Skandapurana 16.107

Īśvara said: / Now I shall briefly declare to you the ritual of worship / and the varieties of devotion to that Brahmā in the form of a child,

as well as the procedure for the chariot festival and the order of hymns and mantras. / Various kinds of devotion arising from mind, speech, and body have been taught:

it may be secular, Vedic, and likewise spiritual. / That which is performed through meditation, concentration, and the remembrance of the Vedas, / bringing pleasure to Brahmā, is called mental devotion.

Performed through mantras, Vedic recitations, prostrations, procedures of the fire-rite and ancestral offerings, / and through silent mutterings and Āraṇyaka texts, it is called vocal devotion.

Through vows, fasts, and observances that restrain the mind and senses, / through Kṛcchra, Sāṃtapana, and other austerities such as Cāndrāyaṇa,

through fasts taught by Brahmā and other auspicious vows— / such threefold physical devotion has been declared for the twice-born.

With cow's ghee, milk, curds, honey, sugarcane juice, and kuśa grass water, / with fragrant pastes, garlands, and various suitable articles,

with incenses of ghee and guggulu and fragrant black aloe-wood, / with ornaments of gold, gems, and the like, and with colorful garlands,

with ritual placements, circumambulations, hymns of praise, banners, and festivals, / with dances, instrumental music, songs, and offerings of all kinds of things,

and with food to chew, eat, and drink, the worship that is performed by men / directed toward the Grandfather is considered secular devotion.

The rite performed with Vedic mantras and portions of oblations is remembered as Vedic.

On the new moon and full moon days, the rite born of the Agnihotra is to be performed: / the tasting, the giving of the priestly gift, and the puroḍāśa offering;

the Iṣṭi sacrifice, the Dhṛti libation, the drinking of Soma, every kind of sacrificial act, / the silent recitation of the Ṛg, Yajur, and Sāma Vedas, and the recitation of the Saṃhitās— / [when] performed directed toward Brahmā, that is called Vedic devotion.

Constantly devoted to breath-control, meditative, with the senses conquered, / eating food received as alms, observant of vows, with all senses withdrawn,

holding concentration in his heart and meditating on the Lord of creatures / seated on the pericarp of the heart-lotus, red in color, with beautiful eyes,

beholding Brahmā with a radiant face, handsome waist, / red complexion, four arms, and hands granting boons and fearlessness— / whoever contemplates the god thus is called a devotee of Brahmā.

Hear also from me, O goddess, the ritual rule that is prescribed for dwellers in the sacred field:

Free from the sense of 'mine', free from egoism, unattached, without possessions, / detached even toward the four aims of life, regarding a clod of earth, a stone, and gold as equal,

always granting freedom from fear to all beings through their threefold actions, / constantly devoted to breath-control, intent on supreme meditation,

regularly muttering prayers, pure, intent on the duties and practices of an ascetic, / knowing the rules of Sāṃkhya and Yoga, their doubts dispelled by righteousness,

constantly engaged in the worship of Brahmā—such are the brahmins residing in the sacred field. / How the Grandfather in the form of a child is to be worshipped by them,

that I shall declare; listen with a single mind, O beloved! / Having bathed in a pure sacred ford, clad in white garments, pure, / provided with offerings for worship, one should then venerate Brahmā.

First bathing [the deity] according to the rule with the five nectars and water: / cow's urine, cow dung, milk, curds, clarified butter, and kuśa grass water.

Taking the cow's urine with the Gāyatrī mantra, cow dung with 'Gandhadvārā...', / milk with 'Āpyāyasva...', and curds with 'Dadhikrāvṇo...',

ghee with 'Tejo'si śukram...', and kuśa grass water with 'Devasya tvā...', / one should bathe him with the five products of the cow using the mantra 'Āpo hi ṣṭhā...'.

With the five products of a tawny cow mixed with kuśa grass water, / purified with mantras, one should bathe him; that is indeed remembered as the Brahma-snāna.

Whatever sin has been accumulated over thousands of crores of years, / by bathing the Eldest of the gods, one burns it all away, without a doubt.

Having thus bathed according to the injunctions Brahmā in the form of a child, / the twice-born should then bathe [him] with water of camphor and agallochum.

Having done so, the wise man should worship the god by means of the ritual imposition (nyāsa) of the Gāyatrī; / he should place the praṇava from the head to the soles of the feet.

He should place the syllable 'tat' on the head, the syllable 'sa' on the region of the face, / the syllable 'vi' in the region of the throat, and the syllable 'tu' on the joints of the limbs;

the syllable 'va' in the middle of the heart, the syllable 're' on the two sides, / the syllable 'ṇi' in the right flank, and the syllable 'ya' in that known as the left;

the syllable 'bha' situated on the waist and navel, the syllable 'go' on both sides; / having placed the syllable 'de' on the two knees, the syllable 'va' on the lotus-feet;

having placed the syllable 'sya' on the two big toes, he should place the syllable 'dhī' on the chest, / the syllable 'ma' at the root of the knees, and the syllable 'hi' resting on the private parts;

having placed the syllable 'dhi' on the heart, and the syllable 'yo' on the lower lip, / the wise man should likewise place the other syllable 'yo' on the upper lip;

the syllable 'na' on the tip of the nose, the syllable 'pra' situated in the eye, / the syllable 'co' between the eyebrows, and the syllable 'da' residing in the vital breath;

and he should place the syllable 'yāt' at the edge of the forehead, O ruler of the gods! / Having performed the ritual imposition on his own body, he should likewise perform it on the god, O beloved!

Having made it furnished with all offerings, he should gaze upon it thoroughly, / mixed with saffron, agallochum, camphor, and sandalwood.

Having consecrated [them] with fragrant waters, he should sprinkle all the articles / with the Gāyatrī and the praṇava, and thereafter begin the worship.

With heavenly, fragrant flowers, with jasmine, lotuses, and others, / with aśokas, hundred-petalled lotuses, and bakulas, he should worship in proper order;

with the fine incense of black agallochum, and likewise with the best ghee-lamps; / then he should offer there various food-offerings in proper order:

with sugar-candy laḍḍus, śrīveṣṭakas, sārā, and aśoka shoots, / svastikas, ollipikās, milk, tilaveṣṭakas, and curd-cakes,

and ripe fruits, he should offer them with the root-mantra. / And he should worship the Ṛgveda, the Yajurveda, and the Sāmaveda.

The wise man should worship knowledge, detachment, sovereignty, and righteousness, / O goddess, beginning from the north-east in succession, in the cardinal and intermediate directions.

He should worship the fourteen seats of knowledge in front of Brahmā. / Then, having placed the heart-[mantras] in succession before the god:

This verse beginning with 'āpo hi ṣṭhā' is proclaimed to be the heart; / 'ṛtaṃ satyam' is said to be the topknot; he should designate 'ud u tya' as the eye;

[the verse] 'citraṃ devānām' is thus celebrated in all worlds; / 'brahmāṃs te chādayāmi' is cited as the armour;

the worship with 'bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ' is proclaimed, O ruler! / He should worship the god with the Gāyatrī consecrated with the sound 'oṃ'.

With the praṇava he should thoroughly worship all the others, the Ṛgveda and the rest. / The Gāyatrī is the supreme mantra, the mother of the Vedas, radiant.

Whoever, having fasted on the fifteenth day, worships Brahmā / through the principles of the syllables of the Gāyatrī, reaches the supreme state.

If a twice-born desires to cross over the terrible ocean of worldly existence, / he should always worship Brahmā in Prabhāsa during the month of Kārttika.

By the mere sight of whom one obtains the fruit of an horse-sacrifice, / what learned man would not worship him in the form of a child in Prabhāsa?

At the close of a single day of whom the gods, demons, and mortals / go to dissolution, O ruler of gods—who would not worship him?

He who is the father of all gods and the grandfather of created beings— / since he is this, he is to be worshipped by them, the brahmins residing in the sacred field.

Having the form of Rudra, having universal form, he is the Lord of the world. / Fasting on the full-moon day, whoever worships Brahmā, the lord of worlds, / according to the injunctions, obtains the fruit of a horse-sacrifice.

In the month of Kārttika, the chariot-procession of the god is proclaimed, / having performed which with devotion a mortal goes to dwelling in the world of Brahmā.

In the month of Kārttika, O ruler of the gods, on the full-moon day, the tormentor of foes, / [taking] the four-faced one along with the deer-skin and Sāvitrī,

should take [them] around the whole city, accompanied by various musical instruments. / Having taken [them] around the entire city, the king should install [them].

Having first fed the brahmins and worshipped Śāṇḍileya, / he should mount the god on the chariot amidst the sounds of auspicious musical instruments.

Having worshipped the son of Śāṇḍilī at the front of the chariot according to the rules, / and having caused the brahmins to recite, performing the auspicious ceremony of the day,

and having mounted the god on the chariot, he should keep a night-vigil / with various kinds of spectacles and plentiful offerings left from Brahmā.

The chariot should not be mounted, O goddess, by a Śūdra desiring good fortune, / nor especially by an unrighteous person, except solely for the Bhojaka, O beloved.

He should place Sāvitrī on the right side of Brahmā, O beloved; / and the Bhojaka on the left side, while in front he should place a lotus.

Having thus taken the chariot around, O goddess, and the entire city circumambulated clockwise, / amidst the sounds of horns and abundant conch-calls, / the wise man should reinstall [him] in his own place after performing the waving of lights.

Whoever performs the procession in this manner, and whoever watches it with devotion, / or whoever pulls the chariot, goes to the abode of Brahmā.

He who holds a lamp there, walking behind the chariot of Brahmā, / at every step obtains the great fruit of a horse-sacrifice.

The king who does not cause the chariot-procession of Brahmā to be conducted, / is roasted in the Raurava hell for imperishable time, O great goddess.

Therefore, with every effort, desiring the welfare of his realm, / the king himself should especially institute the chariot-procession.

And on the first day, the wise man should feed the brahmins according to rule, / [honouring them] with unbleached garments, and also with perfumes, garlands, and unguents.

Whoever lights lamps on the new-moon day in the month of Kārttika / in the hall of Brahmā, goes to the supreme state.

On all festivals and at all times especially, / the brahmins should worship this Brahmā, the guru of the worlds.

With the proper performance of ritual actions, endowed with full faith, / he should be worshipped with celestial articles of worship, according to one's wealth.

Thus has been told to you, O goddess, the supreme greatness of the worship, / the greatness of the sacred field of Prabhāsa, [and] of Brahmā in child-form.

I shall recite to you his one hundred and eight names; / having imparted and recited it, one attains the fruit of ten thousand sacrifices.

Whatever fruit is attained by a hundred thousand recitations of the Gāyatrī properly muttered, / that very fruit one obtains from the utterance of this hymn of praise.

This supreme, celestial hymn of praise, a secret destroyer of sins, / must not be given to evil-minded persons or indeed to slanderers.

It should be given to a high-souled, learned brahmin. / For formerly, Viṣṇu asked of Brahmā this supreme hymn of praise:

"In which places, O god of gods, O Grandfather, / are you to be meditated upon? Declare that to me, for you are the highest knower of all."

Brahmā said: / "At Puṣkara I am the Best of Gods; at Gayā, the Great-Grandfather; / at Kānyakubja, Vedagarbha; at the field of Bhṛgu, the Four-Faced One;

and at Kauberī, the Creator; at Nandipurī, Bṛhaspati; / at Prabhāsa, the Child-Formed One; and at Vārāṇasī, the Beloved of Gods;

at Dvāravatī, Cakradeva; at Vaidiśa, the Lord of the World; / at Pauṇḍraka, the Lotus-Eyed One; at Hastināpura, the Yellow-Eyed One;

at Jayantī, Vijaya; at Puruṣottama, Jayanta; / at Vāḍa, I am Padmahasta; at Tamolipta, Tamonuda;

at Āhicchatra, Janānanda; at Kāñcīpurī, Janapriya; / at the city of Karṇāṭa, Brahmā; and at Ṛṣikuṇḍa, the Sage;

at Śrīkaṇṭha, Śrīnivāsa; and at Kāmarūpa, Śubhaṅkara; / at Ucchriyāṇa, the Maker of Gods; and likewise at Jālandhara, the Creator;

likewise at the place called Mallikā, Viṣṇu; at Mahendra, Bhārgava; / at Gonarda, Sthavirākāra; and at Ujjayinī, the Grandfather;

at Kauśāmbī, Mahādeva; and at Ayodhyā, Rāghava; / at Citrakūṭa, Virañci; at the Vindhya mountain, Vārāha;

at Gaṅgādvāra, the Best of Gods; and on the Himavat, Śaṃkara; / at Dehikā, Srucāhasta; and on Arbuda, Padmahasta;

at Vṛndāvana, Padmanetra; and at Naimiṣa, Kuśahasta; / at Gopakṣetra, Govinda; on the bank of the Yamunā, Surendra;

on the Bhāgīrathī, Padmatanu; at Janasthala, Janānanda; / in the Koṅkaṇa, Madhvakṣa; at Kāmpilya, Kanakaprabha;

at Kheṭaka, Annadātā; and at Kratusthala, Śambhu; / in Laṅkā, Paulastya; in Kaśmīra, Haṃsavāhana;

on Arbuda, Vasiṣṭha; and in Utpalāvana, Nārada; / at Medhaka, Śrutidātā; and at Prayāga, the Lord of Yajus texts;

in Śivaliṅga, Sāmaveda; and at Markaṭa, Madhupriya; / on Gomanta, Nārāyaṇa; in Vidarbha, Dvijapriya;

at Aṅkulaka, Brahmagarbha; at Brahmavāha, Sutapriya; / at Indraprastha, Durādharṣa; at Campā, Suramardana;

at Virajā, Mahārūpa; at Rāṣṭravardhana, Surūpa; / at Kadambaka, Janādhyakṣa; at Samasthala, Devādhyakṣa;

at Rudrapīṭha, Gaṅgādhara; at Supīṭha, remembered as Jalada; / at Tryambaka, Tripura's Enemy; and on Śrīśaila, the Three-Eyed One;

at Plakṣapura, Mahādeva; at Kapāla, Vedhanāśana; / at Śṛṅgaverapura, Śauri; at Nimiṣa, Cakradhāraka;

at Nandipurī, Virūpākṣa; at the Plakṣa tree, Gautama; / at Hastinātha, Mālyavān; and at Vācika, Dvijendra;

at Indrapurī, Divānātha; at Bhūtikā, Purandara; / at Candrā, Haṃsabāhu; at Campā, Garuḍapriya;

at Mahodaya, Mahāyakṣa; in Pūtaka forest, Suyajña; / at Siddheśvara, Śuklavarṇa; at Vibhā, Padmabodhaka;

in Devadāruvana, Liṅgī; in Udaketha, Umā's Lord; / at Mātṛsthāna, Vināyaka; at Alakā, the Lord of Wealth;

on Trikūṭa, Govinda; and in Pātāla, Vāsuki; / at Kovidāra, Yugādhyakṣa; and in Strīrājya, Surapriya;

on Pūrṇagiri, Subhoga; and at Śālmalī, Takṣaka; / at Amara, Pāpahā; and at Ambikā, Sudarśana;

at Naravāpī, Mahāvīra; in Kāntāra, Durganāśana; / at Padmavatī, Padmagṛha; in the sky, Mṛgalāñchana.

Wherever this one hundred and eight names is recited, / my presence is right there at the three junctions of day and night, O Madhusūdana.

Moreover, whoever sees that one [form] consisting of the Child-Form, / obtains the merit of all those previously mentioned forms of the Creator.

Whoever always praises me at Prabhāsa with these names, O Kṛṣṇa, / having attained my victorious abode, rejoices for eternal years.

Misdeeds committed mentally, vocally, / or physically—all of that goes to destruction from the recitation of my hymn of praise.

Whatever fruit is attained quickly by men through offerings of flowers, incense, / satisfactions offered to brahmins, and steady meditation, / that fruit one completely obtains from the recitation of my hymn of praise.

Even sins such as the killing of a brahmin committed in this world, / unintentionally or intentionally, perish in that very instant.

Whoever hears or reads this beloved hymn of mine, / is freed from all sins and will attain his great desire.

I will tell you another secret; listen truthfully, O Kṛṣṇa.

When the asterism belonging to Agni occurs on the full-moon day of Kārttika, / that should be known as a great lunar day, dear to me at Prabhāsa.

If on that lunar day the asterism belonging to Prajāpati should occur, / that Mahākārtikī is meritorious and difficult to attain even for the gods.

When the Kārttikī [full-moon day] is joined with Kṛttikā on a Saturday, Sunday, or Thursday, / one attains the merit of a horse sacrifice by seeing the Child-Formed One there.

When the sun is in Viśākhā and the moon is in Kṛttikā, / that conjunction is named Padmaka, hard to attain at Prabhāsa, O Hari."

During that planetary conjunction, a man who sees [Brahmā] in the form of a child at Prabhāsa, / even if laden with millions of sins, does not behold the world of Yama. 115

Īśvara said:
Thus was this hymn recounted by Brahmā to Hari; / and the māhātmya with Brahmā as its deity has been related by me to you. 116

When heard, it destroys all sins of mortals and accomplishes all aims. / And a gift of land should be given there by those desiring the fruit of the pilgrimage. 117

A water-pot, white garments, and the sixteen great gifts— / right there, O goddess, they should be given to Brahmā in the form of a child. 118

When a great festival day arrives, the twice-born should perform recitation of the text— / all those brahmins, O goddess, who reside in the middle of the sacred field. 119

Thus ends the one hundred and seventh chapter, entitled “Description of the Māhātmya of Brahmā in the Form of a Child,” in the first part, the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, of the seventh section, the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand verses. 107