Skandapurana 2.3.6

Skanda said:

Where the skull slipped down from your hand, O Maheśvara,

tell me, O father, by your grace, the māhātmya of that sacred ford.

Śiva said:

This sacred ford is most secret, bowed to by gods and asuras,

where even a killer of a brahmin is purified merely by a ritual ablution.

Five sacred fords are located at the Kapālamocana [ford].

Ritual ablution, austerity, and giving there are all deemed imperishable.

Offering a funeral ball according to rule, one delivers the ancestors from hell.

This is declared an ancestral sacred ford, eight times superior to Gayā.

Through the offering of water with sesame seeds, the ancestors go to the highest heaven.

Steadfast for a day and night, devoted to recitation, concentrated in mind,

one's great desired perfection arises that very moment.

All rites for the next world [performed here] are unfailing;

at the Kapālamocana sacred ford there is nothing superior for ancestral rites.

Skanda said:

Where is the Brahmatīrtha, and what kind of fruit does it bear?

And who dwells there? Tell me, O father, out of grace.

Śiva said:

Once, while Prajāpati was seated on the lotus from Viṣṇu's navel,

Madhu and Kaiṭabha, having snatched the Vedas from his lotus mouth, departed.

Then, rising from his couch, the lotus-born [Brahmā], wishing to create,

could not create in the world without the sacred scripture, his memory stolen away.

Then, having gone to Badarikā, which is protected by Hari,

he bowed down and praised the eternal Lord.

Then, out of the pool arose the horse-headed one bearing his own weapons,

wearing yellow garments, white, four-armed, with very proud eyes.

Most wondrous, with manifest fierce eyes, flashing with moving streaks like a mass of clouds,

eclipsing all brilliance with his own radiance, filled with compassion, he appeared before Brahmā.

Beholding him, Brahmā, filled with wonder, bowed down and, with a gracious look, offered praise:

Brahmā said:

Obeisance to the one whose navel is a lotus; obeisance to you, the refuge of Kamalā.

Obeisance to you who wear a broad forest garland, the dwelling-place of Lakṣmī.

Obeisance to the brother of knowledge, dwelling in the secret cave [of the heart],

to Hṛṣīkeśa, the peaceful; obeisance to you, the Blessed Lord.

To the bearer of the Śārṅga bow, who assumed a body to protect his devotees,

to the destroyer of endless afflictions, the mace-bearer, the supreme spirit, obeisance.

To him whose deed is the cessation of the varied unreality of saṃsāra,

to the protector of all living beings, to Viṣṇu, the victorious, obeisance.

Obeisance to the all-sustaining one, in whom all worldly states of the guṇas have ceased,

whose fame is the steady state free from the pride of the foremost gods and asuras.

Thus addressed by the lord of gods, the great lord, residing in the heart and knowing all through limitless deeds,

instantly went between [the worlds], bound the two enemies of the gods, and effortlessly slew them.

Then, taking the sacred scripture, he came near Brahmā;

having given his scripture to him, he, being praised, became at ease.

From then on, that sacred ford was revealed by Brahmā,

renowned as Brahmakuṇḍa, celebrated throughout the three worlds.

Merely by beholding it, even perpetrators of great sins,

freed instantly from guilt, go to the world of Brahmā.

Those people who perform a ritual ablution or the observance of a vow [there],

surpass the world of Brahmā and go to the world of Viṣṇu.

Skanda said:

What did the Creator do then, having received the Vedas from Janārdana?

Tell me all this and more now, out of compassion. (25)

Mahādeva said:

Having beheld Badarikāśrama, the mind of the four Vedas

was not inclined to depart with Brahmā, O dear son. (26)

Then, seeing Brahmā distressed, the Siddhas

who dwell in Janaloka duly praised him, bowed down, and spoke thus: (27)

The Siddhas said:

The Lord's command must be carried out by all things movable and immovable.

The Lord is the creator, the destroyer, the father, and the guru of all living beings. (28)

Your dwelling near Brahmā was ordained by Hari alone;

and this cessation is also present, yet this place is free from disease. (29)

Let one form of yours stay here in liquid form in solitude,

and let the second return to Brahmaloka together with Brahmā. (30)

Then the sympathetic Vedas, having divided their forms into two,

went with Brahmā to Brahmaloka, greatly delighted. (31)

Then the four-faced [creator] fashioned the three worlds in accordance with rule.

Rites of ablution, gift-giving, and austerity performed in the liquid-formed Vedas

shall not be interrupted until the universal dissolution. (32)

Men who observe a fast of three [days] intending the fruit

become expounders of all four Vedas; there is no doubt. (33)

And the four Vedas abide here in succession,

named Ṛg, Yajus, Sāman, and Atharvan, standing by the side of the Lord. (34)

Those meritorious persons, spotless and master of the Vedas and Vedāṅgas,

a rare few, hear the sound of the Vedas even in the Kali yuga. (35)

To the north of all four Vedas is Sarasvatī;

when chanted or reached, having the form of water, she destroys the dullness of men. (36)

Staying in the water of Sarasvatī, having performed recitation with composure,

no interruption of his mantra ever occurs. (37)

Even the revered Vedavyāsa of noble intellect, by whose grace

he became a knower of the meaning of the Purāṇa-saṃhitās, was here; of this there is no doubt. (38)

For the welfare of the three worlds, the Lord of the worlds

duly established Speech, the bestower of the power of speech. (39)

Through seeing, touching, bathing in, worshipping, praising, and bowing before [her],

no loss of Sarasvatī occurs in his family at any time. (40)

Attainment of mantra especially arises without delay for men

who recite on the bank of Sarasvatī; of this there is no doubt. (41)

What need is there of saying much here? Speech is the bestower of the power of speech;

bearing a liquid form, bright, it purifies men upon merely seeing it. (42)

To the south from there, renowned as Dravadhārā,

is the sacred ford of Indra's station, where Purandara performed austerity. (43)

Having performed exceedingly severe austerity and propitiated Janārdana,

he obtained the station of Indra, venerated by gods and asuras. (44)

Austerity, charity, silent recitation, oblation, vows, observances, and restraints

are declared to yield endless merit there; that sacred ford is exceedingly difficult to reach. (45)

Every month, on the thirteenth day of the bright fortnight, pleasing Hari,

having bathed in the good sacred ford and having approached Sutrāman's desire with composure,

having observed a fast of two days and worshipped Janārdana,

freed from all sins, one is glorified in the world of Śakra. (47)

In that very place is Mānasodbheda, destroyer of all sins,

hard to attain for all living beings, where those great seers reside. (48)

They untie the mental knot of consciousness and unconsciousness on every side;

hence the name Mānasodbheda is celebrated by the seers. (49)

They cleave the knots of the heart, sever many a doubt,

and destroy past karmas; therefore it came to be called Mānasodbheda. (50)

If by force of fortune a person should obtain even a single drop here,

he attains liberation that very moment; what could be greater than this? (51)

These hosts of seers reside in the mountain-cave abode, subsisting on fruits, roots, and water, / having conquered the mind and sensory objects, of sharpened intellect, as though anxious about the fear of sin out of fear of the Kali age. (52)

Having obtained excellent garments from the abundance of the hermitage with its fruits, breezes, caverns, and torrents,

[…]

These sages indeed have overcome the onslaught of the unconquerable senses through the course of their three daily ablutions.

Ah, many indeed are the spiritual disciplines that cause torment to the body;

yet the darśana of Mānasodbheda is an easily attained discipline in the world.

On whichever day a meritorious person obtains this water,

he gradually becomes like Vyāsa and equal to the ancestors in Yama's realm.

This is a sacred ford conferring desires to men, yet bringing their wishes into realization;

but for one free of desires, liberation ensues—this is certain for both.

If a man forms a desire through inadvertence,

he enjoys its fruit and then indeed attains liberation without a doubt.

Having enjoyed desires as wished in the worlds such as Maharloka,

once that enjoyment is consumed, a man departs again through the force of his desire.

The wise must strive for the attainment of the aims of human life;

my thought is that one should not turn away from this sacred ford, Mānasodbhedana.

To the west of Mānasodbhedana is an all-enchanting

sacred ford known as Vasudhārā, difficult to attain in the three worlds.

Badarikāśrama is the highest of all sacred fords in the three worlds.

Having heard that from Nārada, all the Vasus arrived there.

For thirty thousand years, consuming only leaves and water,

they performed extremely severe austerity; then they attained perfection.

From the darśana of the Lord, their fatigue departed as they attained bliss;

the lotus of their faces blossomed from the abundance of joy in their hearts.

Beholding the divine Lord Nārāyaṇa, they obtained a delightful boon;

having attained supreme sovereignty and the happiness of devotion to Hari, they rejoiced.

Bathing here, drinking the water, and worshipping Janārdana,

one enjoys happiness in this world and at the end goes to the supreme state.

Here, a light is seen by the meritorious from the midst of the water,

beholding which one does not enter dwelling in the womb ever again.

Those sinners born of impure lineage whose intellect and conduct are heretical—

the waters generally never fall upon their heads.

Having become pure for three days, worshipping Janārdana,

and fasting with devotion to the Lord, the virtuous behold the perfected beings.

Those there who are fickle, do not speak the truth, are covetous,

given to mockery, intent on others' wealth and others' wives, and deceitful,

covered in dirty garments, restless, impure, and abandoning good deeds—

for those of impure mind, no fruit is produced here.

Those practitioners there who are tranquil, rare, and follow the path prescribed by injunction—

their recitation, austerity, oblations, giving, vows, and acts of prayer,

performed according to their ability, yield imperishable fruit.

Whatever good deeds are performed by embodied beings

yield fruit beginning with greatness and ultimately unexcelled beatitude.

What greater reward should be proclaimed here, where the gods, desiring fruits, go

after being worshipped, desiring the favor of Hari, intent on the path to heaven and filled with joy?

Where there are no obstacle-makers, action succeeds well out of fear of Hari;

and discerning, virtuous embodied beings, devoted to the path of action, enjoy the fruit.

Those who recite or cause this proclaimed subject of the sacred ford to be recited,

adorned with the sentiment of devotion, go to the auspicious abode of Hari.

Thus ends the sixth chapter, titled 'The Description of the Māhātmya of the Sacred Ford Vasudhārā,' in the dialogue between Śiva and Kārttikeya in the Badarikāśramamāhātmya, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 6

Śiva said: