Skandapurana 2.2.35
English (machine translation) 2.2.35
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2.2.35.1
Jaimini said:
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Beyond this, I shall declare the rite that ensures the protection of the chariots,
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by which terrible spirits, ghosts, and dire portents
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do not afflict the chariots, O sages, as is approved by you.
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Every day one should worship the deities, Kṛṣṇa and the others, stationed on the banners,
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with perfumes, flowers, unbroken rice grains, garlands, and peerless offerings,
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and with songs, dances, and presentations of incense and lamps.
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One should offer an oblation of milk-rice to the guardians of the directions daily,
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and one should give an excellent offering to spirits, ghosts, and goblins (piśācas).
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And one should zealously guard those chariots suitable for boarding,
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so that no person climbs upon them, nor domestic animal,
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and especially birds whose dwelling is not auspicious.
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On the eighth day, having turned the chariots southward again,
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one should decorate them with cloth, garlands, banners, fly-whisks, and the like.
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On the ninth day, in the morning, one should install the gods in them with great magnificence.
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This southward journey of Viṣṇu is exceedingly rare.
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That procession [should be undertaken] with effort by those endowed with devotion and faith.
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Just as the former, so is this [latter one]; and both grant liberation.
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The departure and the entry of the Lord are considered to be a single festival.
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Those who know the past say that this festival lasts for nine days.
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Those by whom this complete procession of three parts is celebrated,
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for them the great festival of the Mahāvedī bears its full fruit.
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Beholding Kṛṣṇa coming from the Guṇḍicā pavilion facing south,
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along with mighty [Balarāma] and Bhadrā standing on their chariots, they become share-holders in liberation.
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Whatever fruit they obtain from seeing them facing north,
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those who thus behold the exalted ones—Rāma and the others—stationed on the chariots,
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that same fruit they would attain when [they see them] facing south.
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Whoever sees [Him] facing south, whether moving on foot or riding in the chariot,
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his birth becomes fulfilled, and at every step [he gains the fruit of] a horse sacrifice.
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With hymns of praise, prostrations, and showers of flowers,
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with presentations of various dances, and with fans, umbrellas, and chowries,
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and with offerings of many kinds, one should attend in front of the chariot.
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Those who behold Hṛṣīkeśa, Subhadrā, and the plow-armed one [Balarāma], / standing in the chariot facing south and arriving at Nīlācala,
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the wish-fulfilling tree of desires for men, granting liberation through mere darśana,
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those great souls go to Vaikuṇṭha, the abode of Hari.
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[Beholding] that Janārdana moving along the seashore in His chariot,
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looking with compassionate side-glances upon the men bowed before Him,
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journeying south toward His palace on the blue mountain [Nīlācala],
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Hari, the treasure-store of all sacred fords and the wish-fulfilling tree of all gifts—
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those men who praise Him, bow to Him, and have faith,
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they do not return here again; they dwell firmly in the world of Brahmā.
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O sages, this great festival of the Mahāvedī has been recounted to you,
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by the mere recitation of which a man becomes purified.
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And the man who recites this daily upon rising in the morning,
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or hears it with focused mind, goes to the realm of Śakra.
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Or whatever man, having installed even a secondary image of Hari on a chariot,
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performs this procession with a disposition of faith and devotion,
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he too, by the grace of Viṣṇu, having obtained the fruit born of the Guṇḍicā festival,
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goes to the abode of Vaikuṇṭha; there is no doubt about this.
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Behold, O brahmins, according to one's wealth, or according to devotion conjoined with faith,
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to that extent this great procession is performed, however one wishes to do it.
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This supreme, pure secret was spoken by Brahmā;
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having caused it to be performed or having seen it, a man never comes to grief.
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Thus ends the thirty-fifth chapter in the Puruṣottamakṣetramāhātmya of the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand verses.
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit