Skandapurana 2.2.5
English (machine translation) 2.2.5
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2.2.5.28
Jaimini said:
With hearts dispassionate, the two, having abandoned the company of courtesans and the like, / meditating on Viṣṇu with their minds, both observing the vow of pure food, / 1
reached in a short time the abode of Hari on the Blue Mountain. / Having bathed in the waters of the king of sacred fords as prescribed by rule, / 2
standing at the temple gateway and bowing down with all eight limbs, / looking for the Lord, O brahmins, they did not see [him] then. / 3
With pale faces, not seeing the God, distressed with anxiety, / they undertook a fast until they should receive darśana of the Lord. / 4
Praising the sin-destroying name of the Lord, / in the third watch of the night they saw a single light. / 5
Then the two of them, steadfast, fasted for three more days; / in the middle of the seventh night, they saw the Lord. / 6
Hearing the praises of the gods, they acquired divine knowledge; / their slough of sins cast off, they saw the God face to face, / 7
holding conch, discus, and mace in hand, adorned with divine ornaments, / with lotus feet placed on the back of jewel-encrusted sandals, / 8
with eyes like blooming white lotuses, a serene countenance, all-pervading, / embracing with his left arm Lakṣmī who stood at his left side, / 9
taking the prepared betel leaf offered by Śrī. / Some [maidens] held jewelled canes in their hands, others had chowries in hand; / 10
some, rich in youth and well adorned, held with their own hands / lamps of fragrant oil and small lamps with jewelled wicks; / 11
behind [him], a radiant [maiden] held an umbrella made of jewels; / another, holding near his face an incense burner well-perfumed with black aloe, / mocked Pramlocā with the beauty of her form. / Bestowing grace with his playful, curly-haired glance upon the gods before him / 13
who, with hands folded in reverent salutation and necks bowed, praised him individually; / and with a smile upon the divine hosts of perfected ones and sages, Sanaka and the rest; / 14
and upon Nārada and other gandharvas enchanting with divine songs, / lending his ear in listening, compassionate in mere sport; / 15
and upon the foremost Vaiṣṇavas such as Prahlāda meditating upon his true form before him, / absorbing their minds in his own form; / 16
manifesting his universal cosmic form by means of the gods and others / reflected in the Kaustubha jewel gleaming on his chest; / 17
standing beneath a shower of divine flowers raining down from above; / beholding the multitude of apsarases, whose beauty had faded in the presence of Śrī, / 18
[performing] various, ever-alluring movements of the limbs; / having seen him of divine playful sports, the two, the brahmin and the kṣatriya, / 19
became in an instant masters of all branches of learning, O brahmins. / Having circumambulated the Lord of gods three times, both with folded hands, / bowing with prostration of all eight limbs, they praised him, filled with joy. / 20
Puṇḍarīka said:
Salutations to you, support of the universe, cause of creation, maintenance, and destruction! / O Nārāyaṇa, salutations to you, Supreme Self, supreme refuge! / 21
You alone are the ultimate reality, free from arising and passing away; / those endowed with the eye of meditation know you to be the embodiment of eternal bliss. / 22
You are pure consciousness, Lord of the worlds, the foundation, higher than the highest; / how indeed can those of foolish heart know you, the utterly pure? / 23
Their minds bewildered by the craving for desires and wealth, intensely miserable, / weary on the path of coming and going—when do they ever partake of happiness? / 24
Take pity on me, O Lord, who am wretched, who have sought refuge, / foolish, a performer of evil deeds, fallen into the ocean of worldly existence. / 25
What other kinsman like you exists in the cosmic egg, O Lord, / who, regardless of his own obligations, is compassionate toward the wretched and shelterless? / 26
Save [me], O ocean of mercy, who am continually caused / to experience suffering due to wandering through high and low, like a bucket on a waterwheel! / 27
Those fools who worship you with an eye to acquisition and preservation, / though you bestow effortless liberation, are utterly deluded by your māyā. / 28
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Your name, 'Nārāyaṇa', even if chanted casually,
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is greater than yourself, O Lord of the universe, as the sole means to the four goals of life. / 29
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You grant those various perfections through those various individual sacrifices,
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[yet] you alone, O Lord, are the refuge of those fallen into the ocean of worldly existence. / 30
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Having boarded the boat of knowledge, with the oar of compassion in hand,
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you alone are able, O Lord, to lead the unconscious one to the farther shore of the ocean of saṃsāra,
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when meditated upon with undivided devotion.
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Those other gods who bestow liberation, established in the scriptures, / 32
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truly lead [one] to devotion to you, which is an Agastya to the ocean of suffering. / 33
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Therefore be pleased with me, O Blessed One; grant firm devotion to your lotus feet, O Lord,
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by which I may cross this terrible and very impassable ocean of existence, even though devoid of the exertion born of eight-limbed yoga. / 34
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I have no need of these heaps of righteousness, wealth, and desire, grasped by the foolish, which are trivial and yield little happiness. / Command, O Worshipful One, through the contemplation of your two lotus feet, my immersion in an ocean of dense and ever-increasing bliss! / 35
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Having thus praised [him], the brahmin, near the lotus feet of the Lord of the universe,
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fell down, saying, 'Save me, O Kṛṣṇa!' with a voice choked with tears.
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Rising again, he stood with folded hands, praising [him]. / 36
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Ambarīṣa said:
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Be pleased, O God, the Self of all, of countless heads and arms!
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O one of countless noses, eyes, hands, and feet, salutations to you! / 37
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You transcend the thirty-six principles; you are free from phenomenal existence, yet the cause of phenomenal existence.
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O abode of the fourfold universe, O cosmic-formed one, salutations to you! / 38
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Having one foot, and having three feet, having sacred waters at your feet, stepping through intermediate space,
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from whose foot the Gaṅgā arose and purifies the three worlds; / 39
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whose name indeed, when recited, cleanses sins such as the murder of a brahmin
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and bestows all auspiciousness—salutations to him of auspicious nature! / 40
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O God, even through the praise of your name all perfections arise.
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Out of eager wonder indeed do the wise, endowed with intellect, seek you. / 41
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O Lord, the water of your feet removes torment through taking refuge [in it];
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for me, who am overcome by the threefold suffering, make devotion firm here. / 42
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For me, who have no other master, there is nothing else to be prayed for today.
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Bowing down, O Jagannātha, I pray to you a thousandfold:
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The seed of all human goals lies in your lotus feet.
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As long as I maintain my breath, may my devotion remain steadfast.
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Through that devotion by which the Grandfather fashioned this creation,
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and Rudra dissolves the universe, and Lakṣmī bestows sovereignty—
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O compassionate one to the wretched, with an undivided mind I pray for that devotion.
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In this exceedingly firm mire of beginningless ignorance, extremely hard to cross,
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for one submerged, O Jagannātha, unsupported and perishing,
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there is no other refuge than devotion to you, possessing great majesty.
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The conflicting paths of Śruti, Smṛti, and the rest are causes of confusion;
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without devotion to you, these are incapable of functioning effectively.
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Having no other refuge, O Lord, take pity on me, O omnipresent one!"
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While praising thus joyfully near the lotus feet of Jagannātha,
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he fell to the ground like a stick, saying repeatedly, "Be gracious!"
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Then all those deities, having praised and worshiped Keśava,
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delighted by the playful side-glance of his, departed once again to heaven.
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Then, their eyes opened, Puṇḍarīka and Ambarīṣa,
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deluded by the illusory power of Viṣṇu, thought that what they had seen was a dream.
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For, having seen that divine play directly with their fleshy eyes,
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the two of them, having returned to human consciousness, [saw] him seated upon a divine throne:
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resembling a dark-blue raincloud, with large eyes like blossoming lotuses;
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with crimson lips, a beautiful nose, adorned with divine earrings;
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bearing the conch, discus, mace, and lotus, wearing a garland of forest flowers;
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with a broad chest, a lovely necklace, radiant with a priceless crown;
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his chest marked by the Śrīvatsa and Kaustubha, adorned with divine armlets;
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with long-reaching arms, intent upon protecting the wretched and afflicted;
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fastened with a golden cord having a jewel at the center knot;
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wearing divine yellow garments, adorned with divine garlands and perfumes;
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seated upon a golden lotus-seat, embraced in every limb by Śrī;
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dispelling the affliction of those who surrender to him, a boundless ocean of nectar;
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granting the fruit of all desires, a fully blossomed wishing tree.
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On his right side they beheld Halāyudha,
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by whose great strength the Lord sustains the cosmic egg—
that Bala, the king of serpents, adorned with seven hoods,
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as white as the towering peak of Kailāsa, radiant with earrings,
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richly adorned with a variegated forest-garland, wearing a divine dark-blue mantle,
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his lotus eyes continually rolling, intoxicated with wine,
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with a curved back and an elevated chest, his body coiled,
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with four arms resplendent with the conch, discus, mace, and lotus,
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splendid with various ornaments, destroying the sins of those who bow.
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Between the two stood the auspicious Subhadrā, reddish like saffron,
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the dwelling place of all beauty, bowed down to by all the gods,
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Lakṣmī, who abides in the lotus heart of the Lord of Lakṣmī, standing separately,
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the goddess holding a boon-bestowing lotus, adorned with divine attire and ornaments,
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a wish-fulfilling creeper for the surrendered, destroying all sins,
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rescuing those submerged in the ocean of worldly existence, the savior of the gods.
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On the left side of Viṣṇu, they saw the excellent discus,
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fashioned from the end of the log, O brahmins, blazing with golden portions.
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Having seen Viṣṇu manifested in a fourfold form, the two—the brahmin and the kṣatriya—
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at the time of sunrise, deemed their toil to have borne fruit.
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Remembering that dream-like divine play, they were then filled with wonder:
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"This is not a wooden image; it is the absolute Brahman manifested in person!"
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And the two placed their faith in the words of the brahmins who had assembled:
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"Where are we two, great sinners, destined to undergo hellish torments?
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And where is this vision of Viṣṇu, surrounded by gods?
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Though we were foolish, proficiency in the eighteen sciences [has arisen in us];
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therefore, there is no delusion: the knowledge declared by them is true.
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What they said—that the wooden Brahman situated on the shore of the king of sacred fords,
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shining at the root of the banyan tree, upon being seen liberates a living being—
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that indeed is this Jagannātha, manifested in four forms!
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Whenever he descends to earth, he manifests in fourfold form."
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"Then, keeping ourselves alive, both of us shall stay in his presence;
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turning our backs on trivial desires, we shall not go anywhere else." 74
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Having resolved thus, O sages, devoted to Viṣṇu,
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constantly chanting the name of Nārāyaṇa, they both attained liberation. 75
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Jaimini said:
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In this context has indeed been told this secret that destroys sins.
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Those who hear the account of Puṇḍarīka and Ambarīṣa, 76
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and constantly recite it filled with supreme joy,
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go to the abode of Viṣṇu, filled with supreme joy.
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With their impurities washed away, they too go to the abode of Viṣṇu. 77
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Thus ends the fifth chapter in the dialogue between the sage Jaimini [and the sages], in the Praise of Puruṣottamakṣetra, in the second Vaiṣṇava Section, in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses. 5
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit