Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 92
अहो लोकः शोकं किमिह सहते हंतहतधीर्विपद्भारैः सारैर्नियतनिधनैर्ध्वसित धनैः । क्षितौ सत्यां काश्यां कथयति शिवो यत्र निधने श्रुतौ किंचिद्भूयः प्रविशति न येनोदरदरीम्
aho lokaḥ śokaṃ kimiha sahate haṃtahatadhīrvipadbhāraiḥ sārairniyatanidhanairdhvasita dhanaiḥ | kṣitau satyāṃ kāśyāṃ kathayati śivo yatra nidhane śrutau kiṃcidbhūyaḥ praviśati na yenodaradarīm
唉，世人为何在此忍受忧苦，慧力被击倒，被灾厄重担所压，又被那些只是一味“毁灭之精髓”的财物所缠——注定败坏、转瞬消散？当大地上自有真实的迦尸：于临终之际，湿婆亲自向耳中宣说；闻此圣言者，不复再入胎门之隙——不再回到轮回再生。
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda speaking to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī / Avimukta (taraka-upadeśa tradition)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Sages / devotees seeking the secret of non-rebirth
Scene: A dying devotee in Kāśī lies near a sacred spot; Śiva leans close and whispers the taraka teaching into the ear; behind, the womb-cleft imagery is shown as a dark chasm closing, while light opens upward toward liberation; worldly wealth appears as crumbling heaps.
FAQs
Worldly wealth and security are inherently fragile, so one should seek the highest refuge—liberation—by turning to Kāśī, where Śiva grants saving instruction at life’s end.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), celebrated as a mokṣa-kṣetra where Śiva personally guides the departing soul.
No explicit ritual (snāna, dāna, japa) is prescribed in this verse; it emphasizes the salvific grace of dying in Kāśī and hearing Śiva’s instruction at the final moment.