Kāśī and Viśveśvara

Kāśī (also called Vārāṇasī) is the city of Bhagavān Śiva and the seat of the Viśveśvara Jyotirliṅga. The Koti Rudra Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa tells of its place before creation, its name avimukta (never forsaken), its main tīrthas (holy places), and the tārakabrahma that Bhagavān Śiva himself whispers into the ear of every person who dies there.

Kāśī before creation

No king or ṛshi founded Kāśī, and it did not become sacred through an event in history. When Bhagavān Śiva began creation and brought the universe out of the first state, he did so while he lived at Kāśī. The city was there before the first world was made.

Kāśī rests on the tip of the trident of Bhagavān Śiva. It is not set inside creation as other holy places are. At mahāpralaya (the great dissolution), all the worlds, mountains, rivers and forests go back to the undivided state. Kāśī alone remains, held up on the trident of Bhagavān Śiva, whole and unharmed. At the next creation Kāśī is set down again, and the new universe is built around it.

The Śiva Purāṇa gives this in Koti Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 22.

The Avimukta-kshetra

From this place in creation comes the best-known name of Kāśī: avimukta, never forsaken. Bhagavān Śiva leaves other places for a time, or at the dissolution of the worlds, but he never leaves Kāśī. He lives there always, through all time.

So Kāśī is not like any other tīrtha. Other tīrthas are sacred, but Kāśī is the permanent home of Bhagavān Śiva in the created world. Other tīrthas make a person pure, but Kāśī gives moksha (liberation). Other tīrthas need set acts, set tithis (lunar days) and set rules to bring out their full power, but Kāśī gives liberation to anyone who dies within its bounds.

The Śiva Purāṇa gives this in Koti Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 22.

The tīrthas of Kāśī

The Koti Rudra Saṃhitā lists the main holy places in Kāśī.

  • Maṇikarṇikā Ghāṭ is the most sacred cremation ghāṭ in Kāśī and in all Bhārata. The name comes from maṇikarṇikā (a jewelled earring). Either the earring of Bhagavān Śiva or the earring of Satī fell here. Bodies burned at Maṇikarṇikā are burned in the direct presence of Bhagavān Śiva, and the fire of Maṇikarṇikā never goes out.
  • Daśāśvamedha Ghāṭ is named after the ten (daśa) aśvamedha yajñas (horse sacrifices) done here, either by Brahmā or by king Divodāsa. Its power is said to equal ten horse yajñas.
  • Maṇikarṇikā Kuṇḍa is the sacred tank that goes with the Maṇikarṇikā place.
  • The Viśvanātha temple precinct, the central shrine of Viśveśvara, is the heart of Kāśī. The city is understood to spread outward from this centre.

The Śiva Purāṇa gives this in Koti Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 22.

Tārakabrahma upadeśa

The centre of the Kāśī māhātmya (praise of the place) is the teaching of tārakabrahma upadeśa. Bhagavān Śiva himself whispers the liberating mantra, the tārakabrahma, into the ear of every being who dies within the bounds of Kāśī. The teaching has these parts:

  • It does not matter whether the dying person was a great ṛshi or an ordinary person full of pāpa.
  • It does not matter whether they came to Kāśī as pilgrims seeking liberation or simply happened to die there.
  • It does not matter what their karma is, what their varṇa is, or what spiritual practice they have or have not done.
  • The direct gift from Parameśvara to the departing jīva ends all stored karma at once and places the jīva in liberation.

This is the greatest sign of the grace of Bhagavān Śiva. It reaches those who cannot reach for themselves. A person who lived a whole life piling up karma without any practice, who came to Kāśī by chance and died there, gains the same liberation as the great yogī who spent years in tapas. The only needed condition is to die within the avimukta-kshetra.

The Śiva Purāṇa gives this in Koti Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 23.

The form of liberation

The liberation given by tārakabrahma upadeśa is usually described as sāyujya, complete union with Bhagavān Śiva. It is the highest of the four forms of moksha: sārūpya, sālokya, sānnidhya and sāyujya. Those who die at Kāśī do not only gain a better birth, or a place in svarga, or even nearness to Bhagavān Śiva. They gain complete union.

The Śiva Purāṇa gives this in Koti Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 23.

The sacred geography of Kāśī

The Koti Rudra Saṃhitā says that the sacred geography of Kāśī is understood as the body of Bhagavān Śiva, and the whole city is a divine form. The Gaṅgā that flows along its eastern edge is his own stream. The bounds of the kshetra mark the zone where liberation is certain. Pilgrims and those who live in Kāśī know that they live within the body of Bhagavān Śiva.

Kāśī lies on the western bank of the Gaṅgā and faces east toward the sunrise. A devotee at the ghāṭs therefore faces the rising sun and the flowing Gaṅgā together. Both are linked with Bhagavān Śiva: the sun with his eye, and the Gaṅgā with his jaṭā (matted hair).

The Śiva Purāṇa gives this in Koti Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 22.

Sources

  • Śiva Purāṇa, Koti Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 22
  • Śiva Purāṇa, Koti Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 23