Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 50, Shloka 60
Adhyaya 50 — Mind-Born Progeny, Svayambhuva Manu’s Lineage, and Brahmā’s Ordinance to Duḥsaha (Alakṣmī’s Retinue)
ब्राह्मणक्षत्रियविशां शूद्राणां च स्वकर्मतः ।
परिच्युतानां या चेष्टा परलोकार्थमीप्सताम् ॥
brāhmaṇa-kṣatriya-viśāṃ śūdrāṇāṃ ca svakarmataḥ | paricyutānāṃ yā ceṣṭā paralokārtham īpsatām ||
“And whatever efforts are undertaken by Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas, and Śūdras who have fallen away from their own prescribed duties, while desiring the goals of the next world—(those efforts are misdirected).”
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FAQs
Seeking ‘paraloka’ (post-mortem well-being) cannot be separated from fidelity to one’s rightful obligations. The text frames duty (svakarma) as the stable channel through which merit is properly generated.
Didactic dharma material; not sarga/pratisarga/manvantara/vaṃśa/vaṃśānucarita proper, but a normative layer often interwoven with those narratives.
‘Svadharma’ functions as one’s psycho-spiritual alignment; deviation creates inner contradiction (dvaidhībhāva), which obstructs the subtle ‘path’ to higher states and is here mapped as loss of otherworldly fruit.