Skandapurana 4.60.96

Śrī Viṣṇu said: / O Agnibindu of great wisdom, storehouse of great austerities, / choose a boon, [for] I am well pleased; there is nothing that cannot be given to you.
Agnibindu said: / If you are pleased, O Blessed One, O lord of Vaikuṇṭha, O Lord of the Universe, / O beloved of Kamalā, then grant what I request here.
Then, permitted by Hari with a knitting of his brows, that ascetic, / having bowed with a joyful heart, chose a boon from Keśava:
O Blessed One, though all-pervading, remain here in this pool of the Pañcanada / for the welfare of all living beings, especially those desiring liberation.
O Lord of Lakṣmī, this boon must be granted to me without hesitation; / I desire no other boon except devotion to your lotus feet.
Having heard that boon of Agnibindu, Madhusūdana, / the husband of the ocean-born [Lakṣmī], pleased, said, "So be it," for the sake of helping others.
Śrī Viṣṇu said: / O Agnibindu, best of sages, I will certainly dwell here, / pointing out the path to liberation for men possessing devotion to Kāśī.
O sage, I am pleased again; state a boon, and I will give it to you. / You are exceedingly devoted to me; may your devotion to me remain steadfast.
For I was eager to stay here from the very beginning, O storehouse of austerity; / therefore, requested by you, I shall indeed dwell here forever.
Having attained Kāśī, who, if possessed of discernment, would abandon it, unless exceedingly foolish? / Having obtained a priceless ruby, who leaves it behind and seeks glass?
With very little effort here, merely by the spending of this body, / which is inevitably fleeting, where else is there liberation as there is here?
Having exchanged the earthen body worn out by old age here, / would the wise not indeed accept an immortal, godlike body?
Neither by austerities nor by gifts, nor by sacrifices with bountiful dakṣiṇās, / is liberation attained elsewhere as it is in Kāśī by the shedding of the body.
Even yogins engaged in yoga, with their minds restrained, / are not liberated in a single birth; but in Kāśī they are liberated by the shedding of the body.

This alone is the great gift, this alone is the great austerity, / this alone is the supreme vow: that one's body dies in Kāśī.
He alone is wise in the world, he alone has conquered his senses, / he alone is meritorious and fortunate, who does not abandon Kāśī once having reached it.
And I too shall remain here as long as Kāśī remains here, O sage; / even at the cosmic dissolution there is no destruction of it, because it rests firmly upon the tip of Śiva's trident.
Having heard this speech of Viṣṇu, the great sage Agnibindu, / with hair standing on end in joy, said: "I choose another boon again:
O Lord of Lakṣmī, residing here in this auspicious sacred ford Pañcanada under my name, / grant liberation perpetually even to non-devotees as well as to devotees.
Those men who, having bathed here in Pañcanada and gone even to other regions, / have met their death—to them also, indeed, grant liberation.
And those men who, having bathed in Pañcanada, shall worship you— / may Fortune, both moving and unmoving in her two forms, never abandon those men."
The blessed Viṣṇu said: / "So be it, O Agnibindu, here as chosen by you, O sage. / With half of your name, my name shall be combined with me.
My name 'Bindumādhava', celebrated in the three worlds, / shall exist in Kāśī, O sage, destroying streams of great sins.
Those meritorious men who will always worship me here in the holy pool of Pañcanada, / whence is there any fear of mundane existence for them?
Fortune in the form of wealth, and Fortune named Liberation, / always go beside those in whose heart and in Pañcanada I [dwell].
Those who, having reached Pañcanada, have not gladdened the brahmins with wealth, / their wealth weeps, [fearing] calamities soon to befall them.
They alone are fortunate in this world, they alone have accomplished their purpose, / who, having attained my presence, have made their riches mine.
This sacred ford shall have the name 'Bindutīrtha' after your name, / destroying all sins, O Agnibindu, best of sages!
Whoever, devoted to celibacy in the month of Kārtika at Bindutīrtha,

shall bathe before the sun has risen—whence can there be fear of Yama for him?
Even having committed thousands of sins through delusion, a man / who bathes in the river of dharma during Ūrja becomes instantly freed from sin.
As long as this body is healthy, as long as the senses are not impaired, / so long should one perform vows, for vows are the fruit of having a body.
By eating only once a day, by eating only at night, and likewise by eating only unasked food, / [and] by fasting, this body, a vessel of impurity, should be thoroughly purified.
Vows such as Kṛcchra and Cāndrāyaṇa should be performed with effort; / for by observing vows the impure body attains purity.
When the body is purified by vows, dharma abides firm. / Where righteousness is situated, there [alone] are wealth, desire, and liberation.
Therefore vows should constantly be practiced by men / who desire the fruit of the four goals of life, for they bring the presence of dharma.
If a man cannot always perform vows, / then having reached Cāturmāsya, he should do so with effort:
sleeping on the ground, celibacy, abstention from certain foods, / the rule of eating only once a day and so forth, daily gift-giving according to one's capacity,
listening to the Purāṇas, and furthermore putting their meaning into practice, / keeping a perpetual lamp burning, and great worship of one's chosen deity.
And walking in a place full of abundant sprouts and seeds / should be avoided with care by the wise man for the great increase of dharma.
Those unfit for conversation should not be spoken to by those observing the vow of Cāturmāsya; / silence should always be maintained, or only truth should be spoken.
The one observing the vow should avoid niṣpāva beans, lentils, and kodrava grain; / one must always dwell among pure people; a person not observing a vow must not be touched.
Teeth, hair, clothes, and the like must always be cleaned with care; / an improper thought should never be harbored in the heart by the vow-keeper.
Whatever fruit belongs to a vow-keeper during all the twelve months, / that complete fruit belongs to those who observe the vow of Cāturmāsya.

And if one lacks the capacity for a vow during all four months, / then one should observe vows during Ūrja, if one desires the fruit of a whole year.
Those foolish-minded ones whose Kārtika passes without vows here, / of those swinish souls there shall not be even a speck of merit.
A Kṛcchra, or an Atikṛcchra, or even a Prājāpatya vow, / an exceedingly meritorious person should perform according to capacity when the month of Kārtika arrives.
One should perform a vow on alternate days, or a three-night vow, / a five-night or a seven-night vow, when Kārtika arrives, as a vow-keeper.
Or one should observe a fortnight's vow, or fast for the entire month; / Ūrja should never be rendered barren by any vow-keeper anywhere.
Subsisting on vegetables, subsisting on milk, or subsisting on fruit, / or subsisting on barley food, the vow-keeper should observe when Kārtika has arrived.
A man observing the vow should perform the daily and occasional ritual ablutions during Ūrja; / he should observe celibacy during Ūrja, desiring the fruit of a great vow.
He who spends the month of Kārtika in celibacy, with a pure mind, / by him the entire year has been spent practicing celibacy.
He who completes the month of Kārtika with fasts, / by him even a whole year here has been properly fasted.