Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 92
अहो लोकः शोकं किमिह सहते हंतहतधीर्विपद्भारैः सारैर्नियतनिधनैर्ध्वसित धनैः । क्षितौ सत्यां काश्यां कथयति शिवो यत्र निधने श्रुतौ किंचिद्भूयः प्रविशति न येनोदरदरीम्
aho lokaḥ śokaṃ kimiha sahate haṃtahatadhīrvipadbhāraiḥ sārairniyatanidhanairdhvasita dhanaiḥ | kṣitau satyāṃ kāśyāṃ kathayati śivo yatra nidhane śrutau kiṃcidbhūyaḥ praviśati na yenodaradarīm
Weh! Warum erträgt die Welt hier Kummer, den Verstand niedergeschlagen, erdrückt von der Last der Widerfahrnisse und von Besitz, der nur das „Wesen“ des Verderbens ist—zum Untergang bestimmt und rasch zerstoben? Da doch auf Erden das wahre Kāśī besteht, wo im Augenblick des Todes Śiva selbst ins Ohr spricht; wer dies vernimmt, tritt nicht wieder in die Spalte des Mutterleibes ein, das heißt: er kehrt nicht zur Wiedergeburt zurück.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda speaking to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī / Avimukta (taraka-upadeśa tradition)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Sages / devotees seeking the secret of non-rebirth
Scene: A dying devotee in Kāśī lies near a sacred spot; Śiva leans close and whispers the taraka teaching into the ear; behind, the womb-cleft imagery is shown as a dark chasm closing, while light opens upward toward liberation; worldly wealth appears as crumbling heaps.
FAQs
Worldly wealth and security are inherently fragile, so one should seek the highest refuge—liberation—by turning to Kāśī, where Śiva grants saving instruction at life’s end.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), celebrated as a mokṣa-kṣetra where Śiva personally guides the departing soul.
No explicit ritual (snāna, dāna, japa) is prescribed in this verse; it emphasizes the salvific grace of dying in Kāśī and hearing Śiva’s instruction at the final moment.