Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 83
भवांबुधौ महागाधे प्राणिनः परिमज्जतः । भूत्वैव कर्णधारोंते यत्र संतारयाम्यहम्
bhavāṃbudhau mahāgādhe prāṇinaḥ parimajjataḥ | bhūtvaiva karṇadhāroṃte yatra saṃtārayāmyaham
In the vast and unfathomable ocean of worldly becoming, when beings are sinking, there—at the final moment—I become their helmsman and carry them across.
Skanda (deduced, Kāśīkhaṇḍa context)
Tirtha: Kāśī-kṣetra (with implied Maṇikarṇikā/Antargṛha sphere)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Implied audience of the Kāśīkhaṇḍa narration (traditionally sages/devotees hearing the glory of Kāśī)
Scene: A stormy ocean symbolizing saṃsāra; drowning beings reach out; Śiva appears as a compassionate boatman holding a rudder, guiding a small boat toward a luminous Kāśī shoreline with ghāṭas and a distant Viśvanātha spire.
FAQs
Divine guidance is promised at life’s end: the Lord becomes the helmsman to deliver the soul from saṃsāra.
The verse implies Kāśī as the place where this end-time deliverance is especially assured, though it is not named explicitly.
No explicit ritual is stated; the focus is on grace at the ‘end’ (antakāla) and liberation.