Skandapurana 2.5.10: adhyāyaḥ 10

Brahmā said:

After the food offering, O dear one, what should be done by men, O Lord?

Tell me everything in truth that should be done in the month of Saha.

The Blessed Lord said:

Then, having given to the one who has dined [water] scented with camphor,

Sipping water, betel, sandalwood paste, and wiping of the hands,

One should then make an offering of flowers with devotion and present a mirror.

Then a wave-offering with camphor should be performed, if one has the means.

Having offered ornaments such as the crown and others, the wise one,

Thereafter, O highly fortunate one, having arranged the parasol and fly-whisks,

Meditating on [the Lord] whose face is gracious and whose form is dark and handsome,

Should recite [the mantra] one hundred and eight times, and praise the Lord with hymns.

A rosary made of conch or silver, and especially of gold,

Or of auspicious lotus seeds, corals, gems, and pearls,

A rosary fashioned from indrākṣa beads, or likewise with the joints of the fingers,

Or a rosary made of putrajīva seeds is commendable in the rite of recitation.

Neither pacing nor laughing, nor looking sideways,

Neither crossing one foot over the other, nor with head supported by the hand,

Nor rising up—the wise person should not recite my mantra with a distracted mind.

At the time of recitation, during vows, fire offerings, worship, and the like, one should not speak.

Recitation in houses bears single fruit; in a cowpen it is tenfold;

On a riverbank know it to be a hundredfold, and in a sacrificial fire-chamber ten times more than that.

At tīrthas and the like it is a thousandfold, but in my presence it becomes endless.

Having done this, whoever performs circumambulation in the month of Saha // 11

obtains at every step the merit of [possessing] the earth of seven islands,

reciting the thousand names or simply my name. // 12

A single circumambulation done with devotion burns away the sins of an entire day.

By him the earth of seven islands has been circumambulated. // 13

Three circumambulations of me [destroy] the sins born of seven days;

they instantly destroy the sin in the body accumulated over ten days. // 14

The one by whom twenty-one circumambulations are made with devotion,

his sins such as abortion instantly perish. // 15

The one by whom one hundred and eight circumambulations are made with devotion

has sacrificed with all Vedic rites completed with excellent sacrificial gifts. // 16

By him the earth has been circumambulated that many times.

Circumambulations of one's mother, likewise circumambulations of the earth,

and of the Śāligrāma stone—these three are considered equal. // 17

A single full prostration and seven circumambulations in [the month of] Saha:

these two are equal, or rather the full prostration is superior. // 18

Whoever always performs a full prostration during circumambulation of me,

especially in the month of Saha, shall dwell in heaven until the end of the kalpa. // 19

After the kalpa, my dear child, he is born as a universal monarch, // 20

long-lived, wealthy, prosperous, generous, and fond of virtue.

By reciting the thousand names, threefold sin is destroyed. // 21

Now what is the use of speaking much? Listen to my secret, O son:

by the name 'Dāmodara', truly, my matchless pleasure is aroused. // 22

My name, relating to an attribute, was given by mother Yaśodā

when the curd-pot was broken by me in Gokula. // 23

Then I was tightly bound to a mortar by Yaśodā with a cord;

from that time forth my name was renowned as 'Dāmodara'. // 24

Whoever, having purified himself at sunrise, mutters with well-concentrated mind

'Homage to Dāmodara' three thousand times day after day // 25

up to three hundred and fifty thousand times, the wise person should then perform the concluding rite.

Water libations, fire offerings, and feeding of brahmins should be done as a tenth part [of the repetitions]. // 26

To him who performs this with devotion, I grant his desire:

wealth, grain, a wife, sons, and whatever else he desires. // 27

This has been spoken by me with a triple oath; have faith in it, O noble-minded one.

This king of mantras, O son, has been revealed by me out of compassion. // 28

Reciting 'To Dāmodara', one should always perform circumambulation

and also a full prostration, O son, endowed with eight limbs. // 29

With feet, hands, knees, chest, and head,

with mind, speech, and sight—this is called an eight-limbed prostration. // 30

Placing one's head at my two feet, with both arms crossed:

'Protect me, O Lord, who have surrendered to you, afraid of the ocean of the alligator of death!' // 31

Then, respectfully placing on the head the remaining [flower] offered by me,

he should speak thus, O dear child, for the completion of my worship: // 32

'Lacking in mantras, lacking in rituals, and lacking in devotion, O Janārdana,

whatever worship has been performed by me, O Lord, let that be complete for me.' // 33

Accompanied by the playing of the mṛdaṅga drum, well joined with the praṇava [Om]—

such dance should be performed in the month of Saha, granting merit to human beings. // 34

Song, instrumental music, dance, and also the reading of sacred texts,

at the time of worship, O Four-Faced One, are always dear to me. // 35

In the absence of song, instrumental music, and the like, [recitation of] my thousand names,

the King of Hymns, O son, the Liberation of Gajendra, // 36

the Anusmṛti, and the Bhagavadgītā—this eulogy is considered fivefold.

The Five Hymns, O fortunate one, are exceedingly pleasing to me. // 37

Whoever drinks the foot-water coming from the Śāligrāma stone,

what need has he of tasting thousands of pañcagavyas? // 38

Whoever drinks water from the Śāligrāma stone, even a single drop,

that man, sharing in liberation, will never again drink mother's milk. // 39

No ritual impurity exists at childbirth or even at death

for those who place that foot-water upon their head and who drink it. // 40

Even at the time of death, he to whom this water from the feet is given,

even if cast out from good conduct, attains the good path. (41)

A man who drinks what should not be drunk, or eats what should not be eaten,

or has intercourse with forbidden women, and is of sinful conduct, (42)

even he quickly becomes purified immediately from bearing the water of the feet.

The water of the feet is greater than a Cāndrāyaṇa or a Pādakṛcchra vow. (43)

Aloe, saffron, or camphor used as an unguent,

when touched by the water of my feet, is indeed the purifier of purifiers. (44)

Water that is merely purified by sight, O best of brahmins,

truly removes the sins of men; how much more so the water of the feet! (45)

You are dear to me, my firstborn son, and especially beloved by me.

For that reason, this entire secret that abides within me has been told. (46)

Thus ends the tenth chapter, named "The Performance of the Conclusion of the Worship Ritual, Its Consummation, and the Statement of Its Fruits" in the Mārgaśīrṣamāhātmya, in the dialogue between Brahmā and Viṣṇu, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses]. (10)