Shloka 72
मायामोह-प्रवर्तन, वेदमार्ग-बहिष्कार, तथा पाषण्ड-संसर्ग-दोषः
Māyāmoha’s Delusion, Rejection of the Vedic Path, and the Fault of Heretical Association
निर्विण्णचित्तः स ततो निर्गम्य नगराद् बहिः मरुप्रपतनं कृत्वा शार्गालीं योनिम् आगतः
nirviṇṇacittaḥ sa tato nirgamya nagarād bahiḥ maruprapatanaṃ kṛtvā śārgālīṃ yonim āgataḥ
His mind, worn out with disgust and despair, he left the city and went outside; and after casting himself down at Maruprapatana, he passed into the womb of a she-jackal—thus entering that birth.
Sage Parāśara (narrating to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: The momentum of karma: even with arising disgust (nirveda), unresolved karmic residue can propel further births
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: World-weariness without right refuge and disciplined sādhana can collapse into despair, and karmic forces may still drive one into lower births.
Vedantic Theme: Karma
Application: Transform dispassion into constructive practice—seek sat-saṅga, steady devotion, and ethical living rather than nihilistic withdrawal.
Vishishtadvaita: Liberation is secured by the Lord’s grace received through bhakti and prapatti; mere revulsion is insufficient without turning to the Supreme as upāya.
FAQs
It illustrates karmic descent: actions and mental states can propel a being into lower births, reinforcing the Purana’s moral universe where dharma safeguards dignity and adharma precipitates degradation.
Parāśara presents rebirth as a concrete narrative outcome—leaving the city, falling at a named place, and entering a new yoni—so the listener grasps saṃsāra not as abstraction but as lived consequence shaped by karma.
Even when Vishnu is not explicitly named, the Vishnu Purana frames cosmic justice—karma, order, and rebirth—as operating within the Lord’s supreme governance, urging alignment with dharma as participation in that divine order.