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
But those who are devotees of Vārāṇasī—those are certainly my devotees. Indeed, they are surely jīvanmukta, graced by the glance of Lakṣmī herself, the very fortune of mokṣa.
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.