Skandapurana 1.1.14.2

1.1.14.2

1 naimiṣāraṇyavāsibhirmunibhiḥ sūtamaharṣiṃ pratyaruṇācalamāhātmyaśravaṇecchayā pṛṣṭe sūtena tānpratyaruṇācalamāhātmyakathanopakrame brahmasanakasaṃvādakathanam, sanakena taijasaśivaliṅgamāhātmyaśravaṇecchayā pṛṣṭena bhagavatā brahmaṇā'ruṇācaleśvarataijasaśivadhyānapū-rvakamaruṇācaleśvaramāhātmyakathanopakramavarṇanam, tatra pūrvaṃ viṣṇubrahmaṇoḥ parasparamātma-śraiṣṭhayaprāgalbhyapūrvakaṃ yudhyamānayormadhye vahnistambhamayabhagavadāvirbhāvaḥ, ākāśavāṇyā ca tayoryuddhādviratiḥ, atha tasyāgnistambhamayarūpasyā'nādyantasya bhagavato'dho'ntaṃ paricchettuṃ viṣṇorvarāharūpeṇa gatasyā'nantasyāntaṃ paricchettumaśakyatayā viṣādaprāptyanantaraṃ pūrvasthalaṃ pratyāgamanama, ūrdhvamantaṃ paricchettuṃ brahmaṇo haṃsarūpeṇa gatasyā'nantasyāntaṃ paricchettumaśakyatayā viṣādaśaptyanantaramūrdhvalokasthitānāṃ siddhānāṃ vacanato'nantasyānantatāṃ parijñāya pūrvasthalaṃ prati sametya bhagavataḥ purato'vasthitivarṇanam..... ..... 214

1. When the sages dwelling in the Naimiṣāraṇya, wishing to hear the Aruṇācalamāhātmya, question the great seer Sūta, Sūta, beginning his narration of the Aruṇācalamāhātmya to them, recounts the dialogue between Brahmā and Sanaka; description of how the venerable Brahmā, questioned by Sanaka who wished to hear the glory of the fiery Śivaliṅga, began the narration of the glory of the Lord of Aruṇācala preceded by meditation upon the fiery Śiva, the Lord of Aruṇācala; there, previously, as Viṣṇu and Brahmā were fighting each other out of arrogance regarding their own superiority, the manifestation of the Lord in the form of a pillar of fire between them; and their cessation from battle due to an incorporeal voice; then, in order to determine the lower end of that Lord who was in the form of a pillar of fire and without beginning or end, Viṣṇu, having gone in the form of a boar, unable to determine the end of the endless one, meets with despondency and returns to the previous place; in order to determine the upper end, Brahmā, having gone in the form of a swan, unable to determine the end of the endless one, meets with despondency, but having learned from the words of the perfected beings stationed in the upper world the endlessness of the endless one, comes back to the previous place and stands before the Lord. 214