Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 94
नास्तीह दुष्कृतकृतां सुकृतात्मनां वा काचिद्विशेषगतिरंतकृतां हि काश्याम् । बीजानि कर्मजनितानि यदूषरायां नांकूरंयति हरदृग्ज्वलितानितेषाम्
nāstīha duṣkṛtakṛtāṃ sukṛtātmanāṃ vā kācidviśeṣagatiraṃtakṛtāṃ hi kāśyām | bījāni karmajanitāni yadūṣarāyāṃ nāṃkūraṃyati haradṛgjvalitāniteṣām
Ici, à Kāśī, il n’est point de voie d’outre-tombe particulière, ni pour ceux qui ont commis le mal ni pour les âmes vertueuses; car à Kāśī, le Seigneur qui met fin à la mort accorde le même passage suprême. Les semences nées du karma, brûlées par le regard flamboyant de Hara, ne germent pas—comme des graines jetées sur une terre stérile.
Skanda
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Girijā/Pārvatī
Scene: Śiva as Antakāntaka in Kāśī, his fiery glance burning karmic seeds scattered on barren ground; the city’s ghāṭs and liṅgas glow in ash-white serenity.
FAQs
In Kāśī, Śiva’s liberating grace burns the very seeds of karma, so the usual distinctions of after-death destinies based on sin and merit lose their force.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), the supreme Śaiva kṣetra where Hara is praised as the conqueror of Death (Antaka).
No specific rite is prescribed in this verse; it emphasizes the kṣetra-māhātmya of Kāśī—liberation through residence, death, or divine grace in the sacred city.