Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 64
अहो वैश्वेश्वरे क्षेत्रे मरणादपिनोभयम् । यत्र सर्वे प्रतीक्षंते मृत्युं प्रियमिवाति थिम्
aho vaiśveśvare kṣetre maraṇādapinobhayam | yatra sarve pratīkṣaṃte mṛtyuṃ priyamivāti thim
അഹോ! വൈശ്വേശ്വര ക്ഷേത്രത്തിൽ മരണത്തിന്നും ഭയം ഇല്ല; അവിടെ എല്ലാവരും മരണത്തെ പ്രിയ അതിഥിയെപ്പോലെ കാത്തിരിക്കുന്നു।
Skanda
Tirtha: Viśveśvara-kṣetra (Avimukta/Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Audience contemplating mortality and liberation
Scene: A serene Kāśī scene where elders and pilgrims sit near Viśveśvara-kṣetra, calm-faced, as a symbolic figure of Death approaches like an honored guest; lamps burn steadily, suggesting fearlessness and release.
FAQs
In Kāśī, death is transformed into an auspicious passage; devotion to Viśveśvara removes fear at life’s end.
Viśveśvara-kṣetra—Kāśī as the domain of Lord Viśveśvara (Śiva)—is glorified.
No specific rite; the verse extols the kṣetra’s grace where even dying there is welcomed as sacred.