Skandapurana 1.1.2

Brahmā said:

Then I, chanting the Vedas with all my mouths, praised Śiva,

having performed mental worship filled with devotion: 1.

“Homage to the great Śiva, the sole cause of all worlds,

by whom everything is illuminated, and by whom everything is sustained; homage constantly! 2.

This splendor pervading the universe shines perpetually;

those bereft of your grace do not see it, like those blind from birth do not see the sun. 3.

Indeed, this spotless earthly liṅga is visible to the spiritual eye;

whether situated within or situated without, it is experienced by your devotees. 4.

In the inner self, yogins [see] an indefinable form;

O Lord of the gods, this [form] of yours shines like a mirror. 5.

Or rather, the true Śaivite power is subtler even than an atom;

there is no other apart from me, who also dissolves in what consists of you. 6.

An atom, if it is the recipient of your compassion, surely attains greatness;

there is none higher beyond you, nor beyond me, because of relying upon that. 7.

The mind dedicated to you expects no separation from you.

How could speech proceed in singing your glory? 8.

You yourself, O Lord, Great God, who transcend the worlds, be gracious;

direct this devoted worshipper to the required duties.” 9.

Having addressed this with humility, bowing again and again,

with folded hands I sat down near the Lord, the God of gods, O pervasive one. 10.

Then Viṣṇu, whose voice was deep like a fresh raincloud,

spoke words made pure and fulfilled through praises of Śaṃkara: 11.

“Victory, O Lord of the three worlds! Victory, O bearer of the Gaṅgā, O Lord!

Victory, O Master, odd-eyed one! Victory, O crescent-crested Lord! 12.

O Śambhu, your spontaneous and boundless compassion grows,

by which, [delusion] having been completely shaken off, knowledge has been established in your devotees. 13.

The protection of all branches of knowledge, the attainment [of goals] through accumulations of glory,

and the ancient flourishing of the father himself belongs to the sons. 14.

We are not able to praise even one among your hundreds of forms

with new hymns, O Īśāna; how much less their combination? 15.

You alone are capable of knowing yourself, or else by your grace [one may know you];

would a wasp, having seized an insect, not transform it into its own self? 16.

Do the gods not arise from parts born of you?

Would not even an iron spike have the power of burning [when heated by fire]? 17.

Just as the appearance of difference in fire occurs through association with place, time, and action,

even so you, though one, appear divided through the differentiation of objects. 18.

O God intent on grace, O Śaṃkara, show your form

to both of us, O support of all, which bestows joy upon the eyes!” 19.

To the two of us who were thus bowing down, endowed with faith and devotion,

and praising him, the supreme God Śambhu became gracious. 20.

Then, from that pillar of fire, the God who wears the half-moon as his crest,

manifested as a Person, tawny and dark-necked, 21.

bearing an axe and a young deer, with hands granting fearlessness and repose.

The Person, the Lord, said to both of us, “O sons! 22.

I am pleased with the devotion of both of you, whose minds are focused on me;

may you two become the lords of the creation and preservation of all the worlds! 23.

Since I have appeared for the accomplishment of your desired purpose,

choose another boon as well; as the giver of boons I have approached.” 24.

From the word of the God, both of them, joyful and with folded hands,

expressed their respective desires separately. 25.

“I, the creator of the three worlds which are like an infant,

praising the unconquered Īśāna with Vedic mantras, 26.

bow to this form, the Lord who constantly bestows boons,

the Great God composed of light, taintless, to be meditated upon by yogins. 27.

The celestial region, being filled with your splendor,

will in an instant become an abode of the gods that must be questioned [in dread], O God. 28.

The siddhas, cāraṇas, gandharvas, gods, and supreme seers

would not dwell or obtain movement in heaven on account of your brilliance.” 29.

And the entire earth, scorched by your brilliance,

will indeed be unable to give birth to moving and unmoving beings.

Withdrawing your fiery brilliance, under the name Aruṇācala,

become an immovable liṅga for the sake of grace to the worlds.

Those men who bow with devotion to this luminous form,

known by the name Aruṇācala, become superior to the immortals.

May all the worlds, the siddhas and the supreme seers,

and the various gaṇas, having assumed human form on earth, serve [you].

May the trees of the gods, beginning with the wish-fulfilling tree that grew in divine groves,

serve you and sprout up, laden with diverse fruits.

May all classes of divine medicinal herbs, and species of beasts beginning with lions,

dwell peacefully [here], destroying sins and impurities.

Though endowed with motion divided between the two solstices,

the sun shall not transgress the peak of your liṅga-form.

With sounds of divine kettle-drums and conches, with showers of masses of flowers,

and with the dances and songs of apsarases, O god, be worshipped!

Immortality, perfection, the perfections of alchemy, and liberation—

may mortals continually obtain these upon entering your presence.

Sovereignty, mastery, good fortune, and the deception of death—

taking refuge in you, may all men obtain these, O Aruṇācala!

By granting all bodily limbs, by destroying all diseases,

and by bestowing all desires, be visible on the surface of the earth.

Saying, ‘So be it,’ to the boon-granting god, Śiva, the lord of Aruṇādri,

the Lord of Kamalā bowed down and prayed, speaking thus:

‘Be gracious, O Lord full of compassion, Lord of the Crimson Mountain!

O Maheśa whose rise is manifest for the welfare of all worlds!

Since, taking refuge in you, I am capable of protecting the world

and have attained the status of Lord of Śrī, therefore may they become your devotees.

This great and wondrous form of yours cannot be worshipped by those of little merit,

whose foot and crown could not be seen by me or by Brahmā.

Those mortals who worship you with circumambulations, prostrations,

dances, songs, and acts of veneration, have attained their goal, freed from sin.

Those men who worship you with fasts, observances, sacrificial sessions,

offerings, and rituals—may they become universal monarchs.

For those making a grove, a pavilion, and a well purified according to rule,

in your presence, O Lord of Aruṇādri, may there be no rebirth!

One who circumambulates by prostrating bodily, endowed with the eight supernatural powers,

is instantly freed from all sins, with a purified mind.

We two also never abandon your lotus feet;

[you] are to be meditated upon by all men who have come into your presence.’

Granting the boon, ‘So be it,’ to Viṣṇu, the moon-crested god,

in the form of Aruṇācala, assumed the state of an immovable liṅga.

This liṅga made of fire, the sole cause of all the worlds,

famed as Aruṇādri, is seen on the surface of the earth.

Even at the time of the dissolution of the world, when the four oceans are agitated

and the ends of the worlds are submerged, the nearby ground around it remains untouched.

Filling the three worlds with raindrops as massive as elephants,

the great clouds such as Puṣkara rest upon its peak.

When the dissolution of the elements begins, in the involution of primal nature,

all the seeds of the future remain securely preserved in this place.

And from the brahmins serving its feet, summoned by me

again after the dissolution, the collection of Vedic study is recovered.

Of all the sciences, arts, treasures of scriptures,

āgamas, and Vedas, the true preservation is found here.

Sages of praiseworthy vows, dwelling within its caves and caverns,

with matted hair, shine with the brilliance of ten million suns and fires.

With mantras composed of the five Brahmans, having bodies made of five syllables,

Sadāśiva, whose nature is primordial sound, is mounted on the pedestal of the letter ‘A’.

He who is ever worshipped by the guardians of the eight directions through eight liṅgas,

as the Eight-formed Lord, is the bestower of the eight supernatural powers.

Where siddhas and the lords of the gods, having left their own realms,

and having abandoned the golden mountain [Meru], dwell expecting liberation.

Thus the fruition of the collected merits of the earth,

famed as the red mountain [Aruṇādri], grants boons to the devotees of his devotees.

By hosts of gods arrived from Kailāsa and the peak of Meru,

Śambhu, in the form of the Crimson Mountain, giver of all boons, is worshipped."

Having heard this [discourse] born from the lotus mouth of the lotus-born [Brahmā], with a joyful mind, through devotion,

and showing humility, the son bowed and asked his father the essence of all the Vedas:

Thus ends the second chapter, entitled “Description of the Greatness of the Immovable Liṅga of Śaṃkara, Preceded by the Praise of Brahmā and Viṣṇu,” in the first part of the Aruṇācalamāhātmya of the first Māheśvarakhaṇḍa of the glorious Skandapurāṇa, the Great Purāṇa in eighty-one thousand verses.