These hosts of seers reside in the mountain-cave abode, subsisting on fruits, roots, and water, / having conquered the mind and sensory objects, of sharpened intellect, as though anxious about the fear of sin out of fear of the Kali age. (52)

2.3.6.111

Having obtained excellent garments from the abundance of the hermitage with its fruits, breezes, caverns, and torrents,

2.3.6.112

[…]

2.3.6.113

These sages indeed have overcome the onslaught of the unconquerable senses through the course of their three daily ablutions.

2.3.6.114

Ah, many indeed are the spiritual disciplines that cause torment to the body;

2.3.6.115

yet the darśana of Mānasodbheda is an easily attained discipline in the world.

2.3.6.116

On whichever day a meritorious person obtains this water,

2.3.6.117

he gradually becomes like Vyāsa and equal to the ancestors in Yama's realm.

2.3.6.118

This is a sacred ford conferring desires to men, yet bringing their wishes into realization;

2.3.6.119

but for one free of desires, liberation ensues—this is certain for both.

2.3.6.120

If a man forms a desire through inadvertence,

2.3.6.121

he enjoys its fruit and then indeed attains liberation without a doubt.

2.3.6.122

Having enjoyed desires as wished in the worlds such as Maharloka,

2.3.6.123

once that enjoyment is consumed, a man departs again through the force of his desire.

2.3.6.124

The wise must strive for the attainment of the aims of human life;

2.3.6.125

my thought is that one should not turn away from this sacred ford, Mānasodbhedana.

2.3.6.126

To the west of Mānasodbhedana is an all-enchanting

2.3.6.127

sacred ford known as Vasudhārā, difficult to attain in the three worlds.

2.3.6.128

Badarikāśrama is the highest of all sacred fords in the three worlds.

2.3.6.129

Having heard that from Nārada, all the Vasus arrived there.

2.3.6.130

For thirty thousand years, consuming only leaves and water,

2.3.6.131

they performed extremely severe austerity; then they attained perfection.

2.3.6.132

From the darśana of the Lord, their fatigue departed as they attained bliss;

2.3.6.133

the lotus of their faces blossomed from the abundance of joy in their hearts.

2.3.6.134

Beholding the divine Lord Nārāyaṇa, they obtained a delightful boon;

2.3.6.135

having attained supreme sovereignty and the happiness of devotion to Hari, they rejoiced.

2.3.6.136

Bathing here, drinking the water, and worshipping Janārdana,

2.3.6.137

one enjoys happiness in this world and at the end goes to the supreme state.

2.3.6.138

Here, a light is seen by the meritorious from the midst of the water,

2.3.6.139

beholding which one does not enter dwelling in the womb ever again.

2.3.6.140

Those sinners born of impure lineage whose intellect and conduct are heretical—

2.3.6.141

the waters generally never fall upon their heads.

2.3.6.142

Having become pure for three days, worshipping Janārdana,

2.3.6.143

and fasting with devotion to the Lord, the virtuous behold the perfected beings.

2.3.6.144

Those there who are fickle, do not speak the truth, are covetous,

2.3.6.145

given to mockery, intent on others' wealth and others' wives, and deceitful,

2.3.6.146

covered in dirty garments, restless, impure, and abandoning good deeds—

2.3.6.147

for those of impure mind, no fruit is produced here.

2.3.6.148

Those practitioners there who are tranquil, rare, and follow the path prescribed by injunction—

2.3.6.149

their recitation, austerity, oblations, giving, vows, and acts of prayer,

2.3.6.150

performed according to their ability, yield imperishable fruit.

2.3.6.151

Whatever good deeds are performed by embodied beings

2.3.6.152

yield fruit beginning with greatness and ultimately unexcelled beatitude.

2.3.6.153

What greater reward should be proclaimed here, where the gods, desiring fruits, go

2.3.6.154

after being worshipped, desiring the favor of Hari, intent on the path to heaven and filled with joy?

2.3.6.155

Where there are no obstacle-makers, action succeeds well out of fear of Hari;

2.3.6.156

and discerning, virtuous embodied beings, devoted to the path of action, enjoy the fruit.

2.3.6.157

Those who recite or cause this proclaimed subject of the sacred ford to be recited,

2.3.6.158

adorned with the sentiment of devotion, go to the auspicious abode of Hari.

2.3.6.159

Thus ends the sixth chapter, titled 'The Description of the Māhātmya of the Sacred Ford Vasudhārā,' in the dialogue between Śiva and Kārttikeya in the Badarikāśramamāhātmya, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 6

2.3.6.160

Śiva said:

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit