Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 89
भये राजकुले युद्धे व्याधौ स्त्रीसंगमे वने । अशक्तौ वाऽथ संन्यासे मरणे भूमिसंस्थिताः । स्मरंति मातरं मूर्खाः पितरं च नराधमाः
bhaye rājakule yuddhe vyādhau strīsaṃgame vane | aśaktau vā'tha saṃnyāse maraṇe bhūmisaṃsthitāḥ | smaraṃti mātaraṃ mūrkhāḥ pitaraṃ ca narādhamāḥ
Dans la peur, à la cour du roi, à la guerre, dans la maladie, en compagnie des femmes, dans la forêt; dans la faiblesse ou même dans le renoncement; et à la mort, gisant à terre—les sots se souviennent de la mère, et les plus vils des hommes se souviennent du père.
Guru (continuing admonition)
Tirtha: Vastrāpatha-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Disciple (contextual)
Scene: A didactic montage: court, battlefield, sickbed, forest, lovers’ chamber, ascetic’s hut, and a death scene—each showing a person calling ‘mother’ or ‘father’, highlighting human dependence.
FAQs
In extreme situations people cling to worldly relations; the implied higher path is to remember the divine (Hari) rather than be ruled by attachment.
The verse belongs to Vastrāpatha-kṣetra-māhātmya in Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa, where such teachings support the kṣetra’s role as a place fostering right remembrance.
No explicit ritual is named; the implied practice is smaraṇa (remembrance), elevated toward Hari.