Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 25
परं मे दुःखमेवैकं हृदि शल्यमिवार्पितम् । अनेनैव शरीरेण यन्न प्राप्तं त्रिविष्टपम्
paraṃ me duḥkhamevaikaṃ hṛdi śalyamivārpitam | anenaiva śarīreṇa yanna prāptaṃ triviṣṭapam
Mais une seule peine me tourmente, plantée dans mon cœur comme une épine : qu’avec ce corps même je n’ai pas atteint Triviṣṭapa (le monde céleste).
Triśaṅku (deduced from context; the next adhyāya references ‘triśaṅkoḥ’)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A solitary figure touches the chest as if feeling a thorn within, eyes lowered; behind, a sage and a quiet hermitage/riverbank suggest counsel amid spiritual dissatisfaction.
FAQs
Worldly status and ritual effort feel incomplete without the higher aim; the verse frames intense longing for transcendence as an inner ‘thorn’ that drives tapas.
This verse itself focuses on the aspiration for Svarga; the broader Nāgarakhaṇḍa Tīrthamāhātmya context links such narratives to the merit of tīrtha-observance rather than naming a single site in this line.
No specific rite is prescribed here; it expresses the goal (attaining Triviṣṭapa with the body), which later prompts austerity and extraordinary means.