Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 72
क्व यामि क्व स्थिते शंभो मम श्रेयो भविष्यति । पित्रा निर्वासितश्चाहं न च वेद्म्यथ किंचन
kva yāmi kva sthite śaṃbho mama śreyo bhaviṣyati | pitrā nirvāsitaścāhaṃ na ca vedmyatha kiṃcana
اے شَمبھو! میں کہاں جاؤں اور کہاں ٹھہروں؟ میرا حقیقی بھلا کیسے ہوگا؟ باپ نے مجھے گھر سے نکال دیا ہے، اور میں کچھ بھی نہیں جانتا کہ اب کیا کروں۔
Unspecified in snippet (Kāśīkhaṇḍa context: typically Skanda narrating to Agastya; this verse is voiced by a distressed person within the narrative)
Tirtha: Vārāṇasī / Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śambhu/Śiva (invoked); secondarily the narrative audience
Scene: A distressed exile stands with folded hands, addressing Śambhu; behind him the suggestion of Kāśī’s ghāṭas and a distant liṅga-shrine, conveying both despair and hope.
FAQs
In crisis and abandonment, one should turn to Śiva and seek the path of śreyas (true good), not despair.
Kāśī/Vārāṇasī is the implied refuge that the following verses explicitly praise.
None in this verse; it is a lament/prayer setting up Kāśī’s salvific refuge.