Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 27
मद्भक्तिबलदर्पिष्ठा मत्प्रियं न नमंति ये । वासुदेवं न ते ज्ञेया मद्भक्ताः पापिनो हि ते
madbhaktibaladarpiṣṭhā matpriyaṃ na namaṃti ye | vāsudevaṃ na te jñeyā madbhaktāḥ pāpino hi te
Diejenigen, die, vom Stolz auf die Kraft ihrer (beanspruchten) Hingabe an mich erfüllt, sich nicht vor dem verneigen, was mir lieb ist—haltet sie nicht für Verehrer Vāsudevas; wahrlich, sie sind sündig.
Īśvara (Śiva) (didactic continuation in the passage)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: Śiva’s admonition scene: a proud ascetic/sectarian figure refuses to bow before a symbol dear to Hari (a Vaiṣṇava, a śālagrāma, or a Viṣṇu shrine), while true devotees bow with humility; Śiva indicates the proud one as ‘pāpī’.
FAQs
Bhakti without humility becomes hypocrisy; true devotion honors what the Lord Himself holds dear.
The teaching occurs within Prabhāsa-kṣetra’s māhātmya, though the verse itself is ethical rather than geographical.
A behavioral prescription: offer reverence (namaskāra) and avoid pride masquerading as devotion.