Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 21
न मंत्रौषधयः सर्वे नाभिचारा न लौकिकाः । न कर्माणि न वेदाश्च न मीमांसाद्वयं तथा
na maṃtrauṣadhayaḥ sarve nābhicārā na laukikāḥ | na karmāṇi na vedāśca na mīmāṃsādvayaṃ tathā
نہ سب منتر اور دوائیں، نہ ابھچار اور نہ دنیوی تدبیریں؛ نہ کرم کانڈ، نہ وید، نہ ہی دونوں میمانسا—یہ سب اپنے بل پر اسے سرانجام نہیں دے سکتے۔
Bṛhaspati
Tirtha: Kedāra / Kedāranātha
Type: kshetra
Listener: Devas/Indra-context audience (implied by subsequent verse)
Scene: A Himalayan shrine setting: ascetics and pilgrims before Kedāra; symbolic rejection of ritual paraphernalia as ‘insufficient alone’—scrolls, herbs, yantras set aside—while a serene Śiva-presence is implied through light/linga/peak.
FAQs
Techniques, rituals, and learning are insufficient without the deeper inner approach implied in the surrounding verses (devotion and peace).
The Kedāra setting frames the teaching, but this verse is a general theological statement.
No prescription; rather, it relativizes ritual and scholastic methods when pursued alone.