Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 70
नान्यस्य कर्मणः शक्तिर्विद्यते ते नखायुध । पूजादिकस्य हीनत्वाद्धस्ताभ्यामिति मे मतिः
nānyasya karmaṇaḥ śaktirvidyate te nakhāyudha | pūjādikasya hīnatvāddhastābhyāmiti me matiḥ
हे नखायुधा, इतर कर्म करण्याची तुझी शक्ती नाही. पूजा इत्यादी साधने नसल्यामुळे माझे मत असे की आपल्या ‘दोन हातांनी’—म्हणजे प्रदक्षिणा व नमस्कार यांसारख्या सोप्या कृतींनी—भक्ती करणेच योग्य।
Nandinī (deduced: continues her instruction)
Tirtha: Bāṇa-pratiṣṭhita Mahāliṅga (forest shrine)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Tiger (addressed as nakhāyudha)
Scene: Nandinī gently explains to the claw-weaponed tiger that elaborate rites are beyond him; therefore, simple bodily devotion—circumambulation and bowing—is the fitting path.
FAQs
Dharma and devotion are accessible: when elaborate ritual is impossible, sincere simple acts remain effective.
The same great forest Liṅga (Bāṇa-pratiṣṭhita) is implied as the locus of these simplified devotional acts.
It prioritizes simple bodily devotion (like circumambulation and bowing) over elaborate pūjā when one lacks the means.