Skandapurana 5.237

Brahmā said: / Hear of austerity in detail, O foremost of brahmins, O highly intelligent one, / by the mere hearing of which sins are destroyed during Cāturmāsya.

Worship of Viṣṇu with the sixteen articles of reverence is always austerity; / moreover, while the Lord of the world is asleep, it is declared to be great austerity.

The continuous performance of the five great sacrifices is indeed austerity; / offering it to Hari, especially during Cāturmāsya, is great austerity.

Approaching one's wife at the proper fertile period is always austerity for a householder; / observing it for the gratification of Hari during Cāturmāsya is great austerity.

Speaking the truth is an enduring austerity difficult to obtain for living beings on earth; / performing it while the Lord of the gods is asleep, one partakes of endless fruit.

The constant maintenance of virtues such as non-violence is austerity; / abandoning enmity during Cāturmāsya, a person of noble intellect performs great austerity.

Worship of the five deities is indeed a great austerity for a mortal; / one should perform it especially during Cāturmāsya for the love of Hari.

Nārada said: / What is meant by this term 'group of five deities'? How does it come to be? / And how should the worship be performed? Tell that quickly in detail.

Brahmā said: / In the morning and midday worship, the Sun is always to be worshipped in the centre; / at night the Moon should be in the centre, with auspicious flowers of matching color.

In the south-east corner [worship] Heramba for the pacification of all obstacles, / with red sandalwood and flowers, especially during Cāturmāsya.

Remaining upon the south-west petal, the Lord who destroys the pride of the wicked / continually brings about the destruction of the enemies of the householder.

The wise man should always worship Viṣṇu placed in the south-west corner / with fragrant sandalwood, flowers, and exceedingly beautiful food offerings.

In the north-west corner, the family deity should always be worshipped by the wise / with charming blossoms for the increase of sons and grandsons.

In the north-east, the Lord Rudra is always worshipped with white flowers / for the destruction of untimely death and for the removal of all defects.

His greatness is awake, which cannot be inscribed even by Brahmā and the others; / this fivefold sanctuary is indeed worshipped by householders.

This austerity is always to be performed; it bears great fruit in Cāturmāsya. / Giving gifts on all festival occasions is always an austerity; / especially during Cāturmāsya, that becomes infinite.

Purity is always to be understood as twofold: external and internal; / external is cleansing with water, and internal is through faith.

Restraint of the senses should be maintained; it is the supreme characteristic of austerity. / The cessation of sensual desire during Cāturmāsya is great austerity.

Having thoroughly curbed the horses of the senses, one continually prospers in happiness; / one is cast into hell by those very [senses] when they stray onto wrong paths.

Having rebuked the wicked grasping [female demon] in the form of possessiveness, he should subdue her. / For men, austerity is always of the highest importance during the Cāturmāsya.

This desire is a great enemy; one must firmly conquer it alone. / Those who have conquered desire are great souls; by them the entire world is conquered.

And this is the root of austerity, indeed that very root of austerity: / constant victory over desire, as well as victory over mental resolve.

For that indeed is supreme knowledge, by which desire is [overcome]; / they declare that very thing to be great austerity, yielding the highest fruit in the Cāturmāsya.

Greed must always be abandoned; sin is seated in greed. / Austerity is indeed the conquest of it, especially in the Cāturmāsya.

Delusion and lack of discernment must always be avoided with effort. / A man freed from them is wise; one who relies on delusion is not wise.

Arrogance alone is the great enemy residing in the body of men. / It must always be restrained, especially while the God is asleep.

Pride indeed dwells in all living beings, causing fear. / Having conquered it through forbearance, one excels in virtue in the Cāturmāsya.

A wise man should conquer envy, which is the cause of great sins. / During the Cāturmāsya, the three worlds together with the immortals are conquered by him.

Overpowered by egoism, even sages who have conquered their senses, / abandoning the path of righteousness, perform actions born of the wrong path.

Having abandoned egoism, one will obtain constant happiness. / Especially in the Cāturmāsya, there is great fruit in abandoning it.

For this is the root of austerity, that one should cast this out from the mind. / When all these are abandoned, one becomes composed of the supreme Brahman.

First, for the purification of the body, one should perform the Prājāpatya penance; / it is great austerity, especially during the sleep of the God of gods.

The man who, with devotion, regularly undertakes fasting on alternate days / during Hari's sleep, will not go to the abode of Yama.

During Hari's sleep, a man should constantly observe [eating] a single meal; / day after day he obtains the fruit of a twelve-day sacrifice.

If a man devotes himself to eating only vegetables during the Cāturmāsya, / the merit of a thousand sacrifices is generated; there is no doubt about this.

If a man constantly observes the Cāndrāyaṇa vow during the Cāturmāsya, / the merit of each single month cannot possibly be described.

And while the God is asleep, whoever of purified intellect performs the Pārāka penance, / or a woman endowed with faith, it destroys the sins of a hundred births.

Whoever practices the Kṛcchra penance while God Janārdana is asleep, / shaking off the mass of sins, will attain status among the attendants in Vaikuṇṭha.

Whoever is devoted to the Taptakṛcchra penance while God Janārdana is asleep, / having obtained renown or a son, will attain union with Viṣṇu.

The embodied soul who becomes devoted to a milk diet during the Cāturmāsya, / thousands of his sins dissolve away.

If a wise man eats measured food during the Cāturmāsya, / having shaken off all sin, he will attain the abode of Vaikuṇṭha.

A mortal who eats only one meal a day is not overcome by diseases; / and one who eats food without pungent salts during the Cāturmāsya does not incur sin.

[Even one who has] taken [only such] food certainly becomes liberated from great sins / during the four months dedicated to Hari; there is no doubt.

One who eats bulbs and roots, having delivered his ancestors together with himself / from the terrible hell, goes to the world of Viṣṇu.

When one drinks only water daily during the Cāturmāsya, / day after day he undoubtedly obtains the fruit of a horse-sacrifice.

The man who endures cold and rain during the Cāturmāsya / for the pleasure of Hari, the Lord of the universe gives Himself to him.

The penance named Mahāpārāka is declared to be a great austerity; / by a single month of fasting, everything becomes complete.

From the first day of the God's sleep up to the Pavitra-dvādaśī; / [and from] before Pavitra-dvādaśī up to the Śravaṇa-dvādaśī:

this is indeed proclaimed as the second Mahāpārāka. / From before Śravaṇa-dvādaśī until the Āśvina-dvādaśī is reached:

this is declared by the wise to be the third Mahāpārāka. / And from the Āśvina-dvādaśī first until the Devasubodhinī is reached:

this is proclaimed as the fourth Mahāpārāka. / Even if [undertaking] just one of these, either a woman or a man

who performs it with devotion, that man becomes the eternal Viṣṇu. / And of all austerities, this is declared to be the greatest austerity.

It is difficult to perform, rare in the world, superior to sacrifices during the Cāturmāsya; / day after day, his fruit is remembered as equal to ten thousand sacrifices.

By whoever this great austerity, rare in the world, is performed: / this alone is great merit, this alone is great happiness, / this alone is supreme welfare—the observance of the Mahāpārāka.

Nārāyaṇa will dwell in his body; knowledge is born in him; / [even if] a perpetrator of great sins, he becomes liberated while living.

Sins roar only so long, hells [threaten] only so long, / and thousands of illusions [persist] only so long, until one fasts for a month.

One who fasts during the Cāturmāsya, in whose courtyard he may be, / even he, casting off thousands of killings, becomes free from defilement.

A mortal who causes this to be heard, or who constantly recites it himself,

he too, equal to Vācaspati, undoubtedly obtains the fruit.

Hearing or reciting this supreme, pure Purāṇa, which is the cause of purification from sin, / contemplating that Nārāyaṇa in the mind, when dead he attains immortality, superior to the gods.

Thus ends the two hundred and thirty-eighth chapter, named 'Description of the Greatness of Austerity' in the praise of Cāturmāsya, in the dialogue between Brahmā and Nārada, in the narrative of Śeṣaśāyin, in the praise of Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra, in the sixth Nāgarakhaṇḍa in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand verses.