Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 53
नापक्रामति संसारादात्महा स नराधमः । तपस्तप्यन्ति यतयो जुह्वते चात्र यज्विनः । दानानि चात्र दीयंते परलोकार्थमादरात्
nāpakrāmati saṃsārādātmahā sa narādhamaḥ | tapastapyanti yatayo juhvate cātra yajvinaḥ | dānāni cātra dīyaṃte paralokārthamādarāt
ผู้ใดไม่ถอยออกจากสังสารวัฏ ผู้นั้นเป็นผู้ฆ่าอาตมันของตนเอง—เป็นคนต่ำทรามที่สุด ในโลกนี้ ฤๅษีผู้บำเพ็ญตบะย่อมบำเพ็ญตบะ ผู้ประกอบยัญย่อมถวายอาหุติ และทานย่อมให้ด้วยความเคารพเพื่อประโยชน์แห่งปรโลก
Sūta (Lomaharṣaṇa) addressing the sages (deduced from Māheśvarakhaṇḍa frame)
Listener: Śaunaka and sages (frame)
Scene: A stark moral tableau: one figure bound by chains labeled ‘saṃsāra’ while a radiant inner self (ātman) appears dimmed; nearby, three vignettes—an ascetic in tapas, a yajamāna offering into fire, and a donor giving alms—each oriented toward a shining ‘paraloka’ horizon.
FAQs
To remain complacently bound to saṃsāra is spiritual self-harm; therefore one should pursue liberation supported by tapas, yajña, and dāna.
No distinct tīrtha is named in this verse; it describes dharmic culture—asceticism, sacrifice, and charity—without a fixed geography.
Yajña (offering oblations), tapas (austerity), and dāna (charity) are explicitly mentioned as performed for paraloka (the next world) and higher ends.