Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 32
अभावः कल्प्यते मूढैर्यदा च शिवयोस्तयोः । क्षेत्रस्यास्य तदाभावः कल्प्यो निर्वाणकारिणः
abhāvaḥ kalpyate mūḍhairyadā ca śivayostayoḥ | kṣetrasyāsya tadābhāvaḥ kalpyo nirvāṇakāriṇaḥ
जेव्हा मूढ जन येथे शिव व त्यांच्या शक्तीचा ‘अभाव’ कल्पितात, तेव्हा निर्वाण देणाऱ्या या पवित्र क्षेत्राचाही अभाव मानावा लागेल।
Skanda
Tirtha: Avimukta-kṣetra (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Agastya (Ghaṭodbhava)
Scene: A contemplative vision of Kāśī as an eternal luminous kṣetra: Śiva and Śakti subtly enthroned in the city’s spiritual heart, while deluded figures gesture toward ‘emptiness’ that dissolves before the kṣetra’s radiance.
FAQs
Kāśī’s liberating power is inseparable from the living presence of Śiva and Śakti; denying them denies the very meaning of the Kṣetra.
Kāśī’s Avimukta Kṣetra (the liberation-giving sacred field) is being praised.
No specific rite is prescribed; the verse establishes the theological basis for Kāśī’s mokṣa-bestowing sanctity.