Varaha Purana 39.5: Adhyaya 39, Shloka 5
Discrimination of the Three Bodies and the Dharaṇī Vow: A Manual for Dvādaśī Observance
Pūrva Bhāga · Ethical and Karmic Discourse (Pāpa–Śarīra / Moral Causality)
यस्तु भावः पुरा ह्यासीत् प्राणिनो निघ्नतः स वै । तत्पापाख्यं शरीरं ते पापसंज्ञं तदुच्यते ॥ ३९.५ ॥
yastu bhāvaḥ purā hyāsīt prāṇino nighnataḥ sa vai | tatpāpākhyaṃ śarīraṃ te pāpasaṃjñaṃ tad ucyate || 39.5 ||
yastu bhAvaH purA hyAsIt prANino nighnataH sa vai | tatpApAkhyaM sharIraM te pApasaMj~naM taduchyate || 39.5 ||
अगर किसी इंसान के मन में पहले से ही किसी को मारने की इच्छा होती है, तो वो इच्छा उसके लिए एक शरीर बन जाती है। इसको पाप का शरीर कहते हैं। यह पाप का नाम है।
Sandhi Notes
- यस्तु → यः + तु
- ह्यासीत् → हि + आसीत्
- तत्पापाख्यं → तत् + पापाख्यम्
- तदुच्यते → तत् + उच्यते
Varāha
Concerned; burdened by violence upon her and its karmic imprint
How does a prior violent disposition—especially killing—shape one’s embodied karmic identity and future experience?
Karma is not only external act; the prior inner disposition (bhāva) behind killing concretizes as a ‘pāpa-śarīra’—a subtle identity that carries sin’s fruition.
Address violence at the level of intention: cultivate ahiṃsā, remorse, restraint, and corrective disciplines so the underlying bhāva is transformed, not merely the outward behavior.
The disposition (bhāva) of one who kills becomes a ‘pāpa-śarīra’—a sin-body—indicating that inner intent crystallizes into an experiential vehicle requiring purification.
Violent intent and killing generate a pāpa-body that conduces to painful fruition (yātanā) and obstructs higher knowledge until purified.
39.39.4 (yātanā as a mode of fruition); 39.39.6 (formation of a dharma-body through wholesome conduct)
FAQs
It reflects a Purāṇic ethical model in which internal intention (bhāva) is treated as causally potent, aligning moral accountability with both action and underlying disposition in classical Sanskrit discourse.
No geographic location is named in this verse; the passage is ethical-psychological rather than topographical.
Harmful action—specifically killing living beings—together with the accompanying intention/disposition is framed as generating a morally negative condition termed pāpa, emphasizing responsibility for both deed and mindset.
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