Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 9
सूत उवाच । पूर्वं तप्त्वा तपस्तीव्रं मर्त्यलोके द्विजोत्तमाः । ततो गच्छंति संहृष्टाः स्वेच्छया त्रिदिवं प्रति । मोक्षमार्गं तथैवान्ये ध्यानाविष्कृतमानसाः
sūta uvāca | pūrvaṃ taptvā tapastīvraṃ martyaloke dvijottamāḥ | tato gacchaṃti saṃhṛṣṭāḥ svecchayā tridivaṃ prati | mokṣamārgaṃ tathaivānye dhyānāviṣkṛtamānasāḥ
قال سوتا: «أولًا، بعد أن يؤدّي خِيارُ ذوي الولادتين تَقَشُّفًا شديدًا في عالم البشر، يمضون فرِحين—بحسب اختيارهم—نحو تْرِيدِفَا (السماء). وآخرون كذلك، وقد تجلّت عقولهم وتصفّت بالتأمّل (دهيانا)، يسلكون طريق المُوكشا، طريق التحرّر».
Sūta
Type: kshetra
Listener: Dvijottamāḥ / Naimiṣāraṇya sages (frame)
Scene: Sūta narrates to sages: on one side ascetics perform severe tapas in forests/near a tīrtha; a luminous path rises to svarga with joyful travelers; on the other side meditators sit in stillness, their minds radiant, moving toward a subtle gate of mokṣa.
FAQs
Austerity and meditation refine the person: some attain heavenly realms through merit, while others, through dhyāna, move toward liberation.
This verse explains spiritual trajectories rather than naming a site; it supports the chapter’s broader kṣetra-māhātmya.
Tapas (austerity) and dhyāna (meditation) are indicated as principal disciplines; no specific vow, bath, or donation is specified in this line.