Rules for Listening

Shounaka said

Suta, wise one, you are Vyasa's disciple and I bow to you. You are blessed, and your great qualities are such that you are called Shiva's great devotee. Please tell me the rules for listening to the illustrious Shiva Purana, so that the listener may gain all the excellent fruits completely.

Suta replied

Sage Shounaka, here are the rules for hearing the Shiva Purana so that its full fruit is gained. Begin by inviting an astrologer and pleasing him; he fixes a clean, consecrated hour so the reading can finish without hindrance. Send word of the coming event, with care, to many regions so that Shiva's devotees who seek an auspicious end can come. Women, shudras and some others are often kept away from hearing Hari's story or the chanting of Shankara's; let them come too, so that their understanding is kindled. Wherever devotees of Shambhu are eager to hear his account recited, they should be warmly welcomed and invited. The invitation runs like this: "A gathering of the good and a great festival are at hand. The Shiva Purana will be recited, an occasion of wonder. Come with love and drink its nectar. Grace us with your presence; if you are short of time, come for just one day. Such a chance is rare, so please come, even briefly." Invite with humility and joy, and receive each guest affectionately.

A Shiva temple, a holy place, a grove or a house all make good venues. Purify the ground, smear it and mark it with coloured minerals. For so great a festival the decorations should be wonderful and fit for gods. Clean the house and stack everything unsuitable out of sight in one corner. Raise a platform with pillars of plantain trunks, plenty of fruit and flowers, and a canopy over everything, and hang flags and banners in all four directions. Let every task be done lovingly so that everyone is happy. Picture a divine seat for Shankara, the supreme self, and give the narrator a pleasant seat of his own. Prepare comfortable places for the listeners according to their standing, and separate places for ordinary folk. Everything should gladden the mind as at a wedding. Shounaka, put aside all other daily worries. The narrator sits facing north and the listeners face east; never let feet point the contrary way. Or the narrator may face east, sitting between the one who worships and the one worshipped, or sit facing the listeners, honoured by them. While he sits in Vyasa's seat expounding the Purana, the brahmana must bow to nobody else until the telling ends. Whether child, youth, elder, poor or very frail, one who knows the Purana deserves the worship of anyone who wants merit. For embodied beings, the words from his mouth are like the wish-granting cow. A person of poor understanding must never set himself up as a knower of the Purana. The qualities of a guru come only after many births. Of all gurus, the knower of the Purana is supreme, for if he frees those suffering from thousands of crores of births, no guru is greater. One who wishes to recite the Shiva Purana must be very intelligent, pure, accomplished, calm, free of malice, virtuous, compassionate and eloquent; only then may he speak this sacred account.

The telling begins at sunrise and runs for three and a half praharas. It must not be told before the cunning, the wrongdoers, those with crooked livelihoods or any other contemptible people, nor in a place full of wicked folk or haunted by bandits, nor in a cunning man's house. Those reciting should pause for one muhurta midway for ablutions and to relieve themselves. The narrator shaves on the day before the discourse and, while it lasts, keeps his daily duties brief. As the norms require, a second person sits beside him, learned and able to clear the people's doubts. To remove obstacles, Gananatha is worshipped first, then Shiva, lord of the narration, and in particular the text itself.

The account of the Shiva Purana must be heard with love and attention. The listener must follow the norms and be pure in mind and pleasant in heart. If the narrator or the listener is distracted by many things, gives in to desire and the six vices, is addicted to women or is a heretic, there will be no merit. If one hears the account with a pure mind and heart, setting aside ordinary thoughts of wealth, homes and sons, one gains excellent fruits. Listeners full of faith and devotion, who want no other tasks, are pure and restrained in speech, gain merit. The worst of men listen to this account without devotion, and such listeners gain no fruit, but birth after birth suffer hardship. Those who hear the account without worshipping the Purana as their means allow are fools; they stay poor and are not purified. Men who show disrespect during the narration and walk away lose their wealth and wives even as they enjoy them. Men who listen with a headdress on their heads father evil sons who disgrace their line. Men who chew betel leaves during the narration are made by Yama's servants, when they die, to eat their own excrement in hell. Men who listen from a lofty seat are born as crows after suffering in hell. Men who listen seated in the hero posture and similar postures are born as poisonous trees after their suffering in hell. Men who listen without first honouring the narrator are born as arjuna trees after hell. Men who listen lying down, even if not sick, are born as pythons and similar creatures after hell. Men who listen seated on the same level as the narrator commit a sin equal to violating a guru's bed, and always go to hell. Those who criticize the narrator during this very purifying account are born as dogs and suffer miseries in hundreds of inauspicious births. Those who engage in useless argument during the narration suffer terrible hardships in hell and are born as donkeys. Those who rarely listen while it is going on suffer terrible hardships in hell and are born as pigs. Wicked people who cause obstructions during the narration endure terrible hardships in hell for a crore of years and are born as village pigs. Reflecting on this, a listener must be pure in his self and show great reverence to the narrator, and for these reasons must be wise enough to listen with love.

At the start, Ganesha is worshipped to clear every obstacle, and each day ends with a short rite of atonement. The nine planets and the bhadra gods are always worshipped. The text is worshipped as one worships Shiva, because it is like Shiva's own form. At the end of the worship the listener joins his hands humbly and praises it: "The illustrious Shiva Purana is like Maheshvara himself. I accepted you for the sake of hearing. Please be satisfied with me. Your task is to bring my wishes to fruit. Let my hearing of this account be completed without obstacles. I am immersed in this world like an ocean, and distressed. Please save me from the world that is an ocean. In the form of crocodiles, karma has seized my limbs. Shankara, I am your servant." The Shiva Purana is like Shiva's own form; so, with pitiful words, he must praise it. He must then worship the narrator by the norms for worshipping Shiva, with flowers, garments, ornaments, incense, lamps and other things. In front of him, with a pure mind, he should observe all the rituals, following them attentively to the end of the narration as far as he can. "Your form is like Vyasa's. You are foremost among those who enlighten. You are skilled in texts about Shiva. By the light of this narration, please destroy my lack of knowledge." To do japa of the five-syllable mantra of Shiva, he must devoutly invite five excellent brahmanas, or at least one. Sage, so I have described the rules for listening to the narration with devotion, for listeners and for devotees. What else do you wish to hear?