Skandapurana 5.128

Sūta said: / Likewise, there is also another hermitage there, originating from Yājñavalkya, / world-renowned, granting accomplishment even to fools,

where, having performed severe austerity, the wise Yājñavalkya / obtained all the Vedas that had been taken away by his guru.

The seers said: / Who was that guru of the wise Yājñavalkya, / by which great soul the Vedas, having been taught, were taken back again?

And for what reason? Explain it in detail here, O son of Sūta; / supreme curiosity has arisen in all of us twice-born.

Sūta said: / There was a tiger among brahmins, celebrated as Śākalya, / born in the lineage of Bhṛgu, fully versed in the Vedas and Vedāṅgas.

Formerly, in the Bṛhatkalpa, O brahmins, in the excellent city of Vardhamāna, / endowed with many pupils, he was devoted to the study of the Vedas.

Having risen in the morning, he always imparted knowledge / to worthy pupils out of favor, O best of the twice-born.

At that time, O brahmins, he performed the priestly duties for the king / named Supriya, the great soul born in the solar dynasty.

Every day, having performed all his religious duties, / he would return to his own house, honored by that king,

having appointed a single disciple for that king's rites of pacification, / having explained the measure and the procedure pertaining to the oblation.

The disciple also, having performed that entire rite with great concentration / and having bestowed a blessing upon the king, would return home.

While the noble Śākalya was thus performing / the priestly office, O best of the twice-born, some time passed.

Then, at the time of a wedding, [the king] who had been cursed by Śambhu himself, / seeing his very contemptible disfigurement as he went to the sacrificial altar,

then for rites of pacification in the king's palace, that Śākalya / directed Yājñavalkya, who had arrived on that occasion.

He too, out of pride of youth, wounded by the fingernails of a courtesan / all over his limbs, shameless, went indeed with his body bare.

Then, having performed the pacification rite, at the end of the recitation / he approached the king to give the sanctified water, being mocked by the people.

The king, too, seeing him, a twice-born of such form, a gallant, / did not accept the blessing spoken by him, and spoke this sentence:

'I am impure, O best of the twice-born, remaining mounted on my bed; / therefore, throw this water here onto the pillar made of Śāla wood.'

He too, realizing that the king was treating him with contempt, his face filled with wrath, / directed [the water] toward that pillar, having meditated upon the eternal Brahman.

Saying 'dyāṃ tvam ālikhya' and reciting this mantra from the Yajurveda, / he quickly poured the pacifying water upon its top.

Then, as soon as that water fell, that pillar / immediately became adorned with shoots and shone with fruits and flowers.

Seeing that, the king, his eyes wide with astonishment, / felt remorse and spoke these words:

"O best of brahmins, bestow an ablution upon me too! / By this very mantra my purity shall be established."

Yājñavalkya said: / "O king, you are unworthy of receiving an ablution from me. / Therefore, I shall at once go to where my guru resides."

The king said: / "I shall give you garments, conveyances, and wealth. / Therefore, bestow the ablution upon me now with this mantra!"

Yājñavalkya said: / "A mantra does not take effect without concluding with an oblation, O best of kings, / as was declared anciently by the Lotus-born [Brahmā] in the rite of ablution. / Therefore, I shall not do what is in your heart."

Having spoken these words to the king, that brahmin Yājñavalkya, / relying on desirelessness, went quickly to his own home.

On the next day, when Śākalya arrived, the king, / folding his hands and bowing in humility, spoke:

"That pupil, the best of brahmins, who was sent by you yesterday, / should be sent again to my house for the pacification rite."

Saying 'So be it,' he went to his own abode, / summoned Yājñavalkya, and spoke to him with respect:

"Go today as well to the king's palace for the pacification rite. / You have been specially invited by the king, my child."

Yājñavalkya said: / "Father, I will not go to his mansion for the pacification rite, / for he is filled with arrogance and devoid of purity.

The water which was prepared by me for his ablution / was directed by that evil-minded one toward that piece of wood.

Then, the water that was immediately thrown by me / right there onto that wood caused it instantly to sprout and grow."

Śākalya said: / "For that very reason you have been specially invited, my child. / Therefore, go there quickly; kings must not be disregarded.

From disrespect, respect from kings may arise without doubt; / but one who displays pride there will not become dear.

Servants who constantly observe the causes of anger and favor / gradually win over a king, even when he shakes them off.

He to whom honor and dishonor are equal, who knows the king's mind and knows the right time, / who endures all, is forgiving, and wise—he becomes a king's favorite.

Disregarding disrespect, therefore, go to the king's abode. / Moreover, my command must not be transgressed by you; this is the eternal dharma."

Yājñavalkya said: / "A breach of your command will certainly happen if you transgress the order of turn / regarding the disciples who were assigned there by you.

Therefore, if you forcibly send me to him, / I will leave you and go elsewhere, for it has been declared by the great seers:

'Abandonment is prescribed even of a guru who is arrogant, / who does not know what ought and ought not to be done, and who walks on the wrong path.'"

Sūta said: / Hearing those words of his, Śākalya, faint with anger, / then spoke to him again, rebuking him repeatedly:

"Where a guru imparts even a single syllable to a pupil, / there exists no wealth on earth by giving which one could be freed from debt.

Therefore, give back what was studied under me and quickly leave my house, / giving up the knowledge bestowed by me, or else I shall curse you!"

Having spoken thus, consecrating water with mantras of the Atharvaveda / arising from sound and the bindu, he then gave it [to him] to drink.

He drank the water at that moment; having drunk it, his senses agitated, / he vomited it out in the manner of an emetic, mixed with the knowledge of reality.

Then, with an angry face, he spoke again to Śākalya: / "Not even a single syllable belonging to you remains in my belly.

Therefore, I am not your disciple, nor do you remain my guru. / Now I will go elsewhere of my own accord; what will you do?"

Having spoken thus and departed from that ancient place, / he repeatedly asked people about sacred fields yielding spiritual attainment.

Then this sacred field was indicated to him by the wise / as one giving spiritual attainment to all living beings, and never failing in any way:

"Let alone performing austerity, a vow, or a restriction, / there is spiritual attainment even merely by dwelling in the sacred field born of Hāṭakeśvara.

With whatever disposition a person lives in that sacred field, / attainment corresponding to it, whether auspicious or inauspicious, will arise."

Hearing that and quickly reaching this sacred field, O best of brahmins, / he established [an image] and thereafter worshipped the Sun,

self-restrained, with controlled food, devoted to celibacy, / having performed the nyāsa of the Gāyatrī, with an unwavering mind.

Then, pleased at the end of a year, the Lord spoke to him, / standing visible to him after subduing his fierce fiery radiance:

"O Yājñavalkya, choose a boon that pleases your mind. / I shall grant everything; there is nothing that should not be given to you."

Yājñavalkya said: / "If you are pleased, O best of gods, / become my guru this very day in the study of the Vedas; this is my heart's desire."

Bhāskara said: / "Filled with compassion for you, I have withdrawn that supreme fiery radiance / and come here, so that you are not burned by it, O brahmin.

"Therefore, right here in this pool, O best of brahmins, / I myself shall cast the auspicious mantras belonging to Sarasvatī that are proclaimed in the Veda.

Having bathed there and become pure, whatever part born of the Veda / you recite but once, that will be retained in your throat.

The entire manifest meaning of reality will be known to you / by my grace—there is no doubt; this truth has been spoken by me.

From this day forward, whatever human bathes in the morning in this pool, / and beholding me recites the hymn to Savitṛ, / to him that shall undoubtedly happen which has been told by me to you, O brahmin."

Yājñavalkya said: / "Let all that was spoken by you be so, O Lord of gods; / but hear another word of mine—I speak to you.

Under no circumstances shall I take a teacher / who possesses human qualities, O Lord of the universe; have mercy on me!"

Then, with an exceedingly pleased inner spirit, the sun gave him / the auspicious lore named Laghimā for the sake of that power.

Then he said to him: "Entering near the ear of my horses, / practice the sciences and perform the study of the Veda.

[Learn] from my mouth, O best of brahmins, if this is your desire, / so that no fault arising from my rays will fall upon you."

Thus addressed by him, taking refuge in the horse's ear / and having become light [in body], he then recited the Vedas from the mouth of the Sun.

Having achieved perfection in this way, O best of brahmins, / Yājñavalkya composed a beautiful Upaniṣad endowed with all the meanings of the Veda.

And after explaining it to King Janaka, / he obtained a son, Kātyāyana, the author of the Vedika aphorisms.

Discarding his physical frame there at the fashioned gate of Brahmā, / he joined that splendour into the body of Brahman according to his power.

A person who bathes at his sacred ford, sees the Sun, / and recites the Nādabindu before it, attains liberation.

Thus ends the hundred and twenty-ninth chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of the Hermitage of Yājñavalkya,' in the 'Glory of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara' in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. 129.