Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 61
योन्यत्र भ्रमते स्नातुं स नरो विप्रसत्तमाः । गोक्षीरे विद्यमानेऽपि ह्यर्कक्षीराय गच्छति
yonyatra bhramate snātuṃ sa naro viprasattamāḥ | gokṣīre vidyamāne'pi hyarkakṣīrāya gacchati
Ô très excellents brāhmaṇas, l’homme qui erre ailleurs pour se baigner—alors que le lait de vache est disponible—va chercher le lait de la plante arka; de même, en poursuivant des eaux moindres, il manque le tīrtha suprême.
Sūta (deduced from Setukhaṇḍa narration context)
Tirtha: Kṣīrakuṇḍa
Type: kund
Listener: vipra-sattamāḥ (explicit)
Scene: A teacher-brāhmaṇa points to a nearby shining milk-white pond while a confused pilgrim walks away toward distant muddy waters; in the foreground, a cow offers milk while an arka plant exudes bitter latex—clear moral allegory.
FAQs
Practice discernment: do not abandon a higher, accessible sacred means for inferior substitutes.
Kṣīrakuṇḍa is implied as the ‘cow’s milk’—the superior and readily available tīrtha.
Snāna (bathing) is the explicit act; the verse advises choosing the best tīrtha for it.