Skandapurana 6.3.139

6.3.139.p1

adhyāya 139

6.3.139.1

śrīmārkaṇḍeya uvāca -
tato gacchenmahārāja somatīrthamanuttamam .
yatra somastapastaptvā nakṣatrapathamāsthitaḥ .. 139.1 ..

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then one should go, O great king, to the unsurpassed Somatīrtha, / where Soma, having performed austerity, ascended to the path of constellations.

6.3.139.2

tatra tīrthe tu yaḥ snāyādācamya vidhipūrvakam .
kṛtajāpyo raviṃ dhyāyettasya puṇyaphalaṃ śṛṇu .. 139.2 ..

Whoever bathes in that sacred ford, sips water according to rule, / and meditates on the sun after reciting prayers, hear the meritorious fruit of that:

6.3.139.3

ṛgvedayajurvedābhyāṃ sāmavedena bhārata .
japato yatphalaṃ proktaṃ gāyatryā cātra tatphalam .. 139.3 ..

Whatever fruit is declared from reciting the Ṛgveda, the Yajurveda, / and the Sāmaveda, O Bhārata, that fruit is [attained] here through the Gāyatrī.

6.3.139.4

tatra tīrthe tu yo bhaktyā brāhmaṇān bhojayecchuciḥ .
tena samyagvidhānena koṭirbhavati bhojitā .. 139.4 ..

Whoever, being pure, feeds brahmins with devotion in that sacred ford, / by him, in accordance with the proper ritual, ten million have been fed.

6.3.139.5

pādukopānahau chatraṃ vastrakambalavājinaḥ .
yo datte vipramukhyāya tasya tatkoṭisaṃmitam .. 139.5 ..

Whoever gives wooden shoes, leather footwear, an umbrella, / garments, blankets, or horses to the foremost of brahmins, for him that is equal to ten million [such gifts].

6.3.139.6

sahasraṃ tu sahasrāṇāmanṛcāṃ yastu bhojayet .
ekasya mantrayuktasya kalāṃ nārhati ṣoḍaśīm .. 139.6 ..

If one feeds a thousand thousands who do not know the Ṛc verses, / they do not equal a sixteenth part of one who is endowed with mantras.

6.3.139.7

evaṃ tu bhojayettatra bahvṛcaṃ vedapāragam .
śākhāntargamathādhvaryuṃ chandogaṃ vā samāptigam .. 139.7 ..

Thus one should feed there an expert in the Rigveda who has mastered the Vedas, / or an Adhvaryu versed in the branches, or a Chāndoga who has completed [his study].

6.3.139.8

agnihotrasahasrasya yatphalaṃ prāpyate budhaiḥ .
samaṃ tadvedaviduṣā tīrthe somasya tatphalam .. 139.8 ..

Whatever fruit is obtained by the wise through a thousand Agnihotras, / that same fruit is attained at Somatīrtha through a knower of the Veda.

6.3.139.9

bhojayedyaḥ śataṃ teṣāṃ sahasraṃ labhate naraḥ .
ekasya yogayuktasya tatphalaṃ kavayo viduḥ .. 139.9 ..

A man who feeds a hundred of them obtains [the fruit of feeding] a thousand; / the wise know that fruit to belong to [feeding] a single person endowed with yoga.

6.3.139.10

saṃnirudhyendriyagrāmaṃ yatrayatra vasenmuniḥ .
tatratatra kurukṣetraṃ naimiṣaṃ puṣkarāṇi ca .. 139.10 ..

Wherever a sage dwells, having restrained the collection of senses, / there are Kurukṣetra, Naimiṣa, and the Puṣkaras.

6.3.139.11

tasmātsarvaprayatnena grahaṇe candrasūryayoḥ .
saṃkrāntau ca vyatīpāte yogī bhojyo viśeṣataḥ .. 139.11 ..

Therefore, with every effort, during an eclipse of the moon or the sun, / at a solstice or an equinox, and on Vyatīpāta, a yogin especially must be fed.

6.3.139.12

saṃnyāsaṃ kurute yastu tatra tīrthe yudhiṣṭhira .
vimānena mahābhāgāḥ sa yāti tridivaṃ naraḥ .. 139.12 ..

The man who takes the renunciation vow in that sacred ford, O Yudhiṣṭhira, / goes to heaven by means of an aerial chariot, O illustrious one.

6.3.139.13

somasyānucaro bhūtvā tenaiva saha modate .. 139.13 ..

Having become an attendant of Soma, he rejoices with him indeed.

6.3.139.13_2

.. iti śrīskānde mahāpurāṇa ekāśītisāhasryāṃ saṃhitāyāṃ pañcama āvantyakhaṇḍe revākhaṇḍe somatīrthamāhātmyavarṇanaṃ nāmaikonacatvāriṃśadadhikaśatatamo'dhyāyaḥ ..

Thus ends the one hundred and thirty-ninth chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of Somatīrtha', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth, Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses, the glorious Skandapurāṇa.