Skandapurana 16.255

Īśvara said: / Next, O great goddess, one should go to the sacred ford renowned across the three worlds, / on the western side of that very place, belonging to the seers of meritorious deeds.

In that place, three-eyed fish are seen even today, O passionate lady: / Aṅgiras, Gautama, Agastya, Sumati, and Susakhi,

Viśvāmitra, Sthūlaśiras, Saṃvarta, Pratimardana, / Raibhya, Bṛhaspati, Cyavana, Kaśyapa, Bhṛgu,

Durvāsas, Jāmadagnya, then Mārkaṇḍeya, Gālava, / Uśanas, then Bharadvāja, Yavakrīta, and Trita,

Nārada, Parvata, Vasiṣṭha, and Arundhatī,

Kāṇva, then Gautama, Dhaumya, Śatānanda, Akṛtavraṇa, / Jamadagni, Rāma, Baka, and so forth, / and Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana together with his sons and disciples.

Having arrived at this sacred field, Prabhāsa, the excellent sages, / the great-souled ones, performed various, exceedingly marvelous austerities.

Thus these ascetic practitioners, restrained in mind and endowed with self-control, / sought to conquer the eternal world of Brahmā through absorption.

Then once, O dear lady, a great drought occurred; / having fallen into distress, everyone there was afflicted with hunger.

Then, when this world was devoid of food, wishing to preserve themselves, / having fallen into distress, they took a dead child and cooked it.

Then King Vṛṣādarbhi, who moved about, / seeing those seers suffering there, spoke these words at that time:

The king said: / Acceptance of gifts is seen as a blameless livelihood for brahmins; / therefore, accept a gift from me, O foremost sages!

Mung beans, black gram, grains of rice, as well as jewels and gold— / I shall grant you whatever else is difficult to obtain. / Desist, all of you, from this sin hereafter!

The seers said: / Knowing that, O king, how can we accept a gift from you?

An oilman is equal to ten slaughterhouses; a tavern-keeper is equal to ten oilmen; / a courtesan is equal to ten tavern-keepers; a king is equal to ten courtesans.

A brahmin who accepts a gift from kings, deluded by greed, / is cooked in Tāmisra and other terrifying hells.

Therefore go, may welfare be yours along with your gift, O ruler of the earth! / Let this be given to others!—having spoken thus, they went to the forest.

Then, by order of the king, the ministers went there / and scattered cluster-figs containing gold upon the ground.

Then, as the seers were gathering them, O fair-complexioned lady, / perceiving that they were heavy, Aṅgiras said they should not be taken.

Atri said: / We are not, we are not fools, O dullard, with minds devoid of knowledge! / We know these are made of gold; we have awakened from stupor.

Vasiṣṭha said: / An accumulation of material goods for the sake of virtue is not praised; / I, Vasiṣṭha, consider the accumulation of austerity to be the true accumulation of wealth.

Abandon all hoards, which bring calamities upon one's kin; / for no one who possesses hoards is seen to be free of calamity. 22.

The more a brahmin refuses improper gifts, / the more his brahminical splendor increases day and night. 23.

I weighed poverty and kingship equally upon a balance; / poverty is superior even to kingship, without a doubt. 24.

Kaśyapa said: / This is a misfortune for a brahmin: that [he has] a great hoard of wealth; / deluded by the sovereignty of wealth, the twice-born falls away from the highest good. 25.

An abundance of wealth leads indeed to delusion and to abundant sorrow; / therefore, one who desires the highest good should abandon from afar wealth, which is [really] called misfortune. 26.

Even for one whose wealth is meant for righteousness, it is not seen [to bring peace]; / for rather than washing off mud, not touching it from afar is better. 27.

Bharadvāja said: / As one grows old, the hair grows old; as one grows old, the teeth grow old; / the eyes and ears also grow old, but craving alone does not grow old. 28.

Just as a needle brings the thread together through the cloth, / even so is craving ordained as the needle of the thread of saṃsāra. 29.

Just as a horn on a deer's body grows as it grows, / [so] craving is boundless, irresistible, ever bringing sorrow, / and full of unrighteousness; therefore, one should shun it. 30.

Gautama said: / Being content, who cannot live even on fruits? / Everyone plunges into difficulties solely through greed for the sense objects. 31.

All prosperities are his whose mind is content; / for one whose feet are covered with shoes, is not the earth as if covered in leather? 32.

The happiness of those of tranquil mind who are satisfied with the nectar of contentment— / whence could that happiness belong to those greedy for wealth and of untranquil mind? 33.

Viśvāmitra said: / If a desire succeeds for one who desires desire, / then another desire pierces him again like an arrow. 34.

Never is desire extinguished through the enjoyment of desires; / like a fire [fed] with clarified butter, it only blazes up all the more. 35.

Desiring desires out of greed, a man does not thrive in happiness; / having reached the shade of a tree, a man desires a mansion. 36.

The one who lives alone in the forest has fulfilled his purpose, / not the king who enjoys this earth surrounded by four oceans. 37.

Jamadagni said: / A great one who, though capable of accepting gifts, increases his austerity [instead], / does not [need to perform] austerity: his [merit] is produced a thousandfold. 38.

For those who are capable of accepting gifts but desist from acceptance, / the very same worlds that belong to givers belong to those non-receivers. 39.

Arundhatī said: / Just as a lotus fiber remains constantly within the stalk all around, / even so does craving, without beginning or end, ever reside in the body. 40.

Which is hard to abandon for the foolish, which does not age as one ages, / which is a disease that ends only with life—he who abandons that craving has happiness. 41.

Caṇḍa said: / Since these great lords, strong though they are, fear a fierce gift / as if they were weak, so too do I fear it. 42.

Paśumukha said: / Whatever the wise who are ever devoted to righteousness practice, / that alone should be done by an intelligent man wishing his own welfare. 43.

Īśvara said: / Having spoken thus and abandoned those fruits containing gold, / all the seers of firm vows went elsewhere. 44.

Then, wandering about, they saw a very large lake / crowded on all sides with lotus beds, O fair-complexioned lady. 45.

At that time, the wandering mendicant Śunomukha arrived in that region; / accompanied by him, all the great seers bathed there. 46.

Having stepped down into it, lotus stalks were gathered by them; / placing them on the shore of the lake, they performed the holy water-rite. 47.

Then, emerging from that water and assembling together, / not seeing those lotus stalks, they spoke these words: 48.

The seers said: / By which evil-doer have all those lotus stalks been stolen / from us who are afflicted with hunger, O lords of sages? 49.

Suspecting one another, those best of the twice-born questioned each other; / they all took oaths according to rule, O beautiful lady. 50.

Kaśyapa said: / May he eat anything, may he misappropriate a deposit, / may he incur [the guilt of] false testimony, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 51.

Vasiṣṭha said: / May he engage in sexual intercourse outside the fertile period, especially with another's wife; / may he be an [uninvited] guest of one and all, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 52.

Bharadvāja said: / May he be cruel and arrogant because of prosperity; / may he be envious and slanderous, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 53.

Viśvāmitra said: / May he be constantly addicted to lust, may he engage in sexual intercourse by day, / and may he be devoted to base deeds, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 54.

Jamadagni said: / May he give a maiden to an old man, may he become the husband of an outcaste woman, / may he constantly be a usurer, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 55.

Gautama said: / May he accept a gift of sheep, may he engage in selling horses, / may he censure his teacher, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 56.

Atri said: / May that evil-minded one constantly disrespect mother and father; / may he consult a śūdra on matters of righteousness, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 57.

Arundhatī said: / May she eat before her husband, and likewise sleep [before him], / a woman of wicked conduct, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 58.

Caṇḍa said: / May she be contrary to her husband, and may she hate righteousness, / and may she be devoted to hating virtuous people, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 59.

Paśumukha said: / May he fall into servitude to another constantly in birth after birth, / bereft of all rites of righteousness, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 60.

Śunomukha said:
“May he study the Vedas in accordance with proper rule, be a householder devoted to guests, / and constantly speak truth—he who steals the lotus stalks!”

The seers said:
“What you have made into an oath is desirable for the twice-born! / By you was the theft of the lotus stalks committed against all of us, O Śunomukha!”

Śunomukha said:
“Indeed, by me were all these lotus stalks taken, O twice-born ones, / wishing to hear of dharma! Know me to be Puraṃdara [Indra]!
”

“Through your lack of greed, imperishable worlds have been won, O best of sages! / Request an auspicious boon, everything indeed without doubt!”

The seers said:
“Whatever man, having come here, fasts for three nights, remains pure, / performs his ritual ablution, satisfies the ancestors, and performs a śrāddha with composed mind—

may the merit arising from all sacred fords be his, O Puraṃdara! / May he not meet a downward path, and may he rejoice with the gods!” / Having said, “So be it,” Śakra then vanished right there.

Thus ends the two hundred and fifty-fifth chapter, named ‘Description of the Māhātmya of the Ṛṣitīrtha,’ in the First Prabhāsa-kṣetra-māhātmya of the Seventh Section, the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand verses.