering the Lord's name.

Previous chapter: Adhyay 24: Dharmadatta and Kalaha