Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 94
नास्तीह दुष्कृतकृतां सुकृतात्मनां वा काचिद्विशेषगतिरंतकृतां हि काश्याम् । बीजानि कर्मजनितानि यदूषरायां नांकूरंयति हरदृग्ज्वलितानितेषाम्
nāstīha duṣkṛtakṛtāṃ sukṛtātmanāṃ vā kācidviśeṣagatiraṃtakṛtāṃ hi kāśyām | bījāni karmajanitāni yadūṣarāyāṃ nāṃkūraṃyati haradṛgjvalitāniteṣām
Here in Kāśī there is no special post-mortem course set apart for the evil-doer or for the virtuous; for in Kāśī the Lord who ends death itself grants the same supreme passage. The seeds born of karma, scorched by Hara’s blazing glance, do not sprout—like seeds cast upon barren ground that never germinate.
Skanda
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Girijā/Pārvatī
Scene: Śiva as Antakāntaka in Kāśī, his fiery glance burning karmic seeds scattered on barren ground; the city’s ghāṭs and liṅgas glow in ash-white serenity.
FAQs
In Kāśī, Śiva’s liberating grace burns the very seeds of karma, so the usual distinctions of after-death destinies based on sin and merit lose their force.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), the supreme Śaiva kṣetra where Hara is praised as the conqueror of Death (Antaka).
No specific rite is prescribed in this verse; it emphasizes the kṣetra-māhātmya of Kāśī—liberation through residence, death, or divine grace in the sacred city.