Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 56
तथा निमित्तमात्रं त्वं भव यत्नं समाचर । इति तद्वचनाद्राजन्विष्णुभक्तिपरायणम् । युवानं चापि धीमंतं त्वामनु प्राप्तवानहम्
tathā nimittamātraṃ tvaṃ bhava yatnaṃ samācara | iti tadvacanādrājanviṣṇubhaktiparāyaṇam | yuvānaṃ cāpi dhīmaṃtaṃ tvāmanu prāptavānaham
«Sei nur ein Werkzeug, doch übe dich in eifrigem Bemühen.» So, o König, jener Weisung folgend, bin ich dir nachgekommen: jung, weise und ganz der Bhakti zu Viṣṇu ergeben.
Nārada
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and sages (contextual)
Scene: Nārada instructs the king: be merely an instrument yet strive; the king stands youthful and resolute, marked by Viṣṇu-bhakti.
FAQs
One should act with full effort while remaining humble as a mere instrument of the divine will.
The verse is within the Kāśīkhaṇḍa framework, orienting the narrative toward Kāśī’s sacred milieu, though no single tīrtha is named in this line.
No explicit ritual is prescribed here; the teaching is ethical-spiritual: disciplined effort joined with surrender.