Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 27
मद्भक्तिबलदर्पिष्ठा मत्प्रियं न नमंति ये । वासुदेवं न ते ज्ञेया मद्भक्ताः पापिनो हि ते
madbhaktibaladarpiṣṭhā matpriyaṃ na namaṃti ye | vāsudevaṃ na te jñeyā madbhaktāḥ pāpino hi te
Aqueles que, inchados pela força da (pretensa) devoção a mim, não se curvam ao que me é querido—não os considereis devotos de Vāsudeva; de fato, são pecadores.
Īśvara (Śiva) (didactic continuation in the passage)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: Śiva’s admonition scene: a proud ascetic/sectarian figure refuses to bow before a symbol dear to Hari (a Vaiṣṇava, a śālagrāma, or a Viṣṇu shrine), while true devotees bow with humility; Śiva indicates the proud one as ‘pāpī’.
FAQs
Bhakti without humility becomes hypocrisy; true devotion honors what the Lord Himself holds dear.
The teaching occurs within Prabhāsa-kṣetra’s māhātmya, though the verse itself is ethical rather than geographical.
A behavioral prescription: offer reverence (namaskāra) and avoid pride masquerading as devotion.