Shloka 20
नरक-निर्णयः, पाप-कर्म-फल-व्यवस्था, प्रायश्चित्त-क्रमः, तथा हरि-स्मरण-परमत्वम्
लाक्षामांसरसानां च तिलानां लवणस्य च विक्रेता ब्राह्मणो याति तम् एव नरकं द्विज
lākṣāmāṃsarasānāṃ ca tilānāṃ lavaṇasya ca vikretā brāhmaṇo yāti tam eva narakaṃ dvija
ഹേ ദ്വിജാ, അരക്ക്, മാംസം, രസങ്ങൾ, എള്ള്, ഉപ്പ് എന്നിവ വിൽക്കുന്ന ബ്രാഹ്മണൻ അതേ നരകത്തിൽ തന്നെ പതിക്കുന്നു.
Sage Parāśara (in instruction to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Varṇa-dharma violations and livelihood ethics (brāhmaṇa engaging in prohibited trade)
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: When a brāhmaṇa abandons prescribed conduct and adopts commerce in impure/prohibited goods, the resulting adharma leads to the same punitive naraka previously described.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Align livelihood with one’s ethical commitments; avoid trades that normalize harm or ritual impurity, and prioritize service, teaching, and charity-oriented work.
Vishishtadvaita: Vishishtadvaita emphasizes ordered plurality within the Lord’s body; varṇa-āśrama duties function as dharmic coordination of service—violations disrupt social-sacral harmony under His governance.
FAQs
This verse treats certain kinds of commerce—especially linked with harm, impurity, or essential commodities—as violations of brāhmaṇa-dharma, bringing severe karmic results described as naraka.
Parāśara frames karma as an impersonal moral law operating within Vishnu’s cosmic order: when one abandons prescribed duty for livelihood that contradicts it, the result is rebirth in suffering states such as hell-realms.
Even when Vishnu is not named, the Purana presents the moral universe as governed by his sovereignty—dharma and its consequences function as part of Vishnu’s sustaining order of the world.