Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 34
जपेच्च त्र्यक्षरं मंत्र षण्मुखं च यदृच्छया । मंत्रराजेति यः पूर्वं तवाख्यातो मया प्रिये
japecca tryakṣaraṃ maṃtra ṣaṇmukhaṃ ca yadṛcchayā | maṃtrarājeti yaḥ pūrvaṃ tavākhyāto mayā priye
Dan hendaklah juga melafazkan japa mantra tiga suku kata, serta mantra Ṣaṇmukha yang bermuka enam, menurut kemampuan. Wahai kekasih, mantra yang telah aku khabarkan kepadamu dahulu sebagai ‘Raja segala Mantra’—
Unknown (speaker addresses ‘priye’; likely a deity/sage instructing a close interlocutor, but not explicit in snippet)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: ‘Priye’—a dear interlocutor (often a goddess/consort figure in puranic dialogue styles)
Scene: A pilgrim at Prabhāsa sits facing the sacred precinct, lips softly moving in japa; the sea-breeze and temple banners frame the act of mantra-recitation, suggesting the ‘king of mantras’ being recalled as earlier taught.
FAQs
Regular japa—especially of revered seed-mantras and Skanda’s mantra—is upheld as a practical discipline adaptable to one’s capacity.
Prabhāsa Kṣetra, where mantra-japa is integrated into the pilgrimage rite sequence.
Japa of a three-syllabled mantra, japa connected with Ṣaṇmukha (Skanda), and remembrance of the previously taught Mantrarāja.