Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 39
मयूखमालिनं शंभुरालोक्याति सुनिश्चलम् । समाधि विस्मृतात्मानं विसिस्माय तपः प्रति
mayūkhamālinaṃ śaṃbhurālokyāti suniścalam | samādhi vismṛtātmānaṃ visismāya tapaḥ prati
ครั้นสุริยะได้เห็นพระศัมภูผู้ประดับพวงรัศมี ยืนแน่วแน่ไม่ไหวติง ก็—ผู้หลงลืมตนในสมาธิ—พิศวงต่อมหาตบะนั้นยิ่งนัก
Narrator (Skanda-to-Agastya context in Kāśī Khaṇḍa)
Tirtha: Avimukta-Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and ṛṣis of Naimiṣāraṇya (typical frame)
Scene: The Sun beholds Śiva standing utterly motionless, wreathed in rays; the cosmos pauses in reverent astonishment before the Lord’s niścala-samādhi.
FAQs
True tapas culminates in samādhi—steady, self-forgetful absorption in Śiva—worthy even of the Sun’s astonishment.
The broader setting is Kāśī (Vārāṇasī) in the Kāśī Khaṇḍa, where Śiva’s presence is praised as supremely sanctifying.
No explicit rite is prescribed here; the verse emphasizes inner discipline—steadiness and samādhi—as the essence of tapas.