Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 91
स्थिरापायं कायं जननमरणक्लेशनिलयं विहायास्यां काश्यामहहपरिगृह्णीत न कुतः । वपुस्तेजोरूपं स्थिरतरपरानंदसदनं विमूढोऽसौ जंतुः स्फुटितमिवकांम्यं विनिमयन्
sthirāpāyaṃ kāyaṃ jananamaraṇakleśanilayaṃ vihāyāsyāṃ kāśyāmahahaparigṛhṇīta na kutaḥ | vapustejorūpaṃ sthirataraparānaṃdasadanaṃ vimūḍho'sau jaṃtuḥ sphuṭitamivakāṃmyaṃ vinimayan
لِمَ لا يتركُ الإنسانُ—وا أسفاه—هذا الجسدَ غيرَ المأمونِ الزوال، مسكنَ آلامِ الولادةِ والموت، ويأوي إلى هذه الكاشي؟ فإنّ الكائنَ المتجسّدَ ينالُ هنا هيئةً من نورٍ إلهيّ، مقامًا أثبتَ لنعيمٍ أسمى؛ ومع ذلك فالمخلوقُ المضلَّلُ، كمن يبادلُ جوهرةً كاملةً، يستبدلُ ذلك الخيرَ الذي لا يُقدَّر بثمنٍ بما هو مجرّدُ مطلوبٍ للشهوة.
Skanda (deduced for Kāśī-khaṇḍa context: Skanda instructing Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī / Avimukta
Type: kshetra
Listener: Sages / devotees seeking Kāśī’s secret of liberation
Scene: A human figure stands between two ‘bodies’: one frail, cracked, and shadowed (saṃsāra-body), and another radiant, made of light (tejorūpa) arising in Kāśī’s luminous sacred space; a jewel-trade metaphor shown as a flawless gem being exchanged for a trivial object.
FAQs
Detach from the perishable body and seek the higher, enduring state of supreme bliss promised through refuge in sacred Kāśī.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), praised as a liberating sacred geography where the being attains a radiant, blissful state.
No specific rite (snāna, dāna, japa) is prescribed in this verse; it emphasizes renunciation of bodily attachment and taking refuge/dwelling in Kāśī.