Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 47
नान्यत्तीर्थं न वा देवो न गुरुर्न च सत्किया । विहाय पित्रोर्वचनं नान्यो धर्मः सुतस्य हि
nānyattīrthaṃ na vā devo na gururna ca satkiyā | vihāya pitrorvacanaṃ nānyo dharmaḥ sutasya hi
Pour un fils, il n’est point d’autre tīrtha, point d’autre divinité, point d’autre guru, ni d’autre pratique méritoire, en dehors de l’obéissance fidèle à la parole de ses parents ; en vérité, il n’est pour lui pas de dharma plus élevé.
Nārada (continued discourse)
Tirtha: Pitr̥-tīrtha (conceptual)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Vaiśvānara (addressed) and narrative audience
Scene: Nārada delivers a decisive maxim; the hermitage scene becomes emblematic: parents seated like deities, the son standing in reverence, suggesting that their word is the son’s pilgrimage and worship.
FAQs
Parental command and care are elevated as the son’s supreme dharma, even above pilgrimages and formal rites.
The verse uses ‘tīrtha’ as a spiritual metaphor—parents themselves are declared the true tīrtha for the son.
It de-emphasizes external rites (satkriyā) when they conflict with serving parents; the ‘prescription’ is obedience and service.