Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 54
काशीप्राप्तिरयं योगःकाथीप्राप्तिरिदं तपः । काशीप्राप्तिरिदं दानं काशीप्राप्तिः शिवैकता
kāśīprāptirayaṃ yogaḥkāthīprāptiridaṃ tapaḥ | kāśīprāptiridaṃ dānaṃ kāśīprāptiḥ śivaikatā
हा योग काशीप्राप्ती आहे, हे तप काशीप्राप्ती आहे; हे दान काशीप्राप्ती आहे, आणि शिवाशी एकरूपता हीच काशीप्राप्ती आहे।
Skanda (deduced; Kāśīkhaṇḍa context)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Scene: Four streams—yoga, tapas, dāna, and devotion—flow into a single luminous center: Śiva as Viśveśvara; Kāśī appears both as city on Gaṅgā and as a radiant heart-lotus within the devotee.
FAQs
All authentic disciplines culminate in Kāśī’s grace, whose deepest meaning is Śiva-realization (śivaikatā).
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī) is explicitly glorified as both a sacred destination and a spiritual state tied to Śiva.
Yoga, tapas (austerity), and dāna (charity) are affirmed as means leading to Kāśī; the culminating prescription is śivaikatā—abiding in oneness with Śiva.