Skandapurana 6.3.193

Chapter 193
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:
When this was said, all the apsarases bowed down again and again / and spoke to the god Nārāyaṇa, desiring to see him. // 193.1

Vasanta, Kāma, and the apsarases said:
O Lord, this instruction spoken by you, desiring our welfare, / has all been understood, and your glory is known. // 193.2

Indeed, what was spoken by you with a pleased inner self— / "This large-eyed woman was shown [to you]; I shall show you the universe"— // 193.3

for that purpose, show your entire self to us who have surrendered with all our being, O Lord of the universe, / just as this Urvaśī was shown. // 193.4

If, O Lord, despite our offense, you are not angry with us, / homage to you, O Lord of the worlds; show yourself through yourself! // 193.5

Nārāyaṇa said:
Behold here all the worlds in my body, O celestial damsels: / Madhu, Madana, yourselves, and whatever else you wish to see! // 193.6

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said:
Having spoken thus, the divine Lord Nārāyaṇa then, O king, / laughed aloud resoundingly; and right there appeared the entire universe: // 193.7

Brahmā the Prajāpati, Śakra, the wielder of the Pināka along with the Rudras, / the Ādityas, the Vasus, the Sādhyas, the Viśvedevas, the great seers, // 193.8

Nāsatya and Dasra, the wind, and all the fires in every quarter, / the yakṣas, gandharvas, siddhas, piśācas, serpents, and kinnaras, // 193.9

all the apsarases, the sciences, the Vedas with their auxiliary limbs and their expositions, / human beings, animals, insects, birds, as well as trees, // 193.10

reptiles and subtle [creatures], and whatever else is known as a living being, / all the oceans, mountains, rivers, and forests, // 193.11

all the continents, and likewise all the lakes, / and the earth filled with cities and villages, O lord of the earth— / [all this] was seen by the celestial damsels in the body of the great-souled god. // 193.12

The vault of heaven completely filled with constellations, planets, and stars— / those women of beautiful limbs beheld the universe within him, the cosmic-formed one. // 193.13

When neither above, nor across, nor below an end of him was seen, / they then praised that endless and beginningless Lord. // 193.14

Together with Madana and Madhu, all the excellent women, / filled with trepidation, devoted to bhakti, attained supreme wonder. // 193.15

Vasanta, Kāma, and the apsarases said:
We see no beginning, O Lord, no end, and no middle of you, whose unmanifest form is limitless; / we bow to you, Nārāyaṇa, the ultimate refuge of the worlds, the endless one who has become the Self! // 193.16

You are earth, sky, wind, water, and fire, and the form of sound and the rest, O Self of higher and lower! / From you, O Acyuta, all this comes into being; you exist in forms of differentiation and the like, O omnipresent Self! // 193.17

You are the seer of highest form, the knower, and the sole hearer of sound, O Hari; / you are the omnipresent creator of all, the smeller of fragrance, embodied in distinct forms! // 193.18

Among all the gods there is no one, in the worlds of men there is no one, / and among the classes of animals and the rest there is no one who is not a portion of you, O God of gods! // 193.19

Brahmā, the ocean, the moon, and the forms of Śakra and the rest, O gentle one, are your superior [forms]; / your form is that of the ocean among the resolute, and the sun and fire among forms of fiery brilliance! // 193.20

You are the foremost form of the earth among those rich in forbearance, and the swift wind among the powerful; / the appearance of a king is your human form; among the foolish, O Lord of all, you are a tree! // 193.21

Among all unrighteous ones, O Acyuta, you are the Dānava, and Sanatsujāta among the discerning; / you reside in water in the form of taste, and your form is fragrance in the earth! // 193.22

And you are the fire whose form is visible; your form is touch in the wind; / your form in the sky consists of sound and the rest; you are the object of thought in the mind, O Lord! // 193.23

And you alone are the form of awareness in the intellect, omnipresent, Lord of all, who have become all beings! / We see Brahmā in the middle of your navel-lotus, and the Lord Hara on your eyebrow! // 193.24

The two Aśvins are situated in your ears; all the world-protectors abide in your arms; / the wind is your breath, the sun and moon are in your eyes, and this Sarasvatī is your tongue, O Master! // 193.25

Your feet are the earth, and in your belly we behold all the worlds, O Hṛṣīkeśa; / we are the shanks; and the hosts of piśācas, yakṣas, serpents, and siddhas are on the toes of your feet! // 193.26

The Lord of creatures resides in your manhood; all the sacrifices are established in your two lips; / we all are in your teeth, O Lord, and the gods are in your fangs and teeth! // 193.27

Your hairs are the hosts of all gods; the vidyādharas, O Master, are the lines on your feet; / all the Vedas with their auxiliary limbs, O Lord, are stationed in your joints, having become your arms! // 193.28

We see the bearer of the earth who took the form of the Boar, and your Man-Lion form which is ever dreadful, / and likewise the horse-headed form high above, and that which was immeasurable in the Three Strides! // 193.29

These oceans, O Lord, are in your body, the abode of submarine fire, and so are these mountain-bearing [regions], / and these rivers headed by the Gaṅgā, all the continents, and tracts of forest and the like! // 193.30

And these sages situated in your body, O Lord, praise your supreme greatness; / indeed, these sacrificers worship you, the endless ruler of the worlds, with sacrifices! // 193.31

For there is nothing gentler than you in this world, nor anything fiercer than you, O you whose form is everything! / There is nothing cooler than you, nor hotter, O Keśava; you alone surpass all forms! // 193.32

Be gracious, O Lord of all, you who have become all beings, eternal Self, Supreme Lord and Master! / Forgive this offense of ours whose minds were bewildered by your māyā! // 193.33

Or what offense could be done to you, O God of gods, when by your māyā our heart, and even your own, [is veiled]? / For our mind, suspicious of your māyā, goes into bewilderment, O destroyer of the distress of those who bow! // 193.34

If we who strayed onto the wrong path committed an offense against you, it was no offense to you. / Therefore let it be forgiven; the offense belongs only to you, the creator, who produces discrimination, O God.

Obeisance, obeisance to you, Govinda, Nārāyaṇa, Janārdana! / By remembering your name, may our sin perish completely!

Obeisance to the Infinite One, obeisance to you, Soul of the universe, Source of the universe! / By remembering your name, may our sin perish completely!

O Choicest One, Puruṣa of the sacrifice, Protector of creatures, Vāmana! / By remembering your name, may our sin perish completely!

Obeisance be to you whose navel is a lotus, Maker of the Lord of Creatures, Hara! / By remembering your name, may our sin perish completely!

Obeisance to you, the ship upon the ocean of worldly existence, Adhokṣaja! / By remembering your name, may our sin perish completely!

Obeisance to the Supreme, the Lord of Śrī, Vāsudeva, the Creator, / who by his own will assumes the guṇas, who brings about creation, preservation, and dissolution.

Withdraw this eternal form, O Soul of the universe! / Our eye is not capable of beholding it as it grows, O Lord.

Your brilliance is equal to thousands of fires of dissolution, O Acyuta! / By its measure the directions, the earth, and the sky are enveloped.

We do not know where we are; you alone are perceived as Lord. / We perceive the entire universe condensed and standing in one single place.

How can we describe your form, or what is this measure of it, O Hari? / Or what indeed is your greatness, O God, which is not within the range of the tongue?

Even with ten thousand speakers or myriads of intellects, / it is impossible to describe your attributes, O Lord.

Since this form has been shown, supreme grace has been granted. / By your will, O Lord of the worlds, withdraw it now.

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Thus praised by those apsarases, Janārdana, the Lord, / directly visible to those who had attained divine knowledge,

the creator of beings entered all beings with portions of himself. / Seeing Adhokṣaja merging into all beings,

all the women of the gods felt supreme astonishment. / And that Lord of all entered the mountains, trees, oceans, and earth,

water, fire, and wind, and the sky. / In time, in the directions, as the Soul of all, in himself and also elsewhere,

maintaining the universe situated in his own form by his own greatness— / gods, Dānavas, Rakṣases, Yakṣīs, Vidyādharas, and serpents,

humans, domestic animals, insects, and others, wild beasts, cattle, birds, / those that dwell in the atmosphere, on earth, in heaven, and in water—

that Soul of the universe entered them, and then assumed that form / together with Nara, which had been seen by them before, O vanquisher of foes.

All those women of the gods were filled with supreme amazement; / their faces pale with awe, they bowed down, O best of kings.

The blessed Nārāyaṇa also spoke to those women of the gods.

Nārāyaṇa said: / Let the auspicious Urvaśī be taken to where the Lord of the thirty [gods] is. / For your benefit, [it was shown] that he exists within all beings;

knowledge was again produced by merging into beings. / Therefore go! This entire aggregate of beings is a part of me.

I today belong to Vāsudeva, the yogin who has become the Self. / There is nothing higher than him who is recited as the Infinite One.

Know him, the unborn Lord of all beings, to be the supreme state. / I, you, the gods, humans, and domestic animals— / all this is indeed made by the infinite Vāsudeva.

Knowing thus, everything, with gods, Asuras, and humans, / along with the attributes of beasts and others, is to be seen as equal, O women of the gods.

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Addressed thus by that God, all those women of the gods, / having bowed to the two, together with Madana and Vasanta, O king,

and taking Urvaśī, returned to the king of the gods. / And they reported to the king of the gods what had happened exactly as it was.

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Likewise, O best of kings, contemplating Keśava in all beings, / attain equanimity, for equanimity leads to liberation.

O King, seeing the Supreme Lord in beings in this specific manner, / as Vāsudeva, how will you not abandon faults such as greed?

When all beings are none other than Govinda, O ruler of the earth, / then, my son, let not feelings such as enmity be harbored.

See the whole universe as made of Vāsudeva in this way, O king. / For this was the very form manifested by Kṛṣṇa, O king.

That form known as 'Supreme Lord'—this has been recounted to you. / Free from states such as birth, that is Viṣṇu's supreme abode.

Now hear in brief, O protector of the earth, what I say to you, / which view having adopted, a person attains supreme nirvāṇa.

For everything is an aggregate of Viṣṇu, and existence and non-existence are composed of him. / He is the real and unreal, all, the Lord, the Great God, the supreme state.

For men who have fallen into the ocean of worldly existence, beaten by the winds of the dualities, / afflicted by the burden of protecting sons, daughters, and wives, / sinking into the perilous waters of sense objects without a raft, / the single ship of Viṣṇu becomes their refuge.

Thus ends the one hundred and ninety-third chapter, named 'Description of the Greatness of the Lord of Śrī,' in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand verses.