Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 65
उद्दिष्टानां तु तीर्थानामेतेषां कलशोद्भव । नाममात्रमपि श्रुत्वा निष्पापो जायते नरः । इदानीं प्रस्तुतं विप्र शृणु वक्ष्यामि तेग्रतः । वैकुंठनाथो यच्चक्रे शंखचक्रगदाधरः
uddiṣṭānāṃ tu tīrthānāmeteṣāṃ kalaśodbhava | nāmamātramapi śrutvā niṣpāpo jāyate naraḥ | idānīṃ prastutaṃ vipra śṛṇu vakṣyāmi tegrataḥ | vaikuṃṭhanātho yaccakre śaṃkhacakragadādharaḥ
Hỡi Kalaśodbhava (Agastya), trong các tīrtha đã được chỉ bày ấy, chỉ cần nghe dù chỉ danh xưng thôi, con người cũng trở nên vô tội. Nay, hỡi bà-la-môn, hãy nghe điều đang được nói đến; ta sẽ tuyên bày trước mặt ngươi việc mà Vaikuṇṭhanātha—Đấng mang ốc, đĩa và chùy—đã từng làm.
Skanda
Tirtha: Kāśī tīrthas (collective)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Agastya (addressed as Kalaśodbhava)
Scene: Skanda addresses Agastya, declaring the purifying power of merely hearing tīrtha names; then introduces Vaikuṇṭhanātha, four-armed with conch, discus, and mace, poised for a deed in Kāśī.
FAQs
Bhakti begins with śravaṇa: even hearing the names of Kāśī’s tīrthas is praised as a purifier, preparing one for deeper dharma and devotion.
The verse praises the previously listed Kāśī tīrthas collectively, emphasizing the sanctity of their very names.
Śravaṇa (devout listening/hearing) of tīrtha-nāmas is presented as spiritually efficacious; no physical rite is mandated in this verse.