Shloka 57
Adhyaya 14 — The Messenger of Yama Explains Karmic Retribution and the Causes of Naraka Torments
गोबाह्मणाग्नयः स्पृष्टा यैरुच्छिष्टैर्नरेश्वर ।
तेषामेतेऽग्निकुम्भेषु लेलिह्यन्त्याहिताः कराः ॥
gobāhmaṇāgnayaḥ spṛṣṭā yairucchiṣṭairnareśvara / teṣāmete 'gnikumbheṣu lelihyantyāhitāḥ karāḥ
O König, jene, durch deren Unreinheit der Speisereste (ucchiṣṭa) Kuh, Brāhmaṇa und heiliges Feuer berührt werden—deren Hände werden in Feuertöpfe gelegt und dort unablässig von Flammen geleckt.
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FAQs
Purity rules are not mere externalism here: they encode reverence and restraint. Careless defilement of sacred recipients (cow, Brāhmaṇa, fire) is treated as sacrilege, with punishment directed at the offending organ—hands.
Dharma/karmaphala instruction; not pañcalakṣaṇa.
Hands symbolize agency (kartṛtva). Fire symbolizes moral law and transformation. The image teaches that misused agency is ‘processed’ by the very principle it offended—Agni as purifier becomes Agni as tormentor.