Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 23
अधीतिनोपि मूर्खाश्च स्वामिनः सेवका अपि । चतुर्षु भूतग्रामेषु उत्तमाधममध्यमाः
adhītinopi mūrkhāśca svāminaḥ sevakā api | caturṣu bhūtagrāmeṣu uttamādhamamadhyamāḥ
ہم نے علم بھی حاصل کیا مگر پھر بھی نادان رہے؛ کبھی آقا، کبھی خادم—چاروں جماعتِ موجودات میں کبھی اعلیٰ، کبھی ادنیٰ اور کبھی اوسط بن کر رہے۔
Pilgrims/supplicants (addressing Śiva in Kāśī; contextually within Skanda’s narration to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Scene: A group of weary beings—some dressed as scholars, some as servants, some as nobles—stand on a Kāśī ghat at dawn, confessing the futility of their shifting statuses; the skyline shows temple spires and the river’s calm expanse.
FAQs
Mere learning or social rank is unstable across births; true jñāna is a divine gift that ends the cycle.
Kāśī is the background; the chapter moves toward the saving power of Śiva/Dharmēśvara’s darśana in Kāśī.
No direct ritual is stated.