Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 21
कार्यांतरेण यो गत्वा स्नानं तीर्थे समाचरेत् । न च यात्राफलं तस्य स्नानमात्रं फलं भवेत्
kāryāṃtareṇa yo gatvā snānaṃ tīrthe samācaret | na ca yātrāphalaṃ tasya snānamātraṃ phalaṃ bhavet
جو شخص کسی اور کام سے جا کر تیرتھ میں اشنان کرے، اسے یاترا کا پھل نہیں ملتا؛ اسے صرف اشنان ہی کا پھل حاصل ہوتا ہے۔
Īśvarī (Pārvatī) or a Devī addressed as 'Īśvari' (contextual narrator within Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya)
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Īśvarī/Mahādevī (addressed in surrounding verses)
Scene: A traveler arrives at Prabhāsa on worldly business, pauses at the sacred water, performs a brief bath without ritual markers; nearby, pilgrims with vows proceed toward the shrine, highlighting the contrast between incidental snāna and intentional yātrā.
FAQs
Sacred acts bear fruit according to intention; without pilgrimage-saṅkalpa, one receives only the limited merit of the act performed.
A general rule about any tīrtha, taught within Prabhāsakṣetra Māhātmya.
Snāna at a tīrtha done incidentally yields snāna-phala, not yātrā-phala; undertake pilgrimage with proper purpose.