Skandapurana 2.9.2

Skanda said:

You, who understand inquiries, ask a great question here, O sinless one.

The answer to this cannot be stated in hundreds of years by one's own reasoning

without the grace of God, O brahmin, even by the best of the wise.

However, by the grace of Vāsudeva, what is known by me I shall declare to you.

Nothing is unmentionable to you, devoted to duty, O noble-minded one.

In this very manner, when the Bhārata war had ceased,

King Ajātaśatru questioned Bhīṣma, the best of knowers of dharma,

who was lying upon the bed of arrows, who had attained Acyuta through meditation,

who had attained undisturbed oneness of soul, and had crossed to the far shore of the Vedas and Āgamas.

Yudhiṣṭhira said:

O father, among the four classes and among the four stages of life,

whoever should desire the attainment of the fourfold aim of life, which deity should he worship?

And what success would arise without obstacles in a short time?

And how may one of little virtue attain an exalted state?

Sever this doubt of mine, for you are omniscient, O grandfather.

Skanda said:

When questioned thus by that righteous soul, O sage, the son of Śaṃtanu,

glanced at the lotus-face of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and smiled slightly.

Impelled by his gaze, he spoke to him of what was proclaimed by Nara and Nārāyaṇa,

the māhātmya of Śrī Vāsudeva which he had heard from his father.

Then, having heard it, Nārada also went back to Kurukṣetra;

and having arrived at Kailāsa, he told it to my father, and he in turn to me.

I shall relate that to you who question me without deceit,

which was determined in the great assembly, free of doubt, O best of sages.

Vāsudeva is the supreme Brahman; Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Puruṣa.

He is the God to be worshipped by the desireless and by those with desires, and even by liberated men.

By the twice-born, by the āśramas, and in every way by women, Śūdras, and others,

he alone is to be pleased through their respective duties with devotion.

Therefore, all action—pertaining to the gods and pertaining to the ancestors—at all times,

and whatever is prescribed in the Veda, must be performed properly only for his pleasure.

Whatever auspicious action is performed here by men for the sake of attaining happiness,

even if well performed, if devoid of connection to Kṛṣṇa,

then it is to be known as perishable, yielding little fruit, and of the nature of the guṇas.

From the conjunction of an inauspicious place and the like, it produces defect in the fruit;

and beset with many obstacles, it does not at all grant men the attainment of their desires.

If this very action is performed for the satisfaction of Śrī Kṛṣṇa,

then, through connection with him, all of it becomes indeed beyond the guṇas.

It yields imperishable fruit, even greater than what was desired by oneself;

and no defect arises in it from association with an improper place or the like.

Moreover, O brahmin seer, by the majesty of the Discus-bearer, no obstacle

can ever prevail against it; it grants the attainment of desired ends.

Even if one’s own meritorious deed is small, nonetheless, O brahmin,

through direct connection with the Supreme Self, it becomes truly exceedingly great.

Just as even a mere spark, through conjunction with a heap of forest wood,

becomes an irresistible conflagration, so does this through connection with Hari.

Therefore, by men abiding in the path of active engagement or of cessation,

desiring the full accomplishment thereof, Vāsudeva must be worshipped.

In this regard also they cite this ancient history:

the conversation between Nārada and the seer Nārāyaṇa.

The Blessed One, Vāsudeva, who dwells eternally in the city of Brahman,

manifested from Dharma through the daughter of Dakṣa for the welfare of the world.

In the Kṛta Yuga of old, during the Svāyambhuva period, O best of the twice-born,

he appeared in two forms: Nara and Nārāyaṇa.

From the hermitage of Dharma, in order to perform austerity solely for the welfare of men on earth,

those two, Nara and Nārāyaṇa, went to the hermitage of Badarī.

There, the two primordial lords of the world, emaciated and covered in veins,

performed austerity with their own splendor, difficult to behold even by the gods.

Only he upon whom they bestow grace is truly able to see them;

they cannot be seen otherwise, even by the dwellers of that realm.

Once the yogin Nārada, being wished to be seen by the two of them,

was also impelled within his heart by the Inner Self.

From the peak of the great mountain Meru, swiftly by way of the sky,

he came, O brahmin, to that place called the hermitage of Badarī.

Having arrived there quickly at the time of their daily rites,

he saw from afar the two absorbed in the rituals of the foremost hermitage.

Having observed that conduct of the two lords, curiosity arose in him:

“Ah, these two are worshipped by the universe, the lords of all embodied beings;

they are indeed the supreme Brahman. What is their daily ritual?

They are the parents of all beings, and the divinity of the deities.

To what deity or ancestors do these two of great intellect offer sacrifice?”

Pondering thus in his mind, that devotee of Nārāyaṇa

approached them, bowed, and stood with folded hands.

When the rites to the gods and ancestors were finished, he was then noticed by the two,

and worshipped in accordance with the rule observed in the scriptures, O sinless one.

Seeing that great wonder, an unprecedented elaboration of the ritual rule,

Nārada sat down beside them, highly pleased and filled with amazement.

Looking upon Nārāyaṇa with a concentrated inner self,

and bowing to that god, he spoke these words: // 36

Thus ends the second chapter, named 'The Meeting of Nārāyaṇa and Nārada', in the exposition of the means to ultimate welfare, in the Vāsudeva-māhātmya, in the second [section], the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, the Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 2