Skandapurana 1.1.1.49.1

1.1.1.49.1

Obeisance to the venerable Gaṇeśa.
Now begins the first half of the glorious Aruṇācalamāhātmya.
With the triple mark of ashes upon his forehead, wearing a musk mark on his brow, wearing a gleaming garland, his loins clad in a radiant loincloth, / bearing on his head the unassailable king of serpents and the crescent of the moon, the yogin of Aruṇagiri, a light unto all, reigns supreme. (1)
Vyāsa said:
Then the sages dwelling in the Naimiṣāraṇya said to Sūta: / “We wish to hear from you the māhātmya of Aruṇācala. (2)
Tell us that māhātmya!” Addressed thus, Sūta said to those sages:
Sūta said:
Long ago, Sanaka questioned the four-faced [Brahmā] for this very purpose. (3)
Listen with attentive minds; I shall tell it to you now, / for hearing it with devotion destroys the sins of men. (4)
Once in Satyaloka, seated before Brahmā who sits on the lotus, / Sanaka bowed low and, standing with joined palms, questioned him: (5)
Sanaka said:
“O support of the worlds, lord of gods, you who are known through the Vedas, four-faced one! / Complete knowledge arose in me through your grace. (6)
When the mirror of my mind was purified through the glory of devotion to you, / all knowledge was reflected there simply upon a single teaching. (7)
The essential meaning of the Vedas and what is known through the Vedas—the undisturbed knowledge of Śiva— / I have fully attained through your glances, O teacher of the universe! (8)
There are Śiva’s liṅgas on earth: divine ones, O treasury of compassion, / and human ones, those established by siddhas, and elemental ones, O leader of the gods. (9)
Tell me of that pure, divine liṅga that possesses the majesty of destroying enemies, / self-manifest in Jambudvīpa, fiery in nature. (10)
Tell me, O treasury of mercy, of that which destroys sin by the mere recollection of its name, / and eternally grants conformity to Śiva’s form! (11)
That imperishable splendor of Śiva which is the beginningless support of the universe, / and seeing which one becomes fulfilled—let that be taught to me!”
Thus hearing the word of that devoted [disciple], full of curiosity, (12)