Skandapurana 3.3.10
English (machine translation) 3.3.10
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Sūta said:
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Wondrous is Śiva's creation; wondrous is Śiva's action;
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wondrous is Śiva's māhātmya; wondrous is Śiva's utterance;
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wondrous is the conduct of Śiva's devotees, destroying sin,
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a true means for heaven and liberation; that I shall declare.
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In the region of Avantī there was a certain brahmin named Mandara.
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He took delight in sensual pleasures, was subjugated by women, and accumulated wealth. / 3
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Abandoning twilight worship and ritual ablutions, fond of perfumes, garlands, and garments,
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attached to vile women and following a bad path, he was just like Ajāmila of old. / 4
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Sporting day and night with a courtesan named Piṅgalā,
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he remained constantly in her house, his senses uncontrolled. / 5
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Once, while that twice-born was staying in her abode,
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there arrived a righteous Śiva-yogi named Ṛṣabha. / 6
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Seeing him arrive and considering their own merit to be powerful,
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both the courtesan and the brahmin worshipped him thoroughly. / 7
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Seating him upon a grand seat spread with a woolen blanket,
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and washing his feet with devotion, they placed that water upon their heads. / 8
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With welcomes, offerings, reverent salutations, perfumes, flowers, and unbroken grains,
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having worshipped him with attendances, they fed him with joy. / 9
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When he had eaten and sipped water, they seated him on a couch with a comfortable bed;
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filled with joy, they offered him betel. / 3.3.10.10
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Massaging his feet with devotion, impelled by fate,
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and performing personal service, they gratified him for a long time. / 11
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Thus worshipped by the two, the Śiva-yogi of great splendor,
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having passed a single night, honored by them, departed in the morning. / 12
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When time had thus mostly passed, that brahmin met his death;
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and that courtesan, having died in the course of time, went to the destiny earned by her actions. / 13
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Led by his karma, that brahmin entered the womb of Sumatī,
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the wife of King Vajrabāhu, the ruler of Daśārṇa. / 14
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Seeing that senior wife of the king endowed with pregnancy,
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her co-wives deceitfully gave her poison. / 15
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Having consumed the terrible poison, she did not die due to the working of fate;
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she only suffered supreme affliction, more intolerable than death. / 16
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Then, when the time arrived, she gave birth to a single son;
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the virtuous woman of fair complexion was tormented by great suffering. / 17
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Because that newborn prince had previously been touched by the poison,
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he experienced great torment on that account, crying day and night. / 18
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The child’s mother too was afflicted with sores all over her body;
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both became extremely distressed under the effect of the poison's contact. / 19
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Though brought by the king and administered medicine by physicians,
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they did not regain their health, despite many efforts applied. / 3.3.10.20
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At night that queen, in immense agony, found no sleep;
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grieving over the misery of her son, she grew exceedingly emaciated. / 21
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When some months had passed in this manner, the king,
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seeing the mother and child living yet almost dead, thought to himself: / 22
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"These two, my wife and son, have arrived here from hell,
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incessantly diseased, screaming, and disturbing my sleep. / 23
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Here I shall devise a remedy for these two sinful ones;
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reaping the fruits of sin, they are able neither to die nor to live." / 24
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Having resolved thus, the protector of the earth, attached to the co-wives and their sons,
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summoned a charioteer and banished his own wife and son far away in a chariot. / 25
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Abandoned by the charioteer in a desolate forest,
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the two suffered supreme agony, violently distraught with hunger and thirst. / 26
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Carrying her child, stumbling at every step,
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sighing, reproaching her own past karma, and greatly terrified, / 27
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at times her body torn by thorns, her hair disheveled, distraught with fear,
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at times terrified by the roars of tigers, at times pursued by serpents, / 28
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menaced by piśācas, vetālas, and brahmarākṣasas,
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running through dense thickets, her feet pierced by sharp stones, / 29
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wandering thus in that terrible great forest, the king’s wife
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by chance reached a merchants' road frequented by cattle, horses, and men. / 3.3.10.30
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Proceeding along that road a great distance with utmost effort,
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she saw a vaiśya city frequented by many women and men. / 31
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The guardian of that city was a great vaiśya and merchant-leader
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named Padmākara, like a second king of kings. / 32
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A certain household maidservant of that chief of merchants [saw] the king's wife;
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seeing her coming from afar, she approached her.
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That maidservant, having herself learned the situation of the king's beloved wife,
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who was severely afflicted along with her son, brought her before her master.
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Seeing her afflicted with illness and her son in distress, that chief of the vaiśyas
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took her into privacy and clearly inquired about her story.
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When the entire account had been told by her, that foremost merchant,
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thinking 'Ah, what a misery!', sighed repeatedly.
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Having lodged her near his own house in a secluded dwelling,
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he honored her like a mother with garments, food, drinks, and a bed.
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While living well-protected in that house, the king's wife
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found no relief from diseases such as ulcers and consumption.
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Then, after a few days, that boy, afflicted by ulcers,
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defying the power of physicians, died by the force of fate.
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When her son died, the queen, overwhelmed by great sorrow,
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fainted and fell to the ground like a creeper snapped by an elephant.
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By chance regaining consciousness, her breasts wet with tears,
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she lamented in deep grief, even though consoled by the merchant women:
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"Alas, dear child, dear child! Alas, my son! Alas, protector of my life!
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Alas, full moon of the royal family! Alas, increaser of my joy!
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Having abandoned this helpless, wretched mother whose life is you alone,
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and who has forsaken her kinsmen, where have you gone, O prince?"
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With these spoken words that multiplied her grief and sorrow,
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who indeed was able to console her as she lamented, her child dead?
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At this time, a physician for her pain and grief,
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the previously mentioned Śiva-yogi Ṛṣabha, arrived.
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That yogi, worshipped by the merchant chief with an offering of water in hand,
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went into her presence and said this to the grieving woman:
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Ṛṣabha said:
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"Why, alas, my child, do you bewail so suddenly, your intellect bewildered?
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Who is born, which one in this world, and who has died? Tell me now!
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These entities, beginning with the body, have the nature of foam on water;
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somewhere is delusion, somewhere stillness, or again, mere continuance.
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Therefore, when this body resembling foam has dissolved into the five elements,
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the wise do not grieve, for there is no room for grief.
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Beings are created by the guṇas, made to wander by their own actions,
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then dragged away by Time, and they lie latent in mental impressions.
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The three guṇas, beginning with sattva, arise through māyā;
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by them alone bodies are born, and once born, they depend upon their characteristics.
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A creature attains godhood through sattva, and human state through rajas;
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it attains animal state through tamas, helpless, following its mental impressions.
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Existing in this worldly existence, a creature, bound by karma,
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repeatedly goes to an unfathomable destiny composed of pleasure and pain.
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Even for those gods whose lifespan is an eon, there is destruction;
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what to say of embodied human beings, bound by countless ailments?
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Some say that Time alone is the cause of the body;
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some say karma, and some say the guṇas; for this body is common [to all].
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This body, consisting of the five elements, is the vessel of time, karma, and the guṇas;
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seeing it born, the wise do not rejoice, nor do they grieve when it dies.
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A creature is born from the unmanifest, and into the unmanifest it dissolves;
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in between it appears manifest, resembling a bubble on water.
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When the embodied being enters the womb, its destruction is ordained right then;
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by chance it lives once born, or it dies all of a sudden.
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Some perish while still in the womb, and others as soon as they are born;
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some perish as young men, and some die in old age.
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Whatever one's past karma was, such a body one attains;
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and indeed, one experiences pleasures and pains conforming to that.
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Impelled by the power of māyā, from the passionate union of parents,
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a body is born, marked as male, female, or neuter.
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Lifespan, pleasure and pain, merit, sin, learning, and wealth—
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Bearing what has been written on his forehead by the Creator, a living being is born. 62
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Because past deeds cannot be circumvented, because Time cannot be bypassed,
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and because material states are impermanent, you ought not to grieve. 63
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Where is there fixed permanence in a dream? Where is there truth in an illusion?
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Where is eternity in an autumn cloud? Where is perpetual duration in a physical body? 64
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Your past births have numbered hundreds of thousands of millions.
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Not knowing the supreme truth, this great distress has befallen you. 65
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Whose daughter have you not been, or whose mother?
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Whose wife have you not been, wandering through millions of worldly lives? 66
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Composed of the five elements, bound together by skin, blood, and flesh,
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filled with fat, marrow, and bones, the body is a vessel of feces, urine, and phlegm. 67
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This other body too is mere filth produced from your own body;
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thinking it to be your own son, O foolish woman, you ought not to grieve. 68
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If indeed any person could cross over death by effort,
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why then did all the wise men of former times perish? 69
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By austerity, learning, intellect, mantras, medicines, or elixirs,
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no scholar whatsoever can transcend ultimate death. 70
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Today is the death of one creature, and tomorrow of another, O fair-faced woman!
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Therefore, over that which has perishable parts, you ought not to grieve. 71
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Death is constantly near at hand; tell me, what happiness is there for embodied beings?
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When a tiger stands in front, can mouthfuls of food indeed please beasts? 72
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Therefore, if you wish to conquer birth and old age, O fair-faced woman,
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take refuge in the Lord of All, the Conqueror of Death, the Husband of Umā. 73
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Terrifying fear of death persists only so long, fear of birth and old age persists only so long,
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as an embodied soul does not take refuge in Śiva's lotus feet. 74
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Having experienced sorrows here in this exceedingly harsh saṃsāra,
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when the mind becomes detached, then the Great Lord is to be meditated upon. 75
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For a man who drinks with his mind the nectar of meditation on Śiva,
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thirst for the intoxicating liquor of worldly objects does not arise again. 76
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When the mind, freed from all attachments and restrained by dispassion,
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is submerged in Śiva's abode, then there is no rebirth. 77
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Therefore, O auspicious lady, this mind, which is the sole means for meditation on Śiva,
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do not let it be overwhelmed by sorrow and delusion; worship Śiva! 78
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Sūta said:
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Thus gently instructed by the Śaiva yogin,
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the queen bowed to the lotus feet of that guru and replied: 79
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The queen said:
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O venerable one, whose son is dead, who has been abandoned by dear kinsmen,
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and who is tormented by a severe disease—what recourse is there for me without death? 80
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Therefore, I wish to die together with this child.
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I have attained my goal in that today, facing death, I have seen you. 81
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Sūta said:
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Having heard her words, the Śaiva yogin, an ocean of compassion,
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remembering her former benefaction, approached the dead child. 82
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Then, taking sacred ash consecrated with the mantras of Śiva,
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he cast it into his open mouth and reunited the dead child with life-breaths. 83
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Reunited with life-breaths, the child slowly opened his eyes,
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regained the former strength of his senses, and wept, craving breast milk. 84
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Seeing the resurrection of the dead boy, all the people were amazed,
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and all the citizens leading the way in the cities rejoiced. 85
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Then the queen, overflowing with joy, her eyes bewildered and maddened,
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quickly grasped her son, her eyes agitated with tears. 86
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Embracing him then, the slender woman, filled with supreme bliss,
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knew neither herself nor anyone else, as if asleep from exhaustion. 87
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And once again, the yogin Ṛṣabha wiped the bodies of the mother and child,
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which were covered with poisonous sores, with sacred ash alone. 88
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And touched by that sacred ash, the two obtained celestial bodies
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and bore a form resembling that of the gods, adorned with radiant beauty. 89
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Whatever happiness is attained by those of meritorious deeds upon obtaining the sovereignty of heaven,
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a hundred times greater than that supreme happiness did that queen obtain. 90
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As she fell at his feet, Ṛṣabha, overwhelmed with affection,
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raised her up, consoled her who was now freed from sorrow, and spoke:
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“Ah, my child, great queen! May you live for eternal years!
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As long as you live in this world, so long will you not suffer old age.
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This son of yours, virtuous lady, named Bhadrāyus,
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shall attain fame throughout the worlds and shall recover his own kingdom.
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Dwell here in the house of this merchant, O lady of pure smiles,
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until this prince of yours has mastered the sciences.”
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Sūta said:
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Having thus revived the queen and the young prince
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by the power of the holy ash, Ṛṣabha the yogin departed to the lands of his choice.
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Thus ends the tenth chapter, titled “The Reviving of Bhadrāyus by Ṛṣabha the Yogin,” in the narrative of Bhadrāyus in the Brahmottarakhaṇḍa of the third [part of the] venerable Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit