Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 63
मायां चापि गृहाणेमां दुष्प्रणोद्यां सुरासुरैः । यया संमोहितं विश्वमकिंचिज्ज्ञं भविष्यति
māyāṃ cāpi gṛhāṇemāṃ duṣpraṇodyāṃ surāsuraiḥ | yayā saṃmohitaṃ viśvamakiṃcijjñaṃ bhaviṣyati
Accept this Māyā as well—hard to cast off even by gods and asuras—by which the whole world, deluded, becomes as though knowing nothing at all.
Śiva (Hara)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and other Ṛṣis (contextual)
Scene: Viṣṇu receives a dark-blue, shimmering veil labeled Māyā from the speaker; behind it, the world appears as dreamlike silhouettes—gods, demons, humans—wandering in confusion, eyes half-closed, while a thin ray of knowledge pierces the veil.
FAQs
Māyā is a profound force of delusion; liberation requires divine grace and true knowledge that transcends it.
The Kāśīkhaṇḍa’s wider narrative glorifies Kāśī as a place associated with overcoming bondage and attaining nirvāṇa.
None directly; it is doctrinal, describing māyā as the cause of worldly bewilderment.