Shloka 7
Svapnādhāya (Dream-Chapter): Causes, Forms, Nourishment, and Liberation of Pretas
चण्डालादुदकात्सर्पाद्ब्राह्मणाद्बैद्युताग्नितः / दंष्ट्रिभ्यश्च पशुभ्यश्च मरणं पापकर्मिणाम्
caṇḍālādudakātsarpādbrāhmaṇādbaidyutāgnitaḥ / daṃṣṭribhyaśca paśubhyaśca maraṇaṃ pāpakarmiṇām
Sinners meet death through many agencies—through a caṇḍāla, through water, through a serpent, through a brāhmaṇa, through lightning or fire, and also through fanged creatures and animals.
Lord Vishnu (speaking to Garuda/Vinata-putra)
Concept: Pāpakarmī may meet death through multiple agencies—social conflict, accidents, venom, lightning/fire, and beasts—suggesting karmic vulnerability and loss of protection.
Vedantic Theme: Karma-phala manifesting as duḥkha in embodied life; adharma erodes auspiciousness (śubha) and invites calamity.
Application: Reduce harm-causing actions; cultivate protective dharma (truthfulness, non-violence, restraint), and adopt prudent safety and health measures as part of dharmic living.
Primary Rasa: bhayanaka
Secondary Rasa: bibhatsa
Related Themes: Garuda Purana: lists of untimely deaths (akāla-mṛtyu) and their causes in related sections (general internal parallel); Garuda Purana: karma-based vulnerability and omens around death (conceptual linkage)
FAQs
This verse teaches that death can arrive through varied external agents, but the deeper cause is one’s own pāpa-karma; it frames mortality as morally consequential within the Preta Kanda’s after-death teaching.
By identifying ‘sinful action’ as the root behind harsh or frightening modes of death, it sets the ethical backdrop for the Preta Kanda narrative where the departed (preta) faces Yama’s path shaped by karma.
Live with restraint and dharma—avoid harmful acts that generate pāpa, cultivate protection through right conduct and prayer—so that life and death are approached with clarity rather than fear.