Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 22
जीवन्मुक्तो नरः प्रोक्तो नैव लिप्य ति पातकैः । व्रतं कृतं सकृदपि सदैव हि महाफलम्
jīvanmukto naraḥ prokto naiva lipya ti pātakaiḥ | vrataṃ kṛtaṃ sakṛdapi sadaiva hi mahāphalam
Un tel homme est dit « jīvanmukta », libéré tout en vivant, et n’est point souillé par les péchés. Même un vœu accompli une seule fois porte, en vérité, un fruit immense et durable.
Skanda (deduced; exact speaker not stated in snippet)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A serene liberated pilgrim walking through a tīrtha crowd untouched by symbolic ‘stains’ (dark wisps dissolving before reaching him); a radiant aura of calm; a small vow-token (tulasī, sacred thread, vrata-mark) indicating the once-performed vow whose fruit endures.
FAQs
Sincere observance purifies so deeply that one is described as jīvanmukta, and even a single rightly-done vrata yields enduring great merit.
No specific tīrtha is named in this verse; the focus is the mahātmya (greatness) of vrata within the broader tīrtha narrative.
The prescription is vrata-performance itself, emphasized as highly efficacious even if undertaken once.