Skandapurana 6.3.44

English (machine translation) 6.3.44

Language: English

6.3.44.1

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Hear about that sacred ford, the highest of sacred fords, O king, / created on the southern bank of the Revā by the Trident-Wielding One,

fashioned for the liberation of the lords of men, O best of kings.
Yudhiṣṭhira said:
Various duties and various sacred fords have been heard by me,
as well as all the duties of gift-giving, through your grace, O best of the twice-born.

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I wish to hear another thing: how saṃsāra is cut off, / how there is no return, and how liberation is attained.

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Tell me all this, by your grace, O best of the twice-born.

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Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Listen with a focused mind to the great, superior sacred ford, / upon hearing whose power one is freed from sins accumulated over a year.

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Especially through mental, vocal, or bodily sins, / by praising that sacred ford one is freed from all misdeeds.

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That sacred ford measures five krośas, O lord of the earth; / divine, bestowing enjoyment and liberation upon sinful living beings.

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On the southern bank of the Revā is a mountain called Bhṛgu; / on its summit that sacred ford was established by Śambhu.

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It is renowned in the three worlds as Śūlabheda, O king. / The trees growing there in all four directions around the sacred ford,

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when fallen, go to the abode of Rudra, without doubt. / Whatever creatures and birds on earth die right there,

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they go to the supreme realm at that sacred ford, without doubt. / The Gaṅgā named Bhogavatī, having issued from Pātāla,

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emerged from Śūlabheda, destroying all sins. / That other holy great river called Gīrvāṇā that flows there,

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fell into the midst of the basin where it was pierced by the trident-bearer, / by Śambhu in the past, my dear, having created the Sarasvatī.

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She fell there, O king, releasing ancient sins, / where there is a triad of the radiant one, and the stone called Gīrvāṇā.

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There at that sacred ford—such a sacred ford has never existed nor will ever exist. / Kedāra, Prayāga, Kurukṣetra, and Gayā,

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and other fine sacred fords are not worth a sixteenth part of it. / The five sacred places that are distinct,

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I shall declare in brief, each one separately. / As Gayā is holy at the navel, Cakratīrtha is equal to that;

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as the well in Dharmāraṇya [is holy], Śūlabheda is equal to that; / as the sacrificial post of Brahmā is holy, and so too of the river of the gods;

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as Gayāśiras is holy, and as the stone of the gods [is holy], / and as the site of Puṣkara, so too is Mārkaṇḍahrada.

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Having offered funeral cakes and water there, and likewise offering of funeral cakes that brings inexhaustible [merit], / whoever performs a śrāddha there and constantly drinks the water, / is freed from all sins like a serpent from its slough. / One should honor blameless brahmins who are free from deceit and anger;

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a gift given on the thirteenth day becomes thirteen times as fruitful. / Beholding the honored god, the elephant-faced Gaṇanātha,

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all obstacles are destroyed upon seeing the guardian of the field, Kambala.

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With supreme devotion one should worship Maheśvara, holding a trident in hand.

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To the east of the god, Umā is to be worshipped with effort; / then with devotion one should worship Mārkaṇḍeśa, who dwells in the cave.

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They are freed from all sins accumulated consciously or unconsciously. / Entering into the cave, one should chant the three-syllabled hymn;

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he will obtain one-sixth of the merit born of the Blue Mountain. / Three persons abide there together with the Ādityas and the Maruts.

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The unexcelled Koṭiliṅga is a site consisting of all the gods. / Just as all rivers and streams meet their end in the ocean,

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so sins are destroyed by the darśana of Śūlabheda. / Even today an evident proof is seen, O king:

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sparks vibrate in the middle of the liṅga upon performing ritual ablution; / a second proof there is that a drop of oil does not spread.

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Such indeed is the proof there, born of the power of Śūlabheda. / Whoever remembers Śūlabheda at the three junctures of the day, continuously,

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becomes manifestly purified, both outwardly and inwardly, O king. / I have not told this to anyone, even though questioned by the gods;

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more secret than the secret, this sacred ford was always kept hidden by me. / Holy, destroying all sins, excellent, removing all defects,

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it is a sacred ford embodying all sacred fords: Śūlabheda, O ruler of people; / upon hearing whose power one is freed from all misdeeds.

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Śūlabheda has thus been related to you in brief, my dear; / the person who hears it with devotion is freed from all misdeeds.

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Thus ends the forty-fourth chapter, named the Description of the Praise of Śūlabheda, in the Revākhaṇḍa of the fifth section, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand verses.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit