Benares

Benares/ Banaras commonly known as Varanasis and Kashi, is a city situated on the left (west) bank of the River Ganga (Ganges) in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, regarded as holy by Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains. It is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. Benares is a holy city in Hinduism, being one of the most sacred pilgrimage places for Hindus of all denominations. The culture of Benares is closely associated with the River Ganges and the river's religious importance. The city has been a cultural and religious centre in northern India for several thousand years.

People often refer to Benares as "the city of temples", "the holy city of India", "the religious capital of India", "the city of lights", and "the city of learning."

According to legend, the city was founded by the Hindu deity, Lord Shiva, around 5,000 years ago,thus making it one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in the country. It is one of the seven sacred cities of Hindus. Many Hindu scriptures, including the Rigveda, Skanda Purana, Ramayana, and the Mahabharata, mention the city.

Hindus believe that bathing in Ganga remits sins and that dying in Benares ensures release of a person's soul from the cycle of its transmigrations.

Guru Granth Sahib Ji mentions Benares (Kashi) in the following verses:

I am like a fish out of water, because in my previous life, I did not practice penance and intense meditation. 

Now tell me, Lord, what will my condition be? I left Benares - I had little common sense. 

I wasted my whole life in the city of Shiva; at the time of my death, I moved to Magahar. 

For many years, I practiced penance and intense meditation at Kaashi; now that my time to die has come, I have come to dwell at Magahar! 

Kaashi and Magahar - I consider them the same. With inadequate devotion, how can anyone swim across? 

Says Kabeer, the Guru and Ganaysha and Shiva all know that Kabeer died chanting the Lord's Name. 

Guru Granth Sahib Ji, page 326

They wear loin cloths, three and a half yards long, and triple-wound sacred threads. They have rosaries around their necks, and they carry glittering jugs in their hands.

They are not called Saints of the Lord - they are thugs of Benares. 

Such 'saints' are not pleasing to me; they eat the trees along with the branches. 

They wash their pots and pans before putting them on the stove, and they wash the wood before lighting it. They dig up the earth and make two fireplaces, but they eat the whole person! 

Those sinners continually wander in evil deeds, while they call themselves touch-nothing saints. They wander around forever and ever in their self-conceit, and all their families are drowned. 

He is attached to that, to which the Lord has attached him, and he acts accordingly. Says Kabeer, one who meets the True Guru, is not reincarnated again.

Guru Granth Sahib Ji, page 476

The illusion of birth and death is gone; I lovingly focus on the Lord of the Universe.
In my life, I am absorbed in deep silent meditation; the Guru's Teachings have awakened me. 
The sound made from bronze, that sound goes into the bronze again.
But when the bronze is broken, O Pandit, O religious scholar, where does the sound go then?

I gaze upon the world, the confluence of the three qualities; God is awake and aware in each and every heart.  Such is the understanding revealed to me; within my heart, I have become a detached renunciate. 

I have come to know my own self, and my light has merged in the Light.
Says Kabeer, now I know the Lord of the Universe, and my mind is satisfied. Guru Granth Sahib Ji, page 857

Someone may practice austerities at Benares, or die upside-down at a sacred shrine ofpilgrimage, or burn his body in fire, or rejuvenate his body to life almost forever; he may perform the horse-sacrifice ceremony, or give donations of gold covered over, but none of these is equal to the worship of the Lord's Name. 
O hypocrite, renounce and abandon your hypocrisy; do not practice deception.
Constantly, continually, chant the Name of the Lord.
Someone may go to the Ganges or the Godaavari, or to the Kumbha festival, or bathe at Kaydaar Naat'h, or make donations of thousands of cows at Gomti;
he may make millions of pilgrimages to sacred shrines, or freeze his body in the Himalayas; still, none of these is equal to the worship of the Lord's Name.
Someone may give away horses and elephants, or women on their beds, or land; he may give such gifts over and over again.
He may purify his soul, and give away in charity his body weight in gold; none of these is equal to the worship of the Lord's Name.
Do not harbor anger in your mind, or blame the Messenger of Death; instead, realize the immaculate state of Nirvaanaa.
My Sovereign Lord King is Raam Chandra, the Son of the King Dasrat'h; prays Naam Dayv, I drink in the Ambrosial Nectar.

Guru Granth Sahib Ji, page 973