Skandapurana 16.255
English (machine translation) 16.255
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Īśvara said: / Next, O great goddess, one should go to the sacred ford renowned across the three worlds, / on the western side of that very place, belonging to the seers of meritorious deeds.
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In that place, three-eyed fish are seen even today, O passionate lady: / Aṅgiras, Gautama, Agastya, Sumati, and Susakhi,
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Viśvāmitra, Sthūlaśiras, Saṃvarta, Pratimardana, / Raibhya, Bṛhaspati, Cyavana, Kaśyapa, Bhṛgu,
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Durvāsas, Jāmadagnya, then Mārkaṇḍeya, Gālava, / Uśanas, then Bharadvāja, Yavakrīta, and Trita,
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Nārada, Parvata, Vasiṣṭha, and Arundhatī,
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Kāṇva, then Gautama, Dhaumya, Śatānanda, Akṛtavraṇa, / Jamadagni, Rāma, Baka, and so forth, / and Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana together with his sons and disciples.
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Having arrived at this sacred field, Prabhāsa, the excellent sages, / the great-souled ones, performed various, exceedingly marvelous austerities.
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Thus these ascetic practitioners, restrained in mind and endowed with self-control, / sought to conquer the eternal world of Brahmā through absorption.
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Then once, O dear lady, a great drought occurred; / having fallen into distress, everyone there was afflicted with hunger.
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Then, when this world was devoid of food, wishing to preserve themselves, / having fallen into distress, they took a dead child and cooked it.
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Then King Vṛṣādarbhi, who moved about, / seeing those seers suffering there, spoke these words at that time:
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The king said: / Acceptance of gifts is seen as a blameless livelihood for brahmins; / therefore, accept a gift from me, O foremost sages!
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Mung beans, black gram, grains of rice, as well as jewels and gold— / I shall grant you whatever else is difficult to obtain. / Desist, all of you, from this sin hereafter!
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The seers said: / Knowing that, O king, how can we accept a gift from you?
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An oilman is equal to ten slaughterhouses; a tavern-keeper is equal to ten oilmen; / a courtesan is equal to ten tavern-keepers; a king is equal to ten courtesans.
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A brahmin who accepts a gift from kings, deluded by greed, / is cooked in Tāmisra and other terrifying hells.
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Therefore go, may welfare be yours along with your gift, O ruler of the earth! / Let this be given to others!—having spoken thus, they went to the forest.
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Then, by order of the king, the ministers went there / and scattered cluster-figs containing gold upon the ground.
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Then, as the seers were gathering them, O fair-complexioned lady, / perceiving that they were heavy, Aṅgiras said they should not be taken.
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Atri said: / We are not, we are not fools, O dullard, with minds devoid of knowledge! / We know these are made of gold; we have awakened from stupor.
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Vasiṣṭha said: / An accumulation of material goods for the sake of virtue is not praised; / I, Vasiṣṭha, consider the accumulation of austerity to be the true accumulation of wealth.
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Abandon all hoards, which bring calamities upon one's kin; / for no one who possesses hoards is seen to be free of calamity. 22.
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The more a brahmin refuses improper gifts, / the more his brahminical splendor increases day and night. 23.
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I weighed poverty and kingship equally upon a balance; / poverty is superior even to kingship, without a doubt. 24.
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Kaśyapa said: / This is a misfortune for a brahmin: that [he has] a great hoard of wealth; / deluded by the sovereignty of wealth, the twice-born falls away from the highest good. 25.
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An abundance of wealth leads indeed to delusion and to abundant sorrow; / therefore, one who desires the highest good should abandon from afar wealth, which is [really] called misfortune. 26.
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Even for one whose wealth is meant for righteousness, it is not seen [to bring peace]; / for rather than washing off mud, not touching it from afar is better. 27.
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Bharadvāja said: / As one grows old, the hair grows old; as one grows old, the teeth grow old; / the eyes and ears also grow old, but craving alone does not grow old. 28.
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Just as a needle brings the thread together through the cloth, / even so is craving ordained as the needle of the thread of saṃsāra. 29.
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Just as a horn on a deer's body grows as it grows, / [so] craving is boundless, irresistible, ever bringing sorrow, / and full of unrighteousness; therefore, one should shun it. 30.
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Gautama said: / Being content, who cannot live even on fruits? / Everyone plunges into difficulties solely through greed for the sense objects. 31.
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All prosperities are his whose mind is content; / for one whose feet are covered with shoes, is not the earth as if covered in leather? 32.
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The happiness of those of tranquil mind who are satisfied with the nectar of contentment— / whence could that happiness belong to those greedy for wealth and of untranquil mind? 33.
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Viśvāmitra said: / If a desire succeeds for one who desires desire, / then another desire pierces him again like an arrow. 34.
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Never is desire extinguished through the enjoyment of desires; / like a fire [fed] with clarified butter, it only blazes up all the more. 35.
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Desiring desires out of greed, a man does not thrive in happiness; / having reached the shade of a tree, a man desires a mansion. 36.
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The one who lives alone in the forest has fulfilled his purpose, / not the king who enjoys this earth surrounded by four oceans. 37.
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Jamadagni said: / A great one who, though capable of accepting gifts, increases his austerity [instead], / does not [need to perform] austerity: his [merit] is produced a thousandfold. 38.
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For those who are capable of accepting gifts but desist from acceptance, / the very same worlds that belong to givers belong to those non-receivers. 39.
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Arundhatī said: / Just as a lotus fiber remains constantly within the stalk all around, / even so does craving, without beginning or end, ever reside in the body. 40.
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Which is hard to abandon for the foolish, which does not age as one ages, / which is a disease that ends only with life—he who abandons that craving has happiness. 41.
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Caṇḍa said: / Since these great lords, strong though they are, fear a fierce gift / as if they were weak, so too do I fear it. 42.
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Paśumukha said: / Whatever the wise who are ever devoted to righteousness practice, / that alone should be done by an intelligent man wishing his own welfare. 43.
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Īśvara said: / Having spoken thus and abandoned those fruits containing gold, / all the seers of firm vows went elsewhere. 44.
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Then, wandering about, they saw a very large lake / crowded on all sides with lotus beds, O fair-complexioned lady. 45.
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At that time, the wandering mendicant Śunomukha arrived in that region; / accompanied by him, all the great seers bathed there. 46.
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Having stepped down into it, lotus stalks were gathered by them; / placing them on the shore of the lake, they performed the holy water-rite. 47.
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Then, emerging from that water and assembling together, / not seeing those lotus stalks, they spoke these words: 48.
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The seers said: / By which evil-doer have all those lotus stalks been stolen / from us who are afflicted with hunger, O lords of sages? 49.
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Suspecting one another, those best of the twice-born questioned each other; / they all took oaths according to rule, O beautiful lady. 50.
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Kaśyapa said: / May he eat anything, may he misappropriate a deposit, / may he incur [the guilt of] false testimony, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 51.
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Vasiṣṭha said: / May he engage in sexual intercourse outside the fertile period, especially with another's wife; / may he be an [uninvited] guest of one and all, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 52.
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Bharadvāja said: / May he be cruel and arrogant because of prosperity; / may he be envious and slanderous, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 53.
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Viśvāmitra said: / May he be constantly addicted to lust, may he engage in sexual intercourse by day, / and may he be devoted to base deeds, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 54.
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Jamadagni said: / May he give a maiden to an old man, may he become the husband of an outcaste woman, / may he constantly be a usurer, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 55.
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Gautama said: / May he accept a gift of sheep, may he engage in selling horses, / may he censure his teacher, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 56.
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Atri said: / May that evil-minded one constantly disrespect mother and father; / may he consult a śūdra on matters of righteousness, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 57.
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Arundhatī said: / May she eat before her husband, and likewise sleep [before him], / a woman of wicked conduct, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 58.
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Caṇḍa said: / May she be contrary to her husband, and may she hate righteousness, / and may she be devoted to hating virtuous people, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 59.
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Paśumukha said: / May he fall into servitude to another constantly in birth after birth, / bereft of all rites of righteousness, who commits the theft of the lotus stalks. 60.
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Śunomukha said:
“May he study the Vedas in accordance with proper rule, be a householder devoted to guests, / and constantly speak truth—he who steals the lotus stalks!”
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The seers said:
“What you have made into an oath is desirable for the twice-born! / By you was the theft of the lotus stalks committed against all of us, O Śunomukha!”
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Śunomukha said:
“Indeed, by me were all these lotus stalks taken, O twice-born ones, / wishing to hear of dharma! Know me to be Puraṃdara [Indra]!
”
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“Through your lack of greed, imperishable worlds have been won, O best of sages! / Request an auspicious boon, everything indeed without doubt!”
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The seers said:
“Whatever man, having come here, fasts for three nights, remains pure, / performs his ritual ablution, satisfies the ancestors, and performs a śrāddha with composed mind—
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may the merit arising from all sacred fords be his, O Puraṃdara! / May he not meet a downward path, and may he rejoice with the gods!” / Having said, “So be it,” Śakra then vanished right there.
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Thus ends the two hundred and fifty-fifth chapter, named ‘Description of the Māhātmya of the Ṛṣitīrtha,’ in the First Prabhāsa-kṣetra-māhātmya of the Seventh Section, the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand verses.
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- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit