Shloka 22
Saṃsāra-cakra, Preta’s 12-day Transit to Yama, Re-embodiment, and Karma-Vipāka Catalog of Sins and Rebirths
शूद्रस्तु ब्राह्मणीं गत्वा कृमियोनौ प्रजायते / तस्यामपत्यमुत्पाद्य काष्ठान्तः कटीको भवेत्
śūdrastu brāhmaṇīṃ gatvā kṛmiyonau prajāyate / tasyāmapatyamutpādya kāṣṭhāntaḥ kaṭīko bhavet
But if a Śūdra approaches a Brāhmaṇī, he is born in the womb of worms; and having produced offspring through her, he becomes a kaṭīka, condemned to dwell within wood in a degraded, immobilized form of existence.
Lord Vishnu (in instruction to Garuda/Vinata-putra)
Afterlife Stage: Pretayoni
Concept: Violation of prescribed sexual boundaries (as presented here) produces severe karmic contraction into low, constrained embodiments; producing offspring intensifies the karmic entanglement.
Vedantic Theme: Karma-bandha through adharma and saṃskāra multiplication; actions that disturb perceived social-ritual order deepen bondage and tamas.
Application: Within the text’s framework: uphold socially prescribed marital boundaries; more broadly: avoid exploitative/forbidden relationships and the harms they cause; cultivate responsibility and restraint.
Primary Rasa: bibhatsa
Secondary Rasa: bhayanaka
Related Themes: Garuda Purana discussions of varṇa-saṅkara anxieties and sexual transgressions leading to low births (thematic); Adjacent yoni-phala verses 1.225.18–21
FAQs
This verse frames prohibited sexual relations as a serious breach of dharma with tangible karmic consequences, emphasizing moral restraint as essential to avoid degraded rebirths.
It presents karma as shaping future embodiment: the offender is said to fall into extremely low births (worm-womb) and further degraded states, illustrating the Purana’s cause-and-effect ethic.
Treat relationships as a domain of dharma—practice consent, fidelity, and ethical conduct, and avoid exploitative or socially harmful behavior that the text classifies as adharma.