Skandapurana 1.2.9

Nandikeśvara said:

With an intense pride grown rooted within them, thinking, 'I alone am the Lord,'

there arose between Brahmā and Viṣṇu a dispute born of delusion. // 1

Excessively disturbed by passion, arising on the outside as if dark blue,

Brahmā, the creator of the universe, spoke haughtily to Viṣṇu: // 2

Brahmā said:

"How are you superior to me, your progenitor, O Viṣṇu?

Why are you so utterly deluded regarding the grandfather of the worlds? // 3

Having slain the two daityas Madhu and Kaiṭabha that arose from you alone,

O foolish Keśava, you bear the pride of being the enemy of the daityas! // 4

Even today, the hands of me, the Creator, who continually creates you in many forms,

do not let go of the pain born of that fatigue. // 5

When you were sinking in the great ocean that arose from the waters of my sweat,

had the banyan tree not arisen, whence would your support have been? // 6

In the great ocean first devised by me, a certain serpent glides;

you depend on him, and above you is the lotus, and that is my seat. // 7

Tell me, whence arose the quality of sattva in you who are filled with tamas?

Do you know that material nature, filled as you are with the dullness of sleep? // 8

O Janārdana, as you sleep in the water out of fear of the daityas,

how has this triad of worlds, subject to me, been protected by you? // 9

From my four mouths the Vedas came forth;

Sarasvatī, the power having the nature of consciousness, is my wife. // 10

Indeed, by me this entire universe, both motionless and moving, is created;

and it is protected by Indra and the other [gods], who are my sons and grandsons." // 11

"Therefore tell [me], Vaikuṇṭha, you who are merely one among those to be commanded by me,

how indeed are you superior to me, the lord of the worlds?"

Nandikeśvara said:

When Brahmā was thus speaking manly words with angry agitation,

Nārāyaṇa also, smiling disdainfully, replied thus:

Viṣṇu said:

"Virāñca, give up your agitation; indeed, you boast in vain!

Understand that you were born from my lotus-navel!

If I had not anciently cast off my yoganidrā

and slain Madhu and Kaiṭabha, you would have been utterly destroyed by the two of them!

By my own will, to slay the Daityas headed by Somaka,

I assumed forms beginning with the Fish—who else is the cause of creation?

Those whose vision is overcome by passion see nothing at all.

What can possibly be determined by you, who are made of passion?

Is not the Lotus-Dwelling goddess my inseparable power,

by whose mere sidelong glance the triad of worlds flourishes?

These elements, this time, and the self itself—indeed I alone [am all this]!

What exists in the three worlds that is devoid of me?

I am the Ādityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the guardians of the directions, and the Manus;

consider this triad—earth, atmosphere, and heaven—as dependent upon me!

The power of creation stands entirely by my appointment.

How, then, could you be greater than or equal to me, the lord of the three worlds?"

Nandikeśvara said:

As they were thus roaring against each other, their minds blinded by delusion,

a considerable time passed, resembling the dissolution [of an era].

There was then neither rising nor setting of the sun and moon;

the lunar mansions, stars, and planets dwindled away.

The winds did not blow, and fires did not burn;

the atmosphere, the earth, and the directions did not shine.

All the oceans were agitated, and the mountains trembled;

herbs withered, and living beings sank down into dejection.

The regularity of time—fortnights, months, seasons, years, and the like—was lost;

even the arrangement of day and night went to ruin.

The world-guardians headed by Indra, and the great seers headed by Marīci—

all of them considered the end of the kalpa to have arrived out of season.

When such great turmoil arose, prompted by the cries of distress of living beings,

the Lord of beings perceived that the world had fallen into ignorance.

And the Self of the universe thought, intent on protecting the universe;

with an inner vision he saw the cause of their delusion:

"Arrogant with pride, having forgotten me, the master,

the giver of all sovereignty, these two each consider themselves the lords of the world!

Ah, the great power of delusion, since these two, Brahmā and Acyuta,

even though knowing me thoroughly, have become so arrogant!

A person whose mind's eye is tainted by the arising of the darkness of ignorance

generally does not see a reality, even when it is present and praised.

Though they have committed an offense and are submerged in the ocean of delusion,

they must not be neglected by me, out of a desire for the welfare of the worlds."

Having resolved this in his mind, the god, a great ocean of compassion,

sought to dispel the helplessness of the two caused by māyā.

Ah, the innate compassion of the one crowned with the young moon in these three worlds!

He appeared from the midst of that ocean of profound delusion, although the Creator and Viṣṇu had rejected [him].

Thus ends the ninth chapter, named 'The Description of the Dispute between Śiva and Viṣṇu', in the latter half of the Aruṇācalamāhātmya, in the first Māheśvarakhaṇḍa of the glorious Skandamahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.