Skanda Purana 5.255

Gālava said: / Once, the blessed Rudra, residing on the peak of Kailāsa, / possessed supreme glory together with Umā.

When thirty million gaṇas surrounded him: / Vīrabāhu, Vīrabhadra, Vīrasena, and King Bhṛṅgin,

Ruci, Tuṭi, as well as Nandī, Puṣpadanta, and Utkaṭa, / Vikaṭa, and Kaṇṭaka, Hara, Keśa, Vighaṇṭaka,

Mālādhara, Pāśadhara, Śṛṅgin, and also Narana, / Puṇyotkaṭa, Śālibhadra, Mahābhadra, Vibhadraka,

Kaṇapa, Kālapa, Kāla, Dhanapa, Raktalocana, / Vikaṭāsya, Bhadraka, Dīrghajihva, Virocana,

Pārada, Ghanada, Dhvāṅkṣin, Haṃsakrin, and Naraka, / Pañcaśīrṣa, Triśīrṣa, Kroḍadaṃṣṭra, Mahādbhuta,

Siṃhavaktra, Vṛṣahanu, Pracaṇḍa, and Tuṇḍi— / these and many others were then gathered near Bhava.

Accompanied by Bhadrakālī, loudly crying 'Victory to Mahādeva!', / they to whom the hosts of bhūtas, pretas, and piśācas are dear,

standing nearby, praised him. When spring had arrived, / the rows of forest trees shone, adorned with fresh buds.

The touch of the southern breeze shone forth, causing delight to poets; / the kiṃśuka tree, adorned with blossoms, tugged at the hearts of separated lovers.

They engaged in sports on all sides, manifesting affections of couples and the like, / in that deep season that thus intoxicated the mind.

Seeing this, Nandī, holding his staff, gave a sign, and another Hara [said]: / “Enough with the fault of fickleness! O attendants, perform austerity!”

Then the whole forest again became rooted in the earth; / seeing the beauty born of spring, those attendants undertook austerity.

Then Pārvatī, mother of the universe, said to Śaṃkara: / “This rosary is constantly in your hand, O Maheśvara.

What is being chanted by you, O lord? My mind is perplexed. / You alone are the first maker of all beings, the lord of all.

You have no mother, no father, no kinsman, and no caste. / I know of nothing beyond you; nothing exists [higher].

Engaged with exertion, devoted to in-breathing and out-breathing, / you are always seen by me chanting with great devotion.

Tell me, O Lord of Gods, if I am dear to you, / what it is higher than you that you meditate upon with your mind.”

Being thus questioned then, Śambhu, the servant of Hari, said: / “I constantly meditate upon the essence of Hari’s thousand names.

I chant the sevenfold descent marked by the name of Rāma, / and the twenty-four manifestations and virtues of Hari.

And that which is the essence of these, called Praṇava, bearing great fruit, / united with twelve syllables, eternal, in the form of Brahman,

bound up with three syllables, endowed with three musical scales, / with the anusvāra—that Praṇava I constantly chant with a rosary.

This eternal essence of the Vedas, of two syllables, ever active, / pure, indeed immortal, peaceful, having the form of existence, resembling nectar,

transcending parts, not subject to external control, without activity, the supreme great, / the support of the universe, the center of the world, the seed of crores of cosmic eggs,

unconscious yet having pure activity, unstained, the regulator— / knowing which, one is swiftly liberated from the dreadful bond of saṃsāra.

And the twelve-syllabled seed-mantra accompanied by the sound ‘oṃ’— / for one who chants it, becomes a forest fire to crores of sins.

This alone is the supreme secret; this alone is the supreme splendor; / this indeed is rare in the world, an ornament of the three worlds.

It is attained through crores of births; it destroys the auspicious and inauspicious. / This meditation on the twelve syllables is the supreme knowledge itself.

Especially during Cāturmāsya, it grants Brahman and bestows what is thought upon. / Whoever constantly resorts to this hymn born of these syllables,

in thought, word, and deed, has no rebirth. / Endowed with twelve syllables, adorned with twelve wheels,

one who is devoted to Viṣṇu, having recited those sin-destroying / twelve names of the months, should deposit them upon Śālagrāma stones.

Day after day, he obtains the fruit of a twelve-day rite. / The majesty of the twelve syllables cannot indeed be described.

Even with thousands of tongues, even by Brahmā, it cannot be exhausted. / For this great mantra in the world, when chanted, meditated upon, and praised,

destroys sin in all months, especially during Cāturmāsya. / This is the secret of the Vedas and repeatedly of the Purāṇas

and of all the Smṛtis: meditation on the twelve syllables. / Indeed, through mere meditation, the desired perfection of mortals comes about.

Through the gift of merit, eternal liberation from [the realm of] Yama occurs. / By the castes and stages of life, endowed with Praṇava,

through chants and meditations devoted to tranquility, liberation will certainly be attained. / But for Śūdras and women, it is devoid of Praṇava.

And for all ordinary people, the twelve-syllabled mantra is not prescribed; / no chanting and no austerity is to be performed—purification comes from bodily mortification,

and through devotion to brahmins, through giving, and through meditation on Viṣṇu, success is attained. / For them, the mantra to be meditated upon is the name of Rāma, which is worth more than a crore.

Chanting the two syllables ‘Rāma’ removes all sins. / Walking, standing, or lying down, a mortal, through reciting Rāma,

attains cessation in this world and becomes an attendant of Hari at the end. / The two-syllabled mantra ‘Rāma’ surpasses a hundred crores of mantras.

It is declared to destroy the sins of all ordinary people. / And when Cāturmāsya has arrived, it bestows infinite fruit.

In the highly meritorious Cāturmāsya, it is obtained by those devoted to bhakti; / for them, attending the world of Yama becomes fruitless, like that of the gods.

There is no recitation on the surface of the earth greater than Rāma; / for those who take refuge in the name of Rāma, there is no torment by Yama.

Whatever faults cause obstacles, whatever impurities of death and conflicts there be, / they dissolve by the very name of Rāma; there is no doubt in this.

He takes delight in all beings, both stationary and moving, / as the inner self, and that is why he is called Rāma.

This king of mantras, ‘Rāma’, destroys fear and disease; / it gives victory in battle and accomplishes all aims and objectives.

It is declared to grant the fruit of all sacred fords and fulfills desires even for brahmins. / It is proclaimed as ‘Rāmacandra’, as ‘Rāma’, as ‘Rāma’.

This two-syllabled king of mantras accomplishes everything on earth. / Even the gods sing aloud the mine of virtues that is the name of Rāma.

Therefore, O ruler of gods, you too should always utter the name of Rāma. / Whoever chants the name of Rāma is freed from all sins.

The merit born of the thousand names arises from the name of Rāma alone. / Especially during Cāturmāsya, that merit is tenfold greater.

It burns away even the great sin of those born in low castes.

For this Rāma, pervading this universe entirely with his own splendor as the inner self of people, / having burned gross and subtle sins from other lives in an instant, purifies.

Thus ends the two hundred fifty-sixth chapter, named "Description of the Greatness of the Name of Rāma," in the Greatness of the Cāturmāsya within the dialogue of Brahmā and Nārada, in the account of the One Sleeping on Śeṣa, in the Greatness of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the sixth section, the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.