Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 42
नंदिन्युवाच । परेषां प्राणयात्रार्थं तत्कर्तुं युज्यते शुभाः । आत्मप्राणहितार्थाय न साधूनां प्रशस्यते
naṃdinyuvāca | pareṣāṃ prāṇayātrārthaṃ tatkartuṃ yujyate śubhāḥ | ātmaprāṇahitārthāya na sādhūnāṃ praśasyate
Nandinī berkata: “Demi kelangsungan nyawa orang lain, wajar dilakukan demikian, wahai orang-orang baik. Namun bertindak semata-mata demi keuntungan nyawa sendiri tidak dipuji dalam kalangan orang saleh.”
Nandinī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Sakhyaḥ (companions)
Scene: Nandinī addresses a group of companions at a sacred setting, teaching that acts for others’ survival are righteous, while self-serving acts are not praised by the virtuous.
FAQs
Altruism is higher dharma: actions done to sustain others are praised, while selfish preservation alone is not the ideal of the sādhus.
No specific tīrtha is named in this verse; it supplies the dharmic ethos that undergirds the chapter’s Mahātmya narrative.
None; it teaches a principle of motivation in dharma (para-hita vs. ātma-hita).