O steadfast one, know that what is truly beneficial and aligned with righteousness should always be practiced. Listen attentively, for I shall now declare a teaching that destroys sin. Whoever listens to these words with devotion is freed from their sins; at that very moment, the weight of transgressions committed throughout their life is lifted. Such a person gains the merit of bathing at all holy places and is released from sin. Without doubt, all faults born of sinful actions are swiftly burned away. The one who receives these teachings with a bowed head is freed from sin, just as the one who worships with a pure heart is cleansed—indeed, worship performed with a pure heart liberates from all sin. For such a devoted soul, even the sun becomes gracious, and all that is inauspicious is dispelled. Consider your curd mixed with milk, placed in a vessel of udumbara wood—when this is offered with reverence, Arundhatī, Budha, and all the great sages are pleased. Whoever worships with a one-pointed mind and joined palms, who serves a twice-born after satisfying him with great devotion, and who, remaining pure, gives milk at the times of solstice and conjunctions—all these are freed from sin. Let the darbha grass be laid pointing east, and a bull set up. Turn to the right, with the river flowing eastward on your left, holding water in your hand with a right-turning conch. In this way, the sin incurred at birth is destroyed instantly. After bathing, a man should offer seven handfuls mixed with black sesame seeds, and at that very moment, all sins accumulated throughout life are destroyed. One who bathes three times in this manner is freed from all sins. Especially in the bright fortnight of Kārtika, the eleventh lunar day—Ekādaśī—is declared. This day is the supreme, unmanifest, and multiform embodiment of Viṣṇu. Those devoted to Nārāyaṇa who observe Ekādaśī properly, according to the rules, attain great merit. Long ago, Mahādeva himself was asked about this, having taken refuge in Ekādaśī. The Earth then spoke: “O Lord, what of those who steal Brahman’s wealth, who kill Brāhmaṇas, who betray their teacher or friend, or who take the property of others? What of the hypocrites, the boundary transgressors, and those who deny justice? And all those who are engaged in these and other grievous sins, O Lord of the gods?” Śrī Varāha replied, desiring the welfare of the worlds: “I shall tell you a secret. Those men who are associated with great sins and devoid of merit—Ekādaśī is the supreme, unmanifest, and multiform power of Viṣṇu. O blessed one, even those greatly devoted to sin should observe it. O Earth, truly, there is no other means besides this. Just as the bright fortnight should be observed, so too the dark fortnight—both require diligent effort. Therefore, with all care, Dvādaśī should always be performed. Whatever is acquired by mind, speech, and deed, O beautiful-faced one, is purified—ancient sins are burned away again and again in this world through these observances.