Varaha Purana 39.67: Adhyaya 39, Shloka 67

Discrimination of the Three Bodies and the Dharaṇī Vow: A Manual for Dvādaśī Observance

Pūrva Bhāga · Prāyaścitta–Dharma (Purificatory ethics and merit of sacred practice)

Devanagari script

ब्रह्महत्यादिपापानि इह लोककृतान्यपि । अकामे कामतो वापि तानि नश्यन्ति तत्क्षणात् ॥ ३९.६७ ॥

Recitation with translationVaraha Purana 39.67

Transliteration

brahmahatyādipāpāni iha lokakṛtāny api | akāme kāmato vāpi tāni naśyanti tatkṣaṇāt || 39.67 ||

ITRANS transliteration

Translation

బ్రహ్మహత్యాది పాపాలు ఈ లోకంలో చేసినవైనా—అకామంగా చేసినా లేదా కావాలనే చేసినా—(ఆ విధానంలో) అవి క్షణమాత్రంలో నశిస్తాయి।

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Word by Word

• brahmahatyā-ādi-pāpāni: sins such as brahmin-slaying
• Type: Noun
• Form: Neuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural; tatpuruṣa (ब्रह्महत्यादीनि पापानि)
• Role: Karta (कर्ता)
• Root: brahmahatyā + ādi + pāpa (प्रातिपदिक)

• iha: here/in this world
• Type: Indeclinable
• Form: Avyaya (अव्यय), deictic adverb (देशवाचक)
• Role: Deśa-adhikaraṇa (देशाधिकरण)
• Root: iha (अव्यय)

• loka-kṛtāni: done in the world
• Type: Adjective
• Form: Neuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural; past passive participle (क्त, kṛta) used adjectivally; tatpuruṣa (लोके कृतानि)
• Role: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Root: loka + kṛta (कृ धातु; क्त-प्रत्यय)

• api: even/also
• Type: Indeclinable
• Form: Avyaya (अव्यय), particle (निपात)
• Role: Sambandha-bodhaka (सम्बन्ध/समुच्चय)
• Root: api (अव्यय)

• akāme: without desire / unwillingly
• Type: Noun
• Form: Masculine, Locative (7th/सप्तमी), Singular; ‘in absence of desire/unwillingly’ (भावे सप्तमी)
• Role: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण)
• Root: akāma (प्रातिपदिक)

• kāmataḥ: out of desire/voluntarily
• Type: Indeclinable
• Form: Avyaya (अव्यय), tasil-anta adverb (तसिल्-प्रत्यय), ‘from/through desire’
• Role: Hetu (हेतु)
• Root: kāma (प्रातिपदिक)

• vā: or
• Type: Indeclinable
• Form: Avyaya (अव्यय), disjunctive particle (विकल्पार्थक निपात)
• Role: Samuccaya/Vikalpa (समुच्चय/विकल्प)
• Root: vā (अव्यय)

• api: also/even
• Type: Indeclinable
• Form: Avyaya (अव्यय), particle (निपात)
• Role: Sambandha-bodhaka (सम्बन्ध/समुच्चय)
• Root: api (अव्यय)

• tāni: those (sins)
• Type: Noun
• Form: Neuter, Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Plural; pronoun (सर्वनाम)
• Role: Karta (कर्ता)
• Root: tad (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)

• naśyanti: perish/are destroyed
• Type: Verb
• Form: Laṭ-lakāra (लट्, present), Parasmaipada, Prathama-puruṣa (3rd), Plural
• Role: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Root: naś (नश् धातु)

• tat-kṣaṇāt: at that very moment / instantly
• Type: Noun
• Form: Masculine, Ablative (5th/पञ्चमी), Singular; tatpuruṣa (तस्मिन् क्षणे/ततः क्षणात्) used as ‘immediately’
• Role: Apādāna (अपादान)
• Root: tad + kṣaṇa (प्रातिपदिक)

Sandhi Notes

• brahmahatyādipāpāni = brahmahatyā + ādi + pāpāni
• lokakṛtāny = loka-kṛtāni
• vāpi = vā + api
• tatkṣaṇāt = tat + kṣaṇāt

Speaker and setting

Shanta and Adbhuta rasa

Speaker

Varāha

Bhu Devi and Varaha

In this verse

Varaha teaches her

Her state of mind

Observer

What she asks

What means (in this context) destroys even mahāpātakas like brahma-hatyā instantly, regardless of whether they were committed inadvertently or deliberately?

The teaching

Kind of teaching

Soteriological-ethical (pāpa/puṇya causality)

Subjects

EthicsPurification (Prāyaścitta)Dharma discourse

Core idea

Even entrenched karmic demerit can be neutralized by a properly performed, devotion-infused purificatory observance sanctioned by śāstra.

In practice

Adopt the prescribed vrata/fast with correct vidhi and bhakti when burdened by guilt or known transgression; do not despair over the magnitude of past faults.

Dharma

Vrata

Cross references

Tags

• Purāṇic Literature
• Vaiṣṇavism
• Dharma-śāstra discourse
• Sanskrit Philology

FAQs

What is the historical significance of this verse?

It reflects a Purāṇic synthesis of ethical discourse and prāyaścitta (purificatory) ideology, using the category of major transgressions (e.g., brahma-hatyā) to emphasize the claimed efficacy of a particular sacred context or practice described in the surrounding passage.

Which geographic location is identified?

No specific geographic toponym appears in this verse fragment; any location would need to be inferred from adjacent verses in Adhyāya 39.

What is the primary ethical instruction?

The verse distinguishes between unintentional (akāma) and intentional (kāmataḥ) wrongdoing while asserting that, within the text’s stated framework, even severe demerit can be neutralized immediately—highlighting a doctrine of moral purification tied to prescribed sacred means.