Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 85
ज्ञात्वा प्रभावमतुलं मणिकर्णिकायां यः पुद्गलं त्यजति चाशुचिपूयगंधि । स्वात्मावबोधमहसा सहसा मिलित्वा कल्पांतरेष्वपि स नैव पृथक्त्वमेति
jñātvā prabhāvamatulaṃ maṇikarṇikāyāṃ yaḥ pudgalaṃ tyajati cāśucipūyagaṃdhi | svātmāvabodhamahasā sahasā militvā kalpāṃtareṣvapi sa naiva pṛthaktvameti
Mengetahui daya Maṇikarṇikā yang tiada banding, siapa pun yang menanggalkan gumpalan jasmani ini—najis dan berbau nanah—seketika menyatu dengan cahaya gemilang kesadaran-Atman; dan bahkan melintasi kalpa-kalpa lain, ia tak pernah lagi jatuh ke dalam keterpisahan.
Skanda (deduced from Kāśīkhaṇḍa context: Skanda instructing Agastya)
Tirtha: Maṇikarṇikā
Type: ghat
Listener: Mumukṣu-oriented audience within Kāśī-māhātmya
Scene: A contemplative yogin at Maṇikarṇikā gazes at the pyres, perceiving the body’s impermanence; a radiant inner light (ātma-bodha-mahas) envelops him as his individuality dissolves into a vast, serene luminosity symbolizing non-separateness beyond kalpas.
FAQs
Maṇikarṇikā in Kāśī is praised as a supreme liberating tīrtha: relinquishing the body there leads to immediate union with Self-realization and freedom from recurring separateness.
Maṇikarṇikā Tīrtha in Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), celebrated in the Kāśīkhaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa.
No specific rite (snāna, dāna, japa) is prescribed in this verse; it emphasizes the salvific greatness (māhātmya) of casting off the body at Maṇikarṇikā with knowledge of its power.