Skandapurana 1.2.4

Nandikeśvara said:

“O sage, you were spoken to in that manner by me in order to test your mind.

If I do not tell you, to what other person could it be told?

Is there anyone else like you in the world devoted to the religious path of Śiva,

by whom, although short-lived, immortality was thus attained through devotion?

For the sake of whom else [did] the God [kick] Yama, his own servant,

enraged, restrained Yama, his own servant, crushed under the big toe of his foot?

You alone should know in secret all the Śaiva duties,

since previously, wandering like the god of death, you have become mature in mind.

By you alone, and by what other, have I been thus served for a long time?

In what other person do I also have such affection as in you?

I shall instruct you about the sacred field hidden by the ordinances of the law,

which must be grasped with devotion by those who desire devotion and liberation.

Which teacher, when a disciple approaches him on his own with reverence,

does not make him satisfied with instruction? Is such a person a guru?

Having concentrated your mind, place lasting trust

in this supreme secret of Parameśvara being taught by me.

Remember the god who is the end of the god of love; praise the Śaiva tradition of study;

whisper the syllable Oṃ. Great welfare has come to you.

O you whose wealth is austerity, in the southern direction, among the Drāviḍas,

there is the great sacred field called Aruṇa, belonging to him who has the crescent moon as crest-jewel,

extending for three yojanas, worthy of worship by Śaiva yogins.

Know it to be the heart of the earth, dear to the heart of Śiva.

There the god Śambhu himself, having taken the form of a mountain,

bears the name Aruṇācala, bringing benefit to the world.

It is the dwelling place of all perfected beings, great seers, gods,

vidyādharas, yakṣas, and also gandharvas and apsarases.

Even more than Sumeru, even more than Kailāsa, even more than Mandara,

it is to be honored by the great seers, for it is Parameśvara himself.

Even the gods in heaven long for its creatures,

who attain liberation without effort, while they [the gods] are cheated by their heavenly dwelling.

The wishing trees of heaven are not equal to the trees there,

which constantly worship Hara on the mountain with leaves, flowers, and fruits.

Where hunters, who take pleasure only in violence, by roaming around its form,

endlessly become receptacles of the fruit of circumambulating the god;

where clouds moving about its grounds, veiling its peaks,

consider themselves superior even to the snowy mountain that possesses the Gaṅgā;

where sweet-sounding birds and even humming reeds

attain a state difficult to obtain even for yakṣas, kiṃnaras, and gandharvas;

where fireflies, remembering [him] at the arrival of night during the dark fortnight,

attain the status of those who offer the waving of lamps to the god;

where the trees growing along the streams, their embrace made unobstructed every day,

despise out of pride in their good fortune the goddess Aparṇā;

meeting the tops of whose towering peaks, even the stars,

having attained equality with the moon, hold themselves in high esteem;

where all the deer continually roaming its slopes

even disregard the deer resting fond in the hand of Śambhu;

by moving near whose foot, even the wild hunters usually

attain similarity with the Kumbhas and Nikumbhas without effort;

what is the use of many words? Even the trees, animals, and hunters

growing upon his body envy the two sons [Gaṇeśa and Skanda] of the Mother;

where lions, tigers, and elephants, when they abandon their bodies in time,

are surely honored by Śambhu on the red mountain because they provided him with skins to wear;

to the east of it is seen a mountain named Bhāskara,

abiding upon which the wielder of the thunderbolt [Indra] constantly serves the crimson mountain;

in the western direction there is a mountain named Daṇḍādri;

residing at its peak, Varuṇa serves the crimson mountain;

and to the south of the crimson mountain there is the Amarācala mountain;

Kāla sits upon its tableland in order to serve the crimson mountain;

in this northern direction, with caves inhabited by perfected beings,

shines the Triśūlādri mountain, protected by Kubera;

on the shores of the other abundant mountains surrounding it,

the other world-protectors also worship [him];

borne by which, all the trees continually

attain a grandeur even greater than [that earned by] worship;

when which Lord of Mountains is seen, regarding Menā and the Snowy Mountain...

Because of their equal kinship [with him], the joy [of Menā and the Snow Mountain] increases exceedingly. // 33

Bearing matted locks perceived as hundreds of thousands of tree-shoots,

this stationary one is Śambhu himself, just as Īśa here is moving. // 34

With the moon and sun standing on both sides of his luminous, water-rich peak,

he reveals to the worlds that he possesses the triple light as his eyes. // 35

In the rainy season, with a deep-blue cloud beneath his crest,

he shines as though bearing the Kālakūṭa poison at his throat. // 36

This lord of mountains, who has a thousand feet and a thousand heads,

is not merely declared by the Veda, but is also perceived directly with one's own eyes. // 37

That the stream of the river of the gods formerly rested upon his head is not wondrous;

even today, this Lord of the Mountain has hosts of numerous rivers resting upon his peaks. // 38

Having obtained slopes with autumn clouds,

he imitates [Śiva] mounted upon the foremost bull, the best of cattle. // 39

Where Nīlalohita clings closely to the tip of the peak—

he bears the state of Sthāṇu through being stationary, and terror (bhīmatā) through his dense forest (gahanatva); // 1.3.2.4.40

he also bears ferocity (ugratva) because of his extreme impassibility (sudurgamatva), not merely by name.

Where petty reptiles, having made their dwelling on the mountain slopes, // 41

vie with Takṣaka, Ananta, and other lords of serpents;

who, having manifested with eight corners all around by means of his powers (vibhūti), // 42

clearly defines, as it were, his own eightfold form (aṣṭamūrti);

the two rivers [flowing from] energy (śakti) are themselves the Iḍā and Piṅgalā, // 43

while in the middle, flowing from the peak of Śiva, the lotus-river is the Suṣumnā.

To see the base and the top of him whose nature is the pillar of fire, // 44

Brahmā and Viṣṇu, taking the forms of a boar and a swan, were not capable.

And prayed to by both of them, Śambhu established his presence there. // 45

Taking refuge [there] under the name Lord of Aruṇācala, along with his attendants,

there Gautama, the lord of yogins, for a thousand years // 46

performed severe austerities and brought Sadāśiva before his eyes.

The daughter of the Snowy Mountain also, having performed austerity there of old, // 47

obtained the left half of the body of the enemy of Manmatha when he was pleased.

Installed there by Gaurī under the name Lord of Pravālādri, // 48

the liṅga grants enjoyment to men and prepares [them] for absolute liberation.

There, by the command of Gaurī, Durgā, the slayer of Mahiṣa, // 49

manifesting visibly, grants the perfection of mantras without obstacle to the virtuous.

Known there at Gaurī’s hermitage is a new [pool], the Khaḍgatīrtha; // 1.3.2.4.50

from plunging into it but once, the five great sins of men are destroyed.

And the liṅga worshipped by Durgā, named Pāpanāśana, // 51

destroys all sins merely by a single bow.

There King Vajrāṅgada, though rich in wealth, [fell] through transgression, // 52

yet attained union with Śiva through the greatness of devotion to him.

Merely by circumambulating it, Kāntiśālin and Kalādhara, // 53

two lords of Vidyādharas, were released from the bondage of Durvāsas's curse.

There is no sacred field equal to the Crimson Mountain (Śoṇādri); there is no mantra equal to the five-syllable one; // 54

there is no duty higher than the Māheśvara path; there is no deity higher than Maheśvara;

there is no knowledge higher than knowledge of Śiva; there is no Vedic text higher than the Śrīrudra; // 55

there is no leader of Śaivas higher than Viṣṇu; there is no protection higher than holy ash (vibhūti);

there is no good conduct without devotion; there is no guru superior to the one who extends protection; // 56

there is no ornament higher than a rudrākṣa; there is no sacred treatise higher than the Śiva-āgama;

there is no leaf higher than a bilva leaf; there is no flower higher than the dhattūra (suvarṇaka); // 57

there is no happiness higher than dispassion; there is no state higher than liberation.

Meru is not equal to the Crimson Mountain, nor Kailāsa, nor Mandara: // 58

those are abodes occupied by mountains, but this one is Giriśa himself. // 59

While the son of Śilāda was speaking thus, that son of Mṛkaṇḍu, his mind delighted,

having bowed to him again repeatedly, his mind filled with wonder, made an inquiry about worldly existence: // 1.3.2.4.60

“Which actions of men lead to worldly rebirth? How indeed are each of them heard to lead to hell?

And what is the remedy for each of these? Let that be told to me.” // 61

Thus ends the fourth chapter, titled ‘Description of the Greatness of the Abode of Aruṇācala,’ in the second half of the Aruṇācalamāhātmya, in the first [section], the Māheśvarakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skandapurāṇa, the Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 4