Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 56
येस्मिञ्जनाः कृत्रिमभावबुद्ध्या लिंगं भजिष्यंति च हेतुवादैः । तेषां हि दंडः पर एष एव नगर्भवासाद्विरमंति ते ध्रुवम्
yesmiñjanāḥ kṛtrimabhāvabuddhyā liṃgaṃ bhajiṣyaṃti ca hetuvādaiḥ | teṣāṃ hi daṃḍaḥ para eṣa eva nagarbhavāsādviramaṃti te dhruvam
जे लोक कृत्रिम भावबुद्धीने आणि तर्कवितर्कांनी या लिंगाचे भजन करतात, त्यांचा परम दंड हाच—ते निश्चितच गर्भवासातून (जन्ममरणचक्रातून) निवृत्त होत नाहीत।
Śiva (contextual, within Kāśīkhaṇḍa instruction)
Tirtha: Ānandavana Liṅga (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Purāṇic interlocutor/audience of Kāśī-māhātmya
Scene: A devotee stands before the Liṅga with a divided expression—outwardly offering, inwardly calculating—while shadowy forms of the womb-cycle (embryo imagery, turning wheel of saṃsāra) loom behind, contrasted with a serene, luminous path reserved for the sincere.
FAQs
Worship without authentic inner devotion becomes spiritually fruitless; insincerity sustains bondage and repeated birth.
The teaching is set within Kāśī’s Liṅga-māhātmya context, addressing proper attitude toward the sacred Liṅga there.
An implicit prescription: perform Liṅga worship with genuine bhāva, not as a mere outward act supported by hollow disputation.