Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 72
अंतकाले मनुष्याणां भिद्यमानेषु मर्मसु । वातेनातुद्यमानानां स्मृतिर्नैवोपजायते
aṃtakāle manuṣyāṇāṃ bhidyamāneṣu marmasu | vātenātudyamānānāṃ smṛtirnaivopajāyate
Vào lúc lâm chung, khi các marman—những huyệt sinh mệnh—đang tan vỡ và bị gió nội thân hành hạ, thì ký ức (smṛti) hoàn toàn không khởi lên.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda speaking to Agastya)
Tirtha: Avimukta (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: A stark deathbed scene: the dying person’s body tense, subtle depiction of ‘vāta’ as swirling currents; attendants helpless; in the background, a faint silhouette of Kāśī/Viśveśvara indicating the promised remedy.
FAQs
Because death disrupts bodily and mental functions, relying on last-moment remembrance is uncertain; therefore one should seek protective spiritual supports and sacred contexts in advance.
Implicitly Avimukta/Kāśī, as the surrounding passage explains the special divine help available there at the moment of death.
No direct ritual is stated; the verse functions as a doctrinal warning about the difficulty of conscious remembrance at death.