Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 68
एवं काश्यां प्रविश्यापि पापी धर्मानुषंगतः । न क्षेत्रफलमाप्नोति बहिर्भवति तत्क्षणात्
evaṃ kāśyāṃ praviśyāpi pāpī dharmānuṣaṃgataḥ | na kṣetraphalamāpnoti bahirbhavati tatkṣaṇāt
ဤသို့ ကာသီသို့ ဝင်ရောက်သော်လည်း၊ အပြစ်ရှိသူသည် ဓမ္မကို အပြင်ပန်းသာ ကပ်လျက် မညစ်မကင်းနေပါက၊ သန့်ရှင်းသော က္ෂೇತ್ರ၏ အကျိုးကို မရနိုင်; ထိုခဏတည်းက က္ෂೇತ್ರ၏ အမှန်တကယ် ကရုဏာမှ ပြင်ပသို့ လွှတ်ချခံရသည်။
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda speaking to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and sages (traditional frame) / addressed to a ‘muni’ in-context
Scene: A pilgrim steps into Kāśī’s sacred boundary yet is shown being turned away by an unseen kṣetra-śakti; the city’s luminous aura remains inaccessible until the heart is purified.
FAQs
Kāśī’s merit is not gained by mere entry or outward religiosity; inner disposition and genuine alignment with dharma are essential.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī) as a kṣetra whose spiritual ‘fruit’ is reserved for sincere seekers.
No specific rite is prescribed; the verse emphasizes qualification—purity of intent and authentic dharma—over mere presence.