Skandapurana 3.1.37.21

3.1.37.21

.. śrīsūta uvāca .. ..
bhobhostapodhanāḥ sarve naimiṣāraṇyavāsinaḥ ..
yāvadrāmadhanuṣkoṭicakratīrthamukhāni vaḥ .. 1 ..
caturviṃśatitīrthāni kathitāni mayādhunā ..
ito'nyadadbhutaṃ yūyaṃ kiṃ bhūyaḥ śrotumicchatha .. 2 ..
.. munaya ūcuḥ .. ..
kṣīrakuṃḍasya māhātmyaṃ śrotumicchāmahe mune ..
yatsamīpe tvayā cakratīrthamityuditaṃ purā .. 3 ..
kṣīrakuṃḍaṃ ca tatkutra kīdṛśaṃ tasya vaibhavam ..
kṣīrakuṇḍamiti khyātiḥ kathaṃ vāsya samāgatā .. 4 ..
etannaḥ śraddadhānānāṃ vistarādvaktumarhasi ..
.. śrīsūta uvāca .. ..
bravīmi munayaḥ sarve śṛṇudhvaṃ susamāhitāḥ .. 5 ..
devīpurānmahāpuṇyātpratīcyāṃ diśyadūrataḥ ..
phullagrāmamiti khyātaṃ sthānamasti mahattaram .. 6 ..
yata ārabhya rāmeṇa setubandho mahārṇave ..
taddhi puṇyatamaṃ kṣetraṃ phullagrāmābhidhaṃ puram .. 7 ..
kṣīrakuṇḍaṃ tu tatraiva mahāpātakanāśanam ..
darśanātsparśanāddhyānātkīrtanāccāpi mokṣadam .. 8 ..
tasya tīrthasya puṇyasya kṣīrakuṇḍamiti prathām ..
bhavatāṃ sādaraṃ vakṣye śṛṇudhvaṃ śraddhayā saha .. 9 ..
purā hi mudgalonāma munirvedoktamārgakṛt ..
dakṣiṇāṃbunidhestīre phullagrāmetipāvane .. 3.1.37.10 ..
nārāyaṇaprītikarama karodyajñamuttamam ..
tasya viṣṇuḥ prasannātmā yāgena paritoṣitaḥ .. 11 ..
prādurbabhūva purato yajñavāṭe dvijottamāḥ ..
taṃ dṛṣṭvā mudgalo viṣṇuṃ lakṣmīśobhitavigraham .. 12 ..
kālameghatanuṃ kāṃtyā pītāṃbaravirājitam ..
vinatānaṃdanārūḍhaṃ kaustubhālaṃkṛtorasam .. 13 ..
śaṃkhacakragadāpadmarājadbāhucatu ṣṭayam ..
bhaktyā paravaśo dṛṣṭvā pulakāṃkuramaṃḍitaḥ ..
mudgalaḥ parituṣṭāva śabdaiḥ śrotrasukhāvahaiḥ .. 14 ..
.. mudgala uvāca .. ..
prathamaṃ jagataḥ sraṣṭre pālakāya tataḥ param .. 15 ..
saṃhartre ca tataḥ paścānnamo nārāyaṇāya te ..
namaḥ śaphararūpāya kamaṭhāya cidātmane .. 16 ..
namo varāhavapuṣe namaḥ paṃcāsyarūpiṇe ..
vāmanāya namastubhyaṃ jamadagnisutāya te .. 17 ..
rāghavāya namastubhyaṃ balabhadrāya te namaḥ ..
kṛṣṇāya kalkaye tubhyaṃ namo vijñānarūpiṇe .. 18 ..
rakṣa māṃ karuṇāsiṃdho nārāyaṇa jagatpate ..
nirlajjaṃ kṛpaṇaṃ krūraṃ piśunaṃ dāṃbhikaṃ kṛśam .. 19 ..
paradāraparadravyaparakṣetraikalo lupam ..
asūyāviṣṭamanasaṃ māṃ rakṣa kṛpayā hare .. 3.1.37.20 ..
iti stuto hariḥ sākṣānmudgalena dvijottamāḥ ..
tamāha mudgalamuniṃ meghagaṃbhīrayā girā .. 21

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.”