Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 5
सूत उवाच । एतावदेव मर्त्यानां परं श्रेयः सनातनम् । यदीश्वरकथायां वै जाता भक्तिरहैतुकी
sūta uvāca | etāvadeva martyānāṃ paraṃ śreyaḥ sanātanam | yadīśvarakathāyāṃ vai jātā bhaktirahaitukī
सूत म्हणाले—मर्त्यांसाठी हेच परम व सनातन श्रेय आहे; ईश्वरकथेतून जेव्हा अहैतुकी, निष्काम भक्ती उत्पन्न होते।
Sūta
Listener: Ṛṣis (Naimiṣāraṇya frame implied)
Scene: Sūta, seated in a sacred assembly, proclaims that the highest good is the arising of causeless devotion through discourse on the Lord; listeners sit attentive in a forest-āśrama setting.
FAQs
The supreme welfare of human life is ahaitukī bhakti—pure devotion born from hearing and contemplating the Lord’s kathā.
No specific tīrtha is mentioned; the verse teaches a universal purāṇic dharma of devotion through sacred narration.
Engagement in īśvara-kathā (listening/recitation) is the implied sādhana leading to devotion.