Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 54
काशीप्राप्तिरयं योगःकाथीप्राप्तिरिदं तपः । काशीप्राप्तिरिदं दानं काशीप्राप्तिः शिवैकता
kāśīprāptirayaṃ yogaḥkāthīprāptiridaṃ tapaḥ | kāśīprāptiridaṃ dānaṃ kāśīprāptiḥ śivaikatā
یہ یوگ کاشی کی حصولیابی کا راستہ ہے؛ یہ تپسیا کاشی کی حصولیابی کا راستہ ہے؛ یہ دان کاشی کی حصولیابی کا راستہ ہے—اور شیو کے ساتھ یکتائی ہی کاشی کی حقیقی حصولیابی ہے۔
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.