Vamana Purana — Harihara Revelation, Shloka 2
Harihara Revelation and the Kurukshetra Tirtha Cycle: Sthanu in Vishnu and the Sanctification of Saptasarasvata
फलस्तेयं महापापं फलहीनं तथाटनम् छेदनं वृक्षजातीनां द्वितीयं नरकं स्मृतम्
phalasteyaṃ mahāpāpaṃ phalahīnaṃ tathāṭanam chedanaṃ vṛkṣajātīnāṃ dvitīyaṃ narakaṃ smṛtam
ਫਲ ਚੋਰੀ ਕਰਨਾ ਮਹਾਪਾਪ ਹੈ; ਇਸੇ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਫਲਹੀਣ ਹੋ ਕੇ ਭਟਕਣਾ (ਨਿਸ਼ਫਲ/ਅਨੁਤਪਾਦਕ ਜੀਵਨ) ਅਤੇ ਦਰੱਖਤਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਜਾਤਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਕੱਟਣਾ—ਇਹ ਦੂਜਾ ਨਰਕ ਮੰਨਿਆ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ।
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FAQs
In agrarian dharma, fruit/produce is livelihood and often part of offerings, hospitality, and subsistence. Theft disrupts social trust and harms the cultivator’s sustenance; hence it is elevated beyond minor stealing.
Literally it is ‘wandering without fruit/yield.’ It can be read as censuring a life of aimless roaming that produces no rightful benefit (dharma/artha) or as taking without giving—contrasted with a householder’s productive, sustaining role.
Purāṇic dharma often treats trees as life-supporting beings tied to rain, fertility, and sacred space (groves near tīrthas/temples). Indiscriminate felling is therefore both ecological violence and sacrilege, warranting severe karmic consequence.