Skandapurana 2.1.27

Now, the description of Śrī Veṅkaṭācala as the receptacle of all holy sacred fords:

The seers said:

On the most holy Veṅkaṭa mountain, which destroys all distress,

how many sacred fords are there indeed, O Sūta, best of Purāṇa reciters?

Tell me their number, and how many are the foremost there;

and tell me which among them are the most foremost, O best of sages.

And how many foremost ones are there here that bestow delight in true righteousness?

Which ones here bestow knowledge, and bestow devotion and dispassion?

Which ones here bestow liberation? Tell these to me, O you of good vows!

Śrī Sūta said:

There are sixty-six crores of holy sacred fords here on this best of mountains;

one thousand and eight among them are foremost, O you of good vows.

There are one hundred and eight here that bestow delight in true righteousness;

and they are distinct from, and foremost among, the thousands.

Among those one hundred and eight, sixty bestow devotion and dispassion.

Now, the determination of the times for bathing in the six sacred fords beginning with Svāmipuṣkariṇī:

Here, on the crest of the Veṅkaṭa mountain, precisely six bestow liberation:

Svāmipuṣkariṇī, and after that Viyadgaṅgā;

then Pāpavināśa, and next Pāṇḍutīrtha;

the Kumāradhārikātīrtha, and after that the sacred ford of Tumburu.

In the month of Kumbha, on the full moon, when there is conjunction with the Maghā asterism,

all sacred fords go to Kumāradhārikā, O twice-born ones.

He who bathes there, O chiefs of brahmins, obtains the fruit of a Rājasūya sacrifice.

And liberation will occur there; there should be no doubt in this matter.

There is a rite of gifting food there, along with a sacrificial fee, O brahmins,

on the full moon day of the bright fortnight conjoined with Uttarāphalgunī.

When the sun stands in Pisces, all the sacred fords everywhere come to Tumbutīrtha

in the afternoon; one who has bathed there is not born again.

One should cause the investiture of the sacred thread and marriage to be performed through the gift of wealth.

When the sun enters Aries, conjoined with the asterism Citrā,

on the full moon day, they likewise come to Viyadgaṅgā.

Having bathed there, a man immediately obtains the fruit of a hundred sacrifices.

Gold should be given there, and especially the gift of a bride in marriage.

When the sun is in Taurus, O brahmins, on the twelfth day, the day of Hari,

whether in the bright or the dark fortnight, even when conjoined with Tuesday,

the Gaṅgā and other waters in the three worlds come to Pāṇḍutīrtha.

Having bathed there and given a cow, one is freed from all impediment.

And in the bright fortnight of Āśvina, on the seventh day, a Sunday,

conjoined with Uttarāṣāḍhā, there is likewise the destruction of sin;

or coming on the twelfth day conjoined with Uttarābhādrapadā,

having given a Śālagrāma stone and bathed in accordance with the rule,

one is freed from all sins born of hundreds of millions of births.

In the month of Dhanus, in the bright fortnight, on the twelfth day at dawn,

all sacred fords come into the water of the Svāmipuṣkariṇī.

Having bathed there, a man instantly attains liberation; there is no doubt.

Only he by whom religious merit alone was earned previously in thousands of births,

will obtain that ritual ablution, O brahmins, not any other whose soul is unrefined.

A gift should be made there according to one's wealth, in accordance with the rule;

one should make a gift of a Śāligrāma stone, and give a cow especially.

Now begins the description of the special excellence of hearing the Purāṇa.

Those who constantly listen to the world-purifying narrative of Viṣṇu,

they indeed become devotees of Viṣṇu in this mortal realm.

If one is unable constantly to hear the world-purifying narrative,

for an hour, or half of that, or for a moment, the true narrative of Viṣṇu,

the man who hears it with devotion indeed has no misfortune.

Whatever fruit is in all sacrifices, whatever fruit is in all gifts,

a man attains that fruit by hearing the Purāṇa even once.

In the Kali age especially, apart from hearing the Purāṇa,

there is no higher duty for men; there is nothing greater that grants liberation.

Hearing the Purāṇa and chanting the name of Viṣṇu are supreme;

both indeed are the two great fruits on the tree of merit for men.

Drinking nectar with effort, one alone may become free from old age and death;

the nectar of the narrative of Viṣṇu makes one's entire family free from old age and death.

Now begins the description of the reciter of the Purāṇa being worthy of worship by all.

Whether a boy, a young man, or an old man, whether poor or even unfortunate,

the knower of the Purāṇa is always to be saluted; he is to be honored by those of good deeds.

One should never form a low opinion of a knower of the Purāṇa,

from whose mouth the uttered speech is a wish-fulfilling cow for embodied beings.

To those who sink down having been born again and again in thousands of crores of existences,

he gives non-return; who else is a higher guru than him?

When the Purāṇa-reciting brahmin has mounted the seat of Vyāsa,

he should not bow to anyone until the conclusion of the discourse.

Not in a place crowded with wicked people, not in one surrounded by Śūdras and beasts,

not in a gambling hall, should the wise man speak the meritorious narrative.

In a good village crowded with good people, in a good sacred field, in a temple of a deity,

or on a holy riverbank, the wise man should speak the meritorious narrative.

Endowed with faith and devotion, having no longing for other matters,

restraining their speech, pure, and undistracted, the listeners partake of merit.

The lowest of men who listen to the holy narrative without devotion,

they have no fruit of merit, but sorrow in birth after birth.

Those, however, who worship the Purāṇa with offerings such as betel

and hear the narrative with devotion are neither poor nor sinners.

Those men who go elsewhere while the narrative is being recited,

In another birth, their wives and riches are destroyed. (40)

And those who listen to the purifying narration with their heads covered by turbans,

are born as children, sinful and lowest among men. (41)

Those who listen to the purifying narration while chewing betel,

eat the excrement of dogs and fall indeed into hell. (42)

And the hypocrites who listen to the narration seated upon an elevated seat,

after suffering endless hells, indeed become crows. (43)

And those who, seated in the vīrāsana posture or seated upon a throne,

listen to the noble narration, they indeed become arjuna trees. (44)

Those who listen without bowing down indeed become poison-trees;

likewise, those who listen lying down become pythons. (45)

He who listens to the narration seated on a level equal to the speaker's seat,

incurs a sin equal to defiling the Guru's bed and goes to hell. (46)

Those mortals who revile one learned in the Purāṇas and the noble narration that removes sin,

indeed become dogs for a hundred births. (47)

Those who speak insolently while the narration is being recited,

are born as donkeys, and after that, as chameleons. (48)

Men who never listen to the meritorious narration,

after suffering terrible hells, become wild boars. (49)

Those men who cause an obstruction while the narration is being recited,

after suffering hells for a crore of years, become village swine. (50)

Those best of men who applaud the narration being recited,

even without hearing [every word], attain the eternal, imperishable state. (51)

Those mortals who cause the meritorious Purāṇic narration to be heard,

remain in the realm of Brahmā for more than a hundred crores of kalpas. (52)

Those men who offer for the seat of the one learned in the Purāṇas

blankets, deerskins, garments, or even a couch, (53)

having reached the heavenly world and enjoyed desires as wished,

having dwelt in the worlds of Brahmā and others, attain the disease-free realm. (54)

And those who present a new, excellent thread for the Purāṇa,

become possessors of enjoyment and endowed with knowledge birth after birth. (55)

Those afflicted with major sins and those with minor sins

attain the supreme realm through merely listening to the Purāṇa. (56)

Then, having heard the māhātmya of the Veṅkaṭa mountain, those seers,

having worshipped Sūta, the best of Purāṇa reciters, endowed with the favor of Vyāsa,

in the proper manner, attained incomparable joy. (57)

Thus ends the twenty-seventh chapter, entitled 'Description of the Procedure for Listening to the Purāṇa Following the Conclusion of the Greatness of All Tīrthas, in the Śrīveṅkaṭācalamāhātmya, in the Second Vaiṣṇava Section, in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of Eighty-One Thousand Verses.' (27)