Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 85
ज्ञात्वा प्रभावमतुलं मणिकर्णिकायां यः पुद्गलं त्यजति चाशुचिपूयगंधि । स्वात्मावबोधमहसा सहसा मिलित्वा कल्पांतरेष्वपि स नैव पृथक्त्वमेति
jñātvā prabhāvamatulaṃ maṇikarṇikāyāṃ yaḥ pudgalaṃ tyajati cāśucipūyagaṃdhi | svātmāvabodhamahasā sahasā militvā kalpāṃtareṣvapi sa naiva pṛthaktvameti
মণিকৰ্ণিকাৰ অতুল প্ৰভাৱ জানি যি কোনোবাই এই অশুচি, পূয়-গন্ধী দেহ-পিণ্ড ত্যাগ কৰে, সি তৎক্ষণাৎ আত্মবোধৰ দীপ্ত মহিমাৰ সৈতে একীভূত হয়; আৰু অন্য-অন্য কল্পতো সি কেতিয়াও পৃথকত্বত নপৰে।
Skanda (deduced from Kāśīkhaṇḍa context: Skanda instructing Agastya)
Tirtha: Maṇikarṇikā
Type: ghat
Listener: Mumukṣu-oriented audience within Kāśī-māhātmya
Scene: A contemplative yogin at Maṇikarṇikā gazes at the pyres, perceiving the body’s impermanence; a radiant inner light (ātma-bodha-mahas) envelops him as his individuality dissolves into a vast, serene luminosity symbolizing non-separateness beyond kalpas.
FAQs
Maṇikarṇikā in Kāśī is praised as a supreme liberating tīrtha: relinquishing the body there leads to immediate union with Self-realization and freedom from recurring separateness.
Maṇikarṇikā Tīrtha in Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), celebrated in the Kāśīkhaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa.
No specific rite (snāna, dāna, japa) is prescribed in this verse; it emphasizes the salvific greatness (māhātmya) of casting off the body at Maṇikarṇikā with knowledge of its power.