Skandapurana 1.3.8

English (machine translation) 1.3.8

Language: English

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The sages said: / O brahmin, as you have related that the entire cosmic egg with its moving and unmoving beings / was burned to ashes by the fire of the kālakūṭa poison through Rudra's wrath,

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yet we consider Rudra to be within the cosmic egg. / When everything moving and unmoving was destroyed, headed by Brahmā and Viṣṇu,

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and reduced to ashes through Rudra's wrath, how did creation proceed? / Whence came Brahmā and Viṣṇu, and whence came the moon and the others?

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Where were the other gods? Where were the demons when they were reduced to ashes and dissolved? / You ought to tell us all of what happened after that.

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Through the grace of Vyāsa, you know everything, and no one else; / therefore you know that scripture filled with knowledge, and no one else does.

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Thus questioned then by all the sages of cultivated minds, / Sūta, having bowed to Vyāsa, spoke these words:

Lomaśa said: / When the gods dwelling within the cosmic egg were pervaded by the fiery poison— / these ones, Hari, Brahmā, and the others, the world-protectors along with Indra— / then Śambhu was petitioned by the great-souled Heramba.

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Heramba said: / O Rudra! O Mahādeva! O Sthāṇu! O Lord of the universe! / In sport, I have created an insurmountable obstacle for them.

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Out of fear and delusion of intellect, they worship neither you nor me. / Those who exert effort shall only suffer greater distress.

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Thus petitioned then by him, the wielder of the Pināka, whose emblem is the bull, / by the lord of the gaṇas, the sun to the darkness of obstacles,

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Śambhu, who has the form of a liṅga, formless, free from disease, / taintless, having the sky for hair, matted-haired, blue and red, spoke:

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Maheśvara said: / O Heramba, listen to my words endowed with supreme faith: / this entire world of moving and unmoving beings consists of ego-sense.

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Ego-sense performs maintenance, dissolution, and origination. / At the beginning of the universe, O lord of the gaṇas, by mere consciousness,

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free from māyā, peaceful, beyond duality and non-duality, / that whose essential nature is pure consciousness alone, whose sole mark is eternal bliss [persists].

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Gaṇapati said: / If you alone are the Self, characterized by supreme bliss, / then there is nothing other than you, O scorcher of foes.

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How did multiform existence arise, distinct as gods and demons, / manifold, causing delusion, observed by the three gods,

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along with the four classes of living beings endowed with diverse differences? / How did the wheel of worldly existence arise, distinct as eternal and non-eternal?

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Deluded by mutually contradictory doctrines of knowledge, / some are devoted to doctrines of action, while others rely on their own qualities;

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and those who are devoted to knowledge are mutually opposed. / Save me, who am thus fallen into doubt, O one whose emblem is the bull!

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Where do I and the gaṇas come from? And where did this bull come from, O Lord? / Whence were these and many others born, and where indeed

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were all the fortunate ones made, both sāttvika and rājasa? / Laughing, the Lord Śambhu prepared to speak to Gaṇeśa.

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Maheśvara said: / Through the power of time were born rajas, sattva, and tamas; / by them the entire universe is pervaded, along with gods, demons, and humans.

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And this that is seen around is not imperishable in ultimate reality; / know that all this, through accomplishment and because it is made, is perishable.

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Lomaśa said: / While Sadāśiva was speaking together with Gaṇeśa, / having the form of a liṅga, universal in form, there appeared from Sadāśiva

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she who has the form of Śiva, the womb of the universe, having the form of effect and cause; / and that Lord, having the form of a liṅga, became submerged from that very moment.

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The one supreme power remained, whose self-nature is the knowledge of Brahman. / Gaṇeśa, overcome with wonder, was intent on watching.

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The seers said: / All this universe of moving and unmoving beings is contained within nature; / let it be explained how the distinctness of Gaṇeśa arose.

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Lomaśa said: / Born directly from nature, Gaṇeśa became a lord; / just as the visible form of Śiva is, such indeed was the form of the lord of gaṇas.

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A battle took place between him, the great-souled one, and Śiva; / having become an ordinary being through ignorance, [he fought] continuously for a long time.

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Seeing that he who was mounted on an elephant was then invincible, / Śambhu struck him with his trident and brought him down together with the elephant.

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Then Mahādeva, the scorcher of foes, was praised by the supreme power; / he said to the supreme power: 'Choose a boon, O fair one.'

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Then Mahādeva was chosen [by her] with a supreme boon: / 'This one who was slain by you, O Lord, is my son, without a doubt.

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This foolish one, born of a portion of nature, does not know you; / therefore revive this son, just for my satisfaction.'

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Laughing, the Lord Rudra revived the son of māyā; / he joined an elephant face to his head.

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Then he became the elephant-faced one through the grace of Śaṃkara; / even though the son of māyā, he became free of māyā and full of knowledge.

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Eternally satisfied by the nectar of self-knowledge alone, free from affliction, / established in deep meditation, fierce, he became the ender of the ender of time.

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Pulling out his own large tusk to serve as a yogic staff / and holding it in his hand, the leader of the gaṇas transcends the sound-Brahman, / shining forth in unity with the pair of Ṛddhi and Siddhi.

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Those who are gaṇas, and obstacles, and those others who are superior on earth — / of them too he became the lord, made so by Śambhu at that time.

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Therefore he beheld primordial matter which embodies the universe. / Standing apart, in front, through knowledge he knew the liṅga and primordial matter; / by nature he saw the spotless liṅga abiding in primordial matter.

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Heramba, though possessed of knowledge, [saw] himself along with the gaṇas, / and likewise the three worlds, all dissolved in that liṅga.

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And he fell into a swoon; then regaining consciousness with effort, / that lord of gaṇas bowed his head to those two rulers.

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Then right there he saw the cause of the dissolution of the worlds, / and Brahmā, and Rudra, and Viṣṇu, and Sadāśiva.

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He saw the globes of the cosmos, equal to corpses, / consisting of the liṅga and śakti, by the crores, like atoms.

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They dissolve and are completely dissolved in Maheśa who has the form of a liṅga; / the liṅga entered within primordial matter, and she entered within the liṅga.

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The liṅga was covered by śakti, and then everything was seen [by him]; / śakti was covered by the liṅga; they were mutually engaged.

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The world, this movable and immovable universe, took refuge in the two Śivas; / even Gaṇeśa possessed that knowledge, while others did not know it so.

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Then the commander of the gaṇas, endowed with great splendor, together with the gaṇas, / being praised with his śakti, spoke to [Śiva] with the supreme Śakti:

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Gaṇeśa said: / I bow to the God endowed with śakti, the form of knowledge, gracious, beyond knowledge, whose form is the supreme light, / beyond form, whose form is the supreme reality, beyond reality, supreme auspiciousness, called bliss, partless, devoid of sorrow.

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The fire beyond smoke appears like smoke. / Abiding within primordial matter, you are perceived as the origin of the knower; / abiding within primordial matter, you are known as the manifestation of māyā.

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Being of such a nature, O Blessed One, through your own māyā you create, then destroy, and protect the universe. / From this poison, all this has perished, the movable and immovable along with Brahmā, the brahmins, and Indra.

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As you were formerly, O Blessed Maheśa, you are the lord of the three worlds, the self of the movable and immovable. / Quickly restore, together with their sheaths of living beings, all those movable and immovable things that have been consumed by fire!

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Lomaśa said: / Praised thus by Gaṇeśa, the Blessed One, the source of beings, / [swallowed] the kālakūṭa that had arisen, the cause of the dissolution of the worlds.

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In the form of the liṅga it was swallowed, and he made it pure then. / Together with the gods, asuras, and mortals, all the three worlds / were instantly protected by him, filled with supreme compassion.

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Brahmā, Viṣṇu, the lord of gods, the guardians of the quarters along with the seers, / the yakṣas, vidyādharas, siddhas, gandharvas, and the hosts of apsarases, / all of them arose as if overcome by sleep.

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Seized with astonishment, they became filled with fear. / All the gods and asuras then spoke with wonder:

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“Where is that immense kālakūṭa by which we were driven away, / and all these [beings], together with the guardians of the quarters, were instantly made almost dead?”

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Saying this, the daityas then stood silent. / Indra and the other guardians of the quarters, placing Viṣṇu, the lord of the lord of all, / and Brahmā at their head, having regained strength, spoke this:

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“By whom was this accomplished, O Viṣṇu? We of little intellect do not know.” / Then, laughing, the Blessed One along with Brahmā and those gods,

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all entered into samādhi with one-pointed minds at that time, / having removed lust, anger, and the like by knowledge of the truth, O twice-born.

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Then the gods and others saw the liṅga abiding within the self. / Placing Viṣṇu at their head, they then praised in accordance with the ultimate truth.

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By the self, yogins worship the supreme Self:

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“The liṅga alone is the supreme knowledge; the liṅga alone is the supreme austerity; / the liṅga alone is the supreme dharma; the liṅga alone is the supreme goal. / There is nothing whatever higher than that liṅga.”

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Saying this at that time, the gods and asuras, together with the guardians of the quarters and the seers, / placing Viṣṇu, whose color is like the tamāla tree, at their head, sought refuge in Śambhu, the refuge.

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“Save, save, O Mahādeva, compassionate Parameśvara! / Just as you were the savior of all in the past, so ought you to save [now].

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Therefore, O God of gods, your lotus foot, the greatness of whose service is boundless, whose form is infinite, / has been resorted to by [us] through your supreme compassion. Salutation to you, O best of gods! Be gracious!”

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The Blessed One, the source of beings, who is situated in the midst of the nature of the liṅga, / was spoken to by the lord of Ramā together with all the hosts of gods:

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“You are the Blessed One possessing the form of the liṅga, granting fearlessness to the worlds.” / The God possessing the form of the liṅga, Maheśvara, was praised by Viṣṇu:

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“Those who were dead were all saved from the poison; therefore, O Conqueror of Death, O Lord, / protect, protect, O Mahākāla, O destroyer of Tripura! Salutation to you!”

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Praised by Viṣṇu, the God possessing the form of the liṅga, Maheśvara, / accompanied by Ambā, then manifested, as though awakening those gods:

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“O Viṣṇu, O all gods and seers, let this be heard! / Even in the impermanent cycle of rebirth, one considers it full of permanence,

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not looking at the Self by the self, O gods and others! / What is the use of sacrifices, what of austerities, what of the effort of actions?

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In oneness or in separateness, there is no purpose at all. / For that difficult deed which was done by you all assembled together,

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that churning of the Ocean of Milk for the sake of nectar—how was it done? / Having rejected the conqueror of death, and always having disregarded me,

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therefore all of you have indeed fallen into the mouth of death; of this there is no doubt. / The god Gaṇeśa was created by us for the accomplishment of purposes.

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Those who do not bow to Gaṇeśa, and likewise to Durgā, / will become partakers of suffering; there should be no deliberation about this.

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You all are completely unrighteous, stubborn, thinking yourselves learned, / not knowing what should and should not be done, completely deluded by pride.

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Therefore, all have fallen into the mouth of Death; of this there is no doubt. / All of you, the hosts of deities headed by Indra, are intent on the Vedic texts,

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Yet, [being] petty, Indra and the rest are all vainly devoted to mere cajolery. / Indeed, O lord of Śacī, you do not know yourself in this phenomenal world.

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A great effort was indeed made by you for the sake of nectar, you villain! / The kingdom that you attained solely through a hundred horse-sacrifices— / even that is dependent on others, yet you do not understand it, O evil-minded one!

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The Vedic words by which you have been praised by ascetics, O fool— / those fools, intent on their respective passions, merely flatter you.

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And you, O Viṣṇu, because of partiality, do not distinguish between good and bad. / Some were struck down by you, O Viṣṇu, and some were protected.

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Possessed of desire here, your behavior is always like that of a child. / As for the others who are world-guardians, what need is there to speak of them here?

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For if an action is performed incorrectly, contrary results will ensue. / That by which success in an undertaking would arise has been forgotten by you.

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The one by whom all were protected today from the great terror of the Kālakūṭa poison, / by whom Viṣṇu was turned blue, by whom all were subdued,

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By whom the worlds were reduced to ashes, and yet by whom they were also preserved— / the rite of worshipping that great-souled Gaṇeśa must be performed.

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Those who do not worship the lord of obstacles, the commander of the gaṇas, at the beginning of an undertaking / will surely have no success in their enterprise, just like you."

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Hearing this speech of the great lord, the gods and demons, Kinnaras and Cāraṇas, / then asked that Lord of the Mountain about the ritual procedure of worship in its true reality. 10.87

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Thus ends the tenth chapter, titled “The Description of the Eating of Poison by Śiva in the Account of the Churning of the Ocean,” in the Kedārakhaṇḍa of the first [part], the Māheśvarakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses. 10.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit