Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 13
ब्रह्मंस्त्वमेव तद्वेत्सि काशी त्यजनकारणम् । मंदोपि न त्यजेत्काशीं किमु यो वेत्ति किंचन
brahmaṃstvameva tadvetsi kāśī tyajanakāraṇam | maṃdopi na tyajetkāśīṃ kimu yo vetti kiṃcana
اے برہمن (برہما)، کاشی چھوڑنے کی وجہ تو ہی جانتا ہے۔ کند ذہن آدمی بھی کاشی نہیں چھوڑتا؛ پھر جو کچھ بھی سمجھ رکھتا ہو وہ کیسے چھوڑے گا!
Śiva (Śrīkaṇṭha)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Ṛṣis at Naimiṣāraṇya (frame)
Scene: Śiva speaks to Brahmā: ‘You alone know why Kāśī was abandoned’; the scene is a solemn theological exchange, with Kāśī envisioned as an irresistible spiritual magnet in the background.
FAQs
Kāśī is upheld as so spiritually beneficial that leaving it appears irrational; wisdom naturally gravitates toward the liberating kṣetra.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), explicitly praised as a place one should not abandon.
No specific ritual is prescribed; the implied dharma is to value residence/association with Kāśī.