Skandapurana 2.4.25
English (machine translation) 2.4.25
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Dharmadatta said:
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"Sins go to destruction at a sacred ford by gifts, vows, and the like.
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Existing in the body of a ghost, you have no qualification for those at all.
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My mind has become dejected from seeing this wretchedness of yours.
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Indeed, it finds no peace without uplifting you who are suffering.
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Therefore, by half of the merit of the vow of Kārttika
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observed by me throughout my life, may you attain a good destination."
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Nārada said:
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Having spoken thus, as Dharmadatta sprinkled her,
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with water mixed with tulasī, reciting the twelve-syllable mantra,
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at that moment, freed from being a ghost, like a blazing flame of fire,
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she assumed a divine form, resembling Indirā in loveliness.
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Then she bowed down like a rod on the ground to that twice-born.
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She spoke then with words stammering with joy:
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Kalahā said:
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By your grace, best of twice-born, I am liberated from hell.
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For me, drowning in the ocean of sin, you have truly become a boat.
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Nārada said:
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While she was speaking thus to the brahmin, she saw arriving from the sky
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a radiant aerial chariot joined by attendants bearing the form of Viṣṇu.
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Then, assisted into that splendid aerial chariot by the two doorkeepers,
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Puṇyaśīla and Suśīla, she was attended by hosts of apsarases.
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Dharmadatta then beheld that aerial chariot with wonder;
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seeing the two who had the form of Viṣṇu, he fell on the ground like a rod.
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Puṇyaśīla and Suśīla raised up that bowed brahmin,
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praised him, and then spoke righteous words:
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The two attendants said:
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Well done, well done, best of twice-born, who are ever devoted to Viṣṇu,
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compassionate to the wretched, all-knowing, and dedicated to the vow of Viṣṇu!
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By giving half of this auspicious Kārtika vow
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that you performed since childhood, your merit has doubled.
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That sin that arose in a hundred other births has dissolved.
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The sin that arose from her past action vanished simply by the ritual ablutions.
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By vigils for Hari and other acts, she has mounted this aerial chariot;
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O virtuous one, endowed with various pleasures, she is now led to Vaikuṇṭha.
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By the merits arising from the gift of lamps, she has attained similarity in splendor;
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and by the worship of tulasī and other auspicious Kārtika vows
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given by you, O store of compassion, she has attained presence with Viṣṇu.
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At the end of this life, you too will go with your two wives
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to Vaikuṇṭha, the realm of Viṣṇu, to his presence and conformity of form with him.
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Blessed are they, their purpose is accomplished, and fruitful is their existence,
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by whom Viṣṇu is worshipped with devotion, O Dharmadatta, just as by you.
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What does Viṣṇu, when properly worshipped, not bestow upon embodied beings?
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By him the son of Uttānapāda was placed in the state of the pole-star of old.
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Merely by remembering his name, embodied beings attain the good state.
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Indeed, of old, when seized by a crocodile, the king of elephants, by remembering his name,
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was freed, attained his presence, and became this one named Jaya.
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Because Viṣṇu was worshipped by you, you will attain his presence
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for many thousands of years, together with your two wives.
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Then, when your merit is exhausted and you go down to the surface of the earth,
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you will become a renowned king born in the solar dynasty,
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by name Daśaratha, there again joined with two wives,
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and also with this third one, who shared half of your merit.
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There too Viṣṇu will come into your presence on the surface of the earth,
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manifesting himself in the state of your son, accomplishing the task of the immortals.
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Neither sacrifices nor gifts nor sacred fords are superior
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to this lifelong vow of yours that gives satisfaction to Viṣṇu.
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You are blessed, foremost of brahmins, since this vow gratifying the Guru of the World was observed by you, / through half of which she, made fruitful, is led by us to the realm of Murāri.
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from half a share of which Murāri is made fruitful, and this residence in the same realm is attained by us.
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Thus ends the twenty-fifth chapter, titled 'The Account of the Liberation of Kalahā' in the narrative of Dharmadatta, in the Kārtikamāsamāhātmya, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand verses.
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit