Skandapurana 3.1.37

Śrī Sūta said: / “O, all you whose wealth is austerity, dwellers of Naimiṣāraṇya! / All the twenty-four tīrthas, beginning with Rāmadhanuṣkoṭi and Cakratīrtha, / have now been narrated to you by me. / Beyond this, what further marvel do you wish to hear?” / The sages said: / “We wish to hear the māhātmya of Kṣīrakuṇḍa, O sage, / near which you previously mentioned Cakratīrtha was located. / Where is that Kṣīrakuṇḍa, what is its grandeur, / and how did its renown as ‘Kṣīrakuṇḍa’ come about? / You ought to speak of this in detail to us who are full of faith.” / Śrī Sūta said: / “I shall tell you, O all sages; listen with attentive minds. / Not far to the west of the highly sacred Devīpura, / there is a most great place known as Phullagrāma, / starting from which the bridge was built across the great ocean by Rāma. / That city named Phullagrāma is indeed a most sacred field. / And right there is Kṣīrakuṇḍa, destroyer of the greatest sins, / which bestows liberation even by darśana, touch, meditation, and recitation of its praise. / The renown of that sacred tīrtha as ‘Kṣīrakuṇḍa’ / I shall reverently tell you; listen with faith. / Long ago, indeed, a sage named Mudgala, who followed the path taught in the Veda, / performed an excellent sacrifice on the shore of the southern ocean in most sacred Phullagrāma, / bringing delight to Nārāyaṇa. / With a gracious mind, Viṣṇu was well pleased by his sacrifice, / and appeared before him in the sacrificial enclosure, O best of brahmins! / Seeing that Viṣṇu whose body was adorned by Lakṣmī, / whose bodily luster was like a dark cloud, adorned with yellow garments, / mounted on the son of Vinatā, his chest adorned with the Kaustubha gem, / his four arms shining with conch, discus, mace, and lotus, / overcome by devotion and adorned with bristling hair, / Mudgala praised him with words pleasing to the ear. / Mudgala said: / ‘To the creator of the world first, then next to its protector, / and then thereafter to its destroyer, reverence to you, Nārāyaṇa! / Reverence to him in the form of a fish, to the tortoise, the conscious Self! / Reverence to him whose body is a boar! Reverence to him who has the form of a lion! / Reverence to you, the dwarf; reverence to you, the son of Jamadagni! / Reverence to you, the descendant of Raghu! Reverence to you, Balabhadra! / To Kṛṣṇa, to Kalkin, reverence to you whose form is knowledge! / Protect me, ocean of compassion, Nārāyaṇa, Lord of the world! / Shameless, wretched, cruel, malicious, deceitful, emaciated, / greedy only for the wives, wealth, and fields of others, / with a mind beset by envy—protect me, O Hari, through compassion!’ / Thus praised in person by Mudgala, O best of brahmins, / Hari addressed that sage Mudgala with a voice deep as a cloud.”

Śrī Hari said:

“I am pleased with this hymn of praise, Mudgala, and with your sacrifice.

I have come to your sacrifice in visible form to consume the oblation.”

Thus addressed by Hari there, Mudgala, with a joyful mind,

spoke to Adhokṣaja, filled with supreme devotion.

Mudgala said:

“I have attained my goal, Hṛṣīkeśa! My wife has achieved blessedness!

Today my birth has borne fruit; indeed, today my austerity has borne fruit!

Today my lineage has borne fruit; indeed, today my sons have borne fruit!

My hermitage has borne fruit this very day; everything of mine has borne fruit today,

since you have come here to my sacrificial enclosure to consume the oblation!

Whom the yogins, devoted to yoga, seek in their hearts,

that very you I see today face-to-face; this sacrifice of mine has borne fruit!”

Having said this, worshiping that Viṣṇu with a seat and other offerings,

with sandalpastes and other flowers, and offering arghya to Viṣṇu,

he gladly presented to Viṣṇu the oblation consisting of puroḍāśa cake and other offerings.

Taking it with his own hand, the creator of the worlds,

Viṣṇu, consumed that oblation offered by Mudgala.

When that oblation was consumed by the all-powerful Viṣṇu,

all the thirty [gods] along with Agni were satisfied, O brahmins.

The officiating priests, the patron of the sacrifice, and likewise the brahmins present there,

and whatever living beings there were in this world, whether moving or stationary—

the entire world was satisfied when the oblation was consumed by Viṣṇu.

Then Hari, with a gracious mind, addressed Mudgala:

“I am pleased. Here I am as a granter of boons; choose a boon, O you of good vows.” / When Keśava had spoken thus, the great seer addressed him.

When this was said by Keśava, the great seer then spoke to him:

Mudgala said:

“Since my oblation in the sacrifice was consumed by you in visible form,

by that alone I have attained my goal; what boon could be greater than this?

Even so, Lord Viṣṇu, may my devotion to you be ever steadfast

and free of deceit; this is my first boon.

O Mādhava, every day, at evening and morning, here unto the fire

that is your form, for your pleasure, with the milk of Surabhi, O Hari,

I wish to offer oblations, O granter of boons; grant me that as another boon.

For daily offering of milk oblation at both times is enjoined by Vedic scripture,

and I, an ascetic without wealth, have no cows.”

When Mudgala had spoken thus, the divine Lord Nārāyaṇa, Hari,

summoned Viśvakarman, Tvaṣṭṛ, the eater of ambrosia,

and had a beautiful lake made by that craftsman.

With various slabs of crystal and other stones, that [lake] was levelled

by Viśvakarman, and further adorned with surrounding walls and other structures. / Then, summoning Surabhi, the Lord spoke [these] words.

Śrī Hari said:

“This Mudgala is my devotee, Surabhi. Every day with joy,

for my pleasure, he now wishes to make an oblation of milk.

For my pleasure, O goddess, prompted by me from now on,

coming here every day at evening and morning, O auspicious Surabhi,

fill this lake with the milk produced from you.

With that milk, he will constantly offer oblations at evening and morning.”

Saying “Om,” Surabhi, thus addressed by Nārāyaṇa, [filled the lake].

Then Lord Nārāyaṇa said to Mudgala:

“Constantly with the milk of Surabhi remaining in this lake,

every day, evening and morning, to the fire here for my pleasure,

offer oblations, O fortunate one! By that I shall be pleased with you.

Through my pleasure, all accomplishment shall be yours, O Mudgala!

This sacred ford shall become famous under the name Kṣīrasaras.

For those who have bathed in this sacred ford of Kṣīrasaras, the five great sins

and other sins as well shall perish in an instant.

And you, Mudgala, free from bondage, come to me at the end of your body.”

Having spoken thus and embraced that Mudgala, Lord Viṣṇu,

saluted by him, vanished right there.

Mudgala too, when Viṣṇu was gone, for many hundreds of years,

offering oblations to the fire with Surabhi's milk for the satisfaction of Hari,

lived, constantly self-restrained, in Phullagrāma, which bestows liberation.

At the end of his body he attained liberation in the form of union with Viṣṇu.

Śrī Sūta said:

Thus, O best of brahmins, has this been told to you by me,

how this sacred ford came to be named Kṣīrasaras in ancient times.

This holy Kṣīrasaras is renowned in all the worlds,

where Kadru, the wife of sage Kaśyapa, O best of brahmins,

having bathed at the word of her husband, endowed with vows,

was immediately freed from the fault of deceitfully conquering her co-wife.

Therefore, the people of pure minds who bathe in this sacred ford,

freed from bondage, liberated, performers of meritorious deeds—

what need have they of sacrifices, or of the Vedas, or of resorting to sacred fords,

or of prayers and vows, for those who behold Kṣīrakuṇḍa?

A man whose body is touched by the breeze of Kṣīrakuṇḍa, O brahmins,

reaches the world of Brahmā and is fully liberated right there.

Those plunged in this Kṣīrakuṇḍa, even despising Yama,

shall stand upon his head, blazing like fire.

For those plunged in this Kṣīrakuṇḍa, the Vaitaraṇī river becomes cool,

and all the hells become utterly useless.

Ah, while that Kṣīrakuṇḍa, equal to the wish-granting cow, exists,

the man who wanders elsewhere to bathe, O best of brahmins,

goes after the milk of the calotropis plant even when cow's milk is at hand!

Indeed, for those who have bathed in this Kṣīrakuṇḍa, nothing is unobtainable.

Liberation is placed right in their hand; what is the use of other long speeches?

Raising my arm, I tell you—truly, truly I tell you:

He who reads this chapter, or hears it with concentrated mind,

he attains the highest fruit of bathing in Kṣīrakuṇḍa.

Thus ends the thirty-seventh chapter, named “Description of the Nature of Kṣīrakuṇḍa,” in the praise of Kṣīrakuṇḍa within the Setumāhātmya in the third [section], the Brahmakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.