Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 30
त्वं कारणं परमकारणकारणानां वेद्योसि वेदविदुषां सततं त्वमेकः । त्वं मार्गणीयमसि किंचन मूलवाचां वाचामगोचरचराचरदिव्यमूर्ते
tvaṃ kāraṇaṃ paramakāraṇakāraṇānāṃ vedyosi vedaviduṣāṃ satataṃ tvamekaḥ | tvaṃ mārgaṇīyamasi kiṃcana mūlavācāṃ vācāmagocaracarācaradivyamūrte
നീ തന്നെയാണ് കാരണം—പരമകാരണങ്ങളുടെയും കാരണം. വേദവിദ്വന്മാർക്കു നീ ഒരുത്തനേ സദാ ജ്ഞേയൻ. വാക്കിന്റെ മൂലമായ സൂക്ഷ്മ ലക്ഷ്യം നീ തന്നെ; ഹേ ചരാചര ലോകത്തിൽ വാക്കുകൾക്കു അഗോചരമായ ദിവ്യമൂർത്തേ!
Skanda (deduced; Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda speaking to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī / Avimukta-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Scene: A divine form radiates from a point-source beyond the cosmos; moving and unmoving beings orbit within a subtle aura; Veda-knowers sit in contemplation, their speech-scrolls dissolving into silence; the deity is depicted as simultaneously formful (divya-mūrti) and ineffable (words falling away).
FAQs
The deity praised is not merely a helper for tasks but the transcendent source—knowable through Vedic wisdom yet beyond speech.
Kāśī is the overarching sacred frame; the verse deepens Kāśī’s Mahātmya by presenting devotion as a path to ultimate knowledge.
No explicit ritual instruction; it emphasizes jñāna-oriented inquiry and contemplative devotion (mārgaṇa) toward the divine source.