Skandapurana 2.7.20.24

2.7.20.24

"vālmīke:pūrvajanmasyakathā
"vyādha-uvāca..
kiṃ jīvā vibhunā sṛṣṭāḥ koṭiśo'tha sahasraśaḥ..
dṛśyante bhinnakarmāṇo nānāmārgāḥ sanātanāḥ..1..
naikasvabhāvā ete hi kuta eva mahāmate..
sarvaṃ tatpṛcchate mahyaṃ vistarāttattvato vada ..2..
"śaṃkha uvāca.
trividhā jīvasaṃghā hi rajaḥsattvatamoguṇāḥ..
rājasā rājasaṃ karma tāmasāstāmasaṃ tathā..3..
sāttvikāḥ sāttvikaṃ karma kurvaṃtyete yathākramam..
kvacicca guṇavaiṣamyameteṣāṃ saṃsṛtau bhavet..4..
tenaivoccāvacaṃ karma kurvaṃtaḥ phalabhāginaḥ..
kvacitsukhaṃ kvacidduḥkhaṃ kvaciccobhayameva ca..5..
guṇānāmeva vaiṣamyātprāpnuvanti narā ime..
prakṛtisthā ime jīvā baddhā etairguṇaistribhiḥ..6..
guṇakarmā'nurūpeṇa karmaṇāṃ vyatyayaḥ phalam ..
guṇānuguṇyaṃ bhūyaste prakṛtiṃ yāntyamī janāḥ..7..
prakṛtisthāḥ prākṛtikā guṇakarmā'bhimūrchitāḥ ..
gatiṃ prākṛtikīṃ yāṃti vyatyayaḥ prakṛterna hi..8..
tāmasā duḥkhabahulāḥ sadā tāmasavṛttayaḥ ..
nirdayā niṣṭhurā loke sadā dveṣaikajīvinaḥ ..9..
rākṣasādyāḥ piśācāṃtāstāmasīṃ yāṃti vai gatim..
rājasā miśramatayaḥ kartāraḥ puṇyapāpayoḥ .. 2.7.20.10..
puṇyātsvargaṃ prāpnuvanti kvacitpāpācca yātanām..
ata ete mandabhāgyā āvartaṃte punaḥ punaḥ..11..
dharmaśīlā dayāvantaḥ śraddhāvanto'nasūyakāḥ..
sāttvikāḥ sāttvikīṃ vṛttimanutiṣṭhaṃta āsate..12..
te cordhvaṃ yāṃti vimalā guṇāpāye mahaujasaḥ..
vibhinnakarmaṇāṃ cātaḥ pṛthagbhāvāḥ pṛthagvidhāḥ..13..
guṇakarmānurūpeṇa teṣāṃ viṣṇurmahāprabhuḥ ..
karmāṇi kārayatyaddhā svasvarūpāptaye vibhuḥ..14..
viṣṇorvaiṣamyanairghṛṇye pūrṇakāmasya vai nahi ..
sṛṣṭiṃ sthitiṃ hṛtiṃ caiva samāmeva karotyayam..15..
svaguṇādeva te sarve karmaṇaḥ phalabhāginaḥ ..
ārāmoptānyathā sarvānsamaṃ varṣayati drumān..16..
ekakulyājalā hyaṃga drumāśca prakṛtiṃ gatāḥ..
nārāmoptari vaiṣamyaṃ nairghṛṇyaṃ vā kathaṃcana ..17..
"vyādha uvāca..
janānāṃ pūrṇabhogānāṃ kadā muktirbhavenmune ..
sṛṣṭikāle'thavā hyaṃtakāle vā sthāpanasya ca..18..
kvacicca sṛṣṭikālasya saṃhārasyā'pi vai sthiteḥ..
etadvistārya me brahmanbhagavacceṣṭitaṃ vada..19.. ..
..śaṃkha uvāca..
caturyugasahasrāṇi brahmaṇo dinamucyate..
rātriśca tāvatī tasya hyahorātraṃ dinaṃ bhavet.. 2.7.20.20..
daśapañcadinānyāhuḥ pakṣaṃ māso dvayātmakaḥ..
māsadvayamṛtuṃ prāhurayanaṃ ca ṛtutrayam ..21..
ayane dve vatsaraḥ syāttādṛkcchatasamā yadi..
gacchaṃti brahmaṇo hyasya brahmakalpaṃ tadā viduḥ.. 22..
tāvānhi pralayaḥ kāla iti vedavidāṃ matam ..
pralayastrividhaḥ prokto mānavo mānavātyaye ..23..
dainaṃdino dvitīyo hi brahmaṇo divasātyaye ..
brahmaṇo'tha laye paścādbrāhmaṃ ca pralayaṃ viduḥ..24.

The story of Vālmīki's previous birth.
The hunter said:
"Were living beings created by the omnipresent Lord by the millions and thousands?
Eternal, they are seen to have diverse actions and various paths. / 1
Whence do these [beings] have not a single nature, O highly intelligent one?
To me who ask all this, speak in full according to the truth." / 2
Śaṅkha said:
"Living beings are threefold indeed, possessing the qualities of rajas, sattva, and tamas.
Rājasic beings perform rājasic actions; likewise, tāmasic beings perform tāmasic actions. / 3
Sāttvic beings perform sāttvic actions, each in due order.
And sometimes, an inequality of qualities arises for them in the cycle of worldly existence. / 4
Performing high and low actions by that very reason, they share in their fruits:
sometimes happiness, sometimes misery, and sometimes both together. / 5
These men attain [such states] solely through the inequality of the qualities.
Abiding in material nature, these living beings are bound by these three qualities. / 6
According to quality and action, there is a variation of fruits for actions.
By the conformity to their qualities, these people repeatedly return to material nature. / 7
Abiding in material nature, bound to material nature, bewildered by qualities and actions,
they go to the material destiny; indeed, there is no departure from material nature. / 8
Tāmasic beings are full of misery, ever having tāmasic conduct,
pitiless, harsh in the world, ever living solely on malice. / 9
Beginning with the rākṣasas and ending with the piśācas, they certainly attain a tāmasic destiny.
Rājasic beings have mixed minds, performers of merit and sin. / 10
Through merit they attain heaven, and sometimes through sin, torment.
Therefore, these unfortunate ones revolve again and again. / 11
Righteous in conduct, compassionate, full of faith, free from envy,
sāttvic beings remain practicing sāttvic conduct. / 12
And they, spotless and possessed of great splendor, go upward when the qualities depart.
And therefore, beings of diverse actions have diverse states of various kinds. / 13
According to their qualities and actions, Lord Viṣṇu, the supreme master,
truly impels them to deeds, the omnipresent one, so they may attain their true nature. / 14
Partiality and cruelty do not belong to Viṣṇu, whose desires are fully fulfilled;
he carries out creation, preservation, and destruction with complete impartiality. / 15
Solely through their own qualities do all of them partake in the fruit of action,
just as [rain] falls equally on all the trees planted in a garden. / 16
Watered by a single channel, dear one, the trees follow their own nature;
there is no partiality or cruelty whatever in the planter of the garden." / 17
The hunter said:
"When can there be liberation for people who have fully experienced their fruits, O sage?
Is it at the time of creation, or at the time of end, or of maintenance? / 18
And also, Brahman, explain to me in detail the time of creation, dissolution, and maintenance—
speak of this activity of the Lord." / 19
Śaṅkha said:
"A thousand sets of four yugas is said to be a day of Brahmā,
and his night is of equal length; a day and night constitutes [one full] day. / 20
Fifteen days they call a fortnight; a month consists of two [fortnights].
Two months they call a season, and three seasons an ayana. / 21
Two ayanas make a year. If a hundred such years
pass for this Brahmā, they know that as a brahmakalpa. / 22
The period of dissolution is of equal length: such is the view of knowers of the Veda.
Dissolution is declared to be threefold: human, at the end of a Manu's period; / 23
the second is daily, at the end of Brahmā's day;
and after the dissolution of Brahmā, they know it as the brāhma dissolution." / 24