Skandapurana 2.2.31

Jaimini said:

Considering himself to have achieved his purpose, he should then proceed

to the Indradyumna Lake, which originated as part of the horse sacrifice,

on whose bank resides Hari in the form of Narasiṃha.

Having prayed to Narasiṃha, he should duly bathe there:

“O Narasiṃha, salutations to you, in whose excellent sacred field

the best of kings performed a thousand horse sacrifices!

By your grace, O Lord, I have come to bathe in the lake born from a part of that sacrifice

of Indradyumna; please grant me permission, O Lord!”

Then, having gone to the bank of the sacred ford and performed purification and sipping of water,

he should make anjali and pray, reciting this mantra:

“O [lake] whose surface of the earth was trampled by the hooves of ten million cows belonging to the horse sacrifice,

purifier of all, filled with their urine, froth, and the water of donation,

I have come to bathe in your auspicious water, which contains all sacred fords;

free [me] through this bath from sin arisen across thousands of previous births!”

Then, having entered inside, O twice-born ones, with the five Vāruṇa [mantras],

he should bathe and, standing within the water, recite the Aghamarṣaṇa three times:

“O sacred ford born from an auxiliary of the horse sacrifice, destroyer of all sins,

may the sin born of ten million births perish through bathing in you!”

Having uttered this mantra three times, O twice-born ones, he should bathe three times in that water;

with the Viṣṇugāyatrī, he should meditate upon Hari in the form of Narasiṃha.

The waters are called *nārāḥ* because they are the offspring of Nara;

and they were his first resting place (*ayana*); therefore, one should remember Hari in the waters.

A person should duly offer libations to the gods, the seers, and the ancestors;

then he should go to Narasiṃha, who faces west.

Having seen Śambhu, self-manifest or fashioned, or Hari facing west,

one is freed from sins arising from ten million births.

And he should worship that man-lion with the Atharvan mantra;

for long ago this king of mantras was established by Nārada.

By that very [mantra] was he worshipped for a long time by Indradyumna;

for the form of Narasiṃha, O twice-born ones, there is no other mantra equal to it,

by the mere utterance of which the Lion becomes pleased.

Even with a wooden body, he was consecrated by Brahmā with this [mantra].

With the previously mentioned articles of worship, one should worship the man-lion;

with red China-rose blossoms and other fragrant flowers,

one should anoint the man-lion with sandalwood, aloe, and camphor.

[He should offer] milk rice with white sugar and cow's ghee,

modakas containing camphor fragments, cooked in ghee,

saṃyāva sweets and cakes fried in ghee, as well as various kinds of fruits.

He should offer śāli rice mixed with sugar and curd.

Having seen, touched, bowed down to, and properly worshipped the man-lion,

a person obtains his various cherished desires; of this there is no doubt:

godhead, sovereignty over the immortals, or the state of a gandharva, O brahmins;

lordship, subjugation [of others], or even universal sovereignty.

Whatever he desires in his mind, that he unfailingly obtains.

The ritual of the Five Sacred Fords has thus been told to you who asked, O brahmins.

Having observed this [rite] for five days, never again into a body

composed of the five elements does a mortal enter, who keeps the vow and is devoted to Viṣṇu.

At dawn on the full moon day, moreover, in the water of the king of sacred fords,

having bathed according to the previously stated rule, of pure diet, his senses mastered,

a man lives by the vow of taking only one meal a day, for [the Lord's] pleasure,

as long as five days elapse, O best of brahmins.

Then, having entered the temple, seeing Puruṣottama upon the platform,

as well as Rāma and Subhadrā, he is freed from the sloughs of sin.

With fragrant water drawn from the well

that contains all sacred fords, whoever sees Hari being bathed on the full moon of Jyaiṣṭha,

no connection with sin shall take hold in his soul.

I shall tell the procedure for the performer of the festival; listen further, O sages:

Having had a sturdy and very beautiful platform constructed on the fourteenth day,

made of grass and wood, thickly coated with plaster, auspicious,

or else he should make one of stone that will endure for a long time, O best of brahmins.

For the bath of the god of gods, he should not practice deceit in expenditure.

It should be crowded with diverse kinds of trees, cooled by the southern wind,

constructed upon a grassy lawn [where] the waves of the sea surge,

adorned with an elevated canopy of great price and excellence;

he should make a thin covering for the darśana of the gods.

They arrive together with Brahmā for the ceremonial bath of the Lord of the world,

bringing the waters of the heavenly Gaṅgā adorned with pārijāta blossoms.

The brahmin seers and the thirty [gods], along with Brahmā, the all-pervading Lord,

bathe here [the Lord] stationed on the platform at the command of the Supreme Lord.

He is to be praised with shouts of 'Victory!' and with hymns of praise by the dwellers in heaven.

Therefore, the platform must be made adorned with garlands and chowries,

having arches made of charming silk cloths and garlands of various gems,

and sprinkled with fragrant incense, sweet-scented sandal-water.

Having thus established the platform, O brahmins, to its south,

drawing water from the well into jars made of gold,

he should consecrate them in the pavilion according to the rule found in scripture.

He should fill them with perfumed water [while reciting] the Pāvamānī hymn;

this rite is declared to take place in the middle of the night of the fourteenth day.

Slowly, slowly they should carry Hari, preceded by Halin;

brahmins, kṣatriyas, and vaiśyas, honored and respected by the king,

fanning [them] constantly with chowries and palm-leaf fans.

He should not remove that ointment applied earlier from the body of Viṣṇu,

so that his limbs may be well-nourished day after day by the fragrant paste;

thus it should be done with effort; an emaciated limb does not bestow nourishment.

Rejoicing, they should carry the Blessed One without negligence.

If through negligence there should be a fall of the enemy of Mura,

or of Bala, or of Subhadrā, it brings terror to the king and the realm.

Moreover, there is loss of progeny and great misery for those who drop [them].

Certain residence in hell will befall those wicked souls.

Deluded, [they think], 'How can this wooden image remain for long?'

Those who have no faith are indeed traitors to the Blessed One;

they go to hell, excluded from all religious acts.

In fools, atheists, ingrates, and ruined souls,

arguments of disbelief arise regarding religious duties.

For according to how much unseen destiny each person has, by that is he shaped.

At the end of that [destiny], his temples, images, and other works decay.

And this tree was not fashioned by anyone; it too grew of itself.

That which surely grants boons is not considered a mere fashioned image.

When an image is fashioned, even in former times, in the Manvantaras and the like,

as they pass away, there still increases among human beings and the gods—

O brahmins, among all the rulers of the earth—such devotion.

Indeed, in the Svārociṣa Manvantara the treasury of compassion became manifest.

And in the Vaivasvata Manvantara, in the twenty-seventh Caturyuga,

at the close of the Dvāpara age, both Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna arrived then.

Remaining here for three days engaged in observance,

having worshiped Madhusūdana with devotion and praised him, they went again to Dvārakā.

None know his true nature when they dwell in a human body;

avatāras of this Viṣṇu proceed age after age.

Through establishing dharma, O brahmins, they dissolve again into their own abode.

Formerly, Brahmā was addressed by him, and he by Brahmā mutually:

The Lord, assuming the form of wood, will remain until the end of a parārdha.

This Viṣṇu, contemplated in pure sattva, is always the giver of boons.

In proportion to a person's faith is their attainment of perfection.

A person of steady mind, a devotee whose faith is kept free from negligence,

obtains from him a very rare fruit corresponding to their effort.

Formerly, the whole deliverance of Ambarīṣa was recounted to you.

Therefore, in that Jagannātha whose true nature is the Supreme Self,

having established very firm devotion, dwell in Puruṣottama.

Therefore, with devotion this excellent platform of Śrī Kṛṣṇa must be reached,

and Subhadrā and Balabhadra too, attending upon them indeed like kings.

As parasols are raised and they are fanned with chowries,

with black agallochum incense filling the directions, which resound deeply,

with diverse musical instruments, when the hall is filled,

with the triple symphony of music, dance, and song properly conducted, radiant with rows of lamps,

when darkness has fallen, as the great festival swells for everyone,

the body of the Lord of Śrī being covered out of apprehension of mishap,

while strong silk and fine cloth are brought from afar,

as the Teacher of the worlds has his face turned upward due to the speed of movement,

the gods, turning their gazes, fearing he might ascend to heaven,

cried out: “Be victorious, Rāma! Kṛṣṇa! Victory, Bhadrā!”

Thus playfully the Lord, for the ritual bathing on the full moon of Jyaiṣṭha,

is carried to the region of the platform at midnight by brahmins and others.

The competitive cry of the gods, “I first!,” is heard in the sky,

along with divine kettledrums mingled with shouts of victory.

Then, having covered all the limbs of the manifestation of Brahman standing on the platform,

along with the secondary image, except for the face, with fine garments,

and having worshiped without an offering of food, using the articles of worship declared before,

with consecrated pitchers, preceded by the chanting of peace-mantras,

one should bathe the best of deities with the Samudrajyeṣṭhā mantra,

for the sake of accomplishing the purpose of those who watch and those who perform the bathing.

The men standing there who see him being bathed

shall never again undergo ceremonial bathing in the fluid of the womb.

Those who, filled with joy, witness the Lord’s Jyeṣṭha ceremonial bath,

with minds yearning for the sacred procession, do not sink in the ocean of worldly existence.

The beginningless accumulation of sins of men, committed knowingly or unknowingly,

goes to destruction that very moment for those witnessing Hari’s ceremonial bath.

Truly, truly, again I say truly, O best of the twice-born!

It pacifies all torments and destroys every impurity,

if the ceremonial bath of the Lord of Śrī on the full moon of Jyaiṣṭha is viewed with devotion.

Whatever sins there are that require expiation,

all of them perish for those beholding the ceremonial bath of Hari.

There is no action higher than this, providing liberation without effort:

namely, the ceremonial bath of Hari witnessed on the day of Jyeṣṭha's birth festival.

Bathing, gift-giving, austerity, ancestral rites, silent recitation, sacrifice, and the like—

such rites multiplied a crore of times, performed over a crore of lifetimes,

do not equal the merit of seeing the ceremonial bath of Hari. // 78

Whoever with devotion beholds Viṣṇu's ceremonial bath even in a single year,

does not grieve, O brahmins, here in the liberation from worldly existence. // 79

By him has sacrifice been offered with meritorious rites accompanied by abundant priestly fees given in faith;

great gifts have been given, and crores of twice-born [brahmins] have been fed. // 2.2.31.80

Indeed, śrāddhas have been performed by him crores of times at Gayāśīrṣa and other sacred places,

and austerities have been practiced at auspicious times, at sacred fords, and the like. // 81

Ablutions have been performed by him during auspicious conjunctions such as the Ardhodaya, at crores of sacred fords crores of times,

O brahmins, whoever beholds Hari's ceremonial bath! // 82

Truth, truth, and again truth I speak, O best of the twice-born:

there is no deed leading to higher good than this, established upon the path revealed by scripture. // 83

Indeed, whoever beholds Puruṣottama being bathed while standing on the dais

attains a hundredfold the merit of a ritual ablution, of this there is no doubt. // 84

And he who beholds Jagannātha standing on the dais, wet with bathing,

his heart moist with dense bliss, incurs no sin whatsoever. // 85

Whatever merit has been proclaimed in the act of beholding the ceremonial bath,

he attains every such fruit having seen Acyuta standing on the dais. // 86

Jagannātha alone stands there in three forms, O twice-born;

even the sight of the ceremonial bath of each one grants enjoyment and liberation. // 87

Whoever says, 'Be victorious, O Rāmabhadra! Be victorious, O Bhadrā!'

and utters with joy, 'Victory, O Kṛṣṇa, Jagannātha, victory!' // 88

at the time of the ablution, he indeed attains liberation, O best of the twice-born.

To those by whom preliminary consecrations and other rites were performed in that bathing ceremony, // 89

filled with faith and joy, he should bestow individual priestly fees,

and [offer] sweet food, garments, and ornaments to the brahmins. // 2.2.31.90

Filled with faith, he should bestow [gifts] and gratify the poor and helpless.

Those who have come to behold the ritual ablution are indeed liberated while living. // 91

The king should certainly honor them to the best of his ability, for the pleasure of Hari.

Seated on an auspicious throne, one should bathe with the remaining water of the ceremonial bath. // 92

Whether woman or man, I declare to you the merit thereof:

one afflicted by long-standing disease becomes sound in health, and he conquers untimely death. // 93

A sonless woman, one whose children have died, or even a barren woman obtains a son.

One becomes fortunate among all people, and a pauper becomes wealthy. // 94

A pregnant woman obtains a long-lived, highly virtuous son.

The fruit born of ritual ablution in all sacred fords such as the Gaṅgā is spoken of [thus]: // 95

the righteous soul certainly obtains the merit born of beholding the ceremonial bath. // 96

Thus ends the thirty-first chapter in the Puruṣottamakṣetramāhātmya of the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 31