Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 91
स्थिरापायं कायं जननमरणक्लेशनिलयं विहायास्यां काश्यामहहपरिगृह्णीत न कुतः । वपुस्तेजोरूपं स्थिरतरपरानंदसदनं विमूढोऽसौ जंतुः स्फुटितमिवकांम्यं विनिमयन्
sthirāpāyaṃ kāyaṃ jananamaraṇakleśanilayaṃ vihāyāsyāṃ kāśyāmahahaparigṛhṇīta na kutaḥ | vapustejorūpaṃ sthirataraparānaṃdasadanaṃ vimūḍho'sau jaṃtuḥ sphuṭitamivakāṃmyaṃ vinimayan
¿Por qué, ay, no abandona el hombre este cuerpo—incierto y perecedero, simple morada de las penas del nacer y del morir—y toma refugio en esta Kāśī? Pues aquí el ser encarnado alcanza una forma hecha de resplandor divino, una morada mucho más perdurable de dicha suprema; y, sin embargo, la criatura engañada, como quien trueca una joya perfecta, cambia ese bien inestimable por lo meramente deseado.
Skanda (deduced for Kāśī-khaṇḍa context: Skanda instructing Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī / Avimukta
Type: kshetra
Listener: Sages / devotees seeking Kāśī’s secret of liberation
Scene: A human figure stands between two ‘bodies’: one frail, cracked, and shadowed (saṃsāra-body), and another radiant, made of light (tejorūpa) arising in Kāśī’s luminous sacred space; a jewel-trade metaphor shown as a flawless gem being exchanged for a trivial object.
FAQs
Detach from the perishable body and seek the higher, enduring state of supreme bliss promised through refuge in sacred Kāśī.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), praised as a liberating sacred geography where the being attains a radiant, blissful state.
No specific rite (snāna, dāna, japa) is prescribed in this verse; it emphasizes renunciation of bodily attachment and taking refuge/dwelling in Kāśī.