Varaha Purana 187.86: Adhyaya 187, Shloka 86
Determination of the Origin and Procedure of the Ancestral Offering
Pitṛyajña/Śrāddha
Uttara Bhāga · Ethical Instruction (Śoka-nivāraṇa / Removal of Grief)
एवं सञ्चिन्तयानस्तु न शोकं कर्तुमर्हसि ॥ त्यज शोकं महाभाग शोकः सर्वविनाशनः ॥
evaṃ sañcintayānas tu na śokaṃ kartum arhasi | tyaja śokaṃ mahābhāga śokaḥ sarvavināśanaḥ ||
evaM sa~nchintayAnastu na shokaM kartumarhasi || tyaja shokaM mahAbhAga shokaH sarvavinAshanaH
इतना सोचने के बाद अब दुखी मत हो। दुख को छोड़ दो, क्योंकि तुम भगवान का भक्त हो। दुख सब कुछ बरबाद कर देता है।
Sandhi Notes
- सञ्चिन्तयानस्तु = सञ्चिन्तयानः + तु
- कर्तुमर्हसि = कर्तुम् + अर्हसि
- सर्वविनाशनः = सर्व + विनाशनः (तत्पुरुष)
Varāha
Burdened or grieving; being comforted and steadied
How should one relate to grief so it does not destroy one’s dharma and capacity?
Śoka is ‘sarva-vināśana’ because it collapses discernment and agency; reflective understanding should replace emotional spiraling.
When grief arises: pause, reflect on causes/impermanence, return to duty and sādhana; seek satsanga and scriptural remembrance to stabilize mind.
Direct consolatory counsel: Varāha addresses the listener (‘mahābhāga’) urging abandonment of śoka; emotional support rather than physical action
Do not indulge śoka; replace it with reflective discernment (sañcintana) and steadiness, since grief undermines all aims.
Abandoning debilitating grief preserves buddhi and dharma-pravṛtti; clinging to śoka leads to loss of resolve, negligence of duty, and cascading ruin (sarva-vināśana).
Varāha Purāṇa 187.91-94 (guṇa analysis as the ‘reflection’ basis for steadiness)
FAQs
It belongs to a widespread South Asian genre of consolatory instruction where grief is analyzed as a practical and ethical impediment rather than merely an emotion.
No geographic site is referenced in this counsel.
The instruction is to restrain grief through reflective understanding, since grief is portrayed as corrosive to one’s overall well-being and duties.
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