About this stotra
The Kashi Panchakam is a celebrated five-verse composition attributed to Adi Shankaracharya. Rather than describing the physical city of Kashi (Varanasi), the hymn redefines it entirely in Advaitic terms — each element of the sacred city is given an inner, non-dual meaning.
Manikarnika Ghat becomes the cessation of the mind; the Ganga is the flow of wisdom; and Kashi itself is the state of pure Self-knowledge. The refrain sa kashika ham nijabodharupaa — 'That Kashi am I, of the nature of Self-knowledge' — is a direct Vedantic declaration of identity with the ultimate Reality. This is a gem of Advaita, treasured by those on the path of jnana.
मनो निवृत्तिः परमोपशान्तिः सा तीर्थवर्या मणिकर्णिका च
ज्ञानप्रवाहा विमलादिगङ्गा सा काशिकाहं निजबोधरूपा ॥ 1 ॥
manō nivṛttiḥ paramōpaśāntiḥ sā tīrthavaryā maṇikarṇikā cha
jñānapravāhā vimalādigaṅgā sā kāśikāhaṃ nijabōdharūpā ॥ 1 ॥
Cessation of the mind is the highest peace — that is the foremost of tirthas, the Manikarnika ghat. The primordial, pure Ganga is the flow of wisdom (jnana). I am that Kashi, of the nature of Self-knowledge.
यस्यामिदं कल्पितमिन्द्रजालं चराचरं भाति मनोविलासं
सच्चित्सुखैका परमात्मरूपा सा काशिकाहं निजबोधरूपा ॥ 2 ॥
yasyāmidaṃ kalpitamindrajālaṃ charācharaṃ bhāti manōvilāsaṃ
sachchitsukhaikā paramātmarūpā sā kāśikāhaṃ nijabōdharūpā ॥ 2 ॥
That in which this illusory spectacle of the universe — all that moves and is unmoving — appears as a sport of the mind; whose nature is the one Supreme Self of pure consciousness-bliss — I am that Kashi, of the nature of Self-knowledge.
कोशेषु पञ्चस्वधिराजमाना बुद्धिर्भवानी प्रतिदेहगेहं
साक्षी शिवः सर्वगतोऽन्तरात्मा सा काशिकाहं निजबोधरूपा ॥ 3 ॥
kōśēṣu pañchasvadhirājamānā buddhirbhavānī pratidēhagēhaṃ
sākṣī śivaḥ sarvagatō'ntarātmā sā kāśikāhaṃ nijabōdharūpā ॥ 3 ॥
The intelligence (buddhi) that reigns in the five sheaths is Bhavani residing in each body-home; the witness Shiva is the all-pervading inner Self. I am that Kashi, of the nature of Self-knowledge.
काश्या हि काशत काशी काशी सर्वप्रकाशिका
सा काशी विदिता येन तेन प्राप्ता हि काशिका ॥ 4 ॥
kāśyā hi kāśata kāśī kāśī sarvaprakāśikā
sā kāśī viditā yēna tēna prāptā hi kāśikā ॥ 4 ॥
Kashi shines (kashate) by its very nature of shining — Kashi illuminates all. He who has truly known that Kashi has truly attained Kashi.
काशीक्षेत्रं शरीरं त्रिभुवनजननी व्यापिनी ज्ञानगङ्गा
भक्ति श्रद्धा गयेयं निजगुरुचरणध्यानयोगः प्रयागः
विश्वेशोऽयं तुरीयः सकलजनमनः साक्षिभूतोऽन्तरात्मा
देहे सर्वं मदीये यदि वसति पुनस्तीर्थमन्यत्किमस्ति ॥ 5 ॥
kāśīkṣētraṃ śarīraṃ tribhuvanajananī vyāpinī jñānagaṅgā
bhakti śraddhā gayēyaṃ nijagurucharaṇadhyānayōgaḥ prayāgaḥ
viśvēśō'yaṃ turīyaḥ sakalajanamanaḥ sākṣibhūtō'ntarātmā
dēhē sarvaṃ madīyē yadi vasati punastīrthamanyatkimasti ॥ 5 ॥
My body is the sacred kshetra of Kashi; the Mother of the three worlds, all-pervading, is the Jnana-Ganga. Devotion and faith are Gaya (the sacred place for ancestral rites); meditation on the feet of my own Guru is the Prayaga (the holy confluence).