Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 35
दण्डी भिक्षां च वा कुर्यात्तदेव व्यसनं विना । यस्तिष्ठति न वैराग्यं याति नैव यतिर्हि सः
daṇḍī bhikṣāṃ ca vā kuryāttadeva vyasanaṃ vinā | yastiṣṭhati na vairāgyaṃ yāti naiva yatirhi saḥ
ദണ്ഡം ധരിച്ചു ഭിക്ഷാടനം ചെയ്താലും, അത് വ്യസനദോഷമില്ലാതെ ചെയ്താലും—വൈരാഗ്യത്തിൽ നിലകൊള്ളാത്തവൻ യതി അല്ല.
Unspecified (deduced: didactic narrator within Nāgarakhaṇḍa Tīrthamāhātmya)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A staff-bearing mendicant stands at a crossroads: one path shows mere costume and public alms-round; the other shows inner detachment—calm gaze, empty hands, and a heart turned inward.
FAQs
External marks of renunciation are insufficient; inner vairāgya is the defining criterion of true ascetic life.
No specific tīrtha is named in this verse; it supports the broader tīrtha-māhātmya narrative by defining the worthy renunciant.
Bhikṣā (alms-begging) as a regulated livelihood for an ascetic, coupled with freedom from vyasana (vices).