Varaha Purana 137.79: Adhyaya 137, Shloka 79
The Tale of the Vulture and the She-Jackal: The Māhātmya of the Saukarava Sacred Field
Pūrva Bhāga · Kṣetra-phala (Sacred geography and merit discourse)
अकामपतितेनापि पश्य क्षेत्रस्य वै फलम् ॥ ये च भागवतश्रेष्ठा ये च नारायणप्रियाः
akāmapatitena api paśya kṣetrasya vai phalam || ye ca bhāgavataśreṣṭhā ye ca nārāyaṇapriyāḥ
akAmapatitenApi pashya kShetrasya vai phalam|| ye cha bhAgavatashreShThA ye cha nArAyaNapriyAH
അനവധാനം കൊണ്ടുപോലും അതിൽ പതിച്ചവനും ഈ പുണ്യക്ഷേത്രത്തിന്റെ ഫലം കാണുക; ഇത് ഭാഗവതശ്രേഷ്ഠർക്കും നാരായണപ്രിയർക്കും ഉപകാരകരമാണ്।
Varāha
Curious
How can a kṣetra confer fruit even without deliberate intention, and who becomes eligible for its grace?
Intention matters, yet divine geography can bestow transformative merit beyond deliberate agency; bhakti is the inner ‘receiver’ of kṣetra-grace.
Approach tīrtha/kṣetra with humility; cultivate Nārāyaṇa-prīti so that even small contacts (darśana, sparśa, smaraṇa) become spiritually fruitful.
Indirect: Varāha, as narrator/instructor, extols the kṣetra’s potency to Bhū-devī or within her dialogue-frame.
Kṣetra is treated as a condensed ‘body’ of the Lord; mere touch/contact (sparśa) mirrors the non-dual idea that proximity to the divine field transforms the jīva beyond intentional calculus.
Grace (anugraha) surpasses mere intentional action; bhakti and śuddha-bhāva align the antaḥkaraṇa so that place and person resonate (kṣetra–kṣetrajña motif).
Kṣetra-saṅga (contact with a sacred place) yields fruit even when accidental; devotion to Nārāyaṇa and bhāgavata-sādhutā are highlighted as the qualifying orientation.
Accidental entry still grants puṇya; deliberate contempt or exploitation would negate/limit benefit (implied by contrast with bhāgavata-śreṣṭhas).
Implicit Vaiṣṇava frame: Nārāyaṇa-priya bhāgavatas in Mathurā-maṇḍala foreshadow the later Vraja-Kṛṣṇa bhakti landscape where place-contact (dhāma-sevā) is salvific.
Varāha Purāṇa 137 (kṣetra-phala exposition)
FAQs
It reflects Purāṇic discourse on kṣetra-phala—how places accrue cultural and ritual value—useful for studying the historical development of pilgrimage and heritage geographies.
The verse refers generically to a “kṣetra” (sacred place) without naming it in this fragment.
It suggests that outcomes associated with a revered place may apply even without deliberate intent, foregrounding a place-based logic of cultural merit.
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