इदमथर्वशीर्षं योऽधीते पञ्चाथर्वशीर्षजपफलमवाप्नोति । इदमथर्वशीर्षं ज्ञात्वा योऽर्चां स्थापयति । शतलक्षं प्रजप्त्वापि सोऽर्चासिद्धिं च विन्दति । शतमष्टोत्तरं चास्याः पुरश्चर्याविधिः स्मृतः
idamatharvaśīrṣaṃ yo'dhīte pañcātharvaśīrṣajapaphalamavāpnoti | idamatharvaśīrṣaṃ jñātvā yo'rcāṃ sthāpayati | śatalakṣaṃ prajaptvāpi so'rcāsiddhiṃ ca vindati | śatamaṣṭottaraṃ cāsyāḥ puraścaryāvidhiḥ smṛtaḥ
«Whoever studies this atharva-śīrṣa obtains the fruit of repeating the five atharva-śīrṣas. Whoever, having learned this atharva-śīrṣa, establishes an image — even having repeated it a hundred times a hundred thousand, he obtains the perfection of the image. A hundred and eight — such is the appointed number of preliminary repetitions».
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The phala-śruti, “the hearing of the fruit,” begins: a list of what comes from reading the book. Endings of this kind occur in nearly all upaniṣads of this class, and they must be taken soberly.
The first promise is that whoever reads this one śīrṣa receives the fruit of five. The five atharva-śīrṣas are the books on Gaṇeśa, Devī, Sūrya, Śiva, and Viṣṇu, read together; and it is promised that one will substitute for all five.
Worth noting is that promises of this kind — “one instead of many” — are a mark of late composition. They appear once so many rites have accumulated that fulfilling them all becomes impossible, and every new composition begins to offer a shortcut.
The Vaiṣṇava side makes use of this too, and it is worth saying so honestly. The Bhāgavatam says that in the present age what was once achieved by contemplation, sacrifice, and temple service is achieved by the singing of the name alone (12.3.52). There is, however, a real difference: there the shortening is explained by the fact that people and the age have changed, not by the discovery of a more powerful means.
The second promise concerns the arcā, “the image”: whoever, knowing this book, establishes an image, attains arcā-siddhi, “the perfection of the image.” This refers to the rite of pratiṣṭhā, the installation of an image in a temple — a deed considered, in all these traditions, the greatest a person can do with his hands.