Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 22
सुखिनोपि वयं जाता दुःखिनो वयमास्म च । जेतारश्च वयं जाताः पराजेतार एव च
sukhinopi vayaṃ jātā duḥkhino vayamāsma ca | jetāraśca vayaṃ jātāḥ parājetāra eva ca
We have been born in happiness, and we have also been miserable; we have become victors, and likewise we have become the defeated.
Pilgrims/supplicants (addressing Śiva in Kāśī; contextually within Skanda’s narration to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Īśvara (the Lord)
Scene: A balanced composition: one side shows joy and triumph—garlands, raised banners; the other shows sorrow and defeat—fallen standards, tears—while the central figure turns toward the Lord, seeking peace beyond both.
FAQs
Worldly opposites—joy/sorrow, victory/defeat—rotate endlessly in saṃsāra; liberation lies beyond these fluctuations.
Kāśī is the implied locus; the chapter’s thrust is that Śiva’s grace in Kāśī grants the transcendent goal.
None here; it is a reflection meant to awaken vairāgya (dispassion).