Skanda Purana 5.15

Chapter Fifteen. / Nārada said: / Then the god Nārāyaṇa, wearing matted hair and bark garments, / and his companion as a second, holding fruit in his hand, arrived. / Seeing the two, that doe-eyed messenger of love lamented. / Hearing her speech, both of them said to her: / "Do not fear, auspicious lady! We two have come to protect you. / How have you entered this dreadful forest frequented by wicked beings?"

Having thus comforted that slender lady, Mādhava said to the rākṣasa: / "Release this sweet-smiling lady of delicate limbs, you of vile conduct! / Ah, you fool of evil conduct, what have you set out to do, / preparing to make food out of the treasure of the eyes of all people? / This lady is the ornament of the earth through the power of world-merit; you are killing her! / By killing this celestial nymph in the forest, you will now render the world lightless / and love deprived of pride; / therefore quickly release her, the goddess of the palace of happiness!"

Hearing these words of Hari, the enraged rākṣasa said: / "If you are capable, then release [her] right now from my hands!" / The moment that speech was uttered, looked upon in wrath by Mādhava, / he abandoned Vṛndā far away and fell, reduced to ashes. / Then, utterly bewildered by the illusion of the Lord of the Universe, she said: / "Who are you, ocean of compassion, by whom I have been protected here? / O treasure of austerities, bodily and mental distress accompanied by torment / has been removed by you with sweet speech, through the destruction of the rākṣasa."

I will perform austerity in your hermitage, gentle one, rich in austerity.” / The ascetic said: / “I am the son of Bharadvāja, renowned as Devaśarman; / abandoning all pleasures, I have come to this dreadful forest. / Together with this novice boy, my disciple, who travels at will; / and many other disciples of mine also travel at will and assume forms at will. / If, auspicious lady, you wish to perform austerity staying in my hermitage, / come, queen, let us go to another forest, because it lies far off.”

Having spoken thus to that king’s wife, Hari went towards the eastern direction, / to a forest filled with pretas and piśācas, walking with slow steps, O ruler of men. / Vṛndārikā, her eyes filled with tears, followed closely behind him, / and Smaradūtī followed behind her, saying, “Wait for me!” / In the meantime, an evil-doer of sinful appearance in the forest / spread out a net; when it was filled with living creatures, / then that master of sin drew the net tight; / and then, taking up the living creatures caught in the net, he released them.

And seeing the two women, that hunter—Smaradūtī spoke to her: / “O queen, he is coming to devour me! Let my friend take me by the hand!” / Hearing what she said, Vṛndā looked at that man of deformed face; / beholding him, shaken by the wind of fear, the beloved of the Ocean’s son / ran away in distress, the fair lady, together with Smaradūtī in the forest; / fleeing along with her friend, she reached the ascetic's hermitage. / In that ascetic forest she beheld something exceedingly wondrous: / birds with golden bodies, chirping with diverse songs.

She saw a stepped well filled with golden lotuses and having a golden floor; / rivers flow with milk, and trees exude honey; / there were heaps of sugar and mounds of modakas, / all kinds of delicious foods to eat and numerous ornaments; / many divine weapons were falling from the sky; / content monkeys play, leaping up and falling down. / In the hut, Vṛndā beheld that handsome ascetic / seated on a tiger skin, illuminating the three worlds.

She said to him: “O lord, protect me! Protect me from the sinful hunter! / What use is austerity, what use is dharma, what use is silence and muttered prayer? / There is no merit higher than protecting the frightened, O you rich in austerity!” / Having spoken thus to the ascetic, terrified, her limbs languid, / meanwhile that wicked-souled hunter, the captor of all living beings, arrived; / Queen Vṛndā, terrified with fear, embraced Hari’s neck. / With her two arms she clung to his pleasant touch like a creeper of sorrow; / “By the power of your embrace, it will come to be again:

the head, complete with all its limbs, exceeding your husband’s in virtues. / Now, O lovely woman, go into the painted chamber for the sake of your husband!” / Spoken to thus by the sage, she then entered the painted chamber; / mounting a divine couch, taking that head of her beloved, / she drank from his lower lip, her eyes closed, intensely longing; / meanwhile, O king, a form arose bearing the likeness of Jālandhara. / His appearance was like that of her beloved, his chest was like his, and so was his height; / his words and the thoughts of his mind were his; such was the Lord of the universe.

Then, seeing her beloved with his full body, she said: / “I shall do what pleases you, my master; tell me also about your battle.” / Hearing Vṛndā’s words, he who was born from the ocean of illusion said: / “Listen, queen, to how the battle took place between Śambhu and me. / My dear, my head was cut off with a discus by fierce Rudra; / then, by the power of your ascetic attainment and through my soul directed toward you, / it was severed and brought here, and restored to life through contact with your limbs! / My dear, innocent girl, you became sorrowful through separation from me;

forgive me that displeasure, in that I abandoned you and went to battle.” / With these and other words Vṛndā was then reassured by him, / and with betel rolls, amusements, and beautiful clothes and ornaments. / Then the goddess Vṛndārikā, endowed with all pleasures, / embracing her beloved tightly, kissed him, eager for lovemaking. / Lord Nārāyaṇa deemed that happiness arising from Vṛndā’s infatuation / to be greater even than liberation, surpassing the nectar of Lakṣmī’s love. / While Mādhava was dispelling Vṛndā’s sorrow born of separation,

in a stepped well shining beautifully with royal swans for their sport, / through the sentiment of her form, that Kṛṣṇa lost his desire for Padmā. / In that forest of Vṛndā, she who bore the form of the Tulasī plant / arose exceedingly holy upon the earth from the sweat of Vṛndā’s body. / Experiencing this pleasure born from contact with Vṛndā’s body, / Hari, the Lord of the universe, considered the business of Śiva for several days. / Once, at the end of lovemaking, she saw the ascetic / clinging to her neck—the two-armed Supreme Person.

Seeing him, she released the embrace of her arms from his neck and said: / “Why have you come in the form of an ascetic to deceive me?” / Hearing her words, Hari spoke to comfort her: / “Listen, Vṛndārikā, know me to be the charmer of Lakṣmī. / Your husband went to conquer Hara and bring back Gaurī; / I am Śiva and Śiva is I, we do not exist separately. / Jālandhara has been killed in battle; worship me now, blameless lady!” / Nārada said:

Hearing these words of Viṣṇu, her face became dejected; / then, O king, Vṛndārikā, enraged, answered: / “By whom you were bound in battle, and who released you alive at his father’s word / and honoured you with various jewels—is it right that his wife was abducted? / How can he who is the eternal master of dharma be attached to another’s wife? / Wise men say that even the Lord experiences the fruit of the deeds he has done. / Just as I was brought to delusion by you, a false ascetic, / so too will some false ascetic carry off your wife!”

Cursed thus, Viṣṇu vanished in an instant; / that painted chamber, the couch, and those monkeys— / all disappeared when Hari went away. Seeing the forest empty, / Vṛndā reached her female friend and said, “A crooked deed was done by that Viṣṇu! / The city is abandoned, the kingdom gone, my beloved is uncertain; / having found this out in the forest, where shall I go, fashioned by destiny? / The sight of my beloved has become only an object of my daydreams!” / So spoke Queen Vṛndā, sighing hotly, intensely sorrowful.

"Indeed, my death has arrived through you, messenger of Love!"
Addressed thus by her, she replied, "You are my very life."
Having heard what she said, and then having determined in the forest
what must be done, that Vṛndā went there to a great lake.
Casting off her sorrow, she washed her limbs with water.
Assuming the lotus posture on the shore and making her mind free of sense-objects,
she dried up her own body which had been defiled by union with Viṣṇu.
Deprived of food, she performed exceedingly severe austerity along with her companion.

Then a host of apsarases, having arrived at Vṛndā from the world of the gandharvas,
said: "O auspicious woman, go to heaven; do not abandon your body!
This Gandharva weapon conquers the three worlds, by which the Lord of Śrī was brought here to supreme satisfaction;
why do you abandon this body, O Vṛndā, that has attained [all] desire?
Know that your beloved has been slain by the excellent arrow of the bearer of the trident. You are an ornament yielding merit;
become one belonging to heaven today, quickly, O fierce and auspicious lady, and resort to the grove of the immortals!"
Having heard the instruction of the wives, the beloved of the ocean-born one, laughing, spoke this word:
"Having been carried away from heaven, the wives of the lord of the gods were released by my exceedingly heroic husband.

At first I was the vessel of joys with my beloved who conquered the immortals; now separated from him,
blameless, I will strive so that I may indeed reach my beloved who has attained immortality."
Having spoken thus, Vṛndā, together with her companion, dismissed the hosts of apsarases;
bound by the bonds of love for her, they constantly came and went.
Then Vṛndā, having burned away the qualities with the fire of knowledge through the practice of yoga,
and having withdrawn her mind from the sense-objects, attained the Supreme beyond them.
Seeing Vṛndārikā there, the great hosts of apsarases
were pleased and praised [her] from the sky and rained down showers of flowers.

Having made a pile of dry wood and placed Vṛndā's corpse there,
and having ignited the fire, the messenger of Love entered it.
Having made a spherical globe from the burnt remnants of the dust of Vṛndā's body,
they cast the rest of the ashes into the Mandākinī.
Where Vṛndā abandoned her body and went along the path of Brahman,
there, near Govardhana, was Vṛndāvana.
Then the divine women, having reached heaven, reported the abundance of virtue of the wife of the lord of gods [and Jalandhara]; having heard that from the goddesses, the gods and all were joyful at heart.
Casting off the exceedingly strong fear of the enemy demon, they beat fierce kettledrums; having heard [this], seated on their seats there,
the throng of attendants attained the splendor of good fortune.

Thus ends the fifteenth chapter, named "Attainment of the Abode of Brahman by Vṛndā," in the story of Jalandhara, in the fifty-five-thousand verse compilation of the Uttarakhaṇḍa of the glorious Mahāpurāṇa of Padma.