Skandapurana 2.2.23

Nārada said:

To the gatekeeper, [Nārada said]: “The royal seer Indradyumna of great renown,

a universal monarch and foremost of Vaiṣṇavas, has arrived to see the Creator.

Let him go before him, if you consent.”

Addressed thus, Maṇikodara spoke again to Nārada:

“Master, this one who has arrived with you is indeed not understood to be an ordinary person.

Where you see the guardians of the directions, the ancestors, and the lords of the manvantaras,

there this mortal dweller might indeed take his stand; such is his valour!

Go yourself to the lotus-born [Brahmā], inform him, and then bring him in.

He who stands at the entrance of the assembly hall shall enter along with the guardians of the directions.

The four-faced Lord is one-pointed in mind toward the singer.

We who are stationed at the door must certainly wait for the right moment.

No anger should be directed toward me, a servant of yours and of your father.”

Thus spoken to, Nārada went to Brahmā, the lord of the worlds;

bowing down with an eight-limbed prostration, he reported the lord of the earth.

Then, with a side glance, he indicated the admission of Indradyumna;

the Lord did not say anything, because his attention was fixed on the singing.

His mind was captivated with delight by the music of the celestial singer.

Understanding the gesture, Nārada then

brought in the best of kings, Indradyumna, who was closely observed by Śakra and the others.

Seeing from afar the Grandfather, the creator of the worlds,

the king considered him, O best of the twice-born, to be Hari in wooden form visibly manifest.

Very slowly the king advanced, bowing down with folded hands,

praising, bending low, prostrating, walking with steps faltering from awe;

at a little distance the king stood, by Nārada's direction.

Then, listening to the holy deed of the lord of the ocean's daughter being sung,

the four-faced one remained for a moment, O bulls among the twice-born,

being fanned on both flanks by Sāvitrī and Śāradā,

and praised by the Vedas who bore pure bodies.

Arranging the cycle of the yugas through kalās, kāṣṭhās, blinks of an eye, and the rest—

for those who have reached whose world there is neither old age, birth, nor death, nor alteration of form and the like,

nor indeed mental anguishes and physical illnesses;

where there are no manvantaras, nor cycles of yugas,

nor ends of kalpas—he, the Supreme Lord visibly manifest,

spoke to that king at the conclusion of the song, as though smiling:

“O Indradyumna of great courage, you are visibly dear to the Lord!

The world named Satya, difficult for others to attain, is known to you.

Desiring arrival here, sages whose sins have vanished

and who are steadfast in austerity remain until the dissolution of all elements.

For among creatures created in the fourteen worlds, whatever

wondrous things exist such as consciousness—he indeed is the refuge of all of them.”

Although knowing his business, honoring the best of kings,

the Grandfather, supremely pleased, said to Indradyumna:

“For what purpose have you come here? Speak that which is in your heart.

When I am seen, immortality is not difficult to attain; what is it that is desired?”

Indradyumna said:

“O Inner Ruler, Lord, whence could there be anything unknown to you?

Nevertheless, Master, the question you ask is compassion itself toward me.

Placing your command upon my head, as spoken by your son,

a thousand sacrifices were offered by me; at the end of them, bearing a wooden body,

the Lord, ruler of the past, future, and present, manifested himself.

Looking upon me solely through the power of the wealth of your grace,

the lotus-eyed one was of such a nature; because of which I have come to your world.

For whom a temple has been begun by me, O god—if you yourself

go there, O Lord, and install the divine Jagannātha,

your grace toward me will indeed bear fruit, O Creator of the world!

For this purpose, O Master of the universe, now along with Nārada

I have come to your world to see the pair of your lotus feet.”

Be gracious to me and do this, for you alone are the Lord of the Universe (Jagannātha).

You alone are that Lord of the Universe; there is no distinction between the two of you, O all-pervading Lord.

You are the one to be consecrated and the consecrator; you are the one to be known and the one who makes known.

Jaimini said:

At the conclusion of this entreaty, the great sage Durvāsas,

having bowed down with a prostration of all eight limbs, stood with joined palms,

and, humble through modesty, spoke to the Creator, the teacher of the worlds:

“O all-pervading Lord, held back at the entrance of the gate by the doorkeeper,

the guardians of the quarters, along with the ancestors, and likewise the lords of the manvantaras,

have been waiting for a long time like wretched folk, O source of the worlds.

Therefore give the command, so that they may behold your lotus-like feet.”

Hearing that speech of Durvāsas, the god of gods then,

laughing aloud, uttered these words: “This is not their occasion at all.

Do they vie with Indradyumna, succumbing to the sway of delusion?

This king is liberated while living, his heap of karmic sins destroyed.

He is the fifth in descent from my lineage, a Vaiṣṇava devoted to Viṣṇu.

For these [gods] attained their status through action for the sake of enjoying pleasure.

These deities, performing austerity while praying for arrival here,

have come by my grace into my worship.

Even so, permitted by you, let them come to have my darśana.”

Then those gods entered at the word of Durvāsas.

From afar they bowed to Brahmā, near the singers,

[and to] King Indradyumna who was conversing with joined palms.

Looking with a side-glance upon those bowed guardians of the quarters, the Lord of the Universe

favored them, speaking respectfully to Indradyumna:

“O King, truly a temple was built by you for the presence of the Lord.

Neither that time, nor that kingdom, nor your lineage remains now, O King.

During this interval of musical singing, a great amount of time of yours has elapsed.

For a manvantara consists of seventy-one divine yugas.

Your lineage has also been cut off; crores of rulers of the earth have passed away.

The final deity and the temple—these two alone remain here.

It is now the first yuga of the second Manu, Svārociṣa.

For one dwelling here in my presence, there is neither death nor old age,

nor change of the seasons, nor the maturing effects of time.

Therefore go to the earth, O king of kings, and to the deity and the temple,

establish your connection with it, and return swiftly.

Or rather, I shall set out right on your heels.

Having gone to the earth ahead of me, while you make ready

the abundant provisions, O fortunate one, in that very time I will come.”

Having thus instructed Indradyumna, the blessed Grandfather

spoke to the gods standing before him with their necks bowed in humility,

with hands joined in reverence, filled with awe, their gazes fixed on his feet.

The Blessed One spoke with an affectionate, deep voice, O twice-born ones:

“For what reason have all you dwellers of heaven arrived simultaneously?

State what business of yours is to be performed by me, without delay.”

Jaimini said:

Having heard the words of the Creator, the gods, free from agitation,

all rejoiced and replied to the blessed Grandfather.

The gods said:

“The one who was previously worshipped by us on the Blue Mountain, made of sapphire—

how has he disappeared, O God, and now, bearing a wooden body,

appeared at the conclusion of King Indradyumna's sacrifice?

To learn the reason for this, to your lotus feet

we have come here to worship; be gracious and tell us that.”

When this was said by the gods, the blessed lotus-seated deity [said]:

“This is a secret, O gods, which was not declared to anyone previously.

Since you have all come together after a long time and asked,

therefore I shall tell you the supreme secret of the gods.

In the previous parārdha, O gods, Janārdana,

taking a body made of sapphire, did not abandon the sacred field of glorious Puruṣottama.

Now, however, the second half of my life has arrived,

in the Śvetavārāha Kalpa, during the time of the Manu named Svāyambhuva.

This period is indeed current, the morning of the very first day.

This god, in a wooden form in the middle of the worlds,

the Lord, will remain, honouring the measure of my lifespan.

This Blessed One is my own self; I am made of him, O gods.

There is nothing between the two of us in this world of moving and unmoving things.

He who in the middle of the Milk Ocean, on Śvetadvīpa, upon a couch,

lies observing that yogic sleep, Puruṣottama—

he is the root, the origin of the worlds. His hairs, indeed, / are named the wish-fulfilling trees, marked with the conch and the discus.

This tree, situated in their midst, is presided over by consciousness, O gods;

the True Person has arisen of himself in the water of the ocean.

Janārdana, having a wooden body, in order to enjoy the pleasures of the three worlds,

cultivated through the yoga of devotion across many thousands of births,

was prayed to by me formerly for the destruction of dreadful worldly existence,

with a mind distressed by repeated creation, dissolution, and maintenance.

For the destruction of all karmas, for the total liberation of the worlds,

even without the difficult yogas of concentration and meditation,

the Blessed One, Puruṣottama, became manifest for the sake of liberation.

His body is concealed; one should not scrutinize his sacred field.

According to the measure of the subject's perception, as he is seen, just so is he;

the god grants the four aims of life according to however one conceives of him.

With the mass of their sins destroyed by his darśana, by degrees on earth

men become pure-souled and recipients of liberation."

Jaimini said:

Hearing this nectar of words from the Lotus-Born [Brahmā],

the delighted gods reflected with overjoyed inner selves:

"Leaving behind this fleeting divinity and going to the earth,

let us worship the god in this excellent sacred field, fully self-controlled."

Seeing the gods with faces blooming with joy, the Grandfather [said]:

"The Lord who has become visible to bestow grace on Indradyumna,

the image of his that has arrived here, will speak of his own accord;

the Blessed One, fond of his devotees, will grant many boons.

In order to consecrate the All-Pervading One in the temple of Indradyumna,

I too will go; you must go there indeed.

Let Indradyumna go ahead to gather the materials for the consecration;

you, whose terms of office are expired, be his assistants there.

The first manvantara has indeed passed now, O gods;

going there together with Indradyumna, O best of gods,

he shall maintain ownership of the temple and the images.

Therefore, having collected the provisions, accompanied by helpers, he now

on the earth, even from the remembrance of his lineage and connections—

by my command, the Padmanidhi will go with [him] to the earth

in preparation for all the items for the consecration of the Blessed One."

Indradyumna too, his soul delighted upon seeing the glory of Brahmā, O twice-born,

filled with great wonder, bowed down to the Teacher of the World;

placing his command upon his head, along with the gods whose offices had expired,

approved by the Ordainer, he came to the earth, O brahmins.

Thus ends the twenty-third chapter in the Puruṣottamakṣetra-māhātmya, in the second Vaiṣṇava Section of the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the dialogue of the sage Jaimini. (23)