ईश्वर उवाच । शृणु देवि प्रवक्ष्यामि कथां पापप्रणाशिनीम् । यां श्रुत्वा मानवो देवि मुक्तः संसारसागरात् । सर्वान्कामान्स लभते सततं मनसि प्रियान्
īśvara uvāca | śṛṇu devi pravakṣyāmi kathāṃ pāpapraṇāśinīm | yāṃ śrutvā mānavo devi muktaḥ saṃsārasāgarāt | sarvānkāmānsa labhate satataṃ manasi priyān
Wika ni Īśvara: “Makinig ka, O Diyosa; isasalaysay ko ang kuwentong pumupuksa sa kasalanan. Sa pagdinig nito, O Diyosa, ang tao’y makalalaya sa dagat ng saṃsāra at palaging matatamo ang lahat ng minimithing mahal ng isipan.”
Īśvara (Śiva)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Devī
Scene: Śiva turns to Devī and promises a sin-destroying narrative whose very hearing liberates from saṃsāra and grants cherished desires.
Śravaṇa (devotional listening) to a purāṇic māhātmya is presented as transformative—destroying sin and orienting one toward liberation.
Implicitly the Rāmeśvara/Prabhāsa sacred complex, since the kathā being introduced concerns its prabhāva.
Śravaṇa—listening to the māhātmya (kathā-śravaṇa) as a meritorious practice.