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
جو سنسار سے پیچھے نہیں ہٹتا وہ اپنے ہی آتما کا قاتل ہے—ایسا شخص انسانوں میں ادنیٰ ترین ہے۔ یہاں یتی تپسیا کرتے ہیں، یجمان آہوتیاں ڈالتے ہیں، اور پرلوک کی خاطر ادب سے دان دیے جاتے ہیں۔
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.