Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 56
अप्रणम्य महेशानमकृत्वापि प्रदक्षिणम् । अद्यापि न निवर्तंते गताः प्राग्वासरा इव
apraṇamya maheśānamakṛtvāpi pradakṣiṇam | adyāpi na nivartaṃte gatāḥ prāgvāsarā iva
മഹേശാനനെ നമസ്കരിക്കാതെയും പ്രദക്ഷിണം ചെയ്യാതെയും പുറപ്പെട്ടവർ വീണ്ടും മടങ്ങിവരുന്നില്ല—കഴിഞ്ഞുപോയ ദിവസങ്ങൾ മടങ്ങിവരാത്തതുപോലെ।
Narrator (deduced: Skanda to Agastya in Kāśīkhaṇḍa)
Tirtha: Avimukta-Kāśī / Viśveśvara-sannidhi
Type: kshetra
Listener: Ṛṣis/assembly (contextual)
Scene: A pilgrim at Kāśī stands before Maheśāna (Viśveśvara liṅga), hands folded; behind, the river-city and the sense of time passing like fading calendar leaves, underscoring ‘days gone never return’.
FAQs
Time and opportunity once lost may not return; therefore, complete essential worship before moving on.
Kāśī’s Mahādeva-centered sacred geography is the underlying context, presenting worship as the key to auspicious travel and return.
Bowing (praṇāma) to Śiva and performing pradakṣiṇā are explicitly prescribed by implication.