Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 19
तत्यजे यैरियं काशी महाशीर्वादभूभिका । तेषां करतलान्मुक्तिः प्राप्तापि परितो गता
tatyaje yairiyaṃ kāśī mahāśīrvādabhūbhikā | teṣāṃ karatalānmuktiḥ prāptāpi parito gatā
Ceux qui ont délaissé cette Kāśī—terre pétrie de grandes bénédictions—, de leurs propres paumes la délivrance, bien qu’obtenue, a glissé et s’est enfuie de toutes parts.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa narration, commonly Skanda to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and ṛṣis
Scene: A symbolic image: a radiant jewel labeled ‘mukti’ rests on an open palm, but as the person turns away from Kāśī’s blessed ground, the jewel slips and scatters like light in the wind.
FAQs
Spiritual opportunity must be held with steadiness; abandoning a mokṣa-field like Kāśī is portrayed as letting liberation slip from one’s grasp.
Kāśī, praised as a land that itself embodies great benedictions.
None; it is an exhortation not to forsake Kāśī and the path to mukti it represents.