Skandapurana 2.3.7

Śiva said:

Then, in the southwest direction, five streams fall downward.

Know, O six-faced one, Prabhāsa, Puṣkara, Gayā, Naimiṣa,

and Kurukṣetra to be present in liquid form.

Formerly, having become soiled in form, they went to the abode of Brahmā;

altered by the taint of the sin of sinners, they resolved their minds [to seek aid].

Going there and bowing to Brahmā, the creator of the worlds,

they all, with folded hands, stated the purpose of their arrival.

Hearing that, taking recourse to meditation and smiling, the Lord of the universe,

recalling Badarikāśrama, spoke pleasing words:

"Do not fear; go swiftly to Hari's Badarikāśrama,

by the mere instruction of which merit will arise at once.

Then, moved by a surge of joy, having bowed to the Grandfather,

they went, with eyes wide open, to Viśālā of immeasurable splendor.

By merely entering which their sins vanished at that very instant,

and then, assuming a twofold form, they eagerly departed to their own abodes.

And in liquid form the other five spotless [streams] remain.

Bathing in them according to rule, and performing daily rites, pure,

one obtains the fruit of those respective sacred fords and reaches the supreme abode at the end.

Devoted to fasting on five [days], having worshiped Janārdana,

after enjoying many pleasures here, one will attain residence in Hari's world.

Then [there is] the spotless supreme sacred ford called Somakuṇḍa,

where the blessed Soma, the repository of digits, performed austerity.

Skanda said:

Tell me the māhātmya of Somakuṇḍa, O best of speakers!

By your grace I desire to hear it, O supreme Lord.

Śiva said:

Formerly the glorious Soma, son of Atri, having attained youth,

and repeatedly hearing about the happiness of the dwellers of heaven from the gandharvas,

then went to his father to ask: "How does one obtain that?"

Soma said:

"O Lord, knower of all righteousness, ocean of the nectar of compassion,

how is heaven attained, which is the highest of all?

O Lord, how may I become the master of planets, lunar mansions, stars, and herbs?

Tell me out of compassion, O father, the effort by which [that may come to pass]."

Atri said:

"Having propitiated Govinda through austerity, or through restraints and observances, O son,

what indeed is difficult to obtain for the virtuous in this world and the next?"

Then, having heard from Nārada about that supremely spotless sacred field,

he bowed to his father and went north to Badarī.

Having gone there, he arranged the worship of Viṣṇu with pure fruits;

he chanted the supreme, captivating eight-syllable prayer.

For eighty-eight thousand years, focused on the Lord,

he performed most supreme austerity that caused terror to all the worlds.

Then the pleased Lord, affectionate toward his devotees, arrived

and said to Soma according to custom: "Choose a boon, O one of good vows!"

Then Soma, having stood up and bowed repeatedly, [said]:

"May I become the lord of planets, lunar mansions, stars, and herbs,

and also of all twice-born ones, by your grace!"

Hari said:

"Choose another boon besides this; this is difficult to attain for ones such as you."

He did not grant the boons to him then, O son of the Snow Mountain's daughter!

Then, exceedingly despondent, Soma performed great austerity again,

for thirty thousand years according to divine reckoning, O dear son.

Then that blessed Lord, his heart full of compassion, went [there]:

"Choose a boon! May good betide you; I am standing before you ready to grant a boon."

Soma chose the same [boon]; upon hearing that, Hari disappeared.

Then, exceedingly despondent, Soma performed great austerity again;

an austerity very difficult to perform was practiced for forty thousand [years].

Then Hari himself, pleased, bearing the conch, discus, and mace,

spoke charming words to Soma, who was weary, a treasure of austerity:

"Arise, arise! May good betide you; choose a boon, O one of good vows!

Surely I, the treasure of austerities, have been propitiated by you through austerity."

Soma said:

"If you are pleased with me, O Lord, best of boon-givers,

grant me lordship over planets, lunar mansions, and stars,

as well as over medicinal herbs, brahmins, and the night, O Lord of the world!"

The Holy One said:

"That which you have requested is difficult to obtain, child, yet I grant it.

So be it!" Then all the dwellers of heaven assembled

and, showing respect, consecrated Soma as king according to rule.

Then, having mounted an aerial chariot, [drawn] with a chariot [clad] in white garments,

Praised by the gods, the maker of the night went to heaven.

From that time forth, that sacred ford, difficult to attain, is known as Somakuṇḍa,

at the mere sight of which men indeed become rid of faults.

From its touch, even those who are censured go to the world of Soma;

having bathed there according to the injunctions and propitiated the ancestors and gods,

piercing through the world of Soma, one reaches the world of Viṣṇu.

Having observed a fast for three [days] and worshipped Janārdana,

there is no return for them, even after hundreds of crores of kalpas.

Remaining there for three nights and worshipping Janārdana,

especially while performing recitation, mastery over mantras arises.

Whatever sin has been committed by men by action, thought, or speech,

all of that goes to destruction from the sight of Somakuṇḍa here.

After that is the Dvādaśādityatīrtha, supreme, destroying sin,

where, having performed severe penance, the son of Kaśyapa attained the state of the sun.

Difficult to attain in the three worlds, it is the sole cause of the perfection of austerity.

On Sundays, on the seventh lunar day, [or] at the sun's ingress, a man, according to rule,

becomes purified by the mere ritual ablution from sin committed in seven births.

Having performed the prāka vow according to rule, Janārdana is to be worshipped.

Having enjoyed happiness in the world of the sun, he is honored in the world of Viṣṇu.

One overcome by severe disease, however, having bathed and drunk the water, pure,

is freed from disease very quickly; no doubt should be entertained here.

The supreme sacred ford Catuḥsrota is delightful to the eyes;

there dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa abide in liquid form.

By the command of Hari, in this sacred field belonging to Viṣṇu,

the aims of human life have themselves liquefied, causes of liberation for living beings.

Arranged in order toward the cardinal directions beginning with the east, possessing forms, as if with dharma foremost,

those who honor them arranged in order—to them their grace will indeed always belong.

In no other sacred field have these four, unobtainable by the gods, come together;

having swiftly obtained the highest birth, those with heaps of merit gathered in past lives behold them.

Wicked men who resort to the company of wicked people, lacking forbearance, honesty, and breath control,

play-deer for vulgar women—they do not soon behold the aims of human life.

Likewise, [the virtuous] soon behold those aims of human life which are the sole cause of knowledge of reality.

Here Brahmā and the other gods, as well as seers rich in austerity,

restrained, come to bathe on the sacred festival day, O six-faced one!

Then there is the sacred ford named Satyapada, delightful to all;

this pool, destroying impurities, is triangular in shape.

On the eleventh lunar day, Hari comes there himself in that purifier;

after him, all the seers and sages rich in austerity

come to bathe according to rule in the pool named Satyapada.

Where, at midday on the day of Hari, the singing of gandharvas and apsarases

is heard by a few who are devoted to the vow of truth.

From the darśana of which sacred ford even great sins

flee out of sheer fear, like deer upon seeing a lion.

Having performed ritual ablution according to the rule prescribed in his own Vedic branch, a wise man

attains Satyaloka, and thence the supreme state of final beatitude.

Having become pure for a day and a night and fasted, and having worshipped

Janārdana to the best of his capacity, he is an heir to liberation while living.

Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Rudra, seated at the three corners, concentrated in mind,

perform penance day by day, giving joy first to all the worlds.

The sacred ford adorned with a triangle, by name the granter of the realm of truth,

is to be visited with exertion by those desiring liberation from all sins.

Recitation, austerity, praise of Hari, worship, hymn, and salutation—

even Brahmā is not able to declare the māhātmya of those who perform [these].

Then there is the hermitage of Nara and Nārāyaṇa, called Ativimala;

there, two kinds of supremely clear water are seen.

It is certain that by both of them comes the pleasure of both [sages].

Having bathed there with effort and having worshipped Janārdana,

one is freed from all sins instantly; there is no doubt here.

Then, on the peak that is the abode of Nārāyaṇa, there is a clear-shaped,

holy sacred ford that caused the manifestation of Urvaśī.

Skanda said:

Father, how did the appearance of Urvaśī take place on that peak?

What is the merit there, and what is the fruit? Tell me, for my curiosity is great.

Śiva said:

Dharma had a wife named Mūrti; from her, O Six-faced One, were born

Nara and Nārāyaṇa, the Blessed One himself directly and solely.

Receiving the command of their parents, their minds set on half of their austerity,

they remained upon both mountains, like embodied forms of austerity.

Seeing the two, Śakra was astonished and dispatched Manmatha

together with his attendants to Gandhamādana, so that their austerity might be ruined.

Having duly advanced, when they perceived the rising power of Nārāyaṇa,

their spirits fell; and the Lord of the World spoke to them:

Hari said:

"Why have you come? Accept our hospitality."

Having said this, he gave them fruits and roots, and likewise, having given Urvaśī,

the god vanished before their eyes—[giving her] who could cause obstacles.

Terrified, they went to heaven and reported Hari's power to Śakra.

Having obtained Urvaśī, Śakra was filled with singular joy.

From that time forward, that sacred ford is distinctively known by the name Urvaśī,

where the Blessed One himself resides, composed of austerity.

Bathing there according to the precept and fasting for two nights,

and worshiping Hari there, a man becomes Nārāyaṇa.

A man who reaches Urvaśīkuṇḍa under the sway of desire

attains the world of Urvaśī merely through ritual ablution, O son.

Always the Blessed One remains there near Urvaśīkuṇḍa,

bringing about the welfare of living beings, established as the embodiment of austerity.

Even the wind above it carries fragrance obtained solely from the lotus feet of the Husband of Śrī, / in contact with which the ripening of the burden of sin does not befall the lap of those afflicted by the impurities of the Kaliyuga.

Through contact with which, the fruition of the burden of sin does not take place in the embrace of those afflicted by the impurities of the Kali age;

Despondent, serving solely Acyuta within the mountain cavern, one who obtains joy from contact with it / bears the pair of feet of the Husband of Śrī and all around attains tranquility amid the wind of austerity.

bearing the pair of feet of the Lord of Śrī, one completely attains tranquility when the wind of austerity blows upon the day;

Full of its own merit, even an insect, its misconduct quelled and free from craving, derides the gods; / dwelling there, abandoning the distress of flowers stale from its own yoga, it shall go to that supreme abode.

standing where, having abandoned the weariness of blossoms stale from one's own union, one shall reach that supreme abode;

Having gone there, the minds of sages, dedicated solely to his planted lotus feet, perceived no external objects; / dwelling there, the Lord of the earth himself grants his own realm to men who have arrived successively.

standing where, the Lord of rays Himself bestows His own abode upon the people who have arrived in due order.

There are many sacred fords on the mountain that is the resort of Nārāyaṇa,

which swiftly destroy all sins. I know them; ordinary people do not.

Where one's self is trapped in the dreadful pit of worldly existence,

a man should reach Urvaśīkuṇḍa and reside there for a single day.

On the southern side of Urvaśī are the weapons of the Lord of the World;

by the darśana of them, one will not partake of fear of weapons.

Whoever hears this with devotion or recites it with concentrated mind,

freed from all sins, attains residence in the same realm as Hari.

Thus ends the seventh chapter, titled "Description of the Greatness of the Sacred Fords Beginning with Pañcadhārā", in the dialogue between Śiva and Kārttikeya within the Badarikāśramamāhātmya, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.