Shloka 17
नरक-निर्णयः, पाप-कर्म-फल-व्यवस्था, प्रायश्चित्त-क्रमः, तथा हरि-स्मरण-परमत्वम्
करोति कर्णिनो यश् च यश् च खड्गादिकृन् नरः प्रयान्त्य् एते विशसने नरके भृशदारुणे
karoti karṇino yaś ca yaś ca khaḍgādikṛn naraḥ prayānty ete viśasane narake bhṛśadāruṇe
Whoever mutilates living beings or manufactures swords and weapons departs to the exceedingly terrible hell known as Viśasana, the realm of slaughter.
Sage Parāśara (in instruction to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Description of narakas (hells) and the specific karmas leading to them
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Cruelty to living beings and the deliberate manufacture of instruments of violence mature into severe post-mortem suffering in corresponding hell-realms.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Avoid livelihoods that depend on harm (including enabling violence); cultivate ahiṃsā and responsible craft/work aligned with dharma.
Vishishtadvaita: Moral order is grounded in the Lord’s governance of karma-phala: embodied selves (cit) reap results within His regulated cosmos, reinforcing accountable devotion and conduct.
FAQs
Viśasana is presented as a realm of brutal slaughter where those who enable or practice severe violence—such as mutilation or manufacturing weapons for harm—experience the karmic echo of their actions.
Parāśara links specific harmful acts to a corresponding realm of suffering, emphasizing that actions shaping disorder and cruelty in the world ripen into proportionate consequences after death.
Even when Vishnu is not explicitly named, the Naraka doctrine functions within a Vishnu-centered moral cosmos where dharma sustains order; karmic law operates under the sovereignty of the Supreme who upholds cosmic justice.