Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 64
प्रहस्य भगवान्नंदी ब्रह्माणं वै ह्युवाच ह । क्व यूयं क्व शिवः शंभुस्तपसा परमेण हि । द्रष्टव्यो हृदि मध्यस्थः सोऽद्य द्रष्टुं न पार्यते
prahasya bhagavānnaṃdī brahmāṇaṃ vai hyuvāca ha | kva yūyaṃ kva śivaḥ śaṃbhustapasā parameṇa hi | draṣṭavyo hṛdi madhyasthaḥ so'dya draṣṭuṃ na pāryate
مسکرا کر بھگوان نندی نے برہما سے کہا: “تم کہاں اور شیو، شمبھو کہاں! وہ تو پرم تپسیا سے ہی دکھائی دیتا ہے، دل کے عین مرکز میں بستا ہے؛ مگر آج تم اس کے درشن نہیں کر سکتے۔”
Nandī
Tirtha: Kedāra/Kedāranātha kṣetra (contextual)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Brahmā (and implicitly the assembled devas/ṛṣis)
Scene: Nandin, smiling yet firm, addresses Brahmā with a teaching gesture; a Himalayan Shaiva setting implied, with the sense of Śiva dwelling invisibly in the heart rather than as a visible form.
FAQs
Śiva is realized through inner purity and intense discipline; external status cannot guarantee darśana without tapas and inwardness.
The verse emphasizes inner Kedāra—Śiva in the heart—while situated within the Kedārakhaṇḍa that celebrates Kedāra as Śiva’s domain.
Parama-tapas (supreme austerity) and heart-centered contemplation are indicated as the means to Śiva-darśana.