Vamana Purana — Bali's Sudarshana Worship, Shloka 42

Bali’s Worship of Sudarshana and Prahlada’s Teaching on Vishnu-Bhakti

Devanagari script

देवं सार्ङ्गधरं विष्णुं ये प्रपन्नाः परायणम् न तेषां यमसालोक्यं न च ते नरकौकसः

Transliteration

devaṃ sārṅgadharaṃ viṣṇuṃ ye prapannāḥ parāyaṇam na teṣāṃ yamasālokyaṃ na ca te narakaukasaḥ

Translation

["vairocana bali", "vṛddha-vākya", "śṛṇuyāt", "vidadhāti", "sadyaḥ siddhi", "Vāmana", "Trivikrama"]

Speakers

• Narrator/teacher voice within the Adhyaya addressing a Daitya interlocutor (vocative continues in next verse: dānavaśārdūla)

Primary Deities

• Vishnu
• Yama

Key Themes

• Sharanagati (surrender)
• Vishnu-bhakti
• Liberation from Naraka
• Supremacy of devotion over punitive afterlife
• Soteriology (moksha-oriented teaching)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "shanta", "secondaryRasa": "karuna", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

What is the doctrinal point of saying devotees do not reach even Yama’s realm?

The verse asserts bhakti-based exemption from punitive post-mortem adjudication: surrender to Viṣṇu (prapatti/śaraṇāgati) is presented as a direct salvific path that bypasses the karmic route leading to Yama-loka and Naraka.

Does “Yamasālokya” mean liberation?

No. Sālokya can be a form of proximity to a deity, but here it is explicitly Yama’s world, associated with judgment and retribution. The verse denies even that destination, implying the devotee’s trajectory is toward Viṣṇu’s auspicious state rather than Yama’s jurisdiction.

Is any pilgrimage geography implied here?

Not in this śloka. The Vāmana Purāṇa often ties merit to tīrthas, but this unit is a theological statement about refuge in Viṣṇu; the only ‘places’ named are cosmological/otherworldly (Yama-loka, Naraka).