Varaha Purana 39.4: Adhyaya 39, Shloka 4
Discrimination of the Three Bodies and the Dharaṇī Vow: A Manual for Dvādaśī Observance
Pūrva Bhāga · Dharma–Adharma and the Mechanisms of Karmic Experience
धर्माधर्मोपभोगाय यत् तृतीयमतीन्द्रियम् । तत्त्रिभेदं विनिर्दिष्टं ब्रह्मविद्भिर्विचक्षणैः । यातना धर्मभोगश्च भुक्तिश्चेति त्रिभेदकम् ॥ ३९.४ ॥
dharmādharmopabhogāya yat tṛtīyam atīndriyam | tat tribhedaṁ vinirdiṣṭaṁ brahmavidbhir vicakṣaṇaiḥ | yātanā dharmabhogaś ca bhuktiś ceti tribhedakam || 39.4 ||
dharmAdharmopabhogAya yat tRRitIyamatIndriyam | tattribhedaM vinirdiShTaM brahmavidbhirvichakShaNaiH | yAtanA dharmabhogashcha bhuktishcheti tribhedakam || 39.4 ||
То третье, что превосходит чувства и служит для переживания дхармы и адхармы, мудрые знатоки Брахмана определяют как тройственное: (1) ятана — мучение, (2) дхармабхога — наслаждение плодами дхармы, и (3) бхукти — обычное наслаждение/переживание; таково трёхчастное деление.
Sandhi Notes
- धर्माधर्मोपभोगाय → धर्म + अधर्म + उपभोगाय
- तत्त्रिभेदं → तत् + त्रिभेदम्
- ब्रह्मविद्भिर्विचक्षणैः → ब्रह्मविद्भिः + विचक्षणैः
- धर्मभोगश्च → धर्मभोगः + च
- भुक्तिश्चेति → भुक्तिः + च + इति
Varāha
Attentive; seeking a precise map of post-action experience
What is the ‘third’ beyond the senses that enables experience of dharma/adharma, and how is it classified?
Karmic fruition is mediated by an atīndriya (suprasensory) factor/vehicle, analyzable into three experiential modes: yātanā, dharmabhoga, and bhukti.
Evaluate actions by their likely mode of fruition: avoid harm that ripens as yātanā; cultivate dharma that ripens as dharmabhoga; purify mixed motives to reduce unstable bhukti.
The ‘third beyond senses’ aligns with the subtle/causal apparatus that carries karma-phala; in Yajña-Varāha terms, it is the unseen sacrificial order (ṛta) that distributes results beyond gross perception.
Implicit mapping: ‘atīndriya’ as the hidden yajña-fire (antar-agni) that ‘cooks’ karma into yātanā/dharmabhoga/bhukti; the threefold fruition mirrors triadic sacrificial outcomes (pain/merit/mixed).
Connects to Vedāntic accounts of sūkṣma-śarīra/karma-āśaya and the mechanism of bhoga in saṃsāra; ‘brahmavid’ authority signals alignment with jñāna-informed taxonomy rather than mere ritualism.
Karmic experience operates through a suprasensory ‘third’ principle/vehicle, whose modes include torment (yātanā) and enjoyment of dharmic results (dharmabhoga), alongside general experience (bhukti).
Adharmic action yields yātanā (torment); dharmic action yields dharmabhoga (merit-enjoyment); mixed tendencies yield varied bhukti.
39.39.2 (three bodies as vibhoga-āyatana); 39.39.5-6 (pāpa-body vs dharma-body as experiential bases)
FAQs
It preserves a Purāṇic-era schematic for how karmic results are experienced, using technical vocabulary (e.g., atīndriya, yātanā) that overlaps with broader Dharmaśāstra and philosophical discussions of moral causality.
No geographic location is named in this verse; the focus is doctrinal—classifying modes of experiencing the results of dharma and adharma.
Ethical actions (dharma) and unethical actions (adharma) are framed as producing consequences that are experienced through suprasensory modes, categorized here into punitive suffering and forms of enjoyment, emphasizing moral causality rather than ritual prescription.
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