Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 64
दंभ कौटिल्य मायाभिर्यथाधर्मो विनश्यति । तथा नश्यंति पापानि गंगाया दर्शनेन तु
daṃbha kauṭilya māyābhiryathādharmo vinaśyati | tathā naśyaṃti pāpāni gaṃgāyā darśanena tu
جیسے ریاکاری، کجی اور فریب سے دھرم برباد ہو جاتا ہے، ویسے ہی گنگا کے محض درشن سے ہی گناہ یقیناً مٹ جاتے ہیں۔
Skanda
Tirtha: Gaṅgā (Kāśī)
Type: ghat
Listener: Sages/pilgrims
Scene: A pilgrim’s first sight of Gaṅgā at dawn from a Kāśī ghat; shadowy figures of hypocrisy/crookedness/deceit crumble like masks falling away as the river’s light fills the scene.
FAQs
It pairs a moral warning (vices destroy dharma) with a tirtha assurance: Gaṅgā’s darśana powerfully dissolves sin.
Gaṅgā—especially as experienced in Kāśī—whose mere darśana is proclaimed purifying.
Darśana (going to see Gaṅgā reverently) is the implied practice.