Skandapurana 16.338

Īśvara said: / Then one should go, O great goddess, to the [liṅga] situated on the bank of the Devikā, / renowned as Jāleśvara, worshipped by gods and asuras. 1

In the Cākṣuṣa Manvantara, when the Dvāpara age arrived, / the liṅga situated on the bank of the Devikā became known by the name Jāleśvara. 2

It is worshipped by nāga maidens; mortal men do not see it. / Made of jewels of great splendour, having a radiance like the orb of the moon, / from the mere remembrance of that god, the sin of killing a brahmin is destroyed. 3

The goddess said: / How did that name Jāleśvara come to be, and at what time did it happen? 4

What virtues are proclaimed from residing together with the virtuous? / What worlds, and what merits [are attained]? Proclaim all that to me, O Lord. 5

Īśvara said: / Right here they cite this ancient traditional history: / the conversation between Nābhāga and Āpastamba, a treasury of austerities. 6

Formerly, the great seer Āpastamba, self-controlled, foremost among the twice-born, / fasting constantly, became a venerable master of self-restraint. 7

Constantly casting off anger, greed, delusion, and malice, / he entered into the pool of water in the midst of the river Devikā. 8

Knowing it well to be in the delightful Prabhāsa sacred field, dear to Śiva, / while he dwelt there, a long time then passed, 9

as he remained like a pillar through supreme meditation. / Then, at one time, fishermen came to that region. 10

Spreading out a very large net, they all hauled it in by force. / Then those Niṣādas, arrogant with strength, 11

pulled that son of Brahmā out of the water along with the large fish. / Seeing him blazing with austerities, the fishermen, overcome with fear, / bowed down with their heads and loudly spoke these words: 12

The Niṣādas said: / You should forgive us who have committed sin out of ignorance. / Or what pleasing task may be done for you today? Command that, O you of noble vows! 13

That sage, seeing that great slaughter made of the fish, / filled with supreme compassion, spoke in sorrow to the fishermen: 14

By what means could it be for me? Alas, all are intent upon their own self-interest, / since even the mind of the wise is devoted solely to its own good! 15

When even the wise, resorting to self-interest, remain established in meditation, / where then will the beings afflicted by suffering in this world go for happiness? 16

The person who wishes to enjoy exclusively [his own bliss while seeing others'] suffering, / him indeed those desiring liberation declare to be more sinful than the sinful. 17

What indeed could be the means for me whereby I, feeling the sorrow of others, / entering inside the living beings, might become an experiencer of all their sorrow? 18

Whatever good there is of mine, let that go to them; / and whatever evil has been done by them, let that come to me in its entirety. 19

Seeing the blind, the wretched, the crippled, the helpless, and the diseased, / he in whom compassion does not arise is a demon—such is my view. 20

Whoever, even though capable, does not protect living beings that have fallen into mortal danger / and are overcome with fear, incurs their sin. 21

They say that whatever happiness arises for afflicted people, / heaven or even final liberation is not worth a sixteenth part of that. 22

Therefore, abandoning these miserable, intensely suffering fish, / I shall not take even a single step, much less go to the abode of the thirty [gods]. 23

Īśvara said: / Hearing this speech of the seer, those fishermen, seized with agitation, / reported everything that had happened to Nābhāga. 24

Then Nābhāga also, having heard, in order to see that son of Brahmā, / swiftly went there together with his ministers and family priest. 25

Having duly worshipped that godlike sage, the king / said, 'Venerable one, tell me, what shall I do by your command?' 26

Āpastamba said: / Overcome with great exertion are the fishermen who live by distress. / Pay my price, O king, whatever you deem suitable. 27

Nābhāga said: / I give a hundred thousand as the price to the Niṣādas, / for the one called captive, O venerable one, just as the son of Brahmā says. 28

Āpastamba said: / I am not to be evaluated by you, O king, with hundreds of thousands. / Let a suitable price be given; consider together with your ministers. 29

Nābhāga said: / Let a crore be given as the price to the Niṣādas, O best of the twice-born. / If even this is [not] your price, then more shall be given. 30

Āpastamba said: / 'A crore or even more is not a worthy price for me, O king. / Let a fitting price be given; ponder it together with the brahmins.'

Nābhāga said: / 'Let half the kingdom or the whole of it be given to the Niṣādas. / This I consider the price, or what else do you think, O twice-born one?'

Āpastamba said: / 'I am not worth half the kingdom or the whole, O king. / Let a fitting price be given; ponder it together with the seers.'

Hearing those words of the great seer, Nābhāga was dejected; / afflicted with sorrow, he pondered together with his ministers and family priest.

Then a certain seer there, Lomaśa of great austerity, / spoke to Nābhāga: 'Do not fear, I shall satisfy that sage.'

Nābhāga said: / 'Declare the price of this great-souled sage, O fortunate one! / Deliver me, along with my kinsmen, clan, and relatives, from this [plight]!

The Lord Rudra could burn up the three worlds, both moving and unmoving— / how much more a base human being, wholly given over to worldly objects!'

Lomaśa said: / 'You are to be praised, O great king, and the best of the twice-born is worthy of the world's worship; / and cows are divine. Therefore, let a cow be given as the price for him.'

Hearing that speech, the king, together with his ministers and priest, / was overcome with great joy and addressed these words to the sage:

'Rise, rise, Lord! You are indeed purchased, of this there is no doubt! / This is the most suitable price for you, O best of sages!'

Āpastamba said: / 'Here I rise well pleased; I am rightly purchased, O king! / On earth I see no price equal to cows, the supreme purifier.

Cows should be circumambulated and worshipped constantly. / Goddesses and abodes of auspiciousness, they were created by the self-manifest [Brahmā].

Since the fire-sanctuaries of brahmins and the shrines of the deities / are purified by cow-dung, what entity is greater than that?

Cow-urine, cow-dung, milk, curd, and ghee— / the five purifiers from cows purify the entire world.

Cows in front of me always, cows behind me, / cows in my heart, and I live amidst cows.

A man chanting this mantra thus at the three twilights, self-restrained and pure, / is freed from all sins and goes to the heavenly world.

Cows should daily be provided with grass out of devotion. / He who takes food himself without doing so meets a wretched fate.

By him fires are rightly offered into, the ancestors are propitiated, / and the deities are worshipped—by him who offers daily food to cows.

The mantra: / "O daughter of Surabhī, goddess worshipped by the world, abiding in Viṣṇu's realm, / highly pleased, may you accept everything offered by me!"

By protecting calves, by scratching cows, / and by protecting the emaciated and distressed, a man is honoured in heaven.

Cows are declared to be the mortal's beginning, middle, and end; / and they always protect the nectar of milk and ghee for the deities.

Therefore cows should be gifted and worshipped constantly; / they are constructed as it were as a stairway to reach heaven.'

Hearing this supreme greatness of cows, those Niṣādas, / having bowed down to the great-souled Āpastamba, then spoke:

The Niṣādas said: / 'Conversation, darśana, touch, praise, and remembrance— / these are indeed purifying in the case of the virtuous: so have we heard.

Both conversation and darśana have been shared by you with us; / therefore grant your grace: let this cow be taken back [by the king].'

Āpastamba said: / 'I accept this cow on your behalf; freed from taint, / O Niṣādas, go to heaven along with the fish taken from the water!

If I see hell through producing delight in living beings / even by a censured act, that will indeed be living in heaven.

Whatever good deed may have been done by me through acts of mind, speech, or body— / by that, may all who are afflicted by suffering go to an auspicious destination!'

Then, by the grace of that great seer of cultivated soul, / through his word, the Niṣādas went to heaven along with the fish.

Seeing those who lived on fish departing for heaven together with the fish, / the king, with his ministers and servants, said this in astonishment:

'The virtuous, like water at a sacred ford, should be served by those seeking welfare; / even a moment's attendance upon them here never becomes fruitless.

One should always sit with the good; with the good one should engage in virtuous talk; / one should conduct oneself by the observance of the good; with the wicked one should have no dealings.

Through association with the good, these fish-catchers, together with the fish, / have attained heaven just like men who perform meritorious deeds.'

There the sage Āpastamba and high-minded Lomaśa / gratified that king with various boons he desired.

Then he chose an intellect devoted to dharma, which is very hard to obtain. / Saying, 'So be it,' the two of them praised that king with affection:

'Ah, fortunate are you, O king of kings, that your mind is devoted to dharma! / Dharma is very difficult to obtain for men, especially for rulers of the earth.

If a king seized by pride does not abandon his own duty, / then what man in the world could be superior to him?

Certain is rebirth for kings always, and delusion too is always certain; / and from delusion, hell is certain; therefore the wise disparage kingship.

Men greedy for sensory objects indeed value kingship highly, / but the wise see that very thing as resembling hell.

Therefore pride, which destroys both worlds, must not be indulged by you, / if you desire an eternal destination for yourself, O great king.'

Īśvara said: / Having spoken thus, the two great-souled ones went each to his own hermitage. / Nābhāga too, having obtained the boon, entered his city overjoyed.

This glory originating from the Devikā has been told to you, O goddess; / and Bhava [as] Jāleśvara was also established by the seer at that time.

Because the best of seers fell into the net of fishermen, / he is celebrated upon the surface of the earth under the name Jāleśvara. 73

Having bathed there, O great goddess, from worshipping Jāleśvara, / Āpastamba, Nābhāga, and the fishermen who lived on fish, 74

went to heaven along with the fish, by the power of Devikā. / On the thirteenth day of the bright half of the month of Caitra, 75

whoever offers a funeral cake to the ancestors has no end [to the merit]. / A gift of a cow should be given there to a brahmin who has mastered the Vedas; / and the māhātmya should be heard, and Jālakeśvara should be seen. 76

Thus ends the three hundred and thirty-eighth chapter, titled 'Description of the māhātmya of Jāleśvara' in the māhātmya of the river Devikā, in the first [part], the Māhātmya of Prabhāsakṣetra, in the seventh [section], Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, of the Skandapurāṇa comprising eighty-one thousand verses. 338