Skandapurana 2.2.5

Jaimini said:
With hearts dispassionate, the two, having abandoned the company of courtesans and the like, / meditating on Viṣṇu with their minds, both observing the vow of pure food, / 1
reached in a short time the abode of Hari on the Blue Mountain. / Having bathed in the waters of the king of sacred fords as prescribed by rule, / 2
standing at the temple gateway and bowing down with all eight limbs, / looking for the Lord, O brahmins, they did not see [him] then. / 3
With pale faces, not seeing the God, distressed with anxiety, / they undertook a fast until they should receive darśana of the Lord. / 4
Praising the sin-destroying name of the Lord, / in the third watch of the night they saw a single light. / 5
Then the two of them, steadfast, fasted for three more days; / in the middle of the seventh night, they saw the Lord. / 6
Hearing the praises of the gods, they acquired divine knowledge; / their slough of sins cast off, they saw the God face to face, / 7
holding conch, discus, and mace in hand, adorned with divine ornaments, / with lotus feet placed on the back of jewel-encrusted sandals, / 8
with eyes like blooming white lotuses, a serene countenance, all-pervading, / embracing with his left arm Lakṣmī who stood at his left side, / 9
taking the prepared betel leaf offered by Śrī. / Some [maidens] held jewelled canes in their hands, others had chowries in hand; / 10
some, rich in youth and well adorned, held with their own hands / lamps of fragrant oil and small lamps with jewelled wicks; / 11
behind [him], a radiant [maiden] held an umbrella made of jewels; / another, holding near his face an incense burner well-perfumed with black aloe, / mocked Pramlocā with the beauty of her form. / Bestowing grace with his playful, curly-haired glance upon the gods before him / 13
who, with hands folded in reverent salutation and necks bowed, praised him individually; / and with a smile upon the divine hosts of perfected ones and sages, Sanaka and the rest; / 14
and upon Nārada and other gandharvas enchanting with divine songs, / lending his ear in listening, compassionate in mere sport; / 15
and upon the foremost Vaiṣṇavas such as Prahlāda meditating upon his true form before him, / absorbing their minds in his own form; / 16
manifesting his universal cosmic form by means of the gods and others / reflected in the Kaustubha jewel gleaming on his chest; / 17
standing beneath a shower of divine flowers raining down from above; / beholding the multitude of apsarases, whose beauty had faded in the presence of Śrī, / 18
[performing] various, ever-alluring movements of the limbs; / having seen him of divine playful sports, the two, the brahmin and the kṣatriya, / 19
became in an instant masters of all branches of learning, O brahmins. / Having circumambulated the Lord of gods three times, both with folded hands, / bowing with prostration of all eight limbs, they praised him, filled with joy. / 20
Puṇḍarīka said:
Salutations to you, support of the universe, cause of creation, maintenance, and destruction! / O Nārāyaṇa, salutations to you, Supreme Self, supreme refuge! / 21
You alone are the ultimate reality, free from arising and passing away; / those endowed with the eye of meditation know you to be the embodiment of eternal bliss. / 22
You are pure consciousness, Lord of the worlds, the foundation, higher than the highest; / how indeed can those of foolish heart know you, the utterly pure? / 23
Their minds bewildered by the craving for desires and wealth, intensely miserable, / weary on the path of coming and going—when do they ever partake of happiness? / 24
Take pity on me, O Lord, who am wretched, who have sought refuge, / foolish, a performer of evil deeds, fallen into the ocean of worldly existence. / 25
What other kinsman like you exists in the cosmic egg, O Lord, / who, regardless of his own obligations, is compassionate toward the wretched and shelterless? / 26
Save [me], O ocean of mercy, who am continually caused / to experience suffering due to wandering through high and low, like a bucket on a waterwheel! / 27
Those fools who worship you with an eye to acquisition and preservation, / though you bestow effortless liberation, are utterly deluded by your māyā. / 28

Your name, 'Nārāyaṇa', even if chanted casually,

is greater than yourself, O Lord of the universe, as the sole means to the four goals of life. / 29

You grant those various perfections through those various individual sacrifices,

[yet] you alone, O Lord, are the refuge of those fallen into the ocean of worldly existence. / 30

Having boarded the boat of knowledge, with the oar of compassion in hand,

you alone are able, O Lord, to lead the unconscious one to the farther shore of the ocean of saṃsāra,

when meditated upon with undivided devotion.

Those other gods who bestow liberation, established in the scriptures, / 32

truly lead [one] to devotion to you, which is an Agastya to the ocean of suffering. / 33

Therefore be pleased with me, O Blessed One; grant firm devotion to your lotus feet, O Lord,

by which I may cross this terrible and very impassable ocean of existence, even though devoid of the exertion born of eight-limbed yoga. / 34

I have no need of these heaps of righteousness, wealth, and desire, grasped by the foolish, which are trivial and yield little happiness. / Command, O Worshipful One, through the contemplation of your two lotus feet, my immersion in an ocean of dense and ever-increasing bliss! / 35

Having thus praised [him], the brahmin, near the lotus feet of the Lord of the universe,

fell down, saying, 'Save me, O Kṛṣṇa!' with a voice choked with tears.

Rising again, he stood with folded hands, praising [him]. / 36

Ambarīṣa said:

Be pleased, O God, the Self of all, of countless heads and arms!

O one of countless noses, eyes, hands, and feet, salutations to you! / 37

You transcend the thirty-six principles; you are free from phenomenal existence, yet the cause of phenomenal existence.

O abode of the fourfold universe, O cosmic-formed one, salutations to you! / 38

Having one foot, and having three feet, having sacred waters at your feet, stepping through intermediate space,

from whose foot the Gaṅgā arose and purifies the three worlds; / 39

whose name indeed, when recited, cleanses sins such as the murder of a brahmin

and bestows all auspiciousness—salutations to him of auspicious nature! / 40

O God, even through the praise of your name all perfections arise.

Out of eager wonder indeed do the wise, endowed with intellect, seek you. / 41

O Lord, the water of your feet removes torment through taking refuge [in it];

for me, who am overcome by the threefold suffering, make devotion firm here. / 42

For me, who have no other master, there is nothing else to be prayed for today.

Bowing down, O Jagannātha, I pray to you a thousandfold:

The seed of all human goals lies in your lotus feet.

As long as I maintain my breath, may my devotion remain steadfast.

Through that devotion by which the Grandfather fashioned this creation,

and Rudra dissolves the universe, and Lakṣmī bestows sovereignty—

O compassionate one to the wretched, with an undivided mind I pray for that devotion.

In this exceedingly firm mire of beginningless ignorance, extremely hard to cross,

for one submerged, O Jagannātha, unsupported and perishing,

there is no other refuge than devotion to you, possessing great majesty.

The conflicting paths of Śruti, Smṛti, and the rest are causes of confusion;

without devotion to you, these are incapable of functioning effectively.

Having no other refuge, O Lord, take pity on me, O omnipresent one!"

While praising thus joyfully near the lotus feet of Jagannātha,

he fell to the ground like a stick, saying repeatedly, "Be gracious!"

Then all those deities, having praised and worshiped Keśava,

delighted by the playful side-glance of his, departed once again to heaven.

Then, their eyes opened, Puṇḍarīka and Ambarīṣa,

deluded by the illusory power of Viṣṇu, thought that what they had seen was a dream.

For, having seen that divine play directly with their fleshy eyes,

the two of them, having returned to human consciousness, [saw] him seated upon a divine throne:

resembling a dark-blue raincloud, with large eyes like blossoming lotuses;

with crimson lips, a beautiful nose, adorned with divine earrings;

bearing the conch, discus, mace, and lotus, wearing a garland of forest flowers;

with a broad chest, a lovely necklace, radiant with a priceless crown;

his chest marked by the Śrīvatsa and Kaustubha, adorned with divine armlets;

with long-reaching arms, intent upon protecting the wretched and afflicted;

fastened with a golden cord having a jewel at the center knot;

wearing divine yellow garments, adorned with divine garlands and perfumes;

seated upon a golden lotus-seat, embraced in every limb by Śrī;

dispelling the affliction of those who surrender to him, a boundless ocean of nectar;

granting the fruit of all desires, a fully blossomed wishing tree.

On his right side they beheld Halāyudha,

by whose great strength the Lord sustains the cosmic egg—
that Bala, the king of serpents, adorned with seven hoods,

as white as the towering peak of Kailāsa, radiant with earrings,

richly adorned with a variegated forest-garland, wearing a divine dark-blue mantle,

his lotus eyes continually rolling, intoxicated with wine,

with a curved back and an elevated chest, his body coiled,

with four arms resplendent with the conch, discus, mace, and lotus,

splendid with various ornaments, destroying the sins of those who bow.

Between the two stood the auspicious Subhadrā, reddish like saffron,

the dwelling place of all beauty, bowed down to by all the gods,

Lakṣmī, who abides in the lotus heart of the Lord of Lakṣmī, standing separately,

the goddess holding a boon-bestowing lotus, adorned with divine attire and ornaments,

a wish-fulfilling creeper for the surrendered, destroying all sins,

rescuing those submerged in the ocean of worldly existence, the savior of the gods.

On the left side of Viṣṇu, they saw the excellent discus,

fashioned from the end of the log, O brahmins, blazing with golden portions.

Having seen Viṣṇu manifested in a fourfold form, the two—the brahmin and the kṣatriya—

at the time of sunrise, deemed their toil to have borne fruit.

Remembering that dream-like divine play, they were then filled with wonder:

"This is not a wooden image; it is the absolute Brahman manifested in person!"

And the two placed their faith in the words of the brahmins who had assembled:

"Where are we two, great sinners, destined to undergo hellish torments?

And where is this vision of Viṣṇu, surrounded by gods?

Though we were foolish, proficiency in the eighteen sciences [has arisen in us];

therefore, there is no delusion: the knowledge declared by them is true.

What they said—that the wooden Brahman situated on the shore of the king of sacred fords,

shining at the root of the banyan tree, upon being seen liberates a living being—

that indeed is this Jagannātha, manifested in four forms!

Whenever he descends to earth, he manifests in fourfold form."

"Then, keeping ourselves alive, both of us shall stay in his presence;

turning our backs on trivial desires, we shall not go anywhere else." 74

Having resolved thus, O sages, devoted to Viṣṇu,

constantly chanting the name of Nārāyaṇa, they both attained liberation. 75

Jaimini said:

In this context has indeed been told this secret that destroys sins.

Those who hear the account of Puṇḍarīka and Ambarīṣa, 76

and constantly recite it filled with supreme joy,

go to the abode of Viṣṇu, filled with supreme joy.

With their impurities washed away, they too go to the abode of Viṣṇu. 77

Thus ends the fifth chapter in the dialogue between the sage Jaimini [and the sages], in the Praise of Puruṣottamakṣetra, in the second Vaiṣṇava Section, in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses. 5