Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 33
देवोद्यानानि रम्याणि नंदनं वनमेव च । स्वर्गस्थानानि रम्याणि तीर्थान्यायतनानि च । तानि सर्वाणि संत्यज्य प्रभासे तु रतिर्मम
devodyānāni ramyāṇi naṃdanaṃ vanameva ca | svargasthānāni ramyāṇi tīrthānyāyatanāni ca | tāni sarvāṇi saṃtyajya prabhāse tu ratirmama
அழகிய தேவர்தோட்டங்கள், நந்தன வனமும்; சொர்க்கத்தின் இனிய தலங்கள், அங்குள்ள தீர்த்தங்களும் புனித ஆலயங்களும்— அவையனைத்தையும் துறந்து, என் இன்பம் பிரபாசத்திலேயே உள்ளது.
Śiva (deduced)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa
Type: kshetra
Listener: Varānanā
Scene: A visionary contrast: dazzling Nandana forest and celestial gardens appear like a tempting mirage, yet the speaker’s heart turns away, fixed on Prabhāsa’s sea-washed sanctuary; the composition centers on the coastal shrine as the true ‘heaven’.
FAQs
Heavenly pleasures are secondary to the liberating sanctity of a true tīrtha; Prabhāsa is valued above even svarga’s delights.
Prabhāsa-kṣetra is directly praised as the supreme object of divine delight, surpassing heavenly gardens and abodes.
None explicitly; the verse is a theological valuation encouraging devotion and pilgrimage to Prabhāsa over heavenly aspirations.