Skandapurana 1.2.1

Salutation to holy Gaṇeśa.

Now begins the second half of the Aruṇācalamāhātmya.
Vyāsa said:

Dwelling in the Naimiṣa forest, the sages said to Sūta:

The sages said:

"Tell us what site is the best of Śaiva sacred places." (1)

Sūta said:

"Listen to that which was formerly heard from the mouth of Nandīśvara

by Mārkaṇḍeya; I will speak of it, O sages; listen with reverence!" (2)

Mārkaṇḍeya said:

"O Nandīśvara, the greatness of Mādhyameśvara has been proclaimed by you,

and it has all been retained by me with a mind moist with devotion and faith. (3)

Even so, tell me further, O god of gods, ocean of compassion,

that which I ask you with respectful reverence. (4)

There is nothing in these three worlds unknown to you,

among all the āgamas and purāṇas, both external and internal. (5)

For men, the earth alone is preeminent for heaven and final liberation,

for performing all rites by those devoted to their respective fruits. (6)

And the threefold fruit for men was indeed told by you before,

according to the division of happiness on earth, the enjoyment of heaven, and kaivalya. (7)

The first two are mostly exhausted by the exhaustion of religious merit;

the third, however, is not exhausted, precisely because it has no resort in ritual acts. (8)

And its attainment was said by you to be the domain of pure knowledge.

Yet pure knowledge is difficult for all embodied beings to attain.

In what sacred field may that knowledge be attained, without studying scriptures and the like,

merely by worship of Śiva, by all embodied beings?

The intellect of all embodied beings does not engage at all

in [the paths of] knowledge, yoga, ritual action, and conduct taught in the Śaiva scriptures.

By the māhātmya of which place can embodied beings obtain pure knowledge

even through minor observances? Tell me of that place!

Where, merely from wearing ashes and rudrākṣa beads and from a single remembrance of Īśvara,

the highest good is to be attained even by the simple-minded—speak of that place!

Where, even by dwelling without deliberate intention,

the highest good will be achieved without obstacles for embodied beings—grant me [knowledge of] that place!

Tell me of that sacred field where the highest good is attained even by those born of mixed caste,

by those who have entered animal wombs, and even by stationary creatures!

Having spoken thus, the son of Mṛkaṇḍu, together with other great-souled foremost sages,

fell at the two lotus-feet of the son of Śilāda, an ocean of all the scriptures.

Thus ends the first chapter, named 'Description of the Introduction to the Māhātmya of the Place', in the second half of the Aruṇācalamāhātmya, in the first Māheśvarakhaṇḍa of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.