Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 73
अन्यानि मुक्तिक्षेत्राणि काशीप्राप्तिकराणि च । काशीं ध्यायमिमं श्रुत्वा नरो नियतमानसः । श्रावयित्वा द्विजांश्चापि श्रद्धाभक्तिसमन्वितान्
anyāni muktikṣetrāṇi kāśīprāptikarāṇi ca | kāśīṃ dhyāyamimaṃ śrutvā naro niyatamānasaḥ | śrāvayitvā dvijāṃścāpi śraddhābhaktisamanvitān
ಇತರೆ ಮುಕ್ತಿಕ್ಷೇತ್ರಗಳೂ ಕಾಶೀಪ್ರಾಪ್ತಿಗೆ ಕಾರಣವಾಗುತ್ತವೆ. ನಿಯತಮನಸ್ಸಿನಿಂದ ಕಾಶಿಯನ್ನು ಧ್ಯಾನಿಸಿ ಈ ವೃತ್ತಾಂತವನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿ, ಶ್ರದ್ಧಾ-ಭಕ್ತಿಯುಳ್ಳ ದ್ವಿಜರಿಗೂ ಕೇಳಿಸುವವನಿಗೆ ಕಾಶೀಪ್ರಾಪ್ತಿ ಹಾಗೂ ಮೋಕ್ಷಕ್ಕೆ ದಾರಿ ಮಾಡುವ ಪುಣ್ಯ ಲಭಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.
Skanda (deduced from Kāśīkhaṇḍa context: Skanda speaking to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: A disciplined devotee seated in meditation, visualizing Kāśī’s ghāṭas and Viśvanātha, while a reciter chants the Kāśī-māhātmya to an assembly of śraddhā-bhakti-yukta Brāhmaṇas; the ‘inner pilgrimage’ mirrors the outer city.
FAQs
With faith, disciplined attention, and devotion, hearing and transmitting Kāśī’s māhātmya becomes a powerful means toward liberation-oriented merit.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī) is central; other mukti-kṣetras are praised insofar as they become conduits leading to Kāśī.
Śravaṇa (hearing) and śrāvaṇa/pravacana (causing others—especially faithful dvijas—to hear/recite) of the Kāśī-māhātmya, along with meditation on Kāśī.