Skandapurana 5.266

English (machine translation) 5.266

Language: English

5.266.1

Sūta said:
Therefore, O great king, this Śivarātri should be observed / by a wise man here who desires both worlds.

5.266.2

Ānarta said:
The māhātmya of Maṅkaṇeśvara has been heard by me at length, / together with Śivarātri, as was proclaimed by you.

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Now tell me in full the origin of Siddheśvara / at length, O fortunate one, for great indeed is my curiosity.

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Bhartṛyajña said:
Mahādeva is renowned as Siddheśvara, O lord of the earth; / his origin was heard by you before as I spoke here.

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Now I declare the fruit arising from a gift when he is seen, / the fruit that arises for men, consisting of imperial sovereignty.

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And the gift of the person weighed on scales is praised there, O king, / for one who desires imperial sovereignty over the entire surface of the earth.

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Ānarta said:
The rite of the gift of the person weighed on scales which is proclaimed— / declare all of that to me at length, O great sage.

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Bhartṛyajña said:
During an eclipse of the moon or the sun, or at a solstice, or at an equinox, / or at a sacred ford, O best of men, relating to the person weighed on scales,

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they rightly praise the rite; or when the new moon has arrived, / to self-controlled, observant, virtuous brahmins,

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who are engaged in the study of the Veda and faultless, O ruler of the earth, / it should be given after dividing it, and under no circumstances to a single one.

In a clean, level, holy, and auspicious place that slopes toward the east or north, / the learned man should have a charming pavilion constructed, measuring sixteen cubits. / In its center he should have an altar made, measuring four cubits, / and raised up by one cubit measured by the arm of the patron.

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He should prepare fire pits of four cubits in the four directions, / measuring one cubit in length and breadth. / In the northeast he should place another auspicious altar measuring just one cubit, / raised merely a span; and there he should arrange the planets.

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And twin officiating priests should be appointed in the four directions in proper order: / a Ṛgvedic priest, a Yajurvedic priest, a Sāmavedic priest, and an Atharvavedic priest.

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A silent oblation to the deities should be performed by them, being fully concentrated, / and recitation according to their capacity with mantras having those specific deities' marks, O king.

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Two pillars should be erected, sunk one cubit deep / and four cubits high, situated to the south and north of the altar.

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Between them he should place a very auspicious, strong crossbeam made of timber suitable for pillars: / either sandalwood, acacia, bilva, or aśvattha;

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or timduka, devadāru, śrīparṇī, or banyan— / these eight trees are deemed auspicious and commended for the pillars, O best of kings.

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In their middle he should suspend a balance fitted with two pans. / Having bathed, wearing white garments, adorned with white garlands and ointments, / after fully worshiping the world-guardians all around in their proper order, / he should then worship the pillars with perfumes, garlands, and unguents.

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And he should praise the balance, O best of kings, and proclaim an auspicious day; / the patron, bearing all his own weapons on his body,

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taking his stand in the western direction facing east, endowed with faith, / having folded his hands in reverence, should utter this mantra:

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“O balance, daughter of Brahmā, ever resting upon supreme truth, / belonging by lineage to Kaśyapa, celebrated by name as Tulā!

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You, O balance, are truly named; grant your favor to me, / and now manifest your presence, so that I may accomplish my own auspicious desire.”

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Then, having mounted onto it, whatever has been gathered according to one's means / should first be placed into the other pan for the sake of giving, O best of men:

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gold, silver, cloth, or anything else desired, / until an equality is reached, O king, or [the gifts] exceed his own [weight].

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Then, having reached the desired deity while seated in the pan, / he should quickly cast water into water for that purpose,

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together with sesamum, gold, and unbroken grains, in accordance with the injunctions. / Then, having stepped down, he should offer it all to the brahmins.

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Whatever fruit is attained thereafter, hear that now with single-minded attention:

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Whatever sin has been committed unknowingly or knowingly, / a mortal destroys it all by the power of this gift.

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Whatever past sin has been committed, O best of kings, / that much goes to destruction through the gift of the person weighed in the balance.

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For lords who fear bodily affliction, this preparatory rite / of a gift originating from a weighing balance has been prescribed.

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This was given by Dilīpa, by Kārtavīrya, O king, / by Pṛthu, by Purukutsa, and likewise by other kings.

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This gift of a person weighed in the balance is holy, praiseworthy, / bestowing all desires upon mortals, and destroying all afflictions.

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Mental distress and bodily diseases do not arise, nor does widowhood caused by sickness / occur, O best of kings, nor separation from one's own kinsmen: / such is declared to be the fruit of the gift of a person weighed in the balance.

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The fruit that results in the Kali age from the gift of a person weighed in the balance / having been given, O best of kings, cannot be described.

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Approaching Dakṣiṇāmūrti in the presence of the all-pervading lord Siddheśvara, / he who bestows it, O protector of the earth, obtains a thousandfold fruit.

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Therefore, by every effort having approached the all-pervading lord Siddheśvara, / the gift of a person weighed in the balance should be performed by one who possesses true discernment.

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All the sacred fords and all the shrines together / in the sacred field arising from Hāṭakeśvara have been spoken of by the self-manifest [Brahmā].

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Siddheśvara, O best of gods, is declared to be [all of them] united in one place; / when he is seen, touched, and worshiped, O best of kings, / a mortal obtains the fruit that has been proclaimed for all of them.

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Thus ends the two hundred and sixty-seventh chapter, entitled 'Description of the Glory of the Gift of a Person Weighed in the Balance in the Glory of Śrī Siddheśvara', in the Glory of the Sacred Field of Hāṭakeśvara, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [section], in the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit