Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 23
अधीतिनोपि मूर्खाश्च स्वामिनः सेवका अपि । चतुर्षु भूतग्रामेषु उत्तमाधममध्यमाः
adhītinopi mūrkhāśca svāminaḥ sevakā api | caturṣu bhūtagrāmeṣu uttamādhamamadhyamāḥ
ನಾವು ಅಧ್ಯಯನ ಮಾಡಿದವರಾಗಿಯೂ ಮೂಢರಾಗಿದ್ದೆವು; ಸ್ವಾಮಿಗಳಾಗಿಯೂ ಸೇವಕರಾಗಿಯೂ ಇದ್ದೆವು. ನಾಲ್ಕು ಭೂತಸಮುದಾಯಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಉತ್ತಮ, ಅಧಮ, ಮಧ್ಯಮ ಸ್ಥಿತಿಗಳಾಗಿ ಅಲೆದಾಡಿದೆವು.
Pilgrims/supplicants (addressing Śiva in Kāśī; contextually within Skanda’s narration to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Scene: A group of weary beings—some dressed as scholars, some as servants, some as nobles—stand on a Kāśī ghat at dawn, confessing the futility of their shifting statuses; the skyline shows temple spires and the river’s calm expanse.
FAQs
Mere learning or social rank is unstable across births; true jñāna is a divine gift that ends the cycle.
Kāśī is the background; the chapter moves toward the saving power of Śiva/Dharmēśvara’s darśana in Kāśī.
No direct ritual is stated.