Skandapurana 2.2.22

Jaimini said:

Then the king said to him: "How can you go without a destination?

Here is a flower-chariot, O sage, as swift as thought itself.

Having mounted this, we two will go; wait just for a moment,

while I take leave of these superintendents at the temple

and circumambulate the Lord; then I shall come, O best of sages!"

Hearing his word, Nārada too, trusting the king's words,

took the king by the hand and entered the great altar.

Bowing again and again to Kṛṣṇa, who was accompanied by Rāma and Bhadrā,

he requested permission to depart for the world of Brahmā.

Indradyumna also, with word, mind, and body, circumambulated Hari,

bowed again with prostrations of the eight limbs, and with an elevated mind,

O brahmins, begged with folded hands for departure to the world of Brahmā.

Both of them, the sage and the king, departed in the celestial vehicle.

Having circumambulated the sun stationed in the midst of the vault of the sky,

they went higher and higher, having passed the realm of the Pole Star.

Looked upon by the Siddhas in Janaloka, who quickly bowed with upturned faces,

filled with joy, they were conversing with one another

about the deeds of the Lord, O brahmins, which purify the impurities of the mind.

"This best of sages, liberated while living, wanders through all the worlds

with his course unimpeded; just so, this dweller on the mortal plane,

the king, has gone swiftly through the grace of devotion to Viṣṇu.

In the realm of the cosmos there is no object difficult to obtain

that cannot be gained by a devotee of Viṣṇu, or else he attains liberation."

And the two were respectfully worshiped by the Siddhas stationed in Maharloka.

Indradyumna did not remember his earthly dwelling

as he went along, rising higher by degrees, seeing those who are receptacles solely of happiness,

free from dualities, whose many achievements arise instantly without desire.

[Remembering] what he had done in the world of works solely for the pleasure of the Lord,

he worried about the temple: "Will it be completed or not?

With me gone to the world of Brahmā, will it be overwhelmed by enemies?

Or will the servants become slack in their respect out of greed for wealth?

Likewise, will the crowds of artisans, having received their wages, become sluggish in their work

and not construct it quickly, now that I have gone to the abode of Brahmā?

Before I return, having fetched the four-faced Creator,

may the temple not perish while I am far away?

Thinking, 'Those who came here before never returned to earth,'—

will my feudatories, evil-minded in this way,

now seize my kingdom, since they are hostile?"

To the king who was thus anxious and brooding with an agitated mind,

the sage, a treasury of knowledge of the past and future, said:

"Why are you anxious, O best of kings, with such a dejected mind?

where both of us have arrived; for this is no realm of anxiety.

Neither mental distress nor bodily diseases ever have power here;

there is no old age and no death. What else could cause sorrow?

You have attained your goal, O fortunate one, in that in your very human body

you have come here to the world of Brahmā and have beheld Hari face to face.

Those who have come here do not grieve over the worthless, fleeting worldly existence."

To him speaking thus, the king replied to that lord of sages:

"O venerable one, I grieve on account of the king's kinsfolk and relatives.

The temple of the Lord which was begun by me just now—

knowing that I have come here, my attendants will not carry it out.

The consecration of what has been begun must surely be performed, O sage.

Conceiving an obstacle to that, my mind is grieved, O lord."

Hearing his words, the sage smiled and said:

"Indeed, [you have] equality with Prajāpati; you are no ordinary king.

Never has what was undertaken by the ancients on earth been ruined by anyone;

how much less your deed, [done by you] who effect the creation, maintenance, and destruction [of kingdoms]!

Though you have gone to the world of Brahmā today, through your majesty and renown,

which constantly wander through the three worlds like the sun and the moon,

in whose deeds the four-faced Lord himself is a helper—

in those deeds, O tiger among kings, can even a suspicion of an obstacle arise?

He who is before your enemies, O king of kings, stands afar [from you]—

Śakra himself, the lord of the three worlds, seated in the assembly.

Especially regarding the temple of Jagannātha, O king, what man

would desire even in his mind to destroy it? Let there be no doubt of yours in this matter.

Look before you, O king: with a luster equal to ten million moons,

producing delight all around like ten million oceans of nectar,

know this mass of splendors to be that of the abode of Brahmā."

Conversing in this manner, the two reached the vicinity of the world of Brahmā.

From far away, both heard emerging from the mouths of the brahmin-seers

the sound of Vedic recitation, with well-formed words and clear accents, letters, and order—

the epics, the Purāṇas, the meters, the rituals, and the verses.

Unconfused, luminous speech was heard distinctly in its divisions.

"Know this, O tiger among kings, to be the city of Brahmā.

And here is seen the assembly where the Grandfather of the worlds,

the four-faced one, is comfortably seated together with the foremost brahmin-seers,

attended by those liberated while living, variegated by diverse consciousnesses;

those who have arrived here are not caught in the distress of the ocean of worldly existence.

'Sat' is the name of Brahmā; this highest of worlds belongs to him,

known as Satyaloka; above it there is nothing at all.

Just slightly above this, and below the cosmic egg's shell,

is the realm of Vaikuṇṭha, O king, where the liberated dwell,

where Janārdana, the lord of yogins directly contemplated by yogins,

the Lord whose body is consciousness and whose nature is dense bliss, abides,

having attained whom they do not return to the path of mortal worldly existence;

whom Brahmā constantly worships with those liberated while living for his own liberation.

At the end of his allotted lifespan, he merges into him together with these [beings].

He is the creator of the worlds, who assumes forms such as the fish and the tortoise,

the protector, the destroyer in his terrible form, the creator of the universe."

Speaking thus to Indradyumna, he reached the dwelling of Brahmā.

And in an instant he arrived at the forecourt at the door of the assembly,

where the guardians of the directions, Śakra and others, were standing all around,

engaged in meditation for a long time, and likewise the lords of the manvantaras,

resembling common men, forbidden entry inside by the doorkeeper.

Beholding Nārada accompanied by Indradyumna,

the doorkeeper bowed with humility, bending his neck:

"O lord, who delight in wandering through the fourteen worlds,

without you, O master, your father's assembly does not shine.

Though there are indeed excellent sages, brahmins, foremost among knowers of Brahman,

Gautama and others, nevertheless this assembly of Brahmā is not delightful [without you].

A night of the gods, though having many stars, shines only by the moon."

Praising him thus, filled with humility, he granted him entrance.

Thus ends the twenty-second chapter in the Puruṣottamakṣetra-māhātmya, in the second, Vaiṣṇava section of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses, in the dialogue of the seer Jaimini. // 22