Varaha Purana 39.60: Adhyaya 39, Shloka 60
Discrimination of the Three Bodies and the Dharaṇī Vow: A Manual for Dvādaśī Observance
Pūrva Bhāga · Dharma-śāstric Instruction (Vows and Ethical Intent)
यदि वक्त्रसहस्राणि भवन्ति मम सुव्रत । आयुश्च ब्रह्मणस्तुल्यं भवेद्यदि महाव्रत ॥ ३९.६० ॥
yadi vaktrasahasrāṇi bhavanti mama suvrata | āyuś ca brahmaṇas tulyaṃ bhaved yadi mahāvrata || 39.60 ||
yadi vaktrasahastrANi bhavanti mama suvrata | Ayushcha brahmaNastulyaM bhaved yadi mahAvrata || 39.60 ||
और हाँ, भगवान को पहले भोग लगाओ। उसके बाद पंडित लोगों को अच्छा खाना खिलाओ। फिर तुम खुद बच्चों के साथ बैठ के खाना खाओ। बात कम करो, मन शांत रखो।
Sandhi Notes
- वक्त्रसहस्राणि = वक्त्र + सहस्राणि (समास)
- आयुश्च = आयुः + च
- भवेद्यदि = भवेत् + यदि
Varāha
Dharma’s fruits can exceed ordinary description; trust in śāstra and disciplined practice is warranted even when outcomes are beyond full narration.
Maintain commitment to the vow without demanding exhaustive enumeration of benefits; focus on faithful observance.
The speaker’s hyperbole (thousand mouths, Brahmā’s lifespan) signals the immeasurable scale of dharma-phala, reflecting Purāṇic cosmology where merit accrues across vast time.
Implicit cosmic scale: speech capacity and lifespan expand to cosmic proportions, paralleling yajña’s claim to connect finite acts with vast results.
Points to the limitation of language/time in capturing karmic causality; encourages śraddhā in dharma beyond complete conceptual grasp.
Fruit is portrayed as so vast that even with a thousand mouths and Brahmā-like lifespan it is hard to fully narrate (hyperbolic magnitude).
Varāha Purāṇa 39.39.61 (will describe in outline)
FAQs
It exemplifies a common Purāṇic rhetorical strategy—hyperbolic conditions (many mouths, Brahmā-like lifespan) used to frame the limits or magnitude of what can be expressed, reflecting classical Sanskrit oral-aural literary culture.
No geographic location is named in this verse fragment; it functions as a rhetorical preface rather than a site-description.
The verse addresses a disciplined interlocutor (suvrata/mahāvrata), foregrounding the value of vow-based self-regulation; the ethical emphasis is on disciplined conduct as the context for receiving instruction.
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