Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 21
कार्यांतरेण यो गत्वा स्नानं तीर्थे समाचरेत् । न च यात्राफलं तस्य स्नानमात्रं फलं भवेत्
kāryāṃtareṇa yo gatvā snānaṃ tīrthe samācaret | na ca yātrāphalaṃ tasya snānamātraṃ phalaṃ bhavet
Si quelqu’un s’y rend pour une autre affaire et se baigne au tīrtha, il n’obtient pas le fruit du pèlerinage; il ne reçoit que le fruit du bain.
Īśvarī (Pārvatī) or a Devī addressed as 'Īśvari' (contextual narrator within Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Īśvarī/Mahādevī (addressed in surrounding verses)
Scene: A traveler arrives at Prabhāsa on worldly business, pauses at the sacred water, performs a brief bath without ritual markers; nearby, pilgrims with vows proceed toward the shrine, highlighting the contrast between incidental snāna and intentional yātrā.
FAQs
Sacred acts bear fruit according to intention; without pilgrimage-saṅkalpa, one receives only the limited merit of the act performed.
A general rule about any tīrtha, taught within Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya.
Snāna at a tīrtha done incidentally yields snāna-phala, not yātrā-phala; undertake pilgrimage with proper purpose.