Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 43
वाराणस्यास्तु ये भक्तास्ते भक्ता मम निश्चितम् । जीवन्मुक्ता हि ते नूनं मोक्षलक्ष्म्या कटाक्षिताः
vārāṇasyāstu ye bhaktāste bhaktā mama niścitam | jīvanmuktā hi te nūnaṃ mokṣalakṣmyā kaṭākṣitāḥ
Doch wer Vārāṇasī ergeben ist, der ist gewiss mein Verehrer. Wahrlich, sie sind jīvanmukta, begnadet vom Blick der Lakṣmī der mokṣa selbst.
Śiva (Hara/Bhava)
Tirtha: Vārāṇasī (Kāśī/Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: Śiva declares with certainty that Vārāṇasī-devotees are his devotees and are jīvanmuktas; Mokṣa-Lakṣmī appears as a radiant goddess casting a compassionate glance upon them, while Kāśī’s ghāṭs and Viśveśvara’s presence glow behind.
FAQs
Devotion to Kāśī/Vārāṇasī is equated with devotion to Śiva and is portrayed as a direct cause of jīvanmukti through mokṣa-grace.
Vārāṇasī (Kāśī), explicitly named and declared inseparable from Śiva’s own devotion.
No explicit ritual; the emphasis is on bhakti toward Vārāṇasī/Kāśī as the sustaining practice.