Skandapurana 6.2.5
English (machine translation) 6.2.5
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Śrī Rudra said:
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Know the fifth god to be Anādikalpeśvara, O Pārvatī,
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destroyer of all sins, eternal; he is ever sung of as beginningless.
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At the beginning of the kalpa in ancient times, O goddess, this liṅga emerged,
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when there was neither fire nor sun, neither earth nor directions nor space,
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neither wind nor water, neither sky nor moon nor planets,
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neither gods nor asuras nor gandharvas, neither piśācas nor rākṣasas.
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From this liṅga arose the universe, both unmoving and moving,
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and in time it dissolves into this liṅga, O daughter of the mountain.
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From this liṅga arose the lineages of divine seers and ancestors,
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the manvantaras, the genealogies, and the deeds of their descendants;
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as many creations as there are, and as many dissolutions;
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the oceans, mountains, rivers, and forests;
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the worlds such as Bhūrloka and the seven known netherworlds;
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as well as the courses of the sun, moon, planets, lunar mansions, and celestial lights.
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All that is visible and invisible [arose] from this liṅga, O fair-faced one.
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That which is the beginningless cause, which the great seers call the unmanifest,
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which they call the subtle, eternal Puruṣa, having the nature of being and non-being,
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fixed, imperishable, ageless, immeasurable, dependent on nothing else,
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devoid of smell, form, and taste, free from sound and touch,
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without beginning or end, womb of the universe, source of the three guṇas, undecaying,
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peerless, unknowable—[this] liṅga is proclaimed by the great seers.
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At the end of the dissolution, this entire divine [reality] existed by it.
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I, awakened on the earth, the origin of the world, having no beginning,
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the cause of all, incomprehensible in self, supreme, extraordinary, transcending actions,
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swiftly manifesting Prakṛti and Puruṣa, the Lord of the universe,
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the Supreme Lord, agitated them through supreme yoga.
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Just as fragrance causes an agitation merely by its presence,
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without acting directly upon the mind, so that Supreme Lord,
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the beginningless God, is spoken of as the supreme cause of the world.
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As Pradhāna was agitated by that liṅga, O Pārvatī,
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there arose the support of the worlds, celebrated as the cosmic egg,
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in which egg the entire universe, with gods, asuras, and mortals,
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is born and dissolved, and whose end cannot be reached.
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He alone was formerly the agitator, and he the agitated, the sovereign of the earth.
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Through contraction and expansion, he remains in the state of the primordial matter.
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He, the Lord of the universe, though devoid of qualities, manifests quality of passion;
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experiencing it and attaining the nature of Brahmā, he initiates creation.
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In the nature of Brahmā he creates the worlds; then, through the predominance of goodness,
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attaining the nature of Viṣṇu, he preserves them according to dharma.
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Then, moved by the quality of darkness, in the nature of Rudra, having withdrawn the entire universe,
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the three worlds, he indeed sleeps—the possessor of the three qualities, yet devoid of qualities.
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Just as the same field-owner is first called a sower, then a protector, and then a reaper,
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and acquires those names accordingly, so it is with the states of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Rudra.
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In the nature of Brahmā he creates the worlds, and in that of Rudra he destroys them;
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in the nature of Viṣṇu he protects them all. These three states are always remembered:
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Passion is Brahmā, darkness is Rudra, and goodness is Viṣṇu, the lord of the world.
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These indeed are the three Vedas; these indeed are the three men.
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In every aeon he is sung of as beginningless by the gods,
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by the ancestors, the gaṇas, and the perfected ones; hence, Anādikalpeśvara
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is the name acquired, O large-eyed lady, always in the Mahākāla forest.
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When a dispute arose between Brahmā and Keśava,
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“I am superior! I am superior!” at the start of the aeon, concerning the cause of creation,
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a divine voice arose then from the sky without support:
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“In the Mahākāla forest there is a liṅga named Kalpeśvara;
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whoever perceives its beginning or its end, he shall be the lord.
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There is no doubt about it; let no dispute be made.”
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Then, O goddess, Brahmā went to the endless upper world;
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prompted by that statement, Viṣṇu quickly went to the lower world.
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Neither its beginning nor its end was seen by Brahmā or by Keśava.
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Then, filled with wonder, they praised [the liṅga] to each other.
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Honoring [it] with various hymns declared in the Vedas, standing before it:
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“There is no beginning, nor is there an end, nor is any limit seen here.
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Therefore, from this day forth on the surface of the earth, this beginningless aeon [Lord]
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shall be renowned by name in the excellent Mahākāla forest.
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Whatever mortal is afflicted with the five great sins and has an evil mind,
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even he, having seen the benevolent Anādikalpeśvara, would attain Śiva.
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May there always be auspiciousness for those to whom you have become visible;
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blessed are they in the world of mortals who have sought refuge in you.
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Whatever religious merit is attained by men through ablutions in all sacred fords,
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all that and more, O Lord, is obtained from your darśana.
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They fall into saṃsāra, filled with pleasure and pain, only so long as
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the savior from the ocean of saṃsāra, O Lord, is not seen.
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When men's sin is exhausted, then darśana of you occurs.
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Whether a slayer of a brahmin, or a drinker of liquor, a thief, or a violator of the guru's bed,
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or a man who associates with them, committing great wicked deeds—
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even he goes to the supreme abode, free from return.
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Whatever fruit is attained by the horse sacrifice and by the Rājasūya sacrifice,
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that fruit one fully attains, O Lord, by worshiping you.
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Those men in the world are beasts; their birth is futile
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by whom the great god, Anādikalpeśvara, Śiva, has not been seen.”
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Having spoken thus, the god Keśava and Brahmā, O fair-faced lady,
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stood on the left and right side of that liṅga.
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This power that destroys sins has been told to you, O goddess,
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by merely hearing which the supreme abode is attained.
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Thus ends the fifth chapter, named ‘Description of the Māhātmya of Anādikalpeśvara’ in the Māhātmya of the Eighty-Four Liṅgas in the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, the fifth section of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit