Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 34
तापस उवाच । ब्रह्मचारिञ्शृणु ब्रूयां किमद्भुततरं त्विदम् । विश्वेशानुग्रहाद्ब्रह्माप्यभवत्सृष्टिकोविदः
tāpasa uvāca | brahmacāriñśṛṇu brūyāṃ kimadbhutataraṃ tvidam | viśveśānugrahādbrahmāpyabhavatsṛṣṭikovidaḥ
तापस म्हणाला—हे ब्रह्मचारी, ऐक; याहून अधिक अद्भुत काय? विश्वेशाच्या अनुग्रहाने ब्रह्माही सृष्टीकर्मात निपुण झाला।
Tāpasa (the ascetic teacher)
Tirtha: Viśveśa in Kāśī (Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Brahmacārin (addressed directly)
Scene: The ascetic speaks with uplifted hand, evoking a vision of Brahmā receiving Viśveśa’s grace—cosmic lotus, four-faced Brahmā, and a radiant Śiva-linga or Viśveśa form as the source of power.
FAQs
All capability—even cosmic functions like creation—ultimately depends on Śiva’s grace, especially Viśveśvara’s favor in Kāśī.
Kāśī, through Viśveśa/Viśveśvara (the presiding Śiva of Varanasi), whose anugraha empowers even Brahmā.
No direct ritual here; it introduces the theology of Viśveśvara’s grace that undergirds later instruction.