Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 20
मत्वा कलियुगं रौद्रं बहुपापं वरानने । नान्येन तरते दुर्गां कर्मणा दुर्गतिं नरः
matvā kaliyugaṃ raudraṃ bahupāpaṃ varānane | nānyena tarate durgāṃ karmaṇā durgatiṃ naraḥ
Biết rằng Kali-yuga hung bạo, đầy dẫy tội lỗi, hỡi người đẹp! Con người không thể vượt qua cửa ải khắc nghiệt này—số phận sa đọa do nghiệp—bằng bất cứ cách nào khác.
Śiva (addressing Devī; 'varānane')
Tirtha: Prabhāsa-kṣetra (implied)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Varānanā (addressed ‘O lovely-faced one’; likely a female interlocutor within the narrative frame)
Scene: A contrast scene: dark, turbulent Kali-yuga with people burdened by chains labeled ‘karma’, and a luminous path leading to the Somanātha shrine at Prabhāsa, suggesting refuge through divine grace rather than mere worldly striving.
FAQs
In the Kali age, ordinary karmic striving tends toward hardship; one needs a higher salvific support—implied here as the kṣetra’s deity-centered refuge.
The surrounding context is Prabhāsa Kṣetra and Someśvara worship as the implied means of crossing Kali-yuga’s dangers.
No explicit ritual is named in this verse; it sets the theological premise that ordinary means are insufficient, preparing for the kṣetra-based remedy.