Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 58
न जरा तमतिक्रामेन्न तं मृत्युर्जिर्घांसति । व्याधयस्तं न बाधंते धर्मवर्त्मभृदत्रयः
na jarā tamatikrāmenna taṃ mṛtyurjirghāṃsati | vyādhayastaṃ na bādhaṃte dharmavartmabhṛdatrayaḥ
بڑھاپا اسے نہیں گھیرتا؛ موت اسے گرانے کے لیے نہیں لپکتی۔ بیماریاں اسے نہیں ستاتیں—وہ بے خوف ہو کر دھرم کے راستے کا حامل ہے۔
Śiva (continuing his reflection)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Implied audience within the narrative (divine/royal context)
Scene: A dharma-bearer stands serene amid personified Old Age, Death, and Disease who recoil or bow; Kāśī’s sacred skyline and Gaṅgā shimmer behind, suggesting a protective mandala.
FAQs
One established in dharma gains fearlessness; worldly afflictions lose their power before dharmic steadiness and divine protection.
Kāśī is the narrative setting, implicitly magnified as a realm where dharma and Śiva’s protection prevail.
No explicit rite; the ‘practice’ is adherence to dharma as a continual vrata-like discipline.