Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 33
देवोद्यानानि रम्याणि नंदनं वनमेव च । स्वर्गस्थानानि रम्याणि तीर्थान्यायतनानि च । तानि सर्वाणि संत्यज्य प्रभासे तु रतिर्मम
devodyānāni ramyāṇi naṃdanaṃ vanameva ca | svargasthānāni ramyāṇi tīrthānyāyatanāni ca | tāni sarvāṇi saṃtyajya prabhāse tu ratirmama
രമ്യമായ ദേവോദ്യാനങ്ങൾ, നന്ദനവനം പോലും; സ്വർഗ്ഗത്തിലെ മനോഹര സ്ഥാനങ്ങൾ, തീർത്ഥങ്ങളും പുണ്യായതനങ്ങളും— അവയെല്ലാം ഉപേക്ഷിച്ച് എന്റെ രതി പ്രഭാസത്തിലേ ഉള്ളൂ.
Śiva (deduced)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa
Type: kshetra
Listener: Varānanā
Scene: A visionary contrast: dazzling Nandana forest and celestial gardens appear like a tempting mirage, yet the speaker’s heart turns away, fixed on Prabhāsa’s sea-washed sanctuary; the composition centers on the coastal shrine as the true ‘heaven’.
FAQs
Heavenly pleasures are secondary to the liberating sanctity of a true tīrtha; Prabhāsa is valued above even svarga’s delights.
Prabhāsa-kṣetra is directly praised as the supreme object of divine delight, surpassing heavenly gardens and abodes.
None explicitly; the verse is a theological valuation encouraging devotion and pilgrimage to Prabhāsa over heavenly aspirations.