Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 33
वृथा भावि च तत्सर्वं यथा भस्महुतं तथा । या नारी सदसो मध्ये फलैस्त्वां पूजयिष्यति
vṛthā bhāvi ca tatsarvaṃ yathā bhasmahutaṃ tathā | yā nārī sadaso madhye phalaistvāṃ pūjayiṣyati
«Autrement, tout cela deviendra vain, tel un oblat versé sur des cendres. Mais la femme qui, au milieu de l’assemblée, t’adorera avec des fruits…»
Unspecified (continuing the same address; praising fruit-offering worship)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A didactic scene: the speaker contrasts a futile offering into ashes with the efficacious act of a woman worshipping in the assembly with fruits; the hall shows a homa-kuṇḍa with grey ash and, beside it, a fruit offering tray before the deity.
FAQs
Ritual without proper devotion and fitting worship is fruitless; sincere pūjā—even as simple as fruit offerings—makes the sacred act efficacious.
The setting is the Nāgarakhaṇḍa Tīrthamāhātmya assembly scene; the verse itself highlights the sanctity of worship within that tīrtha-context.
Pūjā with fruits (phala) performed publicly in the sacred assembly.