Skandapurana 5.61

The seers said: / “The sacred ford named Śarmiṣṭhā that was mentioned by you, O wise one— / how did it arise, O fortunate one, and what is its power? Speak of that!” // 1

Sūta said: / “There was a king named Vṛka, born in the lunar dynasty, / devoted to brahmins, offering refuge, and intent upon the welfare of all beings. // 2

His virtuous wife was dearer [to him] than life itself, / endowed with all auspicious marks and devoted to her husband. // 3

Then, when her later age had arrived, there was born of her / a girl, arriving on a day condemned by all the scriptures. // 4

Thereupon, having summoned brahmins skilled in the knowledge of astrology, / he asked: ‘What kind of daughter will this one of mine turn out to be?’ // 5

The brahmins said: / ‘The maiden who takes birth when the sun is in Citrā, / or the moon, on the fourteenth lunar day, becomes a poison-girl. // 6

The man who takes her hand [in marriage], O best of kings, / surely meets death within six months. // 7

And the palace in which she is born, within six months / she deprives of riches, even [if it belongs] to Kubera, without a doubt. // 8

This daughter of yours, O king, as described, is a poison-girl; / she will destroy both families, that of her father and that of her father-in-law. // 9

Therefore, abandon her and be happy, O lord of men, / if you trust our word, which is spoken for your welfare, O master.’ // 10

The king said: / ‘Whether I abandon her or keep her in my house, / the action born of another body will still bear fruit for me. // 11

Whether good or evil, it is not possible to avert it. / Therefore, placing karma first, I shall not abandon my daughter. // 12

With whichever body one performs whatever action, / with that very [body] he receives back its full fruit. // 13

In whatever state good or bad is done here, / in that very state its fruit is surely experienced by men. // 14

Past action performed here with all the sense organs does not perish, / nor does what is not done come into being; therefore I have no fear. // 15

Lifespan, karma, wealth, learning, and death itself— / these five are indeed created for an embodied being while still in the womb. // 16

Just as flowers and fruits on trees and creepers / do not exceed their own proper season, so it is with past karma. // 17

Just as whatever action, good or evil, was performed by someone previously, / he alone experiences it in that manner, as ordained for himself forever. // 18

Just as a calf finds its mother among a thousand cows, / so karma finds the agent even in the midst of ten million [beings]. // 19

Karma done in another body, no person on earth / is able to alter by force or by intellect. // 20

Otherwise, a wise man, distinguished with an intellect rich in the scriptures, / is made to act differently by past karma acting like a master. // 21

The joys and sorrows of embodied beings that approach them are their own doing; / for he who considers himself the cause of them is bound by egoism. // 22

One's own karma runs after him as he runs very swiftly; / it lies down with him as he sleeps, and it stands beside him as he stands. // 23

Just as shadow and sunlight are always closely connected to each other, / so are karma and the agent; no doubt should be entertained here. // 24

Where and by whom pleasure or pain is to be experienced, / that person, as if bound by a rope, is forcibly led to that very place. // 25

Karma is the authoritative measure for living beings in bringing about pleasure and pain, / as well as attentiveness for those who are awake and those who sleep. // 26

Just as a lamp goes out when its oil is exhausted, / so a creature attains extinction when its karma is exhausted. // 27

Neither mantras, nor austerity, nor gifts, nor a sacred ford, nor self-restraint / are capable of protecting a creature afflicted by past karma. // 28

The insentient drop of semen deposited in the womb through intercourse / by a man in the fertile season grows on account of karma. // 29

Where food and drink are digested, along with whatever has been eaten, / in that very belly, how does the embryo not digest?

Therefore, everything that befalls embodied beings here is produced by their actions, / whether good or whether sin: this is my firm conviction always.

The unprotected survives if protected by fate; the well-protected perishes if struck by fate. / Even abandoned in the forest, one without a protector lives; even after great effort is made, one does not live at home.

Thus ends the sixty-first chapter, named 'Description of the Origin of the Poison-Maiden,' in the Māhātmya of the Holy Field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the sixth [section], the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.