Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 6

Devanagari script

सहस्रत्रितयं राजन्वायुभक्षो बभूव ह । चिन्तयन्पुंडरीकाक्षं मानसे श्रद्धयान्वितः

Transliteration

sahasratritayaṃ rājanvāyubhakṣo babhūva ha | cintayanpuṃḍarīkākṣaṃ mānase śraddhayānvitaḥ

Translation

မင်းကြီးရေ၊ နှစ်သုံးထောင်တိုင် လေကိုသာ အာဟာရအဖြစ် ယူ၍ နေထိုင်ခဲ့သည်။ စိတ်အတွင်း၌ သဒ္ဓါဖြင့် ပုဏ္ဍရိကာක්ෂ (ဗိဿ္ဏု) ကို တရားသမားကဲ့သို့ စဉ်းစားသတိပြုနေ하였다။

Word by Word

• सहस्रत्रितयम्: three thousand (a set of three thousands)
• सहस्रत्रितयम्: Adhikarana (Measure/परिमाण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सहस्र (प्रातिपदिक) + त्रितय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया/प्रथमा, एकवचन; संख्यासमूहवाचक; तत्पुरुषः (सहस्राणां त्रितयम् = three thousands)

• राजन्: O king
• राजन्: Sambodhana (Address/सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन, एकवचन

• वायुभक्षः: one who fed on air
• वायुभक्षः: Karta (Qualifier of subject/कर्तृविशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: वायु (प्रातिपदिक) + भक्ष (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; विशेषणम् (सः) इति; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः (वायोः भक्षः)

• बभूव: became
• बभूव: Kriya (Verb/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: भू (धातु)
• Form: लिट्, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन

• ह: indeed
• ह: Sambandha (Discourse particle/निपात)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ह (अव्यय)
• Form: निपात (particle)

• चिन्तयन्: meditating, thinking of
• चिन्तयन्: Karta (Agent/कर्ता)
• Type: Verb
• Root: चिन्त् (धातु)
• Form: वर्तमान-कृदन्त (present active participle/शतृ), पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; परस्मैपदी

• पुण्डरीकाक्षम्: Puṇḍarīkākṣa (lotus-eyed Viṣṇu)
• पुण्डरीकाक्षम्: Karman (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: पुण्डरीक (प्रातिपदिक) + अक्ष (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; बहुव्रीहिः (पुण्डरीक इव अक्षिणी यस्य सः) विष्णोः नाम

• मानसे: in the mind
• मानसे: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मानस (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी, एकवचन; (मनसि)

• श्रद्धया: with faith
• श्रद्धया: Karana (Instrument/करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: श्रद्धा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd case), एकवचन

• अन्वितः: endowed (with)
• अन्वितः: Karta (Qualifier of subject/कर्तृविशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अन्वित (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक; √इ/अनु+इ)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; विशेषणम् (चिन्तयन्/सः) इति

Speaker

Narrator (contextual Purāṇic narrator)

Skanda Dialogue

Listener: राजन् / nṛpa (King)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: The ascetic-king sits motionless, eyes half-closed, breath subtle; above or within a heart-lotus appears the Lotus-eyed Viṣṇu as the object of meditation.

Characters & Entities

• Ambārīṣa
• Viṣṇu (Puṇḍarīkākṣa)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Steady tapas supported by inner devotion—mental remembrance of Viṣṇu with faith—is portrayed as spiritually efficacious.

Which specific holy site (Tīrtha) is glorified here?

Within the Arbuda-khaṇḍa of the Prabhāsa-khaṇḍa, the setting relates to the Arbuda (Mount Abu) sacred region, though this verse emphasizes the devotee’s austerity rather than naming a specific tīrtha.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

An ascetic observance: living on air (vāyu-bhakṣa) and sustained mental meditation (mānasa-cintana) with śraddhā.