Shloka 44

Kālayavana’s Rise, Dvārakā’s Founding, and Muchukunda’s Awakening (Śaraṇāgati & Brahman-Stuti)

Devanagari script

ततो निजक्रियासूतिनरकेष्व् अतिदारुणम् प्राप्नुवन्ति नरा दुःखम् अस्वरूपविदस् तव

Transliteration

tato nijakriyāsūtinarakeṣv atidāruṇam prāpnuvanti narā duḥkham asvarūpavidas tava

Translation

Thereafter, O you who do not know your true nature, men are born into the hells fashioned by their own deeds, and there they undergo sufferings of the most dreadful kind.

Word by Word

• ततः: thereupon, then
• ततः: Desha-kala-nimitta (Adverbial/अव्यय-सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ततः (अव्यय; तद्-प्रातिपदिकात्)
• Form: अव्यय (indeclinable adverb)

• निज: one's own
• निज: Visheshana (Adjectival qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: निज (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: विशेषण (adjective) (as compound member)

• क्रिया: action, deed
• क्रिया: Samasa-anga (compound member)
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्रिया (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग (Feminine) (as compound member)

• सूति: producing, giving birth
• सूति: Samasa-anga (compound member)
• Type: Noun
• Root: सूति (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग (Feminine) (as compound member)

• नरकेषु: in hells
• नरकेषु: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नरक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग (Masculine), सप्तमी (7th/Locative), बहुवचन (Plural)

• अति: exceedingly, very
• अति: Upapada-modifier (Intensifier)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अति (अव्यय/उपसर्ग)
• Form: उपसर्ग/अव्यय (intensifier) (as compound member)

• दारुणम्: terrible, dreadful
• दारुणम्: Visheshana (Adjectival qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दारुण (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग (Neuter), द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन (Singular) (agreeing with दुःखम्)

• प्राप्नुवन्ति: they attain, undergo
• प्राप्नुवन्ति: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √आप् (धातु) + प्र- (उपसर्ग)
• Form: लट् (Present), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), बहुवचन (Plural)

• नराः: men, people
• नराः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• दुःखम्: suffering
• दुःखम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: दुःख (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/Accusative), एकवचन

• अ: non-, not
• अ: Negation (निषेध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अ- (नञ्-प्रत्यय; negation)
• Form: नञ् (negative prefix) (as compound member)

• स्वरूप: one's true nature
• स्वरूप: Samasa-anga (compound member)
• Type: Noun
• Root: स्व (प्रातिपदिक) + रूप (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (genitive determinative): 'one's own form/nature' (as compound member)

• विदः: knowers (those who know)
• विदः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता) (appositive to नराः)
• Type: Noun
• Root: विद् (प्रातिपदिक; from √विद् 'to know')
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/Nominative), बहुवचन; बहुव्रीह्यर्थे (as 'knowers')

• तव: of you/your
• तव: Sambandha (Genitive relation/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: त्वद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: षष्ठी (6th/Genitive), एकवचन; सर्वनाम

Speaker

Sage Parāśara (in instruction to Maitreya)

Philosophical Teaching

Concept: Not knowing one’s true nature, beings reap their own deeds as birth into dreadful hell-realms and intense suffering.

Vedantic Theme: Dharma

Application: Practice restraint and ethical living with reflection on consequences; pair karma-discipline with devotion and self-knowledge.

Vishishtadvaita: The jīva’s agency incurs real karmic results within the Lord’s moral order, and liberation requires right knowledge aligned with devotion.

Vaishnava Theology

Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman

Bhakti Type: Shanta

Characters & Entities

• Parāśara
• Maitreya
• Narakas (hell-realms)
• Karma (action)

FAQs

What is the significance of Naraka in the Vishnu Purana?

Naraka functions as a karmic consequence-system where beings experience the painful results of their own deeds, reinforcing dharma under the cosmic governance ultimately rooted in Vishnu.

How does Sage Parāśara explain the cause of suffering here?

Parāśara ties suffering to one’s own actions—people are ‘born’ into hells produced by their karma—and he underscores that ignorance of one’s true nature (asvarūpa-jñāna) sustains this cycle.

What is the theological importance of Lord Vishnu in this context?

Even when Vishnu is not named in the verse, the passage fits the Purana’s framework where moral law and karmic fruition operate within a divinely ordered cosmos, with Vishnu as the supreme sustaining reality (adhāra) of order and justice.