Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 17
तावद्भ्रमंति संसारे दारुणे दुःखसंकुले । यावन्नोच्चारयंतीमं मंत्रं देहभृतः सकृत्
tāvadbhramaṃti saṃsāre dāruṇe duḥkhasaṃkule | yāvannoccārayaṃtīmaṃ maṃtraṃ dehabhṛtaḥ sakṛt
दुःख से भरे इस कठोर संसार में देहधारी तब तक भटकते रहते हैं, जब तक वे इस मंत्र का एक बार भी उच्चारण नहीं करते।
Deductive attribution: Purāṇic narrator in Brahmottara-khaṇḍa (likely Sūta/compilational voice)
Scene: A bleak wheel of saṃsāra with beings wandering amid thorns and smoke; a single radiant syllable-stream ‘oṃ namaḥ śivāya’ breaks through like a bridge or rope, offering escape; one being turns toward the light.
FAQs
Neglect of the liberating mantra prolongs wandering in suffering; even minimal contact with it is praised as transformative.
No tīrtha is named; the verse centers on mantra as the saving intervention in saṃsāra.
Uttering/reciting the mantra (even once) is highlighted as spiritually decisive.