Kāśī Pañcakam

मनोनिवृत्तिः परमोपशान्तिः सा तीर्थवर्या मणिकर्णिका च ।ज्ञानप्रवाहा विमलादिगङ्गा सा काशिकाऽहं निजबोधरूपा ॥ १ ॥

The city of Kāśī is not merely a geographical place on the Ganges: in its deeper sense, Kāśī is the body itself when illumined by knowledge of the Self (ātma-jñāna). One who lives there with that understanding already dwells in the abode of liberation.

यस्यामिदं कल्पितमिन्द्रजालं चराचरं भाति मनोविलासम् ।सचित्सुखैका परमात्मरूपा सा काशिकाऽहं निजबोधरूपा ॥ २ ॥

The Ganges is consciousness (cit) flowing uninterrupted through all states. The Temple of Viśvanātha is the heart where the Lord — ātman-Brahman — rests. Bāṇā, the liṅga of light, is the manifestation of consciousness as direct illumination.

कोशेषु पञ्चस्वधिराजमाना बुद्धिर्भवानी प्रतिदेहगेहम् ।साक्षी शिवः सर्वगतोऽन्तरात्मा सा काशिकाऽहं निजबोधरूपा ॥ ३ ॥

The mind itself, when free from modifications (vṛttis) and turned inward, becomes Kāśī: sacred, purified, liberating. Wherever such a mind abides, there is Vārāṇasī.

काश्यां हि काशते काशी काशी सर्वप्रकाशिका ।सा काशी विदिता येन तेन प्राप्ता हि काशिका ॥ ४ ॥

To die in Kāśī — esoterically interpreted — is to dissolve the ego (ahaṅkāra) in the Self. One who attains this dissolution while still alive (jīvanmukti) has already reached the liberation devotees seek through physical death in the city.

काशीक्षेत्रं शरीरं त्रिभुवनजननी व्यापिनी ज्ञानगङ्गा भक्तिः श्रद्धा गयेयं निजगुरुचरणध्यानयोगः प्रयागः ।विश्वेशोऽयं तुरीयः सकलजनमनःसाक्षिभूतोऽन्तरात्मा देहे सर्वं मदीये यदि वसति पुनस्तीर्थमन्यत्किमस्ति ॥ ५ ॥

One who contemplates these five verses recognizes that true Kāśī is not outside but within, as one's own witness consciousness. With this understanding, one always lives in Kāśī and, on leaving the body, dissolves into Brahman.