Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 33
देवोद्यानानि रम्याणि नंदनं वनमेव च । स्वर्गस्थानानि रम्याणि तीर्थान्यायतनानि च । तानि सर्वाणि संत्यज्य प्रभासे तु रतिर्मम
devodyānāni ramyāṇi naṃdanaṃ vanameva ca | svargasthānāni ramyāṇi tīrthānyāyatanāni ca | tāni sarvāṇi saṃtyajya prabhāse tu ratirmama
রমণীয় দেবোদ্যানসমূহ, নন্দন বনও; স্বর্গের মনোহর স্থান, তীর্থ ও পবিত্র আয়তন— সেগুলি সব ত্যাগ করে আমার রতি কেবল প্রভাসেই।
Śiva (deduced)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa
Type: kshetra
Listener: Varānanā
Scene: A visionary contrast: dazzling Nandana forest and celestial gardens appear like a tempting mirage, yet the speaker’s heart turns away, fixed on Prabhāsa’s sea-washed sanctuary; the composition centers on the coastal shrine as the true ‘heaven’.
FAQs
Heavenly pleasures are secondary to the liberating sanctity of a true tīrtha; Prabhāsa is valued above even svarga’s delights.
Prabhāsa-kṣetra is directly praised as the supreme object of divine delight, surpassing heavenly gardens and abodes.
None explicitly; the verse is a theological valuation encouraging devotion and pilgrimage to Prabhāsa over heavenly aspirations.