Skandapurana 16.1

Now begins the seventh section, Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa. 7.

Obeisance to the glorious Gaṇeśa.

Now the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa begins.

Here begins the first, the māhātmya of the Prabhāsa sacred field. 5.

Oṃ, obeisance to the glorious Supreme Self, the Supreme Person.

Oṃ, obeisance to Hari, Hara, and Hiraṇyagarbha; obeisance to Vyāsa, Vālmīki, Śuka, and Parāśara.

Vyāsa said: / He who is the primeval Puruṣa, who is praised everywhere as ancient, / Someśa, accompanied by the gods—those by whose eyes he is beheld on the surface of the earth, / having crossed the vast expanse of the fear of worldly existence, adorned with sacred ash, / go to heaven in excellent aerial chariots, just as sacrificers [go] through well-performed sacrifices. 1.

To him who is expanding bindu and nāda, whose nature consists of pure nectar, / whose body is the thirty-six principles of reality, whose form is pure consciousness alone—obeisance. 2.

Though nectar rests within their bellies, all the gods perish; / may he who lives even with poison resting in his throat protect you! 3.

At the conclusion of the sacrificial session, the great seers dwelling in Naimiṣāraṇya / asked the sinless Sūta, Romaharṣaṇa, about the sacred Purāṇa collection: 4.

“By you, O Sūta of great intellect, the lord Vyāsa, the foremost knower of Brahman, / was properly served for the purpose of the Itihāsas and Purāṇas. 5.

Because all your bodily hairs thrilled with joy at his words, / by the power of Dvaipāyana, you therefore became known as Romaharṣaṇa. 6.

The Lord Vyāsa himself directly called upon you first / to recite the collection of purāṇic lore to the sages. 7.

For in the sacrifice of Svāyambhuva, on the extensive day of soma-pressing, Hari, / the Supreme Person, was born by his own portion to recite the collection. 8.

Therefore we ask you: in the Purāṇa proclaimed by Skanda, / in the māhātmya of the Prabhāsa sacred field, the pilgrimage pertaining to Brahmā was heard previously. 9.

Now, O expert in the meaning of the Purāṇas, / you ought to tell us of the pilgrimage pertaining to Viṣṇu and that pertaining to Rudra, which bestow all aims. 7.1.1.10.

Having heard the words of the sages, Sūta, the best of purāṇic narrators, / bowed his head to Vyāsa, the son of Satyavatī, and spoke: 11.

Romaharṣaṇa said: / [Bowing to] Hari, marked with the Śrīvatsa, the source of the universe, who has the form of the syllable Oṃ, / the immeasurable, the guru, the deity, the taintless one, the refuge of the taintless, 12.

the goose dwelling in the clear [sky], the all-pervading space, the giver of everything, the auspicious, / the indifferent, the effortless, the unmanifest, the taintless, 13.

the void, whose true form is the bindu, the object of meditation devoid of meditation, / whom they call ‘it is’ and ‘it is not,’ who is very far and also near, 14.

grasped by the mind, the supreme abode, named Puruṣa, consisting of the world, / seated upon the lotus of the heart, whose form is splendour, devoid of sense organs— 15.

having bowed to such a Supreme Self, the Lord, / I shall relate the twofold story, which likewise possesses two bodies. 16.

endowed with divine speech, resting on the foundation of the Vedas, / accompanied by the five junctures, adorned with the six ornaments,

furnished with the seven expedients, delighting with the qualities of the eight sentiments, / filled with nine poetic merits, devoid of the ten faults,

likewise adorned with secondary dialects, resting on a single [theme], captivating, / endowed with the five causes, approved by the four means of expression,

and furthermore twofold in nature, granting a multitude of wisdom, / spoken by Vyāsa, sacred, destroying sins: listen to it!

Hearing which even an evildoer would surely attain the highest state, / freed from the threefold misery, released from all distress.

One should never narrate this sacred tale to an atheist; / it should be recited to a tranquil, faithful twice-born.

He whose rites from conception to the cremation ground are prescribed with mantras / is known to have entitlement to this scripture, not anyone else.

And of a brahmin pure on all four sides, / of good conduct, there is eligibility in this scripture approved by the Vedas.

Just as the god of gods, Maheśvara, is foremost among the gods, / and just as the Gaṅgā is among rivers, and the brahmin among the classes,

and just as the sound Oṃ is first among all letters, / and just as a mother among those worthy of honor, and a father among elders, / even so the [scripture] proclaimed by Skanda is principal among all scriptures.

Formerly, upon the peak of Kailāsa, in the presence of Brahmā and the others, / the Skanda Purāṇa was spoken by the bearer of the Pināka before Pārvatī.

By Pārvatī before the six-faced one; by him, indeed, to the host of Nandi; / by Nandi to Kumāra; and by him to the wise Vyāsa.

By Vyāsa it was related to me; I proclaim it to you.

Since all of you great seers are endowed with pure devotion, / therefore I have the desire to declare the Skanda Compendium to you.

Thus ends the first chapter, named 'Description of the Chapter of Questions,' in the first [part], the Prabhāsa Kṣetra Māhātmya, in the seventh Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].