Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 92
श्रीविष्णुरुवाच । प्रसन्नोस्मि महाभाग वरं वरय सुव्रत । तपसोऽस्मान्निवर्तस्व चिरं खिन्नोसि बालक
śrīviṣṇuruvāca | prasannosmi mahābhāga varaṃ varaya suvrata | tapaso'smānnivartasva ciraṃ khinnosi bālaka
श्रीविष्णु म्हणाले—हे महाभाग! मी प्रसन्न आहे. हे सुव्रत! वर माग. आता या तपश्चर्येतून निवृत्त हो; हे बालका, तू दीर्घकाळ खिन्न झाला आहेस।
Viṣṇu (Nārāyaṇa)
Tirtha: Kāśī-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Dhruva (the child devotee)
Scene: Viṣṇu speaks from Garuḍa with a compassionate gaze; the child-ascetic, worn by austerity, is addressed tenderly—an intimate moment of divine reassurance and boon-offering.
FAQs
Austerity guided by devotion matures into grace; the Lord responds personally and compassionately.
Not specified in the verse; the broader Kāśīkhaṇḍa setting situates the teaching within the glory-literature of Kāśī.
Tapas (austerity) is referenced; the Lord indicates its completion and invites the devotee to receive a boon.