Skandapurana 2.9.26

Skanda said:

Having heard the exposition of single-minded religious duty spoken by the Blessed Lord,

With an overjoyed mind, that Nārada questioned him once more. / 1

Nārada said:

O Lord, the single-minded duty has been fully expounded by you;

Having heard it, great joy has arisen in my mind. / 2

For its perfection, the yoga of action which is spoken of by you,

That which is your doctrine, O Blessed Lord, I desire to understand. / 3

The glorious Nārāyaṇa said:

The procedure of worship of Vāsudeva is celebrated as the yoga of action.

Indeed, it is described in many ways in the Vedas and the Tantras. / 4

Due to the variety of the devotees' tastes, and likewise because of the diversity

Of the forms of Vāsudeva, it is expounded in many ways. / 5

Truly, there is no reaching the end of it if it were told in its entirety;

Therefore, I shall tell you in brief that which enhances devotion. / 6

Those who have received Vaiṣṇava initiation—the four classes, the stages of life,

And the women of the four classes—these are declared to be eligible in this matter. / 7

Twice-borns should worship with mantras declared in the Vedas, Tantras, and Purāṇas, and with the root mantra;

Initiated women and virtuous Śūdras [should worship] with the root mantra.

The root mantra of the glorious Kṛṣṇa is to be known as six-syllabled. / 8

Observing their own respective duties, by all of these, according to the prescribed rule,

Vāsudeva should be worshipped with devotion by those with sincere hearts. / 9

First, however, a man should receive Vaiṣṇava initiation from an excellent guru,

Who is ever established in single-minded duty, born of a brahmin family, and a treasure of compassion. / 10

One endowed with knowledge and devotion, but bereft of his own duty,

Or one whose mind is captivated by women, must never be made a guru. / 11

Initiation received from a womanizing guru will never bear fruit

In knowledge and devotion, just as a young woman uniting with a eunuch [bears no] offspring. / 12

Therefore, having received initiation from a true guru, one should wear a tulasī garland on the neck,

And the upward mark on the forehead and elsewhere made with gopīcandana. / 13

A devotee desiring to worship Viṣṇu, having thoroughly understood from his guru

The rite of worship declared in the scriptures, should then begin the worship. / 14

Rising in the final watch of the night, or at the hour of Brahmā,

A devotee should meditate in his heart for half a muhūrta on Keśava, the destroyer of distress. / 15

Having chanted his names and those of his devotees for a nāḍikā,

Having then performed the rite of purification, he should clean his teeth. / 16

Having first performed a bath for the purification of the body, he should bathe with mantras;

Taking pure earth and other items, he should perform the libation that is part of the bath. / 17

Putting on two washed garments, sitting on a pure seat,

And applying the upward mark, he should perform twilight worship, fire oblation, recitation, and so on. / 18

Then he should gather all the offerings, such as garments, sandalwood paste, and flowers,

Free from contact with impure things such as meat and liquor, / 19

Not offered to other gods or ancestors,

Not smelled by human beings, and free from hairs, insects, and the like. / 20

Placing them and the implements of worship on his right side,

He should then light a lamp with clarified butter or with oil. / 21

On a pure seat of silken cloth, or woolen cloth, or of special wood,

He should then sit down in the presence of the image of Vāsudeva. / 22

The image may be made of stone, metal, wood, painted, or made of precious gems,

And it may be white, red, yellow, or black, O sage. / 23

That image of Kṛṣṇa should be made either two-armed or four-armed;

There, on the two-armed one, he should hold a flute in his two hands. / 24

Or else, on its right hand a discus, and similarly a conch on the other.

Or [she/he] should hold a lotus in the right hand, and the gesture of fearlessness in the left (or upper).

On the hands of the second [four-armed form], however, beginning with the lower right hand in succession,

one should place the mace, the lotus, the conch, and the discus, O best of sages.

On the left side of both forms of Hari, one should place Śrī.

On the left side of the flute-bearer, however, one should place Rādhā, the queen of the rāsa-dance.

Even this twofold image, unbroken, possessed of auspicious marks,

and complete with all limbs, bestows perfection upon the worshipper.

Lakṣmī, however, should be made two-armed in the presence of Vāsudeva,

holding a lotus in her hand, adorned with splendid garments and ornaments.

Like Lakṣmī, Rādhikā too should be two-armed, with a charming smile,

holding a lotus or a garland of flowers in her lotus-hand.

The image of Hari is twofold: immovable and movable.

In the case of the former, invocation and ritual dismissal are not to be performed.

Nor should invocation and the like be performed for the subsidiary deities of its limbs.

Nor is there a rule of direction regarding worship of it, but one should stand facing it.

In the case of a Śālagrāma stone as well, precisely thus invocation and the like are not to be performed.

Elsewhere, in the case of a movable image, that [invocation etc.] must be performed by their respective worshippers.

Even there, in the case of a wooden or painted image, contact with water and unguents

must not be performed by the worshipper; [only] wiping clean is to be done.

Facing north, or facing east, or else facing directly toward the movable image,

one should worship Hari according to one's capacity, with offerings as obtained.

He, the Soul of all, pleased even with water offered

with faith and sincere devotion, is satisfied—how much more so with complete worship!

Ornaments of jewels, gold, and the like, presented by a person devoid of faith and the like,

and the fourfold food and other offerings given, he does not accept with joy.

Therefore, O sage, for his own welfare, a devoted person must perform

the regular worship of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who swiftly bestows all desired objects.

Thus ends the twenty-sixth chapter, named "Ascertainment of the Qualification for Kriyāyoga and Related Topics," in the Śrī Vāsudeva-māhātmya of the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.