Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 30
त्वं कारणं परमकारणकारणानां वेद्योसि वेदविदुषां सततं त्वमेकः । त्वं मार्गणीयमसि किंचन मूलवाचां वाचामगोचरचराचरदिव्यमूर्ते
tvaṃ kāraṇaṃ paramakāraṇakāraṇānāṃ vedyosi vedaviduṣāṃ satataṃ tvamekaḥ | tvaṃ mārgaṇīyamasi kiṃcana mūlavācāṃ vācāmagocaracarācaradivyamūrte
أنت العِلّة، بل عِلّةُ عللِ العللِ العُظمى. أنت وحدك تُعرَف على الدوام لدى عارفي الفيدا. أنت الغايةُ اللطيفةُ المنشودة، أصلُ الكلام وجذرُه—يا ذا الصورة الإلهية، المتعالي عن متناول الألفاظ، في المتحرك والساكن من الكون.
Skanda (deduced; Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda speaking to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī / Avimukta-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Scene: A divine form radiates from a point-source beyond the cosmos; moving and unmoving beings orbit within a subtle aura; Veda-knowers sit in contemplation, their speech-scrolls dissolving into silence; the deity is depicted as simultaneously formful (divya-mūrti) and ineffable (words falling away).
FAQs
The deity praised is not merely a helper for tasks but the transcendent source—knowable through Vedic wisdom yet beyond speech.
Kāśī is the overarching sacred frame; the verse deepens Kāśī’s Mahātmya by presenting devotion as a path to ultimate knowledge.
No explicit ritual instruction; it emphasizes jñāna-oriented inquiry and contemplative devotion (mārgaṇa) toward the divine source.