Shloka 21
Dṛṣṭānta on Siddhi: Pitṛ-Procedure, Non-Delusion, and Vyākaraṇa Classifications
सत्या नाग्न्यस्तथा पुंसो ह्यभक्षयत दीर्घपात् / सर्वविश्वोभ ये चोभौ एकोन्यान्यतराणि च
satyā nāgnyastathā puṃso hyabhakṣayata dīrghapāt / sarvaviśvobha ye cobhau ekonyānyatarāṇi ca
पुंसो दीर्घपातदोषात् ‘सत्या’ ‘नाग्नी’ चेति दण्डौ तं भक्षयतः। तथा ‘सर्वविश्व’ ‘उभ’ ‘चोभ’ ‘एक’ तथा ‘एकोन्यान्यतर’नामकाः अपि दण्डा दुःखयन्ति॥
Lord Vishnu (narrating karmic punishments to Garuda/Vinata-putra)
Afterlife Stage: Naraka
Concept: Pāpa-vipāka: specific sinful trajectories (‘long fall’) culminate in named devouring punishments; moral causality is precise and inescapable.
Vedantic Theme: Karma as niyati within saṃsāra; fear as a pedagogic aid (bhaya-hetu) to turn the mind toward dharma and restraint.
Application: Avoid ‘long fall’ patterns—habitual wrongdoing and moral negligence; adopt daily self-audit, confession/prāyaścitta where appropriate, and corrective conduct.
Primary Rasa: bhayanaka
Secondary Rasa: bibhatsa
Type: court/region of punishment
Related Themes: Garuda Purana Pretakalpa: catalogues of narakas and punishments; lists of torments that ‘devour’ or consume the sinner recur across Pretakalpa chapters.
FAQs
This verse shows that the Garuda Purana classifies karmic consequences into specific, named torments, emphasizing that results are precise and correspond to the nature and duration of one’s downfall.
It indicates that after death the sinner encounters defined punitive states in Yama’s domain, where karmic “downfall” (dīrgha-pāta) ripens into consuming suffering before further movement in the post-death journey.
Avoid prolonged ethical decline by correcting harmful habits early—truthfulness, restraint, and timely atonement reduce the momentum of “long fall” that the text links with severe afterlife suffering.