Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 37
तीर्थांतराणि च ततः क्रमवर्जितोपि संसाधयन्निह भवत्करुणाकटाक्षैः । दूरीकृतस्वहितघात्युपसर्गवर्गो ढुंढे लभेदविकलं फलमत्र काश्याम्
tīrthāṃtarāṇi ca tataḥ kramavarjitopi saṃsādhayanniha bhavatkaruṇākaṭākṣaiḥ | dūrīkṛtasvahitaghātyupasargavargo ḍhuṃḍhe labhedavikalaṃ phalamatra kāśyām
फिर, अन्य तीर्थों के व्रत-नियमों को क्रम के बिना भी यदि कोई यहाँ करे, तो प्रभु की करुणा-दृष्टि से अपने हित का नाश करने वाले विघ्नों का समूह दूर हो जाता है; और काशी में ढूँढ़े पर वह पूर्ण, अविकल फल प्राप्त करता है।
Skanda
Tirtha: Ḍhuṃḍhe (Ḍhuṃḍhivināyaka)
Type: temple
Listener: Pilgrimage-inquirer (frame interlocutor not explicit in verse)
Scene: A pilgrim, having attempted various tīrtha rites out of sequence, stands before Ḍhuṃḍhivināyaka in Kāśī; a soft divine ‘glance’ (karuṇā-kaṭākṣa) descends, dispersing dark clouds of obstacles.
FAQs
Kāśī is uniquely compassionate: by the Lord’s grace, even imperfectly ordered tīrtha-practices yield complete merit, and obstacles that harm one’s true welfare are removed.
Ḍhuṃḍha in Kāśī (Vārāṇasī) is praised as a place where the pilgrim receives the full, undiminished fruit of sacred observance.
The verse alludes to accomplishing tīrtha-related observances (tīrthāntara-sādhana); it emphasizes that even if done without the proper sequence (krama), Kāśī grants the complete result through divine grace.