Shloka 50
सूर्यरथ-कालचक्र-आयनविभागः, संध्योपासनम्, देवयान-पितृयानम्, विष्णुपद-गङ्गावतरणम्
प्रजापतिकृतः शापस् तेषां मैत्रेय रक्षसाम् अक्षयत्वं शरीराणां मरणं च दिने दिने
prajāpatikṛtaḥ śāpas teṣāṃ maitreya rakṣasām akṣayatvaṃ śarīrāṇāṃ maraṇaṃ ca dine dine
Maitreya, this was the curse pronounced by Prajāpati upon those rākṣasas: their bodies would not waste away—yet, day after day, they would still meet with death.
Sage Parāśara (addressing Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Explanation of twilight phenomena and the threat to the Sun
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Prajāpati’s curse imposes a paradoxical limit: the rākṣasas do not decay, yet they die each day—illustrating that adharma can be recurrent but is continually checked by higher law.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: When harmful patterns recur, rely on consistent safeguards (discipline, community, prayer) rather than expecting a one-time fix; restrain relapse through daily practice.
Vishishtadvaita: The cosmos is morally structured: divine governance operates through delegated authorities (Prajāpati) and law-like consequences, consistent with a world real and ordered under the Lord.
FAQs
It illustrates that cosmic governance operates through moral causality: even extraordinary beings (like Rākṣasas) remain bound to ordained consequences, where a seeming boon (non-decaying bodies) is paired with relentless mortality.
By framing it as a precise, divinely sanctioned limitation: the physical form may not deteriorate, yet the condition of death still repeatedly asserts itself, showing that higher law overrides mere bodily resilience.
Though not named in this verse, the episode reflects Vishnu Purana’s core view that the universe is upheld by a supreme regulating order—ultimately grounded in Vishnu’s sovereignty—where all beings remain subject to cosmic law.