Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 91
स्थिरापायं कायं जननमरणक्लेशनिलयं विहायास्यां काश्यामहहपरिगृह्णीत न कुतः । वपुस्तेजोरूपं स्थिरतरपरानंदसदनं विमूढोऽसौ जंतुः स्फुटितमिवकांम्यं विनिमयन्
sthirāpāyaṃ kāyaṃ jananamaraṇakleśanilayaṃ vihāyāsyāṃ kāśyāmahahaparigṛhṇīta na kutaḥ | vapustejorūpaṃ sthirataraparānaṃdasadanaṃ vimūḍho'sau jaṃtuḥ sphuṭitamivakāṃmyaṃ vinimayan
हे शरीर स्थिर नाही, टिकणारे नाही—जन्म-मरणाच्या क्लेशांचेच निवासस्थान आहे; मग मनुष्य, अहो, हे सोडून या काशीत आश्रय का घेत नाही? येथे देहधारीला तेजोमय रूप प्राप्त होते, जे अधिक स्थिर व परमानंदाचे सदन आहे; तरीही मोहग्रस्त जीव जणू निर्दोष रत्न देऊन केवळ इच्छित तुच्छ वस्तू घेतो तसे त्या अमूल्य कल्याणाचा विनिमय करतो.
Skanda (deduced for Kāśī-khaṇḍa context: Skanda instructing Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī / Avimukta
Type: kshetra
Listener: Sages / devotees seeking Kāśī’s secret of liberation
Scene: A human figure stands between two ‘bodies’: one frail, cracked, and shadowed (saṃsāra-body), and another radiant, made of light (tejorūpa) arising in Kāśī’s luminous sacred space; a jewel-trade metaphor shown as a flawless gem being exchanged for a trivial object.
FAQs
Detach from the perishable body and seek the higher, enduring state of supreme bliss promised through refuge in sacred Kāśī.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), praised as a liberating sacred geography where the being attains a radiant, blissful state.
No specific rite (snāna, dāna, japa) is prescribed in this verse; it emphasizes renunciation of bodily attachment and taking refuge/dwelling in Kāśī.