Skanda Purana 15.6

The seers said: / "Bravo, bravo, O fortunate Prahlāda, best among the Asuras! / By you the Blessed Lord Hari was revealed to us in the midst of the Kali age.

This story, rising like nectar from the milk-ocean of your mouth— / the sages do not reach satiety when drinking it with their ears. / Recount in full detail, O mighty-armed one, the pilgrimage to the sacred ford!

We must go there, where the Gomatī flows, / where the Blessed Lord stands looking upon the Cakra-tīrtha.

Deliver those fallen into the ocean of worldly existence from the ocean of worldly existence, O dear one! / And recount, O high-minded one, the procedure for the pilgrimage to the sacred ford."

Prahlāda said: / Having gone to the bank of the Gomatī, one should bow down to her like a staff; / having washed hands and feet, and holding kuśa grasses in one's hands,

taking an auspicious fruit along with unbroken grains of rice, / facing eastward and being purified, one should offer the arghya according to rule:

"O auspicious one arrived from the world of Brahmā, O daughter of Vasiṣṭha! / I offer this arghya for the purification of all sins, O Gomatī!

O daughter of Vasiṣṭha, O goddess praised by the gods, O renowned one, / O goddess praised by the three worlds, remove my sin, O Gomatī!"

Having spoken thus, O best of brahmins, smearing clay with one's hand, / meditating on Viṣṇu in one's mind, one should recite this mantra:

"O earth, traversed by horses, traversed by chariots, traversed by Viṣṇu! / You were lifted up by the Boar, by the hundred-armed Kṛṣṇa.

O clay, remove my sin that was accumulated previously by me! / With sin struck down by you, may I become purified for a full year."

Having thus smeared oneself with clay, one should perform the ritual ablution according to rule. / Having bathed with the verse beginning 'āpo asmān...', hear what fruit one obtains:

Whatever merit is found at Kurukṣetra when the sun is seized by Rāhu, / that very merit is attained by merely taking a bath in the Gomatī in the presence of Kṛṣṇa.

Having bathed there with devotion in this manner, one should perform the prescribed rites; / filled with pious feeling, one should offer water to the gods, the ancestors, and men.

Those who abide in Raurava hell, and those who have become worms— / by the offering of water from the Gomatī they attain liberation, there is no doubt.

Even without unbroken rice or darbha grass, and even without meditation, / merely with the water of the Gomatī one obtains the fruit of a śrāddha performed at Gayā.

Then, inviting brahmins who know the Vedas and reside on the bank, / having worshiped the Viśvedevas and others, one should perform the ancestral śrāddha.

Endowed with supreme faith, having performed the śrāddha according to rule, / one should then give a sacrificial fee: gold and silver,

and [a cow] endowed with golden horns, adorned with silver hooves, / with a tail of jewels, accompanied by a cloth, with a copper back, along with her calf.

One should give it after worshiping the brahmin with garments and ornaments; / one should give it along with the seven grains, saying: 'May Viṣṇu be pleased with me.'

Having escorted these brahmins to the boundary, self-controlled in senses, / one should give gifts according to one's capacity to the poor, the blind, and the destitute.

The Gomatī, bathing in cow dung, the gift of a cow, gopīcandana clay, / and the darśana of Gopīnātha—these five things starting with the letter 'ga' are rare to obtain.

Therefore, the gift of a cow should indeed be made on the bank of the Gomatī; / having done so, O best of the twice-born, a man accomplishes all his goals.

Those who have gone to terrible hell, those who have become spirits of the dead, / and those who have attained the state of stationary objects due to the ripening of past deeds,

and whoever has been born into one's family on the father's or the mother's side— / all of them attain liberation in the Kali age by the darśana of the Gomatī.

The śrāddha performed by men at the Gomatī, O best of brahmins, / yields without doubt the fruit of the horse sacrifice.

Whatever merit is proclaimed by ritual ablution in the Gaṅgā at Prayāga, / that same merit a man attains who performs a śrāddha at the Gomatī.

The ancestors born of his family indeed go to the world of Viṣṇu; / the sin of many thousands of births departs, of this there is no doubt.

Whatever sin has been committed by speech, action, or thought, / all of that vanishes through the darśana of the Gomatī.

The person who takes a ritual ablution in the Gomatī during the month of Kārttika, O twice-born, / the Lord, along with Lakṣmī, is pleased with him without doubt.

Every day, with a concentrated mind, he should satisfy the fire, the consumer of offerings; / every day, food of the six tastes should be given to a twice-born.

And devoted to devotion, he should worship Lord Kṛṣṇa every day; / O foremost of brahmins, he must remain steadfast in his observance by whatever means.

With the permission of brahmins, a person should undertake the vows there; / when the month of Kārttika is complete, upon the arrival of the awakening day [Prabodhinī Ekādaśī],

he should bathe the Lord of gods with the five nectars and water from the sacred ford; / with devotion he should anoint the Lord of gods, Dāmodara Hari, / with sandalwood paste mixed with saffron and containing musk.

With water-born flowers, with tulasī, with oleanders, / and with blossoms produced in that region, he should worship the Garuḍa-bannered Lord.

Saying, 'May Viṣṇu be pleased with me,' he should offer delicious food offerings, / along with singing, instrumental music, dancing, and the recitation of sacred books.

A night-vigil should be kept with various kinds of hymns; / having summoned brahmins with devotion, he should feed them according to his capacity.

Then he should worship the Garuḍa-bannered Lord standing upon a chariot; / and at the end of Kārttika, O foremost of brahmins, at the confluence of the Gomatī and the ocean,

having taken a ritual ablution, satisfied the ancestors, and worshipped Janārdana, / and having honoured the Lord of Ramā with fine garments and ornaments, / he should bring the vow to completion with the permission of the brahmins.

Whoever bathes in this manner in Kārttika in the presence of Kṛṣṇa, O foremost of brahmins, / freed from all sins, he goes to the world of Viṣṇu.

The man who with devotion takes a ritual ablution in the Gomatī during the month of Māgha, / ever contented, together with his wife, at sunrise,

sesame seeds accompanied by gold should be given to an excellent brahmin, / and sweetmeat balls mixed with molasses, every day accompanied by a priestly gift.

Oblations should be performed daily by men with sesame seeds steeped in ghee; / one should approach the fire for the sake of sacrifice, never merely for the sake of warmth.

He who with devotion bathes in the Gomatī throughout Māgha, which is dear to Mādhava, / upon its completion, red garments, a jacket, and a turban,

shoes, and especially saffron, he should bestow with devotion, / as well as a blanket and oil-cooked food, saying, 'May Viṣṇu be pleased with me.'

Whatever destiny is taught for those who die in the master's service in a battle thick with weapons, / and for those who die for the sake of cows or for the sake of brahmins,

that same destiny is declared for one who bathes in the Gomatī in Māgha; there is no doubt about this; / his is the fruit of all gifts, and likewise the fruit of all sacred fords.

Through the Māgha ritual ablution, a man goes to the eternal world of Viṣṇu; / having worshipped Janārdana, he obtains all desires.

For one who spends the entire month of Māgha at the confluence of the Gomatī and the ocean, / all becomes complete through the permission of brahmins, O brahmins.

Even sinners, O best of the twice-born, who have bathed in the waters of the Gomatī, / attain the destiny of sacrificers by the grace of the Discus-wielder.

That abode of the Discus-wielder which is higher than the abode of Brahmā and Rudra / is said to be attained merely by bathing in the Gomatī in the presence of Kṛṣṇa.

Whatever sin is incurred in betraying a friend, whatever sin in slaying a guru, / that sin he incurs who breaks or disrupts a pilgrimage.

Those who steal the property of brahmins and those sinners who steal the property of gods / are purified merely by bathing in the Gomatī; there is no doubt of this.

Whatever merit a man obtains by granting fearlessness to the frightened, / that same merit he obtains merely by taking a ritual ablution in the Gomatī.

By granting fearlessness to the frightened, one attains desired sons, without doubt; / and one desiring wealth obtains abundant, mighty wealth.

At the confluence of the Gomatī's waters, he would attain his desired wishes; / he would accomplish his goals, O brahmins, and be freed from his ancestral debt.

Whatever sin has been accumulated by mind, by speech, and by action, / all of that is destroyed by contact with the waters of the Gomatī.

Wearing yellow garments, mounted upon Garuḍa, / wearing a forest garland, four-armed, anointed with divine perfume, / he goes, O brahmins, to the abode of Viṣṇu, marked by freedom from rebirth.

Merely by a ritual ablution in the Gomatī, a mortal, beyond any doubt, / freed from all sins, goes to the eternal Viṣṇu.

Thus ends the sixth chapter, named 'Description of the Greatness of Ablution, Gifting, and Other Rites at the Confluence of the Gomatī and the Ocean', in the Dvārakāmāhātmya, the fourth [sub-section] of the seventh [book], the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.