Skandapurana 17.2

English (machine translation) 17.2

Language: English

17.2.p1

[[File:Bhavnath Mahadev.jpg|thumb|600px|Bhavanātha Mahādeva]]

17.2.1

Īśvara said: / Then one should go, O great goddess, once more to the sacred field Vastrāpatha, / which is the all-in-all of Prabhāsa, the navel [of the earth], and dear to me. 1

17.2.2

Where the god Bhava is present in visible form, the cause of creation and dissolution, / he is the presiding deity upon earth, the primeval lord of the principles. 2

17.2.3

He stands there in Prabhāsa as the self-manifest Bhava who grants prosperity; / since this universe comes to be (bhavati) from him, he is remembered as Bhava. 3

17.2.4

He who makes a pilgrimage even once to the sacred field Vastrāpatha / and bathes in the sacred fords there achieves his purpose. 4

17.2.5

Now, having beheld the god Bhava and worshipped him once according to the rule, / that best of men shall obtain the fruit of a pilgrimage to Kedāra. 5

17.2.6

Beholding Bhava in the month of Caitra, one is not born again on earth; / or, beholding Bhava properly on the full moon of Vaiśākha, one is liberated. 6

17.2.7

Whatever fruit is [found] in Vārāṇasī, in Kurukṣetra, and on the Narmadā, / that fruit is [gained] in half a twinkling of an eye by beholding Bhava day by day. 7

17.2.8

Dwelling there is hard to attain, and the darśana of Bhava is hard to attain; / for him there is no state of being a ghost, nor the hellish torment of Yama. 8

17.2.9

Those whose vital breaths depart in the abode of Bhava, O fair-complexioned one, / are the most blessed among the blessed, and deities even to the gods. 9

They praise the gift of a cow and the feeding of brahmins there / for those whose minds are set on Vastrāpatha and whose minds are firm in Bhava; / and the offering of rice-balls in that very place will bring satisfaction until the end of the kalpa. 7.2.2.10

17.2.11

Thus has the māhātmya pertaining to Bhava been declared to you in brief; / when heard, it pacifies sins and grants the fruit of ten thousand sacrifices. 11

17.2.11_2

Thus ends the second chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of Bhava in the Sacred Field of Vastrāpatha', in the Vastrāpathakṣetramāhātmya, in the second [sub-section] of the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the seventh part of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the text of eighty-one thousand verses. 2

17.2.11_3

Purāṇic references on Vastra/Vastrāpatha

17.2.11_4

It is stated that the sacred field of Vastrāpatha is the navel. It appears that this navel is the maṇipūracakra. The maṇipūracakra is the place of fire. According to Rajneesh (Kuṇḍalinī and the Seven Bodies), the maṇipūracakra is the state of faith and unfaith, faith and doubt. As is universally widespread in the world, Brahmā appears upon the lotus from the navel of Viṣṇu, and thus Brahmā carries out creation. It appears that the maṇipūracakra is that state where divine destiny is predominant and human effort does not have predominance. The manifestation of Brahmā is the first ray of human effort. He can perform creation by his own will. In the context of Bhava, it is stated in the Purāṇas (Bhāgavatapurāṇa 5.17.15) that in Ilāvṛta, the blessed lord Bhava is the only male, indeed no other.
Purāṇic references on Bhava

17.2.11_5

Note on Bhava/liver

17.2.11_6

Note on navel

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit