Shloka 69
मायामोह-प्रवर्तन, वेदमार्ग-बहिष्कार, तथा पाषण्ड-संसर्ग-दोषः
Māyāmoha’s Delusion, Rejection of the Vedic Path, and the Fault of Heretical Association
स्मर्यतां तन् महाराज दाक्षिण्यललितं त्वया येन श्वयोनिम् आपन्नो मम चाटुकरो भवान्
smaryatāṃ tan mahārāja dākṣiṇyalalitaṃ tvayā yena śvayonim āpanno mama cāṭukaro bhavān
Let that be recalled, O great king—the gracious, tender kindness once shown by you—by which you came to be born in the womb of a dog, and became a flattering attendant upon me.
A courtly/royal interlocutor within the genealogical narrative (as recounted by Sage Parāśara to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: How subtle past actions (even ‘tender’ ones) can bind through attachment and lead to animal rebirth
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: revealing
Concept: Even seemingly gentle, affectionate conduct can become bondage when rooted in attachment, ripening into degraded rebirth by karmic law.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Practice kindness without possessiveness; examine motives and reduce dependence on praise, flattery, and emotional entanglement.
Vishishtadvaita: Karma operates under the Lord’s orderly governance; ethical purification and devotion refine the self (jīva) rather than dissolving it.
FAQs
In this verse it functions as a vivid karmic marker: a fall in birth illustrates how moral and social conduct can shape one’s next embodiment, even within royal narratives.
By embedding ethical warnings inside lineage episodes—here, recalling a prior act and its consequence—the text turns genealogy into a moral map of cause and effect.
Even when Vishnu is not named in the verse, the Purana’s framework assumes a cosmos governed by dharma under Vishnu’s sovereignty, where karmic justice and order operate consistently across births.