Skandapurana 6.3.220

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then, O lord of the earth, one should go to the supreme Loṭaṇeśvara / on the northern bank of the Narmadā, which destroys all sins.

At that very moment, all that sin accumulated through seven births / is destroyed indeed, O king, merely by the darśana of the God of gods.

Whatever sin has been committed from childhood onward, or even in youth, / all that dissolves away through the darśana of the God of gods.

Yudhiṣṭhira said: / The great deeds of the Narmadā, a wonder in the worlds, / have indeed been narrated by you, O brahmin, destroying all sin.

I wish to hear entirely about that one supreme sacred ford which yields the fruit of all sacred fords; / taking compassion, tell me quickly.

Whatever rare questions there are in the three worlds, O best [of sages], / all of them have been heard by me along with my kinsmen, through your grace.

O best of those who know all questions, having heard [the answer to] this one ultimate question / by your grace, to that place shall I go together with my kinsmen.

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Excellent, excellent, O man of great wisdom, you whose mind is such! / For you whose [mind is such], nothing in the three worlds is difficult to obtain.

Dharma, wealth, pleasure, and liberation, O bull of the Bharatas, / should be pursued by that wise man who knows [their proper] time from time to time.

Therefore I shall explain to you the auspicious answer to this question, / hearing which human beings on earth are freed from all sins.

The Narmadā is the best of rivers, auspicious, embodying all sacred fords; / its special virtue is declared to be at the confluence of the Revā and the ocean.

Seeing the Revā arriving, O best of kings, the great ocean, / having bowed down to the goddess at the confluence with the Revā,

contemplated in his mind: 'Who indeed is this best of rivers for me?' / Having understood and contemplated in mind that the Revā is the supreme [river] born from the liṅga,

the great ocean, O dear one, rolling on the ground face-forward, went to the Revā, / where the great river Narmadā enters the ocean.

There a liṅga of the supreme God of gods arose in the ocean. / Born from the liṅga, the fortunate Narmadā, best of rivers,

attained dissolution there into that liṅga; therefore, she is indeed the most sacred. / Residing constantly by the Narmadā, always drinking Narmadā water, / one is consecrated in all sacrifices and drinks soma day after day.

That man who, having bathed there at the confluence, worships Loṭaṇeśvara, / attains the fruit of the horse sacrifice.

The sin committed in speech, in mind, or through action, O king, / upon reaching Loṭaṇeśvara, all dissolves away.

Especially on the full moon of Kārttika, [its merit] has been proclaimed by Śaṃkara; / listen to that, O best of kings, which removes all sins.

Seeing that the full moon of Kārttika has arrived, having gone there, O best of kings, / and having fasted on the fourteenth day, having bathed in the water of the Narmadā,

having gratified the ancestors and gods, and having performed the śrāddha according to the rules, / one should keep a night vigil, having worshipped Loṭaṇeśvara.

Fruitful is his life, fruitful is his effort. / Those [who do not do so] are lame, there is no doubt; their birth is useless,

by whom, with single-pointed mind, Loṭaṇeśvara has not been beheld. / State of a piśāca and non-human birth will not occur in his family.

He who, having gone to that confluence, performs the ritual ablution according to rule, / should likewise perform the awakening [of the deity] with sacred songs and dances.

Then, seeing the night dawned and bowing to the great ocean, / having addressed it according to the rule of bathing, he should cause the ritual ablution to be performed there.

"Oṃ, homage to you whose form is Viṣṇu, lord of sacred fords, homage to you! / Bring your presence to me, O god Ocean, in the salt waters." / This is the invocation mantra.

"Fire is fiery energy, through Mṛḍā is the body, Viṣṇu is the holder of the seed, the navel of immortality." / Speaking this true utterance, O Pāṇḍava, one should then plunge into the lord of rivers. / This is the bathing mantra.

Whatever sin a man has committed throughout a hundred thousand lifetimes, / by a single ritual ablution in the salt water he dispels that flood of sins.

Otherwise, O best of the Kurus, this all-pervading [ocean] is of divine origin; / the great ocean is not to be touched by wise men even with the tip of a kuśa grass.

"You are pre-eminent in all jewels, a mine of mines of all gems! / O supreme lord of all immortals, accept this argha offering; homage be to you!" / This is the argha mantra.

Immediately thereafter, having gratified the ancestors, gods, and men, / having stepped out onto the bank of that very [ocean], with five pre-eminent brahmins

representing the world-guardians, he should then perform the śrāddha, / having first placed the world-guardians before him and installed them according to rule.

And having worshipped them in accordance with custom together with the brahmins, / he should afterward disclose to them all good and bad deeds:

"Whatever sin has been committed from childhood onward, or in old age and youth—" / Having proclaimed it before them, he should invite the world-guardians:

"Whatever inauspicious deed was done from childhood onward, since birth, / all that has been spoken to the brahmins while these [guardians] stand in my presence."

Having said this, he should then roll facing forward before them; / and having obtained permission from those five, he should subsequently perform ritual ablution.

And a śrāddha should be performed according to rule for the ancestors, O best of kings; / when this is done, O best of monarchs, the destruction of all sins occurs.

Now whoever desires to know himself for the sake of enquiry, / and whatever deed is good or bad, hear this certain conclusion concerning it:

Having bathed at that great sacred ford, a person moves while rolling; / one of sinful deeds goes elsewhere, whereas one of righteous deeds goes towards the river.

Then the evil-doer, knowing, 'Sin was accumulated by me previously,' / having bathed at that best of sacred fords, should give a gift according to rule.

Worshipping Loṭaṇeśvara, he is released from all sins; / going in an uncrooked path, he is freed from all offenses.

Therefore, knowing thus, with every effort, O best of kings, / ritual ablution should be performed by humans there where Hara is present.

Having thus bathed according to the rite, he should worship brahmins / who have mastered the Vedas, O protector of the earth, for the pacification of all sins.

Indeed, such is that sacred ford, endowed with virtues, O best of kings; / listen to the māhātmya of that sacred ford with an attentive mind, O king.

Having bathed at that sacred ford, having gratified the ancestors and deities, / whatever person, filled with devotion, performs a śrāddha there for the ancestors,

and gives a gift to brahmins of cows, land, sesame, and gold, / for sixty thousand years and a hundred crore years,

having mounted an excellent aerial chariot, is honoured in the heavenly world. / Whatever fruit is attained from ritual ablution and gifts at all sacred fords of the Narmadā,

that fruit one obtains at the confluence of the Revā and the ocean. / Gold, silver, copper, gems, pearl ornaments,

a cow and a bull, land, and grain given there yield imperishable fruit; / of the auspicious and even of the inauspicious at that sacred ford there is no doubt.

If any person gives up his life at that sacred ford, O Yudhiṣṭhira, / doing so with devotion according to the rite, hear the meritorious fruit for him:

Having sported for a crore of years in the temple of Śiva, / he is born in a stainless family as a brahmin learned in the Vedas and Vedāṅgas.

Abounding in sons and grandsons, endowed with wealth and grain, / freed from all diseases, he will live for a hundred autumns.

Whatever merit is obtained when Somanātha is worshipped on the twelve pilgrimages / on the full moon of Kārttika under the conjunction with Kṛttikā, that [same] merit is at Loṭaṇeśvara.

At Gayā, the Gaṅgā, in Kurukṣetra, at Naimiṣa, and likewise at Puṣkara, / that merit one obtains from the darśana of Loṭaṇeśvara, O son of Pṛthā.

Whatever man hears this auspicious [text] being recited with devotion, / completely freed from all sins, goes to the world of Rudra.

Thus ends the two hundred and twentieth chapter named 'Description of the Māhātmya of the Loṭaṇeśvara Sacred Ford' in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth [part], Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].