Skandapurana 6.3.194

Chapter 194. / Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Having heard that universal form described by the infinite God, / the king of the gods and the gods were filled with supreme wonder.

And seeing the holy apsaras Urvaśī, whose face was like a lotus, / Indra, surrounded by royal splendor, became terrified and astonished.

He did not speak a single word in reply, remaining silent. / For such was the event, the deed of Nārāyaṇa.

Hearing of that supreme universal form, Lakṣmī, born from Khyāti and Bhṛgu, / was astonished, O king, and reflected at that time.

"By what means can that Lord Nārāyaṇa become my husband? / By vow, or by austerity, by gift, or by discipline, // 194.5

by serving elders, or by worshipping deities?" / Knowing the maiden to be devoted to such thoughts, O Yudhiṣṭhira, Satī // 194.6

said: "Indeed, through austerity Śaṅkara was obtained by me as husband, / and Prajāpati by Gāyatrī, and [other lords] by other [women] who desired them. // 194.7

He can only be obtained by you through austerity; therefore perform it, O lady of good vows! / For austere, fierce austerity bestows all desired things." // 194.8

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Having gone to the seashore, O conqueror of enemy cities, / Lakṣmī practiced most difficult austerity for a vast period of time. // 194.9

She remained motionless like a pillar for a thousand divine years. / Then the gods, Indra and others, bearing the conch, discus, and mace, // 194.10

went for that purpose having assumed [Viṣṇu's form]. But she asked the gods: / "Show me without delay the universal form belonging to Viṣṇu!" // 194.11

Discomfited and ashamed, the gods went then to Nārāyaṇa / and said: "We are unable to show the universal form." // 194.12

Then they departed wherever they wished, and Viṣṇu reflected: / "The goddess, the daughter of Bhṛgu, assuming a fierce form, is burning her body [with austerities]. // 194.13

Therefore, having gone there and granted her the desired boon, / I shall practice austerity again, or I shall show again / that universal form belonging to Viṣṇu, difficult to see for gods and demons." // 194.14

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then, having gone, Hṛṣīkeśa spoke to Śrī stationed at the edge of the sea: / "I am pleased with you, O goddess; choose a boon as you desire!" // 194.15

Śrī said: / "If you are pleased with me, O god Janārdana, who have sought refuge, / then show [me], O sinless one, what was seen by your apsarases— // 194.16

the boundless universal form, O Keśava, source of beings, / and the austerity that was performed by you after reaching Gandhamādana. // 194.17

Tell me of that, O all-pervading Viṣṇu, if it is not false, O Keśava! / For I do not put my faith in this form in any way. // 194.18

I was courted by many Yakṣas and Rākṣasas who move by magical illusions, / who knew my inner sentiment directed toward Hari. // 194.19

Assuming the form of Viṣṇu, four-armed and holding the discus, / they all went away deeply ashamed, because of the help of [your] universal form." // 194.20

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then Lord Nārāyaṇa, having been addressed thus by her, / set aside that form bearing the conch, discus, and mace, which is worshipped by the gods, // 194.21

and displayed his supreme universal form as described. / Having shown it, he spoke these words according to the rite of the Pañcarātra: // 194.22

"Whoever worships me daily, he is worthy of worship and is worshipped, / endowed with wealth and grain, and provided with all enjoyments. // 194.23

Celibacy is the supreme austerity, the root indeed of all virtues; / therefore I will dwell there under the name Mūlaśrīpati. // 194.24

The primordial Fortune (Mūlaśrī) is declared to be the Brāhmī power, having the nature of celibacy, / consisting of all yogas, meritorious, dispelling all sin, and auspicious. // 194.25

I am her lord and master, granting boons to living beings, O beloved! / That man who, having bathed in the waters of the Revā and restrained his vows, worships me // 194.26

named Mūlaśrīpati, shall obtain his desired fruit. / Whoever gives gifts there, and Great Gifts, O beloved, // 194.27

a thousandfold merit is attained beyond any other place. / It has been seen by you in that region and understood properly; / having worshipped it, you will obtain the highest desires, without a doubt. // 194.28

Choose a boon, O queen of gods, your desire which is difficult for gods to attain / who have fallen into the impenetrable wilderness of saṃsāra, O supreme goddess!" // 194.29

Śrī said: / "O Nārāyaṇa, creator of the universe! O Nārāyaṇa, lord of the world! / O Nārāyaṇa, Supreme Brahman! O refuge of Nārāyaṇa! // 194.30

Be gracious! Protect me through devotion, [and] engage me properly in creation. / You are dear to me, and I am dear to you; make it so that it will be thus! // 194.31

The household is regarded by the wise, O god, as the cause of dharma, wealth, and pleasure. / Having established yourself in that sacred stage of life, appoint me to the highest good!" // 194.32

Nārāyaṇa said: / "O goddess, since I was petitioned by you with the speech (gir) of Nārāyaṇa, / therefore my name here shall be Nārāyaṇagiri. // 194.33

At the remembrance of Nārāyaṇa, sin born of ten million births disappears; / and because it swallows (girati) [sin], it is named giri. // 194.34

Therefore, O goddess, the hill (giri) shall become the king of mountains, a refuge for all, / just as I too am a refuge for gods, demons, and mortals. // 194.35

Those who will worship this supreme divine form of mine / standing in the maṇḍala, named Nārāyaṇagiri, O auspicious-eyed one, // 194.36

endowed with divine knowledge, behaving with divine bodies, / will attain the divine realm, accompanied by divine pleasures." // 194.37

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / While the two were conversing in this manner, the gods led by Indra / and the great seers arrived at that forest region on the seashore. // 194.38

Then the king of gods, having understood what was intended by Nārāyaṇa, / chose his daughter from Bhṛgu, and that righteous-minded [sage] gave her away. // 194.39

Dharma too, O child, duly performed the wedding / of the God of gods, O royal seer, intent upon the sake of the deities. // 194.40

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / Since it was spoken by you that Dharma duly performed the marriage, / what was the ritual there, and what sacrificial fee (dakṣiṇā) was given by Bhṛgu? // 194.41

Who took hold of the sruc and sruva ladles at that marriage-sacrifice? / Who were the priests and who were the spectators there, O best of twice-borns? // 194.42

What was its concluding purificatory bath (avabhṛtha)? Tell all that in detail! / There is no satiety for me from drinking the nectar of your speech. // 194.43

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Of the marriage-sacrifice of Nārāyaṇa, O Yudhiṣṭhira, / of that god's austerity, and of his proper conduct, // 194.44

even Brahmā, the supreme lord, is not capable of reciting the virtues. / Nevertheless, I shall tell it in summary; listen, becoming focused! // 194.45

Brahmā and the seven seers were engaged there in taking up the sruk and sruva ladles; / they offered oblations into the fires, O king, while the earth together with the oceans served as the altar.

The oceans presented gems to the brahmin-seers, O best of kings, / and Kubera, too, gave wealth desired by all the brahmins.

Viśvakarman also, O scorcher of foes, [constructed] for the gods and brahmin-seers / wondrous mansions made entirely of jewels,

and having made them, displayed them to the renowned lord of the gods. / Then Indra asked the brahmins headed by Kāpiṣṭhala,

as well as Śaunaka and others, the Bāṣkalas, the Chāgalas, / and the Ātreyas, O lord of kings: “Choose what you desire!”

Beholding those wonderful jewels, they spoke to the lord of all lords: / “This gathering of gods and seers brings great merit.

O lord of gods, we wish to dwell always in this sacred place.” / Indra replied again: “Your residence will be here / as long as you remain devoted to truth and righteousness.”

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / As to what you asked, O tiger among kings, regarding who were the priests at the sacrifice, / listen with concentrated mind as that is now told.

Sanatkumāra and others were its attendants; / Atri, Aṅgiras, and Marīci performed the role of the Udgātṛ priests;

Dharma and Vasiṣṭha acted as the Hotṛs, and sage Sanaka as the Brahmā priest. / Indra gave them thirty-six thousand villages.

Lakṣmī was united with her husband, and the Lord brought it to completion. / While Brahmā was making oblations into the fire, from as far as the gods were standing,

his forehead was seen; hence that region is known as Lalāṭa. / That region is the sacred field of the Lord of Śrī, meritorious and frequented by celestial seers,

filled with every wonder, celestial, and endowed with divine perfections. / Then, preparing to settle the line of brahmins,

Lakṣmī then spoke words to the god named Śrīpati. / Śrī said: / These brahmins who are pupils of Bhṛgu and others, strict in their vows...

I wish to settle them through your grace, O Adhokṣaja! / Marīci and others were established by the lord of the gods, O Garuḍa-bannered one;

here are many brahmins observing lifelong vows, firm in their vows, / and some here are established in the vow of Prajāpati pertaining to Brahmā. / I will settle them through your grace, O Adhokṣaja!”

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then, filled with curiosity, the blessed Bull-bannered god / questioned all the vow-holders established in various modes of life.

Nārada too, clad in a black antelope skin, approached Mahādeva, the lord of Satī, / and said: “These brahmins indeed are lifelong celibates;

these best of twice-born are to be covered with fine cloth over their private parts. / The householders [observing the vow of Prajāpati] are twenty-four thousand, O lord of men,

and of those established in the vow of celibacy, contemplating the vow of Brahman, / there are indeed twelve thousand, O Bull-bannered god.”

Hearing Nārada’s words, the gods and celestial seers / thought, ‘Excellent, excellent!’, and none spoke anything against it.

Then Lakṣmī, filled with devotion, summoned those brahmins; / grasping their feet, she said: “Show your grace to me!

Here is the establishment of thirty-six thousand houses / built by Viśvakarman; let all of you reside in them.”

Agreeing with “So be it,” they remained with delighted minds, / affluent with wealth and grain, possessing marks of obtaining all desires, / and endowed with all objects of desire even without undertaking worldly labor.

Having thus settled those brahmins, she remained and protected them. / And Viṣṇu, devoted to the pleasure of Goddess Śrī, remained in four forms.

When the wedding sacrifice had ended thus, the seers / said to him: “Janārdana, where shall we take the concluding ceremonial bath?”

Hearing their words, the Lord of Śrī released from his lotus foot / the pure waters of the Gaṅgā, which flowed into the midst of the Revā.

Seeing the water from Hari’s foot flow forth, those sages / were filled with wonder, knowing its greatness.

Together with Rudra, all the deities and seers / conversed in amazement, shaking their heads.

The seers said: / “Tell us, O Śambhu, why has this water suddenly appeared here, / arising from the lotus foot of Viṣṇu, causing extreme wonder?”

Īśvara said: / “I indeed know this water from the foot of Viṣṇu, O gods! / A ritual ablution here surpasses the concluding ceremonial baths of ten horse sacrifices.

You had to worship the Lord of Śrī, and [wondered] whence the concluding bath / would be had; therefore, this has been immediately produced for your sake.

Whatever fruit is attained by bathing here, O lords of the thirty gods, / cannot be described by anyone; what further words can there be?”

Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Having spoken thus and performed their ritual ablution, all those gods, / led by the Great Lord, departed the way they had come, O bull of the Bharatas.

And then all the brahmins retired to their own houses / at Devatīrtha, O great king, which destroys all sins.

Thus ends the one hundred and ninety-fourth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Marriage of Śrīpati', in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth [part], the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses, the glorious Skandapurāṇa.