Skandapurana 2.9.18

The Blessed Lord said:

This vision of me that has occurred for you, O great sage,

is due to your constant, exclusive devotion, your freedom from deceit, and by my own wish.

Non-violence and celibacy are ever present in you, both of these,

along with adherence to one's own duty, tranquility, dispassion, and knowledge of the Self.

association with the virtuous, the eightfold yoga, control of the senses in every way,

living on the food of sages, austerity, and freedom from all vices,

and single-minded devotion to me preceded by knowledge of my majesty—

exist [in you]; therefore, O you of noble vows, you see me here.

Whatever other human beings, too, are endowed with such characteristics,

they too, O brahmin, see me, such as I am, who am dear to the single-minded.

I, this very one here, O brahmin, in this imperishable abode,

united with Rādhā and Lakṣmī, dwell eternally together with those who have taken refuge in me.

Having the nature of Vāsudeva, bestower of the fruits of all actions,

I exist as the inner controller of all embodied beings, entirely independent.

In the great abode named Vaikuṇṭha, four-armed, along with Lakṣmī,

I dwell together with attendants headed by Nanda and Garuḍa.

In the divine abode full of radiance, on the earth in Śvetadvīpa, daily

I grant my darśana at the five prescribed times to the liberated souls of Śveta.

Through my forms named Aniruddha, Pradyumna, and Saṃkarṣaṇa,

I effect the creation, preservation, and dissolution of many tens of millions of cosmic eggs.

At the beginning of creation, Brahmā was created by me from the lotus of my navel;

he propitiated me with austerity and with sacrifices, O Nārada.

Then, pleased with him, I granted him the boons he desired:

‘O Brahmā, you shall obtain the capacity for creating living beings.

By my boon, they shall all abide strictly under your command.

And the eternal Vedas shall flash forth in your intellect.

And you shall have knowledge of my true nature just as it is,

and no one shall transgress the boundary established by you.

To the hosts of gods and demons, and to the great-souled sages

who desire boons, O Brahmā, you alone shall be the grantor of boons.

And in whichever impossible task you fall into perplexity,

I myself, manifesting as soon as remembered by you, will accomplish it, O Creator.

When the universe is being created by you, and the earth is lost in the great ocean,

I will assume the form of a boar and bring it to its proper place,

having slain the demon Hiraṇyākṣa, who is puffed up with power.

At the end of your day, having become a fish, I shall uphold the earth like a boat,

along with the medicinal herbs, Manu, and the others, until nightfall.

When the descendants of Kaśyapa churn the ocean for nectar, I, having the form of a tortoise,

shall support on my back Mount Mandara, the churning-rod that lacks a base.

Assuming the body of a man-lion, O Creator, for the sake of the gods

I will slay the son of Diti, Hiraṇyakaśipu, the destroyer of sacrifices.

The mighty Bali, a great demon, will be born as the son of Virocana;

he will dethrone Śakra from his sovereignty.

When the three worlds have been seized by him and the lord of Śacī is dejected,

I will be born as the twelfth son from Kaśyapa in Aditi.

Then I will give the sovereignty of heaven back to the lord of the gods;

I will establish the gods in their own places, O Creator,

and I will make Bali an inhabitant of the realm of Pātāla.

Then, having been born from Kardama in Devahūti under the name of Kapila,

endowed with detachment, I will set in motion Sāṃkhya, which had been lost in time.

Having become Datta born of Atri in Anasūyā, I will then teach logic

and spiritual knowledge to Prahlāda and Yadu, O Creator.

Having become Ṛṣabha, the son of Nābhi in Merudevī on earth,

I will promulgate the eternal dharma known as the state of the supreme swan.

In the Tretā yuga, I will be Rāma, the upholder of the lineage of Bhṛgu,

and I will eradicate the warrior class who break moral bounds and tread evil paths.

When the twilight between the Tretā and Dvāpara [yugas] has arrived,

I will be born as Rāma from Daśaratha in Kauśalyā.

Lakṣmī shall be born as the daughter of Janaka named Sītā;

having broken the great bow of Īśa, I shall take her in marriage.

Then in battle I will slay the terrifying lord of rākṣasas, who harms the divine seers,

the abductor of Sītā, along with his younger brother.

The great seers headed by Vālmīki will then sing in many ways

the exploits of mine, through the hearing of which sin is destroyed.’

At the concluding junction of Dvāpara and Kali,

to destroy the demons who are a burden to the earth, and to protect dharma and the righteous,

I shall be born from Vasudeva through Devakī in the city of Mathurā. (32)

I, Kṛṣṇa, named Vāsudeva, as well as Saṃkarṣaṇa Bala,

and Pradyumna and Aniruddha will appear in the lineage of Yadu. (33)

The daughter of the cowherd Vṛṣabhānu will be Rādhā;

in Vṛndāvana I shall sport with her, O lotus-born [Brahmā]! (34)

And Lakṣmī will be the daughter of Bhīṣmaka, named Rukmiṇī;

having conquered the kings in battle, I shall marry her. (35)

Having slain the demons who harm dharma and the kings possessed by them,

firmly establishing dharma, I shall rid the earth of her burden. (36)

Whosoever's mind in whatever way

shall be joined to me, to them all I will grant the supreme state of Brahman. (37)

Having established dharma on earth and caused the destruction of the Yadu lineage,

while all the gods look on, I shall then vanish from the earth. (38)

The heroic deeds of me, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana and others

will sing in many ways, O brahmin, for they instantly remove sin. (39)

Becoming Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana, the son of the sage Parāśara,

I shall divide the branches of the Veda like [those of] a tree. (40)

Relying on Vedic rites, those who torment the three worlds—

those demons I shall delude through guile, having become Buddha. (41)

Those who are slain in battles by me, Kṛṣṇa, accompanied by Arjuna,

when those demons promote adharma on the earth, (42)

then I, the sage Nārāyaṇa, born from the devotee Dharmadeva,

shall be born on earth in the Kosala country as a twice-born singer of the Sāmaveda. (43)

O dear one, to the seers and Uddhava who have attained human form through a sage's curse,

I, protecting them from demons, shall then establish true dharma, O unborn one! (44)

At the end of Kali, the people on earth turned to mlecchas of great wickedness

I shall slay, having become Kalki, roaming upon a divine steed. (45)

And whenever the dharma spoken of in the Vedas is ruined by demons,

then and then my manifestation shall take place for its protection. (46)

Therefore, having cast aside anxiety, create living beings as before.' / Having granted these boons to him, I vanished. (47)

[…]

Just as boons were given to him, in that very manner it was done by me;

I do and shall do [so], O sage, swiftly through my own powers. (48)

Of me, such as I am, O brahmin, the ruler of all embodied beings,

a vision, difficult to attain, has arisen on account of your undivided devotion. (49)

Choose a boon from me as you desire, O best of sages!

I am exceedingly pleased with you; vision of me is never fruitless. (50)

Skanda said:

Having heard these words of the Lord, Nārada, the best of sages,

considering himself blessed, spoke to that Lord, O sage: (51)

'From the mere vision of you, O Master, my heart's desire is fulfilled;

for I consider this difficult to attain even for all embodied beings. (52)

Therefore, other than the direct beholding of you, of your devotees,

and of your immortal abode, there is nothing desired to be attained by me. (53)

There is nothing else more difficult to attain anywhere in the sphere of the universe,

which I, from you who are pleased, might ask here, O Acyuta! (54)

Whatever happiness there is in the other world, which may be attained through Vedic deeds alone,

both divine and ancestral—that too is indeed perishable. (55)

I do not desire any happiness beyond you, O Lord!

Yet I ask one desired boon from you, the best of boon-givers: (56)

may my intellect be ever intensely eager to sing of your virtues

or those of your devotees, increasing my love for you.' (57)

Skanda said:

Having promised 'So be it' to what was thus asked by him, Kṛṣṇa,

having given [him] the Mahatī vīṇā suitable for singing, spoke again: (58)

The Holy One said:

'Go now from here, O divine seer, to the spacious Badarī;

there, with devotion, worship me, the son of Dharma, O you of noble vows!' (59)

For you are my exclusive devotee, guileless at heart;

therefore, I consider you superior even to your father Brahmā.

Of what nature I am, of what form, and how great is my majesty—

my exclusive devotees, O sage, know all of that.

I alone am to be contemplated in the heart of those virtuous ones, and they are mine in my heart.

They desire nothing other than me, and I desire nothing other than them.

Just as devoted wives bring a noble husband under their sway

by their own virtues, so do devotees bring even me under their sway.

Together with Śrī, I follow them as if under their control;

and wherever they are, there indeed am I.

Only through the company of the good can seekers of liberation attain me in this world;

by no other means, O celestial seer—know this to be true.

Whenever human beings take refuge in me alone,

only then are they released from Māyā, the bondage of the soul.

A person who has surrendered to me through any disposition whatsoever

attains happiness as desired, and does not go to worldly transmigration like others.

Skanda said:

Addressed thus by the Blessed Lord and having attained the desired grace,

Nārada bowed down with tearful eyes and turned back.

Singing of Him alone with his lute, he saw a liberated white being [Śveta-mukta];

as before, he followed him as he walked ahead, O best of brahmins.

Quickly reaching the great Śvetadvīpa and bowing down to those white beings,

Nārada turned back, O brahmin, and swiftly went to Meru.

From Meru he then proceeded to the Gandhamādana mountain,

and swiftly descended from the sky toward the spacious Badarī.

Thus ends the eighteenth chapter, entitled 'Narration of the Incarnations of Blessed Vāsudeva,' in the Vāsudeva-māhātmya of the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.