Skandapurana 14.35

English (machine translation) 14.35

Language: English

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Pulastya said: / Then, O best of kings, one should go to the sin-destroying sacred ford / known as Māmuhrada, on that mountain slope.

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A man who bathes there properly, full of faith and well concentrated, / is freed from dreadful sins, even those committed in a previous life.

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To the west of it, O lord of the earth, there is a liṅga / that grants all desires to mortals, installed by Mudgala.

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A man who bathes in the holy Māmuhrada and sees that liṅga / on the fourteenth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Phālguna, / attains the highest good, hard to obtain in any sacred ford.

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One who performs a śrāddha there, resorting to the southern form, / his ancestors are satisfied until the dissolution of all beings.

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There the great seers praise the gift of wild rice; / a śrāddha with herbs, roots, and the like brings satisfaction to the ancestors, O king.

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Yayāti said: / O lord, how did it come to be named Māmuhrada in the past? / Tell me all according to rule about Mudgala's hermitage.

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Pulastya said: / In the past, O king, while the great-souled Mudgala resided there, / a messenger of the gods arrived, bringing an excellent aerial chariot.

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He said: 'O best of sages, I have been sent by the king of the gods / for your sake. Mount this aerial chariot; go to heaven!'

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Mudgala said: / 'O messenger, tell me the virtues of heaven and its faults that are proclaimed; / having heard them, I will do what is proper.'

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'Tell them all to me, O messenger; then I will go with you.'

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The messenger of the gods said: / 'Enough of this pride! Let Indra’s bidding be done. / Through your own merits, O best of the twice-born, you must then come here.'

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Mudgala said: / 'Without having heard them, I will not go; this is resolved in my heart. / I will perform vast austerity; I will worship Maheśvara.'

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The messenger said: / 'Even in hundreds of years I am not able to speak of heaven's virtues. / I will tell you in brief, if your resolve is firm.

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There are the delightful groves of the gods, Nandana and others, / matchless pleasures, and constant satisfaction, O best of the twice-born.

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There is no hunger, nor thirst, nor sleep or lethargy, O master; / principal apsarases such as Rambhā, and gandharvas such as Tumbaru, / delight a man there in many ways with songs and dances.

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And so, O rich in austerity, a person dwells in heaven / as long as his merit lasts; afterwards he meets with a fall.

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Only one fault appears to me in the world of heaven, O sage; / it is called falling, and it brings terror to the dwellers of heaven.

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There, O brahmin, one can in no way acquire merit; / this [earth] is the realm of action, O brahmin, but that is traditionally called the realm of enjoyment.

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Whatever good action is performed here is enjoyed there. / Likewise, seeing those seated in aerial chariots, endowed with abundant righteousness and the like,

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endowed with great brilliance in heaven, one of little merit, O best of the twice-born, / is always miserable while dwelling in heaven, afflicted by the pain born of remorse:

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'By me, no great good deed was done in the mortal world!'

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And likewise, seeing thousands of others falling, / a great and dreadful grief arises within oneself.

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All this arising from merits and defects has been told to you, / the working of heaven, O brahmin; do whatever you desire.'

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Mudgala said: / 'Where there is fear of falling, loss of merit and no increase, / I have no need of that heaven at all, O messenger.

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By my command, you must speak plain words to the king of the gods: / "May my offense be forgiven; I have no longing for heaven.

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I will perform that action by which there is no fear of falling; / I will attain those worlds that are forever free from falling."'

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Pulastya said: / Having spoken thus, O best of kings, Mudgala, indifferent to heaven, / remained right there, devoted and intent on meditation upon Śiva.

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Having heard his words in detail, the messenger of Indra too / related them to Indra; he spoke to him once more:

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'"You made the divine messenger and the aerial chariot disregarded; / this has never been done by anyone before, nor will anyone do it.

Therefore, go there quickly and bring that sage by force! / Bring him, otherwise I will curse you, without a doubt!"' / Pulastya said: / Having heard Indra's words, the messenger of the gods, filled with fear, / set out swiftly to where Mudgala was staying.

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Seeing him arrived again, seated in the aerial chariot, / Mudgala then entered Māmuhrada and stopped him.

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By his word alone, he was paralyzed like a painted figure; / he could not move at all, through the power of that noble sage.

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Knowing that the messenger had been gone for a long time, the lord of the gods / came there himself in anger, riding on the elephant Airāvaṇa.

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Then, seeing the messenger paralyzed by Mudgala, / he prepared to kill him, whirling his thunderbolt at that moment.

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At that very time, dreadful portents occurred there; / deer, beasts, and birds moved to the left; / seeing them, Mudgala was filled with astonishment and reflected.

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Then, seeing Hari in the sky with his thunderbolt raised in his hand, / Mudgala instantly paralyzed him with a mere cast of his glance.

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There Śakra, his enthusiasm broken, uttered praise, O best of kings: / 'Release me, O best of brahmins! I will go to the abode of the gods.

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Live at your own will, O twice-born, whether in heaven or on earth! / Indeed, this effort was made by me for your welfare, O sage.

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Choose a boon—may it be well with you—whatever is constantly in your mind. / I will grant all of that to you, even if it be very difficult to attain.'

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Mudgala said: / 'This alone is a praiseworthy boon, that you have been seen, O lord of the gods! / The darśana of you, O thousand-eyed one, is difficult to attain even in dreams.

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If a boon must certainly be given to me, O slayer of Vṛtra, / then through your grace let liberation quickly arise for me!

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Since the messenger was told by me, having arrived at this pool, "Do not [lead] me!", / therefore let it become known as "Māmuhrada" on the surface of the earth.

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This sacred ford, O thousand-eyed one, destroys all sins. / Having bathed here, let [men] go to heaven through your grace, O lord of the gods!

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And from the offering of the funeral ball here, let the ancestors attain supreme joy!'

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Indra said: / 'This sacred ford shall become renowned as Māmuhrada, / the most excellent—there is no doubt here—through my grace, O best of the twice-born!

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Those who, being concentrated, will perform a ritual ablution here / on the full-moon day in the month of Phālguna, will go to the supreme state.

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From the offering of a funeral ball they shall obtain the highest fruit, equal to Gayā, / and the fruit of giving gifts here is countless, O best of the twice-born.'

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Pulastya said: / Having spoken thus, the thunderbolt-bearer went to heaven, taking the messenger. / Mudgala too, unceasingly meditating on the supreme Brahman from then on,

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and devoted to pure meditation, attained imperishable liberation thereafter.

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Here a verse was sung of old by the great-souled Nārada / in an assembly of many brahmins on this mountain, O lord of the earth:

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'A man, having bathed in Māmuhrada and seen that Mudgaleśvara, / will enjoy all desires in this world and at the end attain liberation.' / For this reason, O king, it is remembered as Māmuhrada.

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That sacred ford is the best of all sacred fords, renowned in the world; / therefore one should perform a ritual ablution there with every effort.

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Especially one who desires liberation, who wishes for the supreme abode— / having reached the hermitage of Caṇḍikā, why would he suffer further?

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Thus ends the thirty-fifth chapter, named 'Description of the Origin of Māmuhrada', in the first Arbuda section of the seventh Prabhāsakhaṇḍa in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand verses.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit