Skandapurana 2.7.14

Śrutadeva said:

Whoever bathes in the morning during Vaiśākha when the sun is in Aries,

worships Madhusūdana, and listens to this narrative of Hari,

he, freed from sin, goes to the supreme abode of Viṣṇu.

The dull-witted person who, abandoning the narrative being recited, attends to another—

he will attain the Raurava hell and then take birth in the womb of a piśāca.

On this very subject they cite this ancient history,

destroyer of sins, purifying, righteous, immediately venerable, and ancient.

Long ago, on the bank of the Godāvarī in the auspicious Brahmeśvara sacred field,

there were two disciples of Durvāsas, paramahaṃsas steadfast in Brahman alone,

always devoted to the knowledge of the Upaniṣads, devoid of worldly desires,

eating only alms, virtuous, both dwelling in a cave,

known throughout the three worlds as Satyaniṣṭha and Taponiṣṭha.

Of the two, Satyaniṣṭha was always devoted to stories of Viṣṇu.

Even when listeners were absent, and likewise exponents, O king,

only then would that foremost of sages indeed perform his daily ritual acts.

If there was any listener at all, he expounded to him day and night.

Or if anyone expounded the holy, auspicious story of Viṣṇu,

he would then set aside ritual actions and listen, delighting in hearing.

Far-off sacred fords and temples of deities,

as well as numerous rituals that conflicted with the narrative, he abandoned;

he listened to the divine story, and himself recited it to listeners;

he knew nothing else worthy of devotion apart from the story, O ruler of men.

Even if the speaker expounded in his own house, afflicted by disease and the like,

the sage, content with a ritual ablution at a well, would certainly listen to the story.

Only at an intermission in the narrative would he adequately perform his own duties.

For a man who listens to the story, no bondage of rebirth exists.

From that comes purification of the mind, and distaste for Viṣṇu departs;

delight in Viṣṇu is born, as is friendship toward virtuous people.

The stainless, qualityless Brahman is immediately retained within the heart.

For a person devoid of knowledge, ritual action is indeed fruitless,

even though practiced in many ways, just like a mirror to a blind man.

Actions performed manifoldly by those who purify themselves

exist solely for the purification of the mind; through purification of the mind one may attain the revealed word.

Attaining knowledge from the revealed word and knowing [it], one becomes fit for meditation.

Hearing, meditating, and reflecting repeatedly are enjoined by the revealed scriptures.

Where there is no story of Viṣṇu and where virtuous people are absent,

even the very bank of the Gaṅgā is surely to be abandoned, there is no doubt.

In a land where there is no tulasī or auspicious abode of Viṣṇu,

where there is no story of Viṣṇu, one who dies there goes to darkness.

In a village where there is no abode of Viṣṇu, nor even a blackbuck,

where there is no story of Viṣṇu nor virtuous people devoted to Him,

a man who dies there quickly enters a hundred wombs of dogs.

Reflecting on the knowledge of the Upaniṣads, having resolved thus, indeed, the sage,

always attached to stories of Viṣṇu, dedicated to the remembrance of Viṣṇu,

never considered anything whatever to be superior to hearing [His stories].

The other, however, was Taponiṣṭha, devoted to ritual action, stubborn and obstinate;

he neither expounded by himself nor listened to the virtuous story.

Abandoning a story being recited, he would go for a ritual ablution at a sacred ford.

Even at a sacred ford when a story was underway, O protector of the earth,

for fear of neglecting rituals and driven by restlessness, he would go far away.

People would leave the gathering to attend to household duties;

there were neither listeners nor speakers beside that ritualist.

As time thus passed away for that wicked-minded, evil soul,

the narrative of the Lord never reached his tongue or his ear.

Because he would not listen, would not speak, and due to his foolishness and stubbornness,

later meet with death, by cosmic law that sage immediately

became a weak piśāca named Chinnakarṇa on a śamī tree,

shelterless, starving, with his throat, lips, and palate parched.

As he suffered thus, ten thousand divine years passed;

deprived of food, intensely miserable, he saw no savior for himself.

Reflecting on his own deeds, he wandered like one drunk and insane;

wandering in hunger, that foolish-minded creature found no peace.

The wind touching his body was like fire to the creature;

waters were equal to the fire of cosmic dissolution, and fruits, flowers, and the like were poison.

This man, devoted to ritual works and depressed in mind, found happiness nowhere.

While he was thus staying in that forest devoid of people,

in a place devoid of [sacred] narration, in his own hermitage deserted by the virtuous,

by chance Satyaniṣṭha then came to the city of Paiṭhinasī.

While going along the road, he saw Chinnakarṇa in great distress,

who, on seeing him, ran away, weeping, afflicted with hunger.

Saying, “Do not fear!” the lord of sages said, “Who are you?

And why is your condition like this? You shall have no distress beyond this.”

Comforted by him in this manner, Chinnakarṇa, deeply agitated, said:

“I was an ascetic devoted to austerity, an exceptional disciple of Durvāsas,

dwelling in the sacred field of Brahmeśvara, devoted to ritual works, but obstinate.

Out of fear of ritual omission, through folly, by me of wicked mind, O sage,

the auspicious narration of Viṣṇu was disregarded, even though it was being recited by the virtuous,

nor was that narration, which cuts down [the bonds of] karma, expounded to listeners.

Through that great ripening of karma, I met with death,

and became a piśāca named Chinnakarṇa, agitated by suffering.

And I saw no savior whatsoever from this suffering.

By good fortune I have come into the path of your sight, my impurities removed.

Today the deities, the gurus, and the virtuous are pleased with me,

and Hari has become gracious to me, since I have had darśana of you.”

He fell at his feet on the ground, weeping indeed and crying, “Save me! Save me!”

Then, filled with compassion, Satyaniṣṭha of great renown

raised him up with both his hands, which were most auspicious, the lord of sages.

Then, having sipped water, he bestowed the peerless merit

born of a single muhūrta of listening to the māhātmya of the month of Vaiśākha.

By the power of that merit, with all inauspiciousness instantly destroyed,

freed from the body of a piśāca, he assumed a celestial body.

Mounting a celestial aerial chariot and bowing to that great sage,

taking his leave and circumambulating him, he went to the supreme abode of Viṣṇu.

The wise Satyaniṣṭha then went to the city of Paiṭhinasī,

reflecting again and again upon this [power] of listening to the māhātmya.

Śrutadeva said:

Where there is the meritorious, auspicious narration of Viṣṇu that removes the impurity of the world,

there are all sacred fords and various sacred fields.

Where flows the meritorious, auspicious river that is the narration of Viṣṇu,

liberation is right in the hands of the dwellers of that land; there is no doubt.

Thus ends the fourteenth chapter, named “The Attainment of Liberation by the Piśāca” in the Praise of the Narration, in the dialogue between Nārada and Ambarīṣa, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.