Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 86
परं विप्रस्य या दीक्षा व्रतवंधसमुद्भवा । गायत्री परमा जाप्ये गुरुर्व्रतपरो हि सः । वैष्णवीं चाथ शैवीं च योऽन्यां दीक्षां समाचरेत्
paraṃ viprasya yā dīkṣā vratavaṃdhasamudbhavā | gāyatrī paramā jāpye gururvrataparo hi saḥ | vaiṣṇavīṃ cātha śaivīṃ ca yo'nyāṃ dīkṣāṃ samācaret
विप्रासाठी परम दीक्षा तीच, जी व्रतबंधनातून उत्पन्न होते. जपात गायत्री हा सर्वोच्च मंत्र आहे, आणि खरा गुरु तोच जो व्रतपरायण असतो. पण जो वैष्णवी किंवा शैवी दीक्षा घेऊन पुन्हा दुसरी दीक्षा करतो,
Narrative voice (speaker not explicitly marked in this verse; immediate dialogue attribution appears from 89 onward)
Scene: A didactic scene: Durvāsā instructs a brāhmaṇa aspirant; Gāyatrī is symbolized by a radiant sun-disc or Vedic fire; two paths (Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava) appear as distinct emblems, warning against wavering between them.
FAQs
Vow-bound discipline and faithful practice—especially Gāyatrī-japa—are upheld as the highest brāhmaṇical path, not restless switching of consecrations.
This verse is doctrinal within the Tīrthamāhātmya flow; no specific tīrtha-name is stated in the śloka itself.
Gāyatrī-japa is identified as supreme, and steadfast observance of vrata is emphasized as the core discipline connected to dīkṣā.