Skandapurana 1.4.44: adhyāyaḥ 46

Nārada said: / Having worshipped the supreme liṅga, Kapileśvara, / standing on the bank of the Bahūdaka pool, the wise Nandabhadra then,

having bowed, stood before it with folded hands; / somewhat grieved by the ways of worldly existence, he sang a verse:

"If I see Sadāśiva, the creator of this world, / then I will make the Lord ashamed with various inquiries:

'Without your creation of the world, would it remain incomplete? / O desireless one, why has the world been created by you manifoldly like a potter's work?

Why was [the world] created insentient by one who is conscious, pure, / and devoid of attachment and other passions, and not made similar to yourself?

By one free from enmity, impartial to pleasure and pain, existence and non-existence, / why indeed is the world afflicted, from Brahmā down to an insect?

Cast down some into heaven and others into hell, O Sadāśiva, / what fruit do you obtain? Tell me, why do you act in this way?

Separated from dear ones such as sons, O Lord, these human beings / weep, O shower of compassion; would you not have even pity?

All this is exceedingly unfitting in every way, O Īśvara: / that your devotees sink into the ocean of sorrow along with sinners.'

Deluded by such conduct of worldly existence, / I shall not go to another place; I shall not eat, nor drink water.

I shall remain until death contemplating this." / Reflecting thus, Nandabhadra remained there alone.

Then, on the fourth day, on the auspicious bank of the Bahūdaka, / a certain seven-year-old boy arrived, afflicted by pain,

extremely emaciated, suffering from ulcerated leprosy, swooning at every step. / Steadying himself with difficulty, the boy said this to Nandabhadra:

"O one whose entire body is handsome, why are you too distressed?" / Then Nandabhadra explained the whole reason to him.

Having heard that whole reason, the boy, dejected at heart, said: / "Alas! What severe misery that the wise should lack discernment!

That those with complete limbs and senses should wish to die in vain! / For in this place, within a moment, Khaṭvāṅga attained the path of liberation.

Then, alas, who indeed would abandon the land of Bhārata while life remains? / I consider myself resolute, who have been abandoned by my parents,

and am unable even to walk, yet I do not wish to die. / Truly, the Vedic statement that 'all gains come with great pride' is true.

Contentment is fitting for you, whose body is strong; / if my body could somehow become free from disease,

at every single moment I would perform that which is enjoyed in age after age! / He whose senses are under control and whose body is firm,

if he too desires something else, who else could be more mindless than he? / A thousand grounds for sorrow and a hundred grounds for joy

overtake the fool day after day, but not the learned man. / For the wise like you do not attach themselves to actions

that are opposed to knowledge, full of danger, and destructive at the root. / They speak of eightfold intellect, which destroys all misfortune;

that pure intellect, not contrary to the Śruti and Smṛti, is in you. / Even in difficulties, dangers, and calamities of one's own people,

those like you do not despair with bodily and mental sorrows; / they do not crave the unobtainable, nor do they wish to grieve over what is lost.

And men of learned intellect are not bewildered in calamities. / The world is afflicted by sufferings arising from both mind and body.

Hear this method for pacifying the two, in detail and in brief: / From disease, from contact with the disagreeable, from exertion, and from separation from what is agreeable,

arises suffering through four causes, both bodily and mental; / and the mental [suffering consists of] union with the unloved and separation from the loved.

This twofold great distress is declared of the two; / for indeed, the body is tormented by mental suffering,

like water in a pot by a heated lump of iron. / Therefore, by prompt remedy and constant avoidance,

the pacification of bodily disease and mental anguish is achieved through the twofold application of action. / Therefore, one should pacify the mind with knowledge, as fire is quenched with water.

For when the mind is calmed, his bodily [affliction] also subsides. / Attachment is known to be the root of mental suffering.

And through attachment, an embodied being constantly experiences suffering. / Sufferings have their root in attachment, and fears are born of attachment;

grief, joy, and likewise weariness—all arise from attachment.

From attachment also arises attachment to the senses and to sense-objects; / both of these are detrimental, and of the two, the former is considered the weightier.

Therefore, one who renounces will not suffer, being free of enmity and free of constraint; / but one who does not renounce incurs birth and death again and again in this world.

Therefore, one should not seek attachment from friends or from hoarding wealth; / and that which arises from one's own body, one should dispel with knowledge.

In those endowed with knowledge, the perfected, the knowers of the scriptures, the self-controlled, / attachment does not cling to them, just as water does not cling to lotus leaves.

A man overcome by passion is dragged along by desire; / and longing is born in him, from which craving expands.

Craving is indeed considered the most sinful of all, always producing agitation; / it abounds in unrighteousness and is attended by terrible consequences.

That which is hard for the evil-minded to abandon, which does not age [even as one] ages, / which is a fatal disease—for one who abandons that craving, there is happiness.

That craving, having no beginning or end, residing within the bodies of men, / destroys them once born, just as rust destroys iron.

Just as firewood meets destruction by the fire that arises from itself, / so an undisciplined person is destroyed by the greed that arises from himself.

Therefore, greed should not be harbored toward the body or toward one's kinsmen; / nor should one rejoice when they are obtained, nor grieve when they are lost.

Nandabhadra said: / Ah, boy, you are not considered a boy by me! I bow to you. / I am greatly satisfied by your words, but I would ask you something.

Men constantly condemn desire, anger, egoism, and the senses; / concerning that, this question arises in me:

‘I am this; this is mine; and I must do such-and-such’— / this kind of consciousness of self is called egoism.

If it is to be abandoned, one without it is proclaimed to be insane. / Desire is declared to be longing; if that is abandoned by a man,

how can heaven or liberation be attained, [any more than] by a stone? / Or if anger is to be renounced, how then can enemies be destroyed?

Without it, they consider [all beings], whether external or internal, as mere grass. / If one simply restrains the senses and torments them because they are corrupt,

how could hearing the Dharma take place, or how could there be living? / In this dilemma of ignorance, my mind is pierced and distressed.

Likewise, why was this insentient universe created by the conscious Self? / In this way, when one is afflicted by diverse suffering, alas, from where does this come?

The boy said: / This has been rightly asked by you, regarding that wherein creatures are bewildered. / Listen with a one-pointed mind to what was learned by me from Dvaipāyana.

We hear that of old, Prakṛti and Puruṣa are beginningless; / ageless and immortal, the two stood in equal nature before creation.

Then of old, Prakṛti, impelled by time and inherent nature, / desired union with Puruṣa; in the absence of that, she became agitated.

Then she, who was made of tamas, looked upon playfully by God, / became rājasika, and being purified, became sāttvika.

Having thus attained the state of the three guṇas from the gaze of God, / the Supreme One, taking resort in her, became the three forms (Trimūrti).

And proceeding from his own portion for the sake of her evolution, / he brought forth the principle of the cosmic intellect (mahat-tattva) endowed with the three guṇas; so the wise know it.

From that arose egoism, sāttvika, rājasika, and tāmasika. / Bringing tamas to rajas, one should lead rajas to the quality of sattva.

The wise declare liberation to be in pure sattva. / Therefore, for the complete purification of tamas and rajas,

the Supreme Lord divided his own portions, which are called individual souls (jīvātman). / As many as there are bodies, so many indeed are those knowers of the field (kṣetrajña),

just as sparks emerge from a heated lump of iron. / But this creation of the subtle elements and gross elements arose from the tāmasika egoism,

and that of the senses arose from the sāttvika [egoism]; and these also possess the three guṇas. / Through the instrument fully fashioned by these, through contemplation of Being-Consciousness-Bliss,

rajas and tamas are purified by sattva alone by those who seek liberation. / Therefore, directing desire, anger, and the operation of the senses,

and utilizing egoism, one attains sāttvika perfection. / Those [passions] such as desire that are rājasika and tāmasika should indeed be abandoned;

the sāttvika ones are always to be cultivated by those who wish to conquer worldly existence. / I will explain to you in brief the characteristics of the three guṇas:

Study of scriptures, then knowledge, purity, restraint of the senses, / righteous action, and contemplation of the Self—these are the characteristics of the sāttvika guṇa.

Acquisition of wealth through unjust means, sloth, lack of faith in the hereafter, / cruelty, and living by begging and the like—these are the characteristics of the tāmasika guṇa.

Therefore, with these sāttvika [faculties] led by the intellect, one should worship the deity. / Through rājasika [qualities] one attains human birth, and through tāmasika ones, the state of immobile beings.

Through intellect and the rest [when purified], liberation ensues; and through these very same [when impure], torment [results].

And in the absence of these [guṇas], nothing indeed comes into being. / For just as a goldsmith purifies gold of impurities and the like,

even so must rajas and tamas be purified by the qualities of sattva. / And solely from this conjunction of the qualities, born without beginning,

beings who observe the treatises are happy and unhappy. / And the Lord divided each single quality

into twenty-eight hundred thousand [parts]; these are eighty-four hundred thousand wombs of living beings. / In that manner, from the vicinity of the mind, they arise from the Self;

and all of them, being portions of the Lord, are deluded by the qualities of Prakṛti. / They indeed encounter afflictions, just as those commissioned by the all-pervading Lord do.

For the highest good of food, water, and living beings, / the knowers of truth say that human existence is transformed by the being of Śiva."

Nandabhadra said: / "So it is. But again I shall ask this, O great-minded one: / the deities who are all-bestowing lords are worshipped by men;

why do they not protect those devoted to them from sufferings? / In particular, some who are devoted to the gods are seen plunged in suffering.

Thus my intellect is bewildered; or what do you think, O boy?"

The boy said: / "The devotee of a deity is remembered as twofold: impure and pure. / One who is devoted to him in deed, mind, and speech is called a devotee.

When an impure man worships the deities, / then spirits enter him, and he is bewildered in that very moment.

Utterly deluded, he commits those various improper deeds; / then he quickly perishes. Therefore, an impure person should not worship. / But if an evil should befall one who, being pure, worships,

the crore of deeds done by him in a previous life is clearly released. / Since Maheśvara, out of fear of killing a brahmin, ran here and there,

and bathed in sacred fords, how then can another be freed? / Having seized the daughter of Ambarīṣa from Parvata and Nārada,

Rāma suffered the abduction of Sītā; how can another be freed? / Brahmā too, having lusted after his own daughter, incurred the severing of his head.

Indra, the Moon, the Sun, Viṣṇu, and the others must experience [the fruit of] what was done. / Therefore, that which has been done must always inevitably be experienced by men.

No one is freed from what he himself has done; such is the determination of the scripture. / But by the grace of the deity, one thing is obtained by those keeping vows to the gods:

that which is to be experienced through many births may be experienced in a single birth; / and having experienced that, from then on his goal is attained; this is the certitude.

Those who, being pure and keeping vows to the deities, are tormented by past sins, / rejoice here with sons and grandsons, both in the other world and in this.

Therefore, the gods must always be worshipped by the pure, endowed with faith; / and Prakṛti must be purified by the duties prescribed for one's own caste.

Even duty well performed would lead only to affliction without Śiva; / even a god becomes an evil-doer [without him], so says the venerable Hara.

Therefore, what was done by oneself must be experienced, and Sadāśiva must be worshipped. / By proper conduct, passion and hatred are to be abandoned; this is supreme."

Nandabhadra said: / "O you of pure intellect, what is this: when even sinful men / are seen rejoicing with wives and wealth?"

The boy said: / "Evidently, a gift was given by them in previous births with tamas, / and Śambhu was worshipped with rajas; thus what they themselves did has been attained by them.

However, by the power of the deed done with tamas, / they will have no pleasure in dharma; hence, O best of the wise,

having experienced the fruit of merit, [such a person] goes to hell, without doubt. / And on this doubt, what was spoken by Mārkaṇḍeya is heard:

'[Pleasure is] for one only here, not in the other world; for one, in the other world, not here; / for one, both here and in the other world; for one, neither in the other world nor here.

When merit has been acquired in the past, yet they do not earn enjoyment [anew], / that enjoyment here is indeed said to belong to the unfortunate person of little intelligence.

He who has none acquired in the past, yet earns it through austerities, / has enjoyment in the other world; that wise man acts clearly.

He who has none acquired in the past and does not earn merit here either, / from that, neither here nor in the other world—alas, fie upon that lowest of men!'

Knowing this, O fortunate one, having discarded all thorns, / worship Rudra and uphold the duty of your caste; there is nothing higher than this.

For he who grieves when desired things are lost, or even when they are obtained, / or becomes satisfied, that is certainly a bondage for another birth."

Nandabhadra said: / "Homage to you, who are no child, though in the form of a child, O wise one! / Who are you in truth? I wish to know you of pure smile.

Many elders have been seen and always served by me, / [yet] such an intellect has not been seen or heard of by me in them,

by which the doubts of my existence have been destroyed as if in play. / Therefore, my opinion is certain that you are not of ordinary nature."

The boy said: / "This great matter must be related; listen attentively, in truth: / In the fourteenth birth from this one, I myself

was a brahmin named Dharmajālika in the city of Vidiśā, / a knower of the truth of the Vedas and Vedāṅgas, the best knower of the meaning of smṛti treatises,

an expounder of the treatises on dharma, like Bṛhaspati incarnate. / But I described various dharmas exceedingly to the people,

while I myself was of utterly bad conduct, a king of sins even among sinners: / eating meat, consuming liquor, and always devoted to the wives of others,

speaking falsehood, hypocritical, a rogue always bearing the hypocritical badge of dharma, / greedy, evil-minded, a speaker, never a doer at any time or anywhere.

Because like a fowler (jālika) I cast a net (jāla) over the people, / the knowers of truth therefore called me 'Dharmajālika' (a dealer in religious fraud).

When the end arrived, I, burdened by those many sins that had been committed, / died and went to the realm of Yama, and was cast upon the Kūṭaśālmalī tree.

Then, dragged by the messengers of Yama, reminded of my own conduct, / and hacked with swords, I lived and died repeatedly.

Blaming myself in many ways, I dwelt [there] for eternal years. / If that mind directed toward righteousness when tortured in hell

were to exist for just a single moment, a man would indeed be blessed thereby. / Obeisance, obeisance to the realm of action, where good and bad deeds [bear fruit],

in which [an action done] in just a moment does not perish even in yugas! / Then wise Janaka freed [me] from hell.

Along with them, I, being tormented, was somehow released. / Then, experiencing the state of an immobile post and enduring numerous afflictions,

I afterwards became a worm on the auspicious bank of the Sarasvatī. / There on the road, as if at ease, I fell fast asleep by chance.

I heard the loud sound of an approaching chariot. / Hearing that roar like a cloud, frightened, I quickly and with haste,

leaving the road far behind, took to flight. / In the meantime, Vyāsa arrived there by chance.

The sage, filled with compassion, saw me terrified. / Because various dharmas had been proclaimed by me to all people

in [my former] birth as a brahmin, by that very power came meeting with Vyāsa. / Then he, who knows the cries of all creatures and is worthy of worship, addressed me in the speech of worms:

"Why do you flee thus, O worm, and why do you fear death? / Ah, fear is fitting for a human, but whence comes yours?"

Thus addressed, being endowed with intellect due to past merit, I then spoke to Vyāsa: / "O you praised by the world, I have no fear whatsoever of this death.

This alone is my fear, O venerable one: that I may go to an even lower state. / For even lower than this base womb are ten million other vile [births].

Afraid of the sufferings of the womb and so forth in those, I am terrified, not otherwise."

Vyāsa said: / "Do not be afraid! From all wombs, as if after a long time, / I will release you and certainly bring you to the status of a brahmin."

Having been told this, I bowed to that teacher of the world through Kāliya, / and coming to the path, crushed by the wheel, I met my death.

Then, whenever I was born into the wombs of crows, jackals, and others, / Vyāsa approached and reminded me of that each time.

Then, having wandered through various kinds of wombs, I was exhausted; / and born exceedingly miserable in this womb in the house of a brahmin,

I have been abandoned by my parents ever since birth, / suffering from advanced leprosy, and I experience this great torment.

Then in my fifth year, Vyāsa came and whispered / the hymn of Sarasvatī into my ear, by which I remember

the unstudied scriptures, the Vedas, and all the dharmas in full. / And this was said to me by Vyāsa: 'Go to the sacred field of Guha; / there console the high-minded Nandabhadra.

Having cast off your vital breaths at Bahūdaka and having caused your bones / to be thrown into the water of the Mahī, you will then become the good sage named Maitreya.

Then you will go to liberation'—so Vyāsa told me. / And then, with extreme suffering, I came here from the Vāhīkas.

Thus my entire life has been narrated to you. / Always shun such terrible sin, O Nandabhadra!"

Nandabhadra said: / "Ah, wonderful indeed is your life, by which my mind / has again become a hundredfold firm in righteousness!

Yet I desire to perform expiation for the duty spoken of by you. / Remember dharma, and therefore definitely command me something."

The boy said: / "Remaining at this sacred ford for seven days without food, / I shall mutter the solar mantras, and then cast off my life-breaths.

Then I must be cremated by you on the bank at the Barkarikātīrtha, / and indeed my bones must be cast into the ocean here.

If you have a very candid heart toward me, / then I shall instruct you for the purpose of a great task; listen to it.

At this Bahūdaka sacred ford, where I abandon my life-breaths, / there the all-pervading Sun-god bearing my name and mark should be installed by you.

Health, wealth, grain, and fortunes such as sons and wives / the pleased Lord Sun-god will grant: this is the statement of the Veda.

Savitṛ is the supreme deity, the all-in-all of the twice-born, / and sung in the Vedas and Vedāṅgas; you too should always worship him.

This Bahūdaka pool should always be resorted to by you. / I shall tell its māhātmya in brief, as indicated by Vyāsa.

Whatever man bathes according to the rules in the excellent Bahūdaka pool / will have health, wealth, grain, and the like in all his births.

And who, having bathed in Bahūdaka on the seventh day of the month of Māgha, / offers a funeral cake to the ancestors, they attain imperishable satisfaction.

Pure, he who performs a sacrifice on the bank of Bahūdaka / attains the fruit of a hundred sacrifices; of this there is no doubt.

The man who abandons his life-breaths here on the bank of Bahūdaka / rejoices in the world of the Sun and will be born as the son of righteous people.

And whoever performs the practice of recitation on the bank of Bahūdaka, / all recitation, oblations, and worship are declared to be multiplied a hundred-thousandfold.

And he who feeds even a single twice-born on the bank of Bahūdaka / with sweet food, it is as if ten million brahmins were fed by him.

Whatever woman feeds auspicious young virgin girls on the bank of Bahūdaka, / to her Umā will certainly extend a gracious welcome.

And whoever performs the practice of yoga on the bank of Bahūdaka, / within six months perfection will be his, without doubt.

And whatever is given on the bank of Bahūdaka dedicated to the departed spirits, / it reaches them imperishably, not otherwise.

Bathing, gifting, recitation, oblations, Vedic study, and offering libations to ancestors / performed on the bank of Bahūdaka will all yield exceedingly great fruit.

This fruit of the Bahūdaka pool indicated by Vyāsa / must be held firmly in your heart, O high-minded Nandabhadra!"

Having spoken thus, he became silent; then, having bathed in the pool, pure, / leaning against a stone on the bank, he himself muttered mantras.

Śrī Nārada said: / Then, at the end of seven nights, that boy gave up his life-breaths; / and the funeral rites were performed as prescribed by Nandabhadra and by brahmins.

Where that boy, intent upon recitation, gave up his life-breaths, / there he established the Lord known as Bālāditya.

And whoever, having bathed in the Bahūdaka, worships Bālāditya, / the Sun becomes pleased with him, and he finds the means to liberation.

Nandabhadra too, then, having begotten other sons upon another wife, / intelligent sons equal to himself, devoted to Śiva and the Sun,

went to the body of Rudra, O son of Pṛthā, from which return is hard to attain. / Thus is this great pool known as Bahūdaka.

On its bank, Vallīnātha will cast his own portion, / the yogin who will be an avatāra of Dattātreya.

And having worshipped that god, one would obtain perfection in yoga; / he attains an abundance of cattle, for that Lord is a refuge to cows.

In the west likewise, O Bhārata, the son of Budha, the king, / established a sacred field named Purūravāditya.

And that Sun grants all desires, equal to Bhaṭṭāditya; / and his sacred field is equal to the Bahūdakakṣetra, O Bhārata.

The māhātmya of this sacred ford should be whispered at the root of the ear / of a son or a disciple, but never to an atheist.

Whoever listens to this with faith, the Sun will be pleased with him; / holding liberation in his heart, he is freed from the ocean of worldly existence.

Thus ends the forty-sixth chapter, named 'Description of the Story of Bālāditya and the Bahūdakamāhātmya,' in the Kaumārikākhaṇḍa of the first section, the Māheśvarakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].