Therefore, O King, it is declared that one should bathe outdoors during the sacred month of Māgha, seeking one’s own highest welfare. Listen now as I explain the supreme rule for bathing in Māgha. The best among men should undertake a vow of discipline during this time; the wise, desiring even greater results, should practice restraint and give up some portion of their food. Throughout this period, one should sleep upon the ground, offer oblations of ghee mixed with sesame seeds, and worship Viṣṇu—the eternal Vāsudeva—three times each day. It is also meritorious to offer an unbroken lamp, dedicating it to Mādhava, and to give fuel, blankets, garments, sandals, saffron, and ghee as one is able. Oil, cotton, wicks, cotton pads, cloth, and food should likewise be given according to one’s capacity during Māgha. A measure of gold equal to a barleycorn should be offered to a knower of the Veda, for such a gift, O King, is imperishable, like the eternal ocean. During this time, one must not use another’s fire, nor accept gifts from others. At the close of Māgha, the king should feed Brāhmaṇas as best he can. One who desires his own welfare should also give them a fee, and the completion of Māgha should be observed as it is on the holy day of Ekādaśī. With faith, one should perform these acts, seeking inexhaustible heaven, endless merit, and the pleasure of Viṣṇu himself. When the sun enters Capricorn during Māgha, one should address Govinda, Acyuta, Mādhava, saying: “By this bath, grant the results as declared.” Reciting this mantra, one should bathe in silent concentration and again remember Vāsudeva, Hari, Kṛṣṇa, and Mādhava. Even for those at home, if a water pot is filled and left to be cooled by the night winds, such a bath is considered equal to one at a sacred place and grants all desired results. There, with a vow, one should give food with proper accompaniments; by the power of this bath, a man is protected from falling into hell. If the bath is performed at home with heated water while the sun is in Capricorn, its merit endures for six years. Bathing outside in a pond yields the fruit of twelve years; in a tank, the benefit is doubled, and in a river, it is four times as much. In a divine reservoir or a great river, the merit is multiplied a hundredfold; at the confluence of great rivers, it becomes four hundred times greater. All this merit, O King, is multiplied a thousandfold when the sun is in Capricorn, and simply by bathing in the sacred Gaṅgā, one attains it. Those who immerse themselves in the Gaṅgā during Māgha, O best of kings, do not fall from the abode of the gods for four thousand ages. Every day, O lord of men, it is as if one gives a thousand pieces of gold by bathing in the Gaṅgā during Māgha. In Māgha, at the confluence of the Gaṅgā and Yamunā, a thousand is multiplied a hundredfold, as the sages have declared. To burn away the heavy burden of accumulated sins, the Lord of creatures established Prayāga, O King, for the welfare of beings. Hear now of this place: it is truly sacred, with its streams of white and dark waters, ordained long ago by Brahmā for those burdened by sin. Even one laden with hundreds of sins, if he immerses himself in these white and dark waters during Māgha, when the sun is in Capricorn, is freed from rebirth. Even a man attached to worldly life, if he bathes at Prayāga in Māgha, O tiger among men, attains the supreme state. This stream of white and dark water, originating from Sarasvatī, was created by the Maker of the world as the path to Viṣṇu’s own realm. The Māyā of Viṣṇu is difficult to cross, unconquerable even by the gods, but at Prayāga, O King of men, it is burned away in the month of Māgha. After enjoying many pleasures in radiant worlds, those who bathe at Prayāga in Māgha dissolve into the very disc of Viṣṇu. Whoever touches the white and dark waters in Māgha, when the sun is in Capricorn, acquires merit so great that even Citragupta cannot calculate it. Whoever fully immerses in those waters then, even Brahmā himself cannot describe the greatness of his merit. Bathing for three days at Prayāga during Māgha yields the fruit of a hundred years of fasting. Each day of bathing in the Veṇī during Māgha equals the merit of giving a thousand loads of gold at Kurukṣetra during a solar eclipse. The undiminished fruit of a thousand Rājasūya sacrifices is surely gained by bathing in the white and dark waters during Māgha. O best of kings, all the sacred places on earth and the seven holy cities assemble at the Veṇī to bathe during Māgha. Because of contact with sinners, all the holy waters become dark, but at Prayāga, by bathing in Māgha, they are made pure and bright again. O King, the sins accumulated over countless ages and births are reduced to ashes for those who bathe in Māgha, whether they are fair or dark. Sins committed by speech, mind, or body are certainly ended for one who bathes for three days at Prayāga during Māgha. A person who bathes for three days at Prayāga in Māgha, casting off all sin, rises to heaven like a serpent shedding its worn-out skin. Wherever the Gaṅgā is entered, she is equal to Kurukṣetra, but where she joins with the Vindhya, she is said to be ten times more holy. There, where the northward-flowing Gaṅgā is at Kāśī, the merit is a hundred times greater; and at the confluence of the Gaṅgā and Yamunā, Kāśī is said to be a hundred times greater still. Of all these, the westward-flowing Gaṅgā is a thousand times more powerful, O King, for by her very sight, she removes the sin of killing a Brāhmaṇa.