Skandapurana 6.3.157

Chapter 157

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Immediately after that, O king, near Śuklatīrtha, / is the sacred ford of Vāsudeva, revered across all the worlds.

It is indeed holy, celebrated, and ancient on the Narmadā, / where by a mere roar the Revā receded by a krośa.

From the time the river receded by the roar, O chief of kings, / from that time that lord has been called 'Huṅkāra' by the wise.

Having bathed at Huṅkāratīrtha, whoever looks upon the imperishable Acyuta, / that man is freed from sins, even those committed over seven births.

For men who commit sins and are sunk in the ocean of worldly existence, / there is no other savior except Nārāyaṇa, the lord of the universe.

That tongue alone is [true] which praises Hari; that mind alone is [true] which is offered to him. / Those two hands alone are truly praiseworthy which perform his worship.

At all times, in all undertakings, no inauspiciousness exists for those / within whose hearts abides the blessed Lord Hari, the abode of auspiciousness.

Whatever other fruit a mortal obtains from worshipping deities, / one obtains that fruit of Hari merely by prostrating oneself with the eight limbs.

As many particles of dust as cling to a body covered with dust [in prostration], / for that many thousands of years he is honoured in Viṣṇu's world.

By sweeping, sprinkling, and smearing [with cow dung] in his temple, all sin is destroyed / for a woman or for men, through supreme devotion, having beheld the Revā, O best of men.

One by whom the blessed Vāsudeva has been worshipped has the sin acquired over lifetimes destroyed. / Cleansed of sin, he goes to the world of him whose banner bears Garuḍa, worshipped by the host of gods.

Even if offering bow to the wielder of the discus deceitfully, / the sin accumulated over seven lifetimes swiftly departs; there is no doubt.

Rudra is pleased by worship, the Sun-maker by recitation and fire offerings; / he who holds the conch, discus, and mace in hand is delighted by prostration.

For mortals plunged into the ocean of worldly existence, buffeted by the winds of dualities, oppressed by the burden of protecting sons, daughters, and wives, / sinking into the perilous waters of sense objects without a raft, the boat of Viṣṇu alone is the refuge.

At the Huṅkāratīrtha, O king of kings, whether good or evil, / whatever is done, O tiger among men, never perishes.

Thus ends the one hundred fifty-seventh chapter, entitled the description of the māhātmya of the Huṅkārasvāmitīrtha, in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth [part], the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.