Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 12
शिवं प्रसंगतोभ्यर्च्य सकृत्त्वशुचिचेतसः । अल्पपुण्याल्पलक्ष्मी काः पिशाचास्त इमे सखे
śivaṃ prasaṃgatobhyarcya sakṛttvaśucicetasaḥ | alpapuṇyālpalakṣmī kāḥ piśācāsta ime sakhe
सखे, हे पिशाच आहेत—अल्प पुण्य व अल्प लक्ष्मीचे. प्रसंगवश एकदा शिवाची पूजा केली, पण त्यांचे चित्त अशुद्ध होते.
Śiva’s Gaṇas (two attendants)
Listener: Companion/traveler addressed as ‘sakhā’
Scene: A contrast tableau: piśācas shown as ‘alpapuṇya-alpalakṣmī’, while a faint memory of a single, careless Śiva-arcana appears like a dim vignette—an offering made without devotion.
FAQs
External worship without inner purity gives only limited spiritual fruit; intention (bhāva) matters.
The verse is not a tīrtha-stuti; it is a doctrinal note within the Kāśī Khaṇḍa’s teaching narrative.
An implied prescription: worship Śiva with śuddha-citta (purity of mind), not merely as a casual act.