Skandapurana 3.3.22

Sūta said:

Thus the most auspicious path has been shown by Śiva himself,

the supreme path that brings immediate liberation to men bound in transmigratory existence. // 1

Now, for dull-witted men, for those not eligible for the Vedas,

for women, for uninitiated kinsmen of the twice-born, and for all embodied beings, // 2

this common path directly accomplishes absolute liberation;

it is to be cultivated by great sages and is well worshipped even by the gods: // 3

namely, hearing the stories of Śambhu, which destroys the fear of rebirth,

brings immediate liberation, and is praiseworthy and purifying for all embodied beings. // 4

This is a lamp that grants the attainment of knowledge to those blinded by the darkness of ignorance,

and the supreme medicine to be properly taken by those afflicted by the disease of worldly existence. // 5

It is a very fierce thunderbolt strike against the mountains of great sins,

[it is] the roasting of the seeds of karma, the means of achieving all prosperity. (6)

Those who always listen to the world-purifying story of Śambhu—

those men in this world are Rudras indeed, without a doubt. (7)

For those who hear the praise of the Trident-Bearer, and likewise for the good who recite it,

the dust of their feet alone has been proclaimed by sages to be sacred fords. (8)

Therefore, whatever embodied beings desire to attain the highest good,

let them always listen with devotion to the Purāṇic narrative about Śiva. (9)

If a man is unable to listen constantly to the Purāṇic story,

he should listen, self-restrained, even for a muhūrta, day by day. (10)

Moreover, if a man is unable to listen every day,

then in holy months, or on an auspicious day, or on holy lunar days, (11)

he who listens to the charming narrative proclaimed by the Purāṇas,

crosses over saṃsāra, having burned the great forest of karma. (12)

Those who always listen with devotion to the purifying story

for a muhūrta, or half of that, or even a moment, suffer no misfortune. (13)

Whatever fruit there is in all sacrifices, whatever fruit there is in all gifts,

a man obtains that fruit from hearing a Purāṇa just once. (14)

Particularly in the Kali age, apart from hearing the Purāṇas,

there is no higher duty for men, nor is there any higher path to liberation. (15)

There is no higher chanting of praise to Śambhu than hearing the Purāṇa;

for this reason it is for mankind the great fruit of the wishing tree. (16)

In the Kali age, mortals are short-lived, weak, and tormented by toil,

foolish, sorrowful, and devoid of virtuous conduct. (17)

Considering this with compassion, the venerable Bādarāyaṇa

prepared for their welfare the nectar called the Purāṇa. (18)

Drinking this nectar with effort, one becomes free from old age and death;

the nectar-story of Śambhu renders one’s very lineage ageless and immortal. (19)

Whether young, a youth, poor, old, or even feeble,

one who knows the Purāṇas should always be saluted and honoured by those seeking merit. (20)

One should never hold a lowly view of a knower of the Purāṇas,

from whose lotus-mouth speech flows as a wish-granting cow to embodied beings. (21)

There are gurus in the worlds by virtue of birth and also by virtue of qualities;

yet even among all of them, the knower of the Purāṇas is the supreme guru. (22)

A soul, being born repeatedly throughout thousands of crores of existences, sinks down.

Who else could be a guru greater than he who bestows non-return? (23)

Pure, self-controlled, calm, having overcome envy,

virtuous, compassionate, eloquent, and wise, the knower of Purāṇas should speak the holy tale. (24)

When the Purāṇic brahmin has mounted the seat of Vyāsa,

and as long as the discourse is unfinished, he should not bow to anyone. (25)

Those who are rogue, who are ill-behaved, and those others who are contentious—

before such crooked persons he must never recite the story. (26)

Neither in a place crowded with wicked people, nor one surrounded by Śūdras and wild beasts,

nor in a gambling house should the wise man recite the holy narrative. (27)

In a good village filled with virtuous people, in a good sacred field, in a temple of the deities,

or on the holy bank of rivers and streams, the wise man should speak the holy tale. (28)

Endowed with devotion to Śiva, not eager for other activities,

restraining their speech, attentive, and composed, the listeners partake of merit. (29)

Those lowest of men who listen to the holy tale without devotion,

have no fruit of merit; their lot is misery in birth after birth. (30)

Those who, without worshipping the Purāṇa with offerings of betel and the like,

listen to the story even with devotion, become poor, though not sinners. (31)

Those men who depart elsewhere while the story is being recited,

their wives and riches perish in the midst of enjoyment. (32)

And those sinners, the lowest of men, who listen to the purifying story

with turbans on their heads, are reborn as cranes. (33)

Those who listen to the purifying story while chewing betel,

Yama's servants force them to eat their own excrement in hell. (34)

And those hypocrites who listen to the story while seated on a high seat,

having suffered in endless hells, indeed become crows. (35)

And those who sit in the hero's posture, and those who remain on a couch,

and listen to the true recitation, indeed become crooked trees. 36

Those who listen without bowing down become poison trees.

Men who listen to the recitation lying down become pythons. 37

He who listens to the recitation seated on the same seat as the reciter,

incurring a sin equal to violating the guru's bed, would go to hell. 38

Those who revile the knower of the Purāṇa or the sin-destroying recitation,

those mortals are reborn as dogs for a hundred births. 39

Those lowest of men who talk while the recitation is going on,

are born as donkeys, and after that as chameleons. 40

Men who never listen to the meritorious recitation,

after suffering terrible hells, become wild boars. 41

Those best of men who applaud the recitation being recited,

even without hearing [it all], go to the eternal, supreme abode. 42

Those wicked people who cause an obstacle while the recitation is being proclaimed,

after suffering hells for tens of millions of years, become village pigs. 43

Those who cause men to hear the meritorious purāṇic recitation,

remain in the abode of Brahmā for full one hundred crores of kalpas. 44

Those men who give to the knower of the Purāṇa for a seat,

blankets, antelope skins, cloths, a couch, or a wooden plank, 45

reach heaven, enjoy desires as they wish,

and dwelling in the worlds of Brahmā and others, attain the infallible state. 46

Those who give a new cotton garment to the knower of the Purāṇa,

become endowed with pleasures and knowledge in birth after birth. 47

Those who have committed the great sins and those who have committed minor sins,

attain the supreme abode merely by hearing the Purāṇa. 48

In this regard I will tell a most sacred legend, O best of the twice-born,

which destroys all sins for listeners, wondrous and very captivating. 49

In the middle of the southern region there was indeed a village named Bāṣkala.

All the people there were foolish and devoid of correct rites. 50

The conduct of brahmins was not there; they turned their backs on the Veda and the smṛti,

lacking recitation of mantras and study of scriptures, afflicted with desire for other men's wives. 51

They were farmers, bearers of weapons, godless, of crooked conduct;

they did not know the highest dharma characterised by knowledge and dispassion. 52

The women also indulged in sin, unchaste, lustful for pleasure,

evil-minded, wandering crookedly, devoid of good conduct. 53

There was a vile brahmin named Vidura, an evil-minded man;

he was the husband of a courtesan and, though married, went astray. 54

Leaving his own wife named Bandulā every night,

he would go to a courtesan's house and make love, afflicted by love. 55

That young woman too, his wife in fresh youth, left alone at night,

unable to endure the surge of passion, coupled and made love with a paramour. 56

Seeing that wicked woman once coupled with her paramour,

her husband in anger quickly rushed at her. 57

When the paramour had fled, that evil-minded man seized his wife,

and striking her with clenched fists, beat her again and again. 58

That woman, tormented by her husband, grew furious and spoke fearlessly:

"You make love to a courtesan every night; what is my recourse? 59

I am a beautiful woman, endowed with fresh youth;

how can I, tormented by desire, endure being deprived of your company?" 60

Addressed thus by that slender woman, that vile brahmin said:

"Indeed you have spoken rightly; therefore I will tell you what is beneficial: 61

extracting wealth from lovers, grant them highest sexual pleasure.

Give all that wealth to me; I will give that to the courtesans. 62

In this way my desire will also be fulfilled, O fair-faced woman!"

"So be it," that wife accepted the words of her husband. 63

As the couple engaged in such wicked conduct,

in time that brahmin, a keeper of an unchaste woman, met his death. 64

When her husband died, that woman lived in her home with her sons

for a very long time, her youth slightly past. 65

One day, through the force of destiny, when an auspicious festival arrived,

that woman went with her relatives to the sacred field of Gokarṇa.

Having bathed there in the water of the sacred ford, in a certain temple of the deity,

she heard the sacred purāṇic story of the foremost among gods:

"For women attached to lovers, Yama's servants in hell

thrust a heated iron bar into the abode of Kāma."

Hearing this code of righteousness spoken by the purāṇic reciter,

terrified, she spoke in secret to that foremost of brahmins:

"O brahmin, not knowing, I committed terrible sin,

acting in youth through willful conduct and deceit.

Hearing this word of yours revealing the meaning of the Purāṇa,

a great fear has arisen in me, and my body trembles constantly.

Curse me, attached to evil senses, sinful, deluded by Kāma!

For the sake of slight pleasure, I shall go to a dreadful misfortune.

How will I behold the terrifying messengers of Yama at death?

How can I find steadfastness when bound by force with nooses around the neck?

How will I endure the cutting of my body into pieces in hell?

And how will I fall, tormented, into caustic mire?

And how will I wander through hundreds of thousands of wombs,

among worms, insects, birds, and the like, afflicted constantly by a flood of sorrow?

And how can food appeal to me from this day forth?

And how will I take rest in sleep at night, overwhelmed by grief?

Alas, alas! I am ruined, I am burned, and my heart is shattered!

Alas, O Fate, having given me the intention, you cast me into great sin!

Whatever terrible pain arises for an embodied soul

falling from a high mountain peak or impaled on a stake, mine is ten million times greater than that.

Even after performing ten thousand horse-sacrifices and bathing in the Gaṅgā for a hundred years,

purification from my very heavy sin would likely not occur.

What shall I do? Where shall I go? Or whom shall I take as refuge?

Or who in this world can rescue me as I fall into the ocean of hell?

You alone are my guru, O brahmin; you are my mother, and you are my father.

Save me, save me, wretched as I am, who have fled to you alone for refuge!"

As she had thus attained despair and fallen at his two feet,

the wise, foremost of twice-born raised her up with compassion and spoke:

The brahmin said:

"By good fortune, you have awakened in time after hearing this great narrative.

Do not fear; I will declare to you the path that brings happiness.

Just from hearing the noble discourse has such an intellect arisen in you:

detachment from the objects of the senses, and a great repentance has arisen.

For repentance is the supreme expiation of all sins;

by that alone does a wise person immediately accomplish an atonement.

Even after performing all atonements according to the prescribed rule,

women without repentance do not attain the highest state.

From constantly hearing the noble discourse, one attains the supreme state,

and from residing in a sacred field, purity of mind is born.

Just as one always attains the supreme state through the noble discourse,

so the excellent understanding of a creature could not come about through other virtuous vows.

Just as a mirror becomes free from stain when repeatedly polished,

so through the noble discourse does the mind attain supreme purity.

When the mind of men is purified, meditation on Umā's lord is accomplished.

Through meditation, all impurity accumulated by mind, speech, and body

is immediately shaken off, and the virtuous go to the supreme abode of Śambhu.

Therefore, for those who have renounced merit, the noble discourse is the supreme means.

Through narrative, meditation is accomplished; from meditation comes excellent absolute freedom.

One who has not attained supreme meditation, yet listens to this narrative,

attains meditation in another birth and goes to the supreme state.

By merely uttering the name, having chanted the mantra,

Ajāmila, endowed with repentance, reached the supreme state.

Listening to noble discourse is the seed of all blessings for men;

he who is devoid of it is a beast—how could he be released from bondage?

Therefore, you too, with mind turned away from all sense-objects,

Establish supreme devotion and always listen to sacred narratives.

As you constantly listen to sacred narratives, your mind will attain purity.

By means of that, you will meditate on the Lord of the Universe; from that, you will attain liberation.

For one who meditates on the lotus-like feet of Śiva, liberation will occur within a single birth—

there is no doubt; I speak the absolute truth.”

Thus addressed by that brahmin, that woman, overwhelmed with tears,

fell at his feet and said, “I have achieved my purpose.”

In that very sacred field, from that best of brahmins,