Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 13
ब्रह्मंस्त्वमेव तद्वेत्सि काशी त्यजनकारणम् । मंदोपि न त्यजेत्काशीं किमु यो वेत्ति किंचन
brahmaṃstvameva tadvetsi kāśī tyajanakāraṇam | maṃdopi na tyajetkāśīṃ kimu yo vetti kiṃcana
ഹേ ബ്രഹ്മൻ (ബ്രഹ്മാ), കാശി ഉപേക്ഷിച്ചതിന്റെ കാരണം നീയേ അറിയുന്നു. മന്ദബുദ്ധിയുള്ളവനും കാശി വിടുകയില്ല; പിന്നെ കുറച്ചെങ്കിലും അറിയുന്നവൻ എങ്ങനെ വിടും!
Śiva (Śrīkaṇṭha)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Ṛṣis at Naimiṣāraṇya (frame)
Scene: Śiva speaks to Brahmā: ‘You alone know why Kāśī was abandoned’; the scene is a solemn theological exchange, with Kāśī envisioned as an irresistible spiritual magnet in the background.
FAQs
Kāśī is upheld as so spiritually beneficial that leaving it appears irrational; wisdom naturally gravitates toward the liberating kṣetra.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), explicitly praised as a place one should not abandon.
No specific ritual is prescribed; the implied dharma is to value residence/association with Kāśī.