Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 57
यद्यद्धितं स्वस्य सदैव तत्तल्लिंगेत्र देयं मम भक्तिमद्भिः । इहाप्यमुत्रापि न तस्य संक्षयो यथेह पापस्य कृतस्य पापिभिः
yadyaddhitaṃ svasya sadaiva tattalliṃgetra deyaṃ mama bhaktimadbhiḥ | ihāpyamutrāpi na tasya saṃkṣayo yatheha pāpasya kṛtasya pāpibhiḥ
Whatever one regards as truly beneficial for oneself—let My devoted ones always offer that at this Liṅga. Its merit does not diminish, either here or hereafter—just as the sin committed by sinners does not simply vanish in this world.
Śiva (contextual, within Kāśīkhaṇḍa instruction)
Tirtha: Ānandavana Liṅga (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Purāṇic audience/interlocutor in Kāśī discourse
Scene: Devotees place their most valued offerings—bilva leaves, water, lamps, cloth, food, coins—before the Liṅga; above, a symbolic ‘akṣaya’ stream of light rises, while on the side a faint shadow of sin’s chain illustrates the analogy of persistence.
FAQs
Offerings made with devotion at the sacred Liṅga yield enduring merit across worlds; karma, whether merit or sin, has lasting consequence.
The Liṅga in Kāśī (within the Ānandavana/Viśveśvara context of this adhyāya).
Dāna/arpana: devotees should offer what they consider most beneficial—wealth, goods, or valued offerings—at the Liṅga in the sacred kṣetra.