Skandapurana 1.4.40: adhyāyaḥ 42

Nārada said:
Then, after that place had been established by me, in the course of time,
it was pondered again in my heart, desiring to bestow grace upon the twice-born:

“This sacred ford, devoid of Vāsudeva, does not shine,
just as the world [is without light] without the sun; for he is the ornament of ornaments.

A sacred ford, a house, a mind, or a treatise
where Hari is not the lord—all that is worthless: a sacred ford fit for swans, not for crows.”

"Therefore, having propitiated Puruṣottama, the granter of boons, in this sacred ford,
I shall bring him in a part visibly, desiring to grace the universe."

"Reflecting thus, O descendant of Kuru, I remained here,
and by the yoga of knowledge I pleased the lord of yogins for a hundred years.

Muttering the eight-syllable mantra and restraining my senses,
I became absorbed in Vāsudeva, intent on compassion toward all beings.

As he was thus being worshipped by me, Hari, mounted upon Garuḍa
and surrounded by tens of millions of attendants, became visible to my eyes.

Joining my palms and having offered the water of hospitality according to rule to Hari,
I bowed down, with hands folded together, and addressed him:

'In Śvetadvīpa formerly, O Lord, that form of yours was seen by me,
unborn, eternal, O Viṣṇu, consisting of Nara and Nārāyaṇa.

Establish a single portion of that form here, O Janārdana;
if you are pleased with me, O Viṣṇu, let this be done by you.'

Thus entreated by me, he whose banner is Garuḍa then spoke:
'So be it, O son of Brahmā! Whatever was desired by you in your heart,

all that will be so, staying right here forever.'
Having spoken thus, when Viṣṇu had departed after placing a part of himself, O lord,

Viṣṇu was consecrated by me out of a desire to grace the world.
Because Hari himself, dweller in Śvetadvīpa, stayed here,

he was remembered as ancient, as the universe, named Viśva, and as Vāsudeva.
Whatever auspicious eleventh lunar day occurs in the bright half of Kārtika,

whoever, having bathed according to the ritual in water-springs and the like,
worships Acyuta with devotion through the fivefold ritual service,

observing a fast, keeps vigil with singing and instrumental music before Hari,
or recites a Vaiṣṇava narrative, free from deceit and anger,

and gives gifts according to his ability, restrained and with a joyful mind,
from all impurity arising from many births

he is liberated—there is no doubt—even if he is the slayer of a brahmin;
he attains the abode of Vaikuṇṭha on an aerial chariot of Garuḍa.

A man delivers one hundred and one ancestral lines, O son of Pṛthā.
Endowed with faith, filled with joy, enthusiastic and eager,

free from egoism, with bathing, incense, and anointing,
accompanied by flowers and food-offerings, joined with the gift of water of hospitality,

accompanied by the waving of lights performed with great devotion in watch after watch,
joined with the delight of flywhisks, preceded by the sound of kettle-drums,

equipped with the Purāṇas and scriptures, accompanied by devotional dance,
free from sleep, devoid of longing for the taste of food and drink, O Bhārata,

joined with inhaling the fragrance of his feet, dear to Viṣṇu,
with songs, offering worship, accompanied by going to his sacred field,

accompanied by restraint of the lower apertures, endowed with celibacy,
accompanied by the recitation of hymns of praise, adorned with the water of his feet,

endowed with truth, joined with the union of truth through holy conversation—
whatever man performs a vigil endowed with these twenty-five virtues
on the eleventh lunar day is not born again on earth.

Here at this excellent sacred ford, formerly a twice-born named Aitareya
attained perfection, the highly fortunate one, by the grace of Vāsudeva."

Arjuna said:
"Whose son was Aitareya, or where was his dwelling, O sage?
How did the wise one attain perfection by the grace of Vāsudeva?"

Nārada said:
"Right here in my place, in the lineage of Hārīta,

there was an eminent brahmin named Māṇḍūki, who had crossed to the further shore of the Vedas and auxiliary sciences.

He had a wife named Itarā, virtuous and endowed with good qualities.
To her was born a son, remembered as Aitareya.

From childhood onward, he constantly muttered the mantra known as twelve-syllabled,
which had been learned in a previous birth.

He did not hear, nor did he speak anything at all, even in his mind.
Such was the nature of that son of a brahmin in his childhood.

Then, thinking, 'He is mute,' he was urged by his father by various means,
[yet] when he did not turn his mind to worldly affairs,

having determined in his mind, 'He is dull-witted,' O Bhārata,
[the father] married another wife and produced sons.

That wife was named Piṅgā, and sons were born to her,
four of them, skilled in rituals, exponents of the Vedas and auxiliary sciences.

They were honored everywhere by brahmins at sacrifices and propitiatory oblations.
And Aitareya, too, constantly, at the three junctions of the day, in the temple of Hari,

muttered the supreme prayer; he made no effort elsewhere.
Then his mother, observing the sons of her co-wife,

with a rent heart addressed words to her son:
'You were born only for affliction! Fie upon my birth and life!

For a woman in this human world, it is clearly better not to give birth at all,
since she is despised by her husband and her son lacks virtues.

This Piṅgā has indeed performed merit, whose sons possess great virtues,
knowers of the truth of the Vedas and auxiliary sciences, worshipped everywhere for their virtues.

Therefore, unfortunate as I am, O son, at the confluence of the Mahī and the ocean
I shall drown myself; death is better! What fruit is there in my living?
You too, as a great silent one, rejoice long as a devotee of Hari!'

Nārada said:
"Hearing these words of his mother, the young Aitareya, smiling,

meditated for a moment, and, knower of righteousness, bowed down and said to his mother:
'O mother, you are overcome by delusion; possessed of knowledge, you act in ignorance.

You grieve for what should not be grieved for, O auspicious one, and do not grieve at all for what should be grieved for.
Why are you deluded in the false worldly existence for the sake of this body?

For this is the conduct of fools; it is not fitting for my mother.
The essence of worldly existence is one thing, but those who are deluded regard something else as the essence,

just as at night they behold a firefly staying like a lamp.
What you consider to be the essence—hear its essencelessness!

Such is this human [body], bringing pain from the very womb,
with beams and pillars of bone-slabs, bound tight with sinews,

smeared with blood, flesh, and fat, a vessel for feces, urine, and [other] substances,
covered with the grass of head-hair and body-hair, clean-washed with a golden skin.'

with a single great door, the mouth, adorned with six window-slits,
and with the two lips as door-leaves, fitted with a bolt of teeth; 42.49

with channels flowing with sweat, situated in the fire of the mouth of Time:
in such a house, O fair one, dwells the householder named the individual soul. 42.50

And there he has Prakṛti as his wife, composed of the three guṇas;
and intellect, egoism, desires, anger, greed, and the rest 42.51

are his offspring. Alas, in sorrow thus the deluded one proceeds!
Hear in truth of his various kinds of delusion, just as each occurs: 42.52

whose streams constantly flow like those of a mountain—
phlegm, urine, and the like: for the sake of this body, he is bewildered. 42.53

Of the body, a receptacle of every impurity, there exists
not even a single pure spot, like a leather sack filled with feces and urine. 42.54

Having touched the orifices of one's own body, the hand is cleansed with earth and water;
even so, why does a person feel no revulsion toward that vessel of impurity? 42.55

Though carefully adorned with fragrant waters and the like, the body
does not abandon its innate nature, just like a dog's bent tail [when straightened]. 42.56

A person who is not revolted by the foul stench of his own body—
what other cause for detachment can be taught to him? 42.57

Bodily purification is taught for the removal of odor and smearing;
after the removal of the two, one is purified by purity of inner disposition. 42.58

Practicing purification until death with all the water of the Gaṅgā
and mountain-like loads of earth, one of corrupt disposition is not purified. 42.59

A corrupt soul is never purified by baths at sacred fords or by austerities;
can [a jar of liquor], steamed and washed at a sacred ford, attain purity? 42.60

For one who is corrupted in inner disposition, even if he enters the fire,
there is neither heaven nor liberation, but merely the incineration of the body. 42.61

Purity of inner disposition is the highest purity, the authority in all actions:
in one spirit a wife is embraced, in another spirit a daughter. 42.62

In one way indeed a son regards the breast, in another way the husband.
Therefore, one should purify the mind; what use are other, external purifications? 42.63

A person completely purified in inner disposition attains heaven and liberation
by the stainless water of knowledge, and again by the earth of true detachment, 42.64

washing away the smear and stench of ignorance, passion, feces, and urine.
Thus the wise know this body to be impure by its very nature, 42.65

having only skin for essence, devoid of core, like the core of a plantain tree.
Knowing the body to be full of faults in this way, the wise man who becomes detached 42.66

departs from saṃsāra, [while] one who clings firmly remains.
Thus this birth has been proclaimed as a great affliction and suffering. 42.67

Due to human beings not knowing the defect and under the power of various deeds,
just as someone crushed by a great mountain lies in suffering, 42.68

so the embodied soul lies in pain, enveloped by the membrane of the womb;
just as one fallen into the ocean remains distressed and agitated, 42.69

so the person lies agitated, his limbs drenched with the fluid of the womb;
just as someone placed in an iron vessel is cooked by fire, 42.70

so cast into the pot of the womb, he is cooked by the digestive fire.
Of one constantly pierced by needles of fire, 42.71

the suffering that arises is eight times greater than that in the womb.
Such is proclaimed to be the suffering in the womb for living beings, 42.72

both moving and unmoving, according to their own wombs.
And to one situated there comes remembrance of all his births: 42.73

“I have died and been born again, and born I have died again;
many thousands of wombs of various kinds have been seen by me in many ways. 42.74

Now, as soon as I am born and have received my rites of passage,
I shall pursue the highest good so that conception in a womb does not occur again. 42.75

I will study the knowledge of Hari, which brings an end to saṃsāra.”
Reflecting thus, he dwells pondering the means of liberation. 42.76

A suffering ten million times greater than that of the womb arises for one being born.
Whatever memory he had while dwelling in the womb perishes once he is born. 42.77

The moment he is touched by the external wind, stupefaction occurs;
for the stupefied one, loss of memory swiftly arises again. 42.78

From that loss of memory, and under the influence of past deeds,
attachment quickly arises for the creature in that very birth. 42.79

Attached and deluded, this person engages in what ought not to be done;
there he knows neither himself, nor the supreme, nor the divine. 42.80

He does not listen to the highest good; though having eyes, he does not see;
walking on a level path with level feet, he stumbles, as it were, at every step. 42.81

Though possessing intellect, he does not understand even when instructed by the wise;
thereby he suffers in saṃsāra, subject to passion and delusion. 42.82

Due to the absence of the memory of the womb, scripture has been declared by the great seers
in order to explain that suffering, accomplishing heaven and liberation. 42.83

Those who, although this knowledge of scripture exists which accomplishes the purpose of all deeds,
do not pursue their own highest good—that is the greatest wonder here! 42.84

Furthermore, in childhood there is great suffering because the functions of the sense-organs are unmanifest:
even though wishing, he is unable to say or do anything. 42.85

There is great pain at the emergence of teeth, as well as from constitutional illness,
and affliction through diverse childhood diseases and spirits seizing children. 42.86

With limbs overcome by thirst and hunger, he lies crying somewhere;
and out of delusion the child engages in consuming feces and urine and the like. 42.87

In boyhood, through the piercing of the ears, through beatings by father and mother,
and through the study of letters and so forth under the teacher's discipline, there is sorrow. 42.88

And through reckless behavior of the sense-organs, tormented by passion and lust,
whence can there ever be happiness in youth for one overflowing with passion? 42.89

Immense suffering arises through jealousy for one who is attached out of delusion;
for one intoxicated and enraged, passion leads solely to fault. 42.90

Exhausted by the fire of desire, sleep does not come at night;
and by day, whence could there be happiness, with anxiety over the acquisition of wealth? 42.91

When women, who are the receptacle of all faults, are enjoyed,
the pleasure born of sexual intercourse is considered like the discharge of feces and urine. 42.92

Honor is [overtaken] by insult; union with the beloved, by separation; / youth, swallowed by old age. Where is unmolested happiness?

With a body of wrinkles and grey hair, his frame rendered slack, / powerless in all activities, he is shattered by old age.

The youthful form of woman and man, which previously depended on each other— / that very form, swallowed by old age, is pleasing to neither of them.

Overcome by old age, a man is treated with contempt by his wife, sons, and other kinsmen, / and because of his helplessness, even by wicked servants.

Since a sick man is unable to achieve / virtue, wealth, desire, and liberation, therefore while young one should practice virtue.

The imbalance of wind, bile, phlegm, and the rest is called disease; / and this body is declared to be an aggregate of wind and the other [humors].

Therefore, this physical frame of one's own should be known as full of disease; / through diverse sicknesses, manifold sorrows enter the body.

They are beyond one's own perception—what else can I say? / One hundred and one deaths are established in this body.

Among them, one is linked to time; the remainder are considered accidental. / Those that are declared accidental here are alleviated by medicines,

and by muttering prayers, oblations, and gifts; but timely death is not alleviated. / Diverse illnesses, weapons, living beings such as snakes,

poisons, and sorceries are the doors of death for embodied beings. / Even Dhanvantari himself cannot restore to health

an embodied being who is afflicted by snakebites, illnesses, and the like, when his time has arrived. / Neither remedy nor austerity, mantras, friends, nor relatives

are able to rescue a man afflicted by Time. / By elixirs, austerities, prayers, by great souls perfected in yoga,

or by the wise, timely death cannot be warded off, even when conjoined [with these]. / There is no sorrow equal to death; there is no fear equal to death;

there is no terror equal to death for all embodied beings. / A virtuous wife, sons, friends, kingdom, sovereignty, and pleasures—

all bound by the cords of affection, death cuts them down. / Mother, do you not see that even out of a thousand,

scarcely five persons live a hundred years, or perhaps none do? / Some perish at eighty, others at seventy.

The upper limit of lifespan has settled at sixty, and even that is not certain. / Whatever lifespan an embodied being may have due to past actions,

the night, in the form of death, steals half of that life. / Through the state of childhood, through infatuation, and through old age in decrepitude,

twenty years pass devoid of virtue, pleasure, and wealth. / Due to incidental conditions of men, through sickness and grief in many forms,

half of what remains there is also stolen away; that [small fraction] is indeed life. / And at the end of life one meets a most dreadful death.

Having died, one is born again in ten million wombs under the power of karma. / The separation of men through the dissolution of the body due to the exhaustion of karma—

that is designated as death, not an absolute destruction. / When one has entered great darkness and the vital spots are being severed,

the agony of death to a creature has no comparison anywhere in this world. / 'Alas, father! Mother! Alas, beloved!' he cries out thus, in deep sorrow.

Like a frog by a serpent, a person is swallowed by death. / Abandoned by kinsmen, yet surrounded by loved ones,

breathing out long and hot breaths, dumb with a drying mouth, / turning repeatedly across the four corners of the bed,

utterly bewildered, he tosses his hands and feet here and there; / from the bed he craves the floor, and from the floor the bed, then the ground again.

Naked, devoid of shame, smeared with feces, / begging for water with throat, lips, and palate dried up,

worrying about his possessions: 'To whom will these belong when I am dead?', / digging five pits [with his fingers], dragged by the noose of Time,

he dies right before their eyes, making a rattling sound in his throat. / The soul, like a grass-leech, enters from body to body in succession;

having reached the next [body] with a part [of itself], it abandons the previous one. / Begging is indeed a greater sorrow than death to a discerning person:

the sorrow in death is momentary; that caused by begging is endless. / Now this has been realized by me: that a venerable person becomes as if dead [when begging].

Let no one beg from another again; craving is the cause of degradation. / In the beginning is suffering, likewise in the middle, and at the end there is terrible suffering;

by the very nature of all beings, such is the succession of pain. / And hunger is considered the foremost disease among all sicknesses;

and it is appeased only for a moment by the medicinal plaster of food. / The pain of the hunger-disease is sharp, cutting down all strength;

overcome by it, a man dies just as from other diseases. / In my palace, there is merely the false pride of being a king;

every ornament is a burden to me, every ointment is [a burden], / all singing is raving, ever the antics of a madman.

Thus, upon reflection, where is happiness from royal pleasures / for kings whose minds are agitated by the desire to conquer one another?

Mostly through the intoxication of royal fortune, great kings like Nahuṣa / have fallen even after reaching heaven. Who finds happiness in fortune?

Above and beyond each other, the gods stand in mutual rivalry. / In heaven, the fruit of merit is enjoyed by men with the severance of its root,

and no other action is performed there—that is a very severe fault. / Just as a tree whose root is severed falls helplessly to the ground,

likewise, when the root of merit is exhausted, the dwellers of heaven cast [them] down. / Thus, upon reflection, even in heaven there is no happiness for the gods.

Likewise, the suffering of the denizens of hell is well known; why describe it further? / Even in immovable beings there are sufferings: forest fires, freezing cold, drying up,

sharp chopping by axes, peeling of the bark, / and the casting down of leaves, branches, and fruits by violent winds.

And [there is] constant trampling by elephants and wild creatures. / The thirst, hunger, anger, and dreadful suffering of snakes,

The slaughter of the wicked in the world, and binding with a noose— / thus, O mother, time and again is the misery of reptiles.

Likewise is the sudden birth and death of worms, insects, and the like; / the very severe misery of beasts and birds due to rain, cold, and heat.

And wild animals are always terrified by great torment from hunger and thirst. / Listen also to the sufferings of herds of cattle and elephants:

Subjection to hunger, thirst, cold, and the like; killing, binding, and beating; / piercing the nostrils, fear, beating with goads and ankus,

Striking with bamboo sticks, spears, chains, mallets, and ankus; / the severe pain of carrying burdens, and affliction in training, battles, and the like;

Separation from one's herd, being led into the forest, and so forth. / Famine, misfortune, foolishness, and poverty;

Reversal of high and low, death, agitation of the realm; / suffering from mutual overcome, and again from mutual superiority;

The transience of powers, and the downfall of lofty positions— / because the animate and inanimate world is pervaded by sufferings such as these,

Beginning from hell and ending with humans, a wise person should therefore renounce it all. / [A man] moves a burden from one shoulder to the other, [and] otherwise imagines it to be rest;

In that same way, all this suffering in the world is quieted only by suffering. / Thus, knowing that this entire world, exalted by mutual competition,

Is agitated by sufferings, one should attain supreme dispassion. / From dispassion comes detachment, and from detachment knowledge arises.

Knowing that supreme Viṣṇu by knowledge, one attains liberation. / I could never delight in such a world, O mother,

Just as a pure royal swan [cannot delight in] a crow pointing to foul filth. / Listen, O mother, where I might dwell and delight, free from afflictions.

The path of ignorance is very terrible, having branches that are diverse actions, / with resolve as gnats and crocodiles, and grief and joy as cold and heat,

With the darkness of delusion as gloom, and greed as venomous serpents and reptiles, / with sense-objects as a false road, and releasing desire and anger—

Having traversed that great impassable place, I have entered the great forest. / Having entered it, those who know it neither grieve nor feel corrupted;

They fear no one, and no one fears them.

In that forest are seven great trees, seven rivers, and seven fruits; / seven hermitages, seven absorptions, and seven initiations—this is the nature of the wilderness.

Producing divine flowers and fruits of five colors, some of four colors, / of three, two, and one color,

The trees stand there, pervading that forest.

Seven true women dwell there, facing downward away from the sun; / they draw essence upward from creatures—can someone describe them all according to reality?

And there are precisely seven mountains by which the three worlds are held, / and seven rivers, streams that always carry the water of Brahman.

Brilliance, giving freedom from fear, harmlessness, skill, / freedom from fickleness, freedom from anger, and pleasant speech as the seventh—

These should be known as the mountains situated in that forest of wisdom. / Firm resolve, radiance, equanimity, self-restraint, virtue,

Selflessness, austerity, and contentment is the seventh lake. / From discernment of the Lord's attributes, devotion is the first river;

Worship with flowers and the like is the second, and circumambulation is the third; / the fourth has the form of words of praise, the fifth is offering to Īśvara;

The sixth is declared to be oneness with Brahman, and the seventh is perfection itself. / These seven rivers here were proclaimed by Brahmā, the supreme lord.

Brahmā, Dharma, Yama, Agni, Indra, Varuṇa,

And Dhanada—these worship the groups of seven beginning with Dhruva. / The confluence of the rivers is there in the retreat of Vaikuṇṭha,

Whence those content in the self, tranquil, and restrained go to the highest of the high. / Some say they are trees, some women, others knowers of reality;

Some of the foremost knowers have spoken of seven rivers. / With my desire for vows uninterrupted, I practice celibacy here.

Brahman alone is the firewood there, Brahman the fire, Brahman the sacred grass couch; / Brahman the waters, Brahman the guru—such is my celibacy.

This very kind of subtle celibacy the wise know. / Listen also to my guru, O mother, who has imparted knowledge to me:

There is one ruler, there is no second ruler; dwelling within the heart, he rules the person. / Commanded by him, just as water [flows] down an incline, as I am directed, so I act.

There is one guru, there is likewise no second; dwelling in the heart, him I declare [to you], O man— / having insulted which guru, Mukunda, all the Dānavas were utterly ruined.

There is one kinsman, there is none second to him; dwelling in the heart, him I proclaim. / Instructed by him, kinsmen possessing kinship, the seven seers, shine in the sky.

And celibacy is to be practiced; listen to the nature of the householder's life: / my wife has the form of Prakṛti, [yet] I am never attached to her.

Her mind is ever focused on me, O mother, accomplishing all my goals. / Smell, tongue, eye, skin, and hearing as the fifth,

Mind, and intellect—these seven fires of mine blaze brightly. / Odor, taste, form, sound, and touch as the fifth,

What is to be thought, and what is to be understood—these seven are my fuel sticks. / What is offered through meditation on Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa himself enjoys.

With such a sacrifice, I worship that Īśvara. / For one free from desire, all desires are fulfilled; and for one who harbors hatred, every fault arises.

Taints do not occur in my nature, just as drops of water do not cling to lotus leaves. / To me, who am eternal, non-eternal things do not belong, because of my beholding the manifold nature of existence.

The web of experiences does not cling to my actions, just as the network of sunbeams does not stick in the sky.

Mother, do not grieve with such a son! / For I will take you to that state which cannot be reached even by hundreds of sacrifices.

Hearing her son’s words, Itarā was astonished. / She thought: ‘If my son is truly so learned,

he will attain renown in the worlds, and from that supreme fame will be mine!’ / As she was thus reflecting in the night, the blessed Lord Hari,

delighted and astonished by his words, manifested himself directly, / emerging of his own accord from the image, bearing the conch, discus, and mace,

illuminating the world with his radiance, shining like ten million suns. / Then, falling prostrate upon the ground, his hair standing on end, his voice choked with tears,

the wise Aitareya folded his hands upon his head and praised him:

‘Homage to you, the Blessed One, Vāsudeva! We meditate upon [you]. / Homage to Pradyumna and Aniruddha, and to Saṃkarṣaṇa!

Homage to you who are pure consciousness, whose form is supreme bliss, / who delight in the Self, who are peaceful, whose perception of duality has ceased!

Homage to you who are devoted to the bliss of the Self, who have thoroughly cast aside the waves [of worldly existence], / to Hṛṣīkeśa, the great one! Homage to you of infinite power!

Attainable when speech has ceased along with the mind, the one / without name and form, who is pure consciousness, beyond being and non-being—may he protect us!

In whom this [universe] rests, from whom it arises and passes away, / just as clay objects arise from clay—homage to that Brahman, to you!

Whom the mind, intellect, senses, and vital breaths do not touch or know, / pervading inside and outside like the sky—to him I bow down.

These bodies, senses, vital breaths, mind, and intellect, bound to your part, engage in actions; / never otherwise, just as iron when heated [acts like fire]—by his observed presence they exist in their places.

I bow down to him fourfold, threefold, twofold, and as one, / the ruler and supreme Lord across former, later, and subsequent ages.

Desiring liberation, renouncing all courses of rebirth, [sages] worship him of tenfold nature. / We attend upon you, the supreme, untainted Truth.

Oṃ, homage to the Blessed One, the supreme person, the exalted one, the lord of divine majesty, whose lotus feet are caressed by the lotus and water-lily buds of the hands of the multitude of all Sātvata leaders, supreme Parameṣṭhin, homage to you!

Fire is your mouth, the earth your pair of feet, the sky your head, the moon and sun your eyes, / all the worlds your belly, and the four cardinal directions your arms. O Blessed One, homage to you!

O Lord, there are not as many births as there are beings / crushed by me throughout all time and swallowed here in this terrible, great ocean of saṃsāra.

The heap of rocks upon Himavat, Mahendra, Kailāsa, Meru, and other mountains does not equal / the vast mass of countless bodies assumed and cast off by me, O Lord!

O Lord, there are no places on earth where I have not been born or died, / or where creatures have not been devoured by me, or where I have not been devoured by hosts of beings.