Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 17
तावद्भ्रमंति संसारे दारुणे दुःखसंकुले । यावन्नोच्चारयंतीमं मंत्रं देहभृतः सकृत्
tāvadbhramaṃti saṃsāre dāruṇe duḥkhasaṃkule | yāvannoccārayaṃtīmaṃ maṃtraṃ dehabhṛtaḥ sakṛt
दुःखांनी भरलेल्या या दारुण संसारात देहधारी तोवर भटकत राहतात, जोवर ते हा मंत्र एकदाही उच्चारत नाहीत।
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.