Skandapurana 5.264

The seers said: / “Abundant vows and observances have been spoken of by you, / of which there is no count while the lotus-eyed one is asleep.

Because of bodily weakness, how could one of delicate limbs / perform an observance or vow, or through gifts? Tell us!”

Sūta said: / “One who is unable to keep the observance, who is delicate of body, / by him the renowned Bhīṣmapañcaka should be performed there.

On the eleventh day of the bright fortnight of Kārttika, composed in mind, / having risen in the morning, O lord of brahmins, the cleansing of teeth is to be performed.

Then, devoted to Vāsudeva, he should undertake the observance / of all the previously mentioned observances, O best of the twice-born.

A fast is to be performed on that day with devotion; / or, through bodily inability, he should give gold according to his capacity.

Sacrificial food should be given to a brahmin by Vaiṣṇava men. / In this way, for five days, this excellent vow is to be performed.

Hṛṣīkeśa, who bears the form of reclining on the waters, should be worshipped / with perfumes, incenses, food offerings, and also keeping awake at night.

Then, when the sixth day arrives, he should worship the best of brahmins, / [honouring] them with garments, gold, and sweet food, with great devotion.

Then, having joined his palms, he should pray to the best of brahmins: / ‘All my observances have been accomplished by your grace.’

Then it should also be said by them: ‘May your vow of all the vows / and observances arising from the Cāturmāsya be complete!’

Then, having dismissed those brahmins, he himself should take food, / eating all kinds of food, O best of kings, preceded by the five products of the cow.”

For whoever performs the vow, the fruit yields abundant merit; / but whoever undertakes this very vow for five days, / devoted to fasting, his fruit becomes a hundredfold.

On the eleventh lunar day, one should worship Hari with jasmine flowers; / on the twelfth with bilva leaf; next with rose petals; / on the thirteenth and fourteenth with fragrant tulsi, full of devotion.

On the full-moon day one should worship him with meritorious bhṛṅgarāja. / On the first day of the lunar fortnight, Janārdana is to be worshipped by all; / cow urine, cow dung, milk, curd, clarified butter, and water touched with kuśa grass—

all these one should sip on the first day of the lunar fortnight for the purification of the body; / and aloe, bdellium, camphor, tagara, cinnamon—

one should offer each incense completely on the first day of the lunar fortnight. / [Saying:] 'O sleeper upon the waters, source of the universe, who rest on the couch of Śeṣa!

May the Lord accept my offering of water for the success of the Bhīṣmapañcaka vow!' / With this mantra water should be offered to the Lord with devotion.

Taking water in a conch shell with flowers, fruits, and sandalwood paste, / and offering milk-rice according to one's means, O twice-born ones,

this entire Bhīṣmapañcaka vow has been related to you; / and its fruit is obtained together with the observances of the vows.

The seers said: / This Aśūnyaśayanī vow which was described by you, / which was performed of old by Indra for the pleasure of the wielder of the discus / while he lay sleeping, O highly fortunate one, and its fruit was proclaimed—

at what time is it to be performed, and by what rite? / Therefore, O highly fortunate Sūta, declare the procedure in detail!

Sūta said: / When the full-moon day of Śrāvaṇa has passed, on the second lunar day, / having risen in the morning, O best of brahmins, when the asterism has Viṣṇu as its deity, / one must not hold conversation with sinners, outcasts, or mlecchas.

Then, having bathed at midday, clean in washed garments, / approaching the sleeper upon the waters, one should worship him with this mantra:

'O bearer of the Śrīvatsa, beloved of Śrī, abode of Śrī, lord of Śrī, imperishable one! / May my householder's life, which grants duty, wealth, and desire, not perish!

May the ancestors not perish, and may the sacred fires not perish! / May the deities not perish from me through the separation of husband and wife!

Just as you, O Kṛṣṇa, are never separated from Lakṣmī, / even so, O Lord, may my union with my wife not perish!

Just as your couch, O Lord, is never empty of Lakṣmī, / so may my bed also be not empty in birth after birth!'

Having thus made the request, one should then worship a brahmin; / according to one's capacity, O best of twice-born ones, one should avoid dishonesty regarding wealth.

Thus in the month of Bhādrapada, and likewise in Āśvina and Kārtika, / one should worship the Lord of the world, Acyuta sleeping upon the waters.

Saltless food should be eaten, especially avoiding oil; / and upon completion, one should then give with devotion to a noble brahmin

a bed provided with fruits and rice and furnished with cloths, / and gold as a sacrificial gift; and in this way one will obtain the fruit.

Whoever performs this vow properly with concentrated mind, / enters the path of satisfaction of the sleeper upon the waters, the teacher of the universe.

Just as he was pleased with Śakra of old, O best of twice-born ones, / that man's bed will not be empty in birth after birth.

Sin committed during eight months, whether through ignorance or knowledge, / a man brings to destruction through this Aśūnyaśayana vow.

And whatever woman is without a son, or has borne only one child, / or is a widow, who performs this vow thus with concentrated mind— / pleased with her, the Lord of the world bestows bodily purity.

Never does an intention born of sin arise in her; / never in any way is her mind overcome by lust.

Even an unmarried maiden who properly undertakes this vow, / obtains a husband of noble lineage and endowed with beauty, O brahmins.

And he who, free from desire, performs this vow with concentrated mind, / obtains the fruit of the observances arising from the four-month period.

Thus ends the two hundred and sixty-fifth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Glory of the Aśūnyaśayana Vow in the Story of the Sleeper upon the Waters,' in the Glory of Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [part] of the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.