Skandapurana 16.223

Īśvara said:
"Then one should go, O great goddess, to the liṅga worshipped in the three worlds,
known as Gātrotsarga, situated to the south of it,

where the body was cast off by the wise Balabhadra,
and by other illustrious Yādavas there in the battle,

where those Yādavas were destroyed by the serpent of the power of a brahmin's curse.
This holy sacred field of Puruṣottama measures a hundred bows all around,

where Puruṣottama himself resides directly in visible form, O goddess.
That very sacred field of Viṣṇu destroys sins in the Kali age.

It is a supreme mystery, O goddess, the most excellent of sacred fords.
Formerly in the Kṛta age, O goddess, it was remembered as Pretatīrtha;
but when the Kali age arrived, it became Gātrotsarga.

Near Ṛṇamocana, between [it and] Pāpamocana,
one who dies having sought refuge in this middle [place] is freed from sins.

How can its [virtue] be described, O goddess, where the fruit is infinite and great?
Indeed, by bathing [there], the fruit of a thousand horse-sacrifices is obtained.

Where, having reached an aśvattha tree, his mind fixed in absorption,
Keśava abandoned his life-breaths, so hard to abandon, through the aperture of Brahmā.

Having properly worshipped Nārāyaṇa directly, Balabhadra, and Rukmiṇī there,
one is freed from the three types of sins.

Having bathed there, the man who propitiates the ancestors with devotion—
the ancestors of that giver of śrāddha become freed from the state of ghosts.

A cow-killer, a liquor-drinker, an evil-minded person, a slayer of a brahmin, or a violator of the guru's bed,
having bathed there, immediately becomes free from sin.

Whatever sin a man commits in childhood, in old age, or in youth,
whether through ignorance or with knowledge, O beloved,
having bathed there in the sacred ford of Gātrapramocana, he is completely freed from it.

By offering rice-balls there, supreme satisfaction arises for the ancestors
for up to a hundred years: this Hari declared of old.

Furthermore, whoever attentively gives food there,
in his lineage too, O queen of the gods, no man is born as a ghost."

The goddess said:
"It was called Pretatīrtha, and later Gātravimocana.
Tell me, O Lord of the gods of gods, the cause of [the name] Pretatīrtha."

Īśvara said:
"Listen, O goddess, I shall tell the cause of Pretatīrtha,
hearing which with devotion a mortal becomes freed from all sins.

Formerly there was a great seer named Gautama, of praised vows;
he came from Bhṛgukalpa to the auspicious Prabhāsakṣetra,

during the holy northern course of the sun, desiring to see the glorious Someśa.
Having seen god Someśvara and bathed in all the sacred fords,

going on the pilgrimage to the sacred fords, he then went to Gātrotsarga.

Then, O goddess, as soon as that brahmin reached the boundary,
just then he beheld a Vaiṣṇava grove dear to Viṣṇu,

and the sacred field filled with the name Puruṣottama, measuring a hundred bows.
In that sacred field he saw five very terrifying ghosts,

mounted upon a huge tree, possessing huge bodies and immense power,
with hair standing upwards, spike-like ears, and bodies bound by sinews,

destitute of flesh and blood, naked, and with black bodies.
Seeing them, terrified with fear, he thought: 'I am ruined!'

Having reflected for a long time and maintained firmness with effort, he said:
'Who are you of deformed forms? Formerly, in the past,

I have never seen [beings] such as you! Why are you running about
within the sacred field, afflicted with great sorrow? This is a great wonder to me.'

The ghosts said:
'We are ghosts, O illustrious one, who have come here from afar;
having heard of the holy, best of sacred fords, we cannot obtain entry.'

shattered by blows from the attendants who have become invisible: / [one is] Lekhaka, Rohaka, and also Sūcaka, and Śīghraga;

I am named Paryuṣita, the fifth, the worst committer of sin.”

Gautama said: / “By whom were these names created completely for you, / who have entered the ghostly state? This causes me great curiosity.”

The pretas said: / “When a brahmin was begging, this one would write on the surface of the ground / and recite no answer at all; therefore he is remembered as Lekhaka (the Scribe).

The second climbed up onto a palace out of fear of a brahmin; / hence he was called Rohaka (the Climber). Hear about the third, O brahmin:

many brahmins possessed of wealth were reported by him / to the king; because of that sin, he is renowned on earth as Sūcaka (the Informer).

When asked by brahmins, he constantly ran away swiftly; / he never gave anything, and therefore he is remembered as Śīghraga (the Swift-runner).

Bad, stale food was given by me to an excellent brahmin; / while giving to brahmins should always be feeding with sweet food. / Therefore I was born on the surface of the earth named Paryuṣita (the Stale-feeder).”

Gautama said: / “Living beings do not exist on earth without food. / What is your sustenance? Tell me out of my curiosity.”

The pretas said: / “Where a quarrel begins at the time mealtime arrives, / all the essence of that food we consume, O best of brahmins.

Where men eat upon a ground that is not smeared [with cow dung], / having fallen from purity, O best of brahmins, that is our food.

He who eats with unwashed feet facing south, / he who eats with his head covered—pretas continually consume [his food].

If a dog, a menstruating woman, / an outcaste, or a pig looks upon a funeral offering, that food is ours to eat.

Abandoning a hereditary brahmin who was honored by great-grandfathers, / whoever gives a gift to another, and to him with a dissatisfied mind—

whatever religious merit belongs to that gift becomes ours. / In whichever house there are always food scraps and constant strife, / and which is devoid of the Vaiśvadeva rite, there we eat.”

Gautama said: / “Into what kind of house do you have no entrance? / Tell me the truth, not falsehood; truth is fitting among good people.”

The pretas said: / “Where a column of smoke arising from the Vaiśvadeva rite is seen, / into that house we have no entrance, O brahmin.

In the house where smearing [with cow dung] is done at dawn, / and the sound of the Veda is present, there is nothing for us.”

Gautama said: / “By what fruition of actions does a man go to the state of a preta? / You should explain this to me in full detail and properly.”

The pretas said: / “Those who steal falsely, those who go about defiled by food scraps, / and those killed by cows or brahmins—they indeed go to the state of a preta.

Men devoted to slander, engaged in false testimony, / who do not take the side of justice—having died, they become pretas.

Those who throw phlegm, urine, and feces into a lake— / reaching the state of pretas, those men roam about.

Those who, when something is being given to brahmins, to cows, and to afflicted brahmins, / chatter ‘Do not give!’—they also become pretas.

If a brahmin should die with a śūdra’s food in his belly, / he surely goes to the state of a preta, even if he knows the six limbs of the Veda.

A man who in his arrogance yokes three bullocks to a plow, / especially on the new-moon day, is born as a preta.

An atheist, a reviler, a base person, one who has abandoned daily and occasional rites, / and who surely hates brahmins—that man is born as a preta.

A betrayer of trust, a killer of a brahmin, one bent on slaying women, / a killer of cows, a killer of his guru, a killer of his father—that man is born as a preta.

A man for whom the sixteen single-purpose funeral rites are not performed after death, / and for whom no bull is set free, is born as a preta.

All this indeed has been told, about which we were asked, O best of brahmins. / Tell us again, O best of brahmins, whatever doubt you still have.”

Gautama said: / “By what fruition of actions is a man not born as a preta? / Tell me that completely; I have curiosity about this.”

The pretas said: / “One who is devoted to pilgrimage to sacred fords, intent on worshiping deities, / and always devoted to brahmins, that man is not born as a preta.

One who constantly hears the scriptures, constantly serves learned men, / and always inquires of elders, he is not born as a preta.

For this reason we have all come from a great distance; / [yet] we are unable to enter into this holy, supreme sacred field.

We are despondent in the form of pretas; therefore, O best of brahmins, / O highly fortunate one, diligently become the refuge for all of us.”

Gautama said: / “How does your liberation take place? Tell me completely. / My mind is filled with compassion; I will make an effort, of this there is no doubt.”

The pretas said: / “A long time has passed as we abide in the state of pretas, O lord, / yet no man has arrived who might become our refuge.

Therefore, go to the sacred field of Viṣṇu and offer a funeral rite for us, / uttering our names and lineages; from that we shall attain liberation.”

Īśvara said: / “Then that brahmin, filled with compassion, went to the temple of Hari / and offered a funeral rite for them, each one individually.

For whichever of them and whenever the best of brahmins performed a funeral rite, / he came to him in a dream at night and, having appeared, spoke these words:

‘By your favor, O lord among brahmins, I am freed from the ghostly state. / May there be welfare for you; I shall depart, for my aerial chariot has arrived.’

Thus those four best of brahmins were delivered by him.

Then, when the fifth day arrived, that best of brahmins / performed the śrāddha for Paryuṣita according to the rules.

Then, at the end of a dream, he saw the man Paryuṣita arrive, / speaking piteous words, afflicted with distress, and sighing repeatedly.

Paryuṣita said: / "No liberation has come to me, O brahmin, ill-fated and sinful as I am. / I took for myself the wealth collected for the sake of a water-reservoir.

Gautama said: / 'Tell me fully and at once: how can your liberation come about? / I will do it, without any doubt, even if it should be exceedingly difficult to attain.'

Paryuṣita said: / 'When the northern transit of the sun arrives, go to the sacred ford beloved of Hari / and surely offer a śrāddha for me; then liberation will take place for me.'

Īśvara said: / Addressed in this way by that ghost, the sage, that best of brahmins, / when the northern transit arrived, went to the sacred ford beloved of Hari / and then duly offered the śrāddha for Paryuṣita.

Then at night, at the end of a dream, Paryuṣita spoke these words, / having a cheerful countenance and bearing a celestial garland and body:

Paryuṣita said: / 'O best of brahmins, by your grace I am released from the state of a ghost. / May you fare well; I shall depart, for an aerial chariot has indeed arrived for me.

And I have attained divinity; I am capable [of granting boons], O best of brahmins. / I will give you a boon, O brahmin; accept an auspicious boon!

An expiation has been prescribed by the virtuous for the slayer of a brahmin, the drinker of liquor, / the thief, and likewise the breaker of vows; but there is no expiation for an ungrateful person.'

Gautama said: / 'If a boon is to be given to me, since you are able to grant a boon, O giver of boons: / at the place where you ghosts were seen by me in great distress, / having built a hermitage there, I shall perform supreme austerity.

[Though] I have left home again, having bathed in this great sacred ford, / whichever human beings there, out of devotion, aiming at their ancestors with devotion,

shall offer a śrāddha according to the rules, after bathing and propitiating the gods— / by your grace, even in his lineage, / let there never be the state of a ghost, O sir, even for one possessed of sin!'

Paryuṣita said: / 'Go, O best of brahmins, and make a hermitage there! / You will attain supreme perfection; you will attain renown in the world.

Those excellent human beings who faithfully offer a śrāddha there / to their ancestors shall go, mounted on aerial chariots, to the heavenly abode.

None born in their lineage shall ever go to the state of a ghost. / Wise men of steady intellect proclaim that friendship is formed within seven steps.

Placing friendship foremost, hear what I shall say to you: / your hermitage-ground will become sacred upon the surface of the earth,

pacifying all sins and destroying all sorrows. / O lord, let it become renowned by my name as "Pretatīrtha"!'

Īśvara said: / Consenting to that, saying, 'So be it,' that best of brahmins went there; / he performed every rite according to the path declared in the Veda.

He too, Paryuṣita, reached heaven rejoiced, O dear one. / All this took place formerly at this place [named] Gātramocana.

A person who hears this properly is freed from all sins. / One who sees Puruṣottama at the conjunction of his going to sleep and waking up, / having gone to Gātrotsarga, would obtain the fruit of ten thousand sacrifices.

Thus ends the two hundred and twenty-third chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of Puruṣottamatīrtha and Pretatīrtha', in the first [part], 'Glory of Prabhāsakṣetra', in the seventh [book], Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, of the venerable Skandapurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses]. // 223