Shloka 49
आत्यन्तिक-लयहेतुः: तापत्रय-विवेचनम् तथा ‘भगवान्/वासुदेव’ शब्दार्थः
Threefold Suffering and the Path to Final Liberation; Meaning of Bhagavān and Vāsudeva
नरके यानि दुःखानि पापहेतूद्भवानि वै प्राप्यन्ते नारकैर् विप्र तेषां संख्या न विद्यते
narake yāni duḥkhāni pāpahetūdbhavāni vai prāpyante nārakair vipra teṣāṃ saṃkhyā na vidyate
O brāhmaṇa, the sufferings endured in hell—born of sinful causes and experienced by the denizens of Naraka—are beyond counting; their number cannot be known.
Sage Parāśara (addressing Maitreya as 'vipra')
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Extent and variety of naraka sufferings arising from sinful causes
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Cosmic Hierarchy: Lokas
Concept: Sufferings in Naraka, born of sinful causes, are innumerable—signaling that pāpa has endlessly varied repercussions.
Vedantic Theme: Karma
Application: Adopt continuous self-examination (svādhyāya), confession/atonement (prāyaścitta), and sustained dharmic habits rather than occasional virtue.
Vishishtadvaita: The moral universe is intelligible and administered; the diversity of karmaphala implies an ordered, law-governed cosmos under Īśvara.
FAQs
This verse frames Naraka as the karmic consequence of sin: sufferings arise from pāpa and are presented as innumerable, emphasizing moral accountability within cosmic order.
He explicitly states that the pains of hell are “pāpa-hetūdbhava”—born from sinful causes—showing a cause-and-effect ethic where actions mature into corresponding experiences.
Even when Vishnu is not named in the verse, the teaching presumes a divinely ordered universe under the Supreme Reality—where dharma governs outcomes and karmic law operates within Vishnu’s sovereign cosmic order.