Varaha Purana 5.28: Adhyaya 5, Shloka 28
Reconciliation of Action and Knowledge: Offering All Acts to Nārāyaṇa and the Hymn to the Yajña-Puruṣa
Pūrva Bhāga · Narrative Dialogue (Varāha–Pṛthivī Framework)
ततो लुब्धोऽब्रवीद्विप्रं एकां ज्वालां महामुने । गृहाण येन शेषाणां करिष्यामीह नाशनम् ॥ ५.२८ ॥
tato lubdho ’bravīd vipram ekāṃ jvālāṃ mahāmune | gṛhāṇa yena śeṣāṇāṃ kariṣyāmīha nāśanam || 5.28 ||
tato lubdho.abravIdvipramekAM jvAlAM mahAmune | gRRihANa yena sheShANAM kariShyAmIha nAshanam || 5.28 ||
അപ്പോൾ ലുബ്ധൻ ആ ബ്രാഹ്മണനോട് പറഞ്ഞു—“ഹേ മഹാമുനേ, ഈ ഒരൊറ്റ ജ്വാല സ്വീകരിക്കണമേ; ഇതുകൊണ്ട് ഞാൻ ഇവിടെ ശേഷിക്കുന്നതെല്ലാം നശിപ്പിക്കും.”
Sandhi Notes
- lubdho ’bravīt = lubdhaḥ + abravīt (visarga sandhi: ḥ + a → o ’)
Adharma often begins as a seemingly minor concession that enables larger wrongdoing.
Do not ‘hand over the spark’—avoid enabling conditions for harmful habits (one exception becomes a pattern).
The ‘single flame’ offered as a tool of further destruction mirrors how a fragment of uncontrolled tejas, once granted, multiplies into widespread harm—an allegory for saṃskāra-seeds (bīja) that expand when fed.
Agni as a transferable ‘spark’ (aṃśa) that can either serve yajña or become wildfire; the request to ‘accept’ it hints at misappropriating sacred fire for adharmic ends.
Avidyā operates by bargaining for a small foothold; granting it strengthens vāsanā and leads to further bondage.
Greed (lobha) speaks in the language of ‘partial concession’: it asks for a small allowance (‘one flame’) to enable larger harm.
Indulging a ‘small’ greedy request becomes the seed for greater destruction; refusal preserves restraint and merit.
Varāha Purāṇa 5.5.28–30 (greedy speech leading to further request)
FAQs
It reflects a common Purāṇic narrative motif where moral failure (here, greed) is dramatized through dialogue and consequential action, illustrating ethical instruction via story rather than legal prescription.
No specific geographic location is named in this verse fragment; it is framed as an immediate narrative setting (“iha”, ‘here’) without toponymic identification.
The verse foregrounds the dangers of greed (lubdha) and the instrumentalization of destructive power (jvālā) against others, functioning as a cautionary ethical example within the narrative.
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