Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 47
चतुर्णामप्याश्रमाणां कोतीव श्रेयसे सताम् । यस्मिन्प्राप्नोति संक्षुण्णे परत्रेह च वा सुखम्
caturṇāmapyāśramāṇāṃ kotīva śreyase satām | yasminprāpnoti saṃkṣuṇṇe paratreha ca vā sukham
“Among the four āśramas, which one is truly most conducive to the welfare of the good—by following which, even amid life’s pressures, one attains happiness both here and hereafter?”
Gaṇas (narrating Viśvānara’s internal question)
Listener: Frame-audience (implied)
Scene: The sage in thoughtful pose, one hand on chest, the other resting on knee, as if weighing the four āśramas; faint symbolic icons around him—student’s staff (brahmacarya), household fire (gārhasthya), forest hut (vānaprastha), ochre robe (saṃnyāsa).
FAQs
Dharma requires discernment: one should choose a life-path (āśrama) that supports virtue and well-being in both worldly and spiritual terms.
No single tīrtha is named in this verse; it functions as a dharma-teaching within the broader Kāśīkhaṇḍa sacred narrative.
None; it frames an ethical-theological inquiry about āśrama-dharma.