Shloka 20
नरक-निर्णयः, पाप-कर्म-फल-व्यवस्था, प्रायश्चित्त-क्रमः, तथा हरि-स्मरण-परमत्वम्
लाक्षामांसरसानां च तिलानां लवणस्य च विक्रेता ब्राह्मणो याति तम् एव नरकं द्विज
lākṣāmāṃsarasānāṃ ca tilānāṃ lavaṇasya ca vikretā brāhmaṇo yāti tam eva narakaṃ dvija
O twice-born, a Brahmin who sells lac, meat juices, sesame, or salt falls into that very same hell for violating his sacred duty.
Sage Parāśara (in instruction to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Varṇa-dharma violations and livelihood ethics (brāhmaṇa engaging in prohibited trade)
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: When a brāhmaṇa abandons prescribed conduct and adopts commerce in impure/prohibited goods, the resulting adharma leads to the same punitive naraka previously described.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Align livelihood with one’s ethical commitments; avoid trades that normalize harm or ritual impurity, and prioritize service, teaching, and charity-oriented work.
Vishishtadvaita: Vishishtadvaita emphasizes ordered plurality within the Lord’s body; varṇa-āśrama duties function as dharmic coordination of service—violations disrupt social-sacral harmony under His governance.
FAQs
This verse treats certain kinds of commerce—especially linked with harm, impurity, or essential commodities—as violations of brāhmaṇa-dharma, bringing severe karmic results described as naraka.
Parāśara frames karma as an impersonal moral law operating within Vishnu’s cosmic order: when one abandons prescribed duty for livelihood that contradicts it, the result is rebirth in suffering states such as hell-realms.
Even when Vishnu is not named, the Purana presents the moral universe as governed by his sovereignty—dharma and its consequences function as part of Vishnu’s sustaining order of the world.