Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 53
नापक्रामति संसारादात्महा स नराधमः । तपस्तप्यन्ति यतयो जुह्वते चात्र यज्विनः । दानानि चात्र दीयंते परलोकार्थमादरात्
nāpakrāmati saṃsārādātmahā sa narādhamaḥ | tapastapyanti yatayo juhvate cātra yajvinaḥ | dānāni cātra dīyaṃte paralokārthamādarāt
സംസാരത്തിൽ നിന്ന് പിന്മാറാത്തവൻ തന്റെ ആത്മാവിനെ കൊല്ലുന്നവൻ തന്നേ—അവൻ നരാധമൻ. ഇവിടെ യതികൾ തപസ്സു ചെയ്യുന്നു, യജ്വന്മാർ ഹോമത്തിൽ ആഹുതികൾ അർപ്പിക്കുന്നു, പരലോകാർത്ഥമായി ആദരത്തോടെ ദാനങ്ങൾ നൽകപ്പെടുന്നു.
Sūta (Lomaharṣaṇa) addressing the sages (deduced from Māheśvarakhaṇḍa frame)
Listener: Śaunaka and sages (frame)
Scene: A stark moral tableau: one figure bound by chains labeled ‘saṃsāra’ while a radiant inner self (ātman) appears dimmed; nearby, three vignettes—an ascetic in tapas, a yajamāna offering into fire, and a donor giving alms—each oriented toward a shining ‘paraloka’ horizon.
FAQs
To remain complacently bound to saṃsāra is spiritual self-harm; therefore one should pursue liberation supported by tapas, yajña, and dāna.
No distinct tīrtha is named in this verse; it describes dharmic culture—asceticism, sacrifice, and charity—without a fixed geography.
Yajña (offering oblations), tapas (austerity), and dāna (charity) are explicitly mentioned as performed for paraloka (the next world) and higher ends.