Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 31
नामश्रवणतोपीह यल्लिंगानां शुभानने । वृजिनानि क्षयं यांति वर्धंते पुण्यराशयः
nāmaśravaṇatopīha yalliṃgānāṃ śubhānane | vṛjināni kṣayaṃ yāṃti vardhaṃte puṇyarāśayaḥ
ഹേ സുമുഖീ! ഈ ലിംഗങ്ങളുടെ നാമം കേൾക്കുന്നതു കൊണ്ടുതന്നെ പാപങ്ങൾ നശിക്കുകയും പുണ്യങ്ങൾ വർദ്ധിക്കുകയും ചെയ്യുന്നു.
Skanda
Tirtha: Siddhaliṅga-nāma-śravaṇa (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: a beloved interlocutor (commonly Devasenā)
Scene: A teacher recites the names of Kāśī’s liṅgas to a gathered circle; sound-waves depicted as luminous ribbons dissolving dark ‘pāpa’ clouds and forming a heap of shining ‘puṇya’ jewels.
FAQs
Contact with the sacred—especially through nāma (holy names)—purifies: even hearing the names of Kāśī’s liṅgas reduces sin and multiplies merit.
Kāśī/Ānandakānana, through the glorification of its principal Śiva-liṅgas whose names themselves are salvific.
Nāma-śravaṇa (devout listening to the names of the liṅgas) is presented as a spiritual practice yielding pāpa-kṣaya and puṇya-vृद्धि.