Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 12
शिवं प्रसंगतोभ्यर्च्य सकृत्त्वशुचिचेतसः । अल्पपुण्याल्पलक्ष्मी काः पिशाचास्त इमे सखे
śivaṃ prasaṃgatobhyarcya sakṛttvaśucicetasaḥ | alpapuṇyālpalakṣmī kāḥ piśācāsta ime sakhe
“Bạn hiền, đây là những piśāca—ít công đức, ít phúc lộc—dẫu từng tình cờ thờ phụng Śiva một lần, nhưng tâm lại chẳng thanh tịnh.”
Śiva’s Gaṇas (two attendants)
Listener: Companion/traveler addressed as ‘sakhā’
Scene: A contrast tableau: piśācas shown as ‘alpapuṇya-alpalakṣmī’, while a faint memory of a single, careless Śiva-arcana appears like a dim vignette—an offering made without devotion.
FAQs
External worship without inner purity gives only limited spiritual fruit; intention (bhāva) matters.
The verse is not a tīrtha-stuti; it is a doctrinal note within the Kāśī Khaṇḍa’s teaching narrative.
An implied prescription: worship Śiva with śuddha-citta (purity of mind), not merely as a casual act.