Skandapurana 6.3.95

Chapter 95

Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then one should go, O best of kings, to the excellent hermitage of Badarī, / the best of all sacred fords, auspicious, spoken of formerly by Śambhu,

and where that crowned one achieved perfection for the sake of the Bhārata war— / know your brother named Phālguna to be the deity Nara.

Those two, Nara and Nārāyaṇa, came to the bank of the Narmadā. / Knowledge belongs to him alone, O king, who is devoted to Janārdana,

who looks with equality upon all stationary and moving beings, / upon a brahmin and an outcaste; with him Janārdana is pleased.

“Behold oneness of self, O son of Kuntī; there is no difference between me and the soul. / Indeed, Badarikāśrama was founded by Nara and Nārāyaṇa. 95.5

Śaṃkara was established there for the sake of bestowing grace upon the world. / The liṅga established by the three deities grants passage to heaven followed by liberation. 95.6

Having gone there and become pure, having observed a fast for one night, / having cast aside passion and darkness, one should resort to a state of purity. 95.7

Having kept a night-vigil on the eighth day of the spring month, / or on the fourteenth, one should perform [the rites] during both fortnights. 95.8

Especially during [the month of] Āśvina, O son of Pāṇḍu, [this] has been told to you. / With supreme devotion, one should bathe [the liṅga] with milk together with honey, 95.9

combined with curd and sugar, adorned with clarified butter: / with this sacred five-nectar mixture one should bathe the bull-bannered [god]. 95.10

He who, free from jealousy, gazes with devotion upon Śiva being bathed, / his dwelling is near Śiva in Indra's world—there is no doubt. 95.11

Even when offered deceitfully, a salutation to the trident-handed [god] / indeed unties the knots of those bound by the root of cyclic existence. 95.12

By him has been studied, by him heard, by him all has been practiced, / by whom the repetition of the mantra ‘Om, obeisance to Śiva’ has been made steadfast. 95.13

Moreover, he who bathes [the liṅga] with devotion, single-minded and with senses subdued— / the fruit of his act too, O son of Pṛthā, I shall describe to you in brief. 95.14

Though afflicted by old age, out of devotion to you I speak: / They pierce the solar orb and go to the supreme abode. 95.15

And in cyclic existence they become the abode of all pleasures; / a marvel to their circle of kinsmen, they are indeed the dwellings of virtues. 95.16

Furnished with all desires, they [prosper] on the earth, O lord of the earth. / Whoever performs a śrāddha right there with water mingled from the Narmadā, 95.17

with suitable brahmins, O king, well-born, masters of the Vedas, / handsome, of good character, devoted to their own wives, auspicious, 95.18

born in the Āryan land, refined, and shapely, / should have the offering of rice-balls made when the sun reaches the kutapa period. 95.19

If he desires the supreme world of the ancestors, O joy of Dharma, / he must carefully avoid those who are one-eyed, wicked, and hypocritical. 95.20

Therefore, by every effort, one should resort to a worthy brahmin. / One delivers departed spirits from hell, beginning with Kumbhīpāka; 95.21

liberation comes to all ancestors, O prince. / One should give gold to the brahmins, [praying:] ‘May my grandfather be pleased!’ 95.22

And there one should devoutly give food, O Bhārata, and clothing; / one should give a cow, a bull, land, an umbrella, [and] a sword, O best of kings. 95.23

That man attains heaven—thus indeed Śaṅkara declared. / But he who abandons his life by fire or by water, 95.24

or furthermore by fasting, goes to Śiva's temple. / O king, he who [perishes] on the bank of the Naranārāyaṇī or in the Devadroṇī, 95.25

shall reside before Īśvara for as long as fourteen Indras [endure]. / Fallen again from heaven, he becomes a valiant king, 95.26

endowed with all royal virtues and powers, intent on protecting the subjects. / Then he remembers that sacred ford and will come there once again.” 95.27

Thus ends the ninety-fifth chapter, titled ‘Description of the Māhātmya of the Nārāyaṇī Tīrtha,’ in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth Avantī section in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.