Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 32
ऋषय ऊचुः । असमर्थाः परित्राणे जिताहारास्तपोन्विताः । नगरेणेह किं कुर्मस्तव भक्तिमभीप्सवः
ṛṣaya ūcuḥ | asamarthāḥ paritrāṇe jitāhārāstaponvitāḥ | nagareṇeha kiṃ kurmastava bhaktimabhīpsavaḥ
Para resi berkata: “Kami tidak berdaya untuk melindungi dan memerintah; kami menahan makan dan dikurniai tapa. Apakah yang harus kami lakukan di sini dengan sebuah kota, sedangkan kami hanya mendambakan bhakti kepada-Mu?”
Ṛṣayas (Sages)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: The divine instructor addressed as ‘tvaṃ’ (likely the presiding deity/authority in the episode)
Scene: A group of austere sages—thin, radiant, with matted hair—speak humbly with folded hands, expressing incapacity for protection/governance and asking how to live with a city when they seek only devotion.
FAQs
True seekers prioritize devotion and austerity, and may hesitate to accept worldly burdens without divine assurance.
Prabhāsa-kṣetra, where sages deliberate on how best to live and serve within a sacred landscape.
None directly; it is a question about suitability for civic responsibility versus devotional life.