Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 87
केवलं पाठ मात्रेण यश्च संतुष्यते नरः । तथा पंडितमानी च कोन्यस्तस्मात्पशुर्मतः
kevalaṃ pāṭha mātreṇa yaśca saṃtuṣyate naraḥ | tathā paṃḍitamānī ca konyastasmātpaśurmataḥ
L’homme qui se satisfait de la seule récitation et se croit savant—qui donc, sinon lui, est tenu pour plus bestial?
Lomaharṣaṇa (Sūta) to the sages (deduced from context)
Scene: A proud reciter on a dais with a garland, while a humble practitioner serves at a shrine; the proud man’s shadow appears as a beast, illustrating ‘paśu’; the shrine lamp symbolizes true knowledge.
FAQs
Textual repetition without embodied dharma breeds arrogance and spiritual stagnation; true learning must transform character.
No tīrtha is referenced; the focus is ethical-spiritual diagnosis.
None; it warns against reducing religion to mechanical reading.