Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 67
जीवहीनो यथा देहो भूषितोपि न शोभते । तथेश्वरं विना यज्ञः श्मशानमिव लक्ष्यते
jīvahīno yathā deho bhūṣitopi na śobhate | tatheśvaraṃ vinā yajñaḥ śmaśānamiva lakṣyate
De même qu’un corps sans vie ne rayonne pas, fût-il paré, ainsi le sacrifice sans le Seigneur apparaît tel un lieu de crémation.
Dadhīci (addressing Dakṣa)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and sages (frame implied)
Scene: A stark visual contrast: on one side a richly decorated but lifeless body; on the other a splendid yajña arena that appears like a cremation-ground because the Lord is absent—smoke, ash, and emptiness despite ornaments.
FAQs
Devotion and divine presence are the ‘life’ of ritual; without Īśvara, ceremonies become spiritually empty and inauspicious.
Indirectly Kāśī’s theological ethos (Īśvara-centered worship) is reinforced; no single tīrtha is named in this verse.
The prescription is doctrinal: a yajña must include proper īśvara-pūjā/invocation; otherwise it is condemned as inauspicious.