Varaha Purana 198.71: Adhyaya 198, Shloka 71
Description of the Torments within the Cycle of Rebirth: Hymn to Yama and the Introduction to Citragupta’s Administration
कर्मणां च क्षयो जातः संसारे यदि पच्यते ॥ विमुक्ताश्चेह लोकात्तु जनिष्यथ सुदुर्गताः
karmaṇāṃ ca kṣayo jātaḥ saṃsāre yadi pacyate || vimuktāś ceha lokāt tu janiṣyatha sudurgatāḥ
కర్మక్షయం కలిగి సంసారంలోనే అది ‘పక్వమై’ (భోగమై) తీరినప్పుడు, ఈ లోకంనుండి విడిపడి మీరు అత్యంత దుర్గతిలో జన్మిస్తారు.
Varāha
Varaha Avatara Context: {"is_varaha_focus":true}
Bhu Devi Dialogue: {"is_dialogue":false,"speaker_role":"instructor"}
Mathura Mandala: {"is_mathura_related":false}
Dharma Shastra: {"has_dharma_rule":true,"instruction_summary":"When karmic stock is exhausted through lived experience (‘pacyate’), beings depart and take rebirth according to remaining tendencies, sometimes into severe misfortune.","karmic_consequence":"After the present-life karmas are worked out, release from the current state leads to rebirth in ‘sudurgaṭā’ conditions if underlying pāpa/saṃskāras persist."}
Vrata Mahatmya: {"has_vrata":false}
Cosmic Boar Symbolism: {"has_symbolism":false}
Philosophical Teaching: {"has_teaching":true,"teaching_type":"karma theory / rebirth doctrine","core_concept":"Karma ‘ripens’ (pacyate) and is ‘exhausted’ (kṣaya), but rebirth follows the deeper causal remainder—latent dispositions and unspent merit/demerit.","practical_application":"Do not rely on time alone to ‘burn off’ wrongdoing; transform saṃskāras through dharmic living, generosity, restraint, and (where relevant) prāyaścitta and devotion."}
Subject Matter: ["Ethics","Cosmology"]
Primary Rasa: bhayanaka
Secondary Rasa: shanta
Type: cosmological process-space
Related Themes: Varāha Purāṇa 198 (karma-causality and post-mortem trajectory discussion)
Visual Art Cues: {"scene_description":"An allegorical wheel of saṃsāra shows karma being ‘cooked’ in the fire of experience; as one set of deeds ends, a being is propelled into a difficult rebirth.","item_prompts":["wheel of saṃsāra","fire/cauldron motif for ‘pacyate’","threads or seeds representing saṃskāras","a departing soul-form moving to a new womb/realm","Varāha indicating the cycle as teacher"],"kerala_mural_prompt":"Kerala mural: circular saṃsāra mandala with stylized flames; Varāha as calm instructor; symbolic seeds/threads around the wheel.","tanjore_prompt":"Tanjore: ornate circular chakra with gold leaf; central flame motif; small rebirth vignettes around rim; Varāha with gold halo.","mysore_prompt":"Mysore: elegant allegory with soft gradients; emphasis on the ‘ripening’ metaphor via warm tones; restrained symbolism.","pahari_prompt":"Pahari: lyrical cyclic composition; delicate figures moving between scenes; fire motif rendered poetically; clear narrative flow."}
Audio Atmosphere: {"recitation_mood":"solemn, contemplative warning","suggested_raga":"Kalyani","pace":"slow-medium","voice_tone":"measured, philosophical, resonant"}
FAQs
It preserves a standard Sanskrit metaphor—karma ‘ripening’ like cooked food—to describe moral causality and the mechanics of rebirth in Purāṇic cosmology.
No location is named; the verse addresses saṃsāra as a cosmological condition rather than a terrestrial site.
Actions have consequences that mature over time; release from one state does not end accountability, as future birth conditions are portrayed as karma-dependent.
Ask anything about this verse
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