Varaha Purana 70.41: Adhyaya 70, Shloka 41
Nārāyaṇa as the Sacrificial Principle, Analysis of the Three Guṇas, and the Account of Delusion-Doctrines
Pūrva Bhāga · Dharma-śāstra and Vaiṣṇava Theological Ethics
मां विष्णोर्व्यतिरिक्तं ये ब्रह्माणं च द्विजोत्तम । भजन्ते पापकर्माणस्ते यान्ति नरकं नराः ॥ ७०.४१ ॥
māṃ viṣṇor vyatiriktaṃ ye brahmāṇaṃ ca dvijottama | bhajante pāpakarmāṇas te yānti narakaṃ narāḥ || 70.41 ||
mAM viShNorvyatiriktaM ye brahmANaM cha dvijottama | bhajante pApakarmANaste yAnti narakaM narAH || 70.41 ||
โอ้ทวิชโอตตม ผู้ใดเป็นคนบาปบูชาข้าพเจ้าโดยเห็นว่าแยกจากพระวิษณุ และยังบูชาพระพรหมด้วย ผู้นั้นย่อมไปสู่นรก।
Sandhi Notes
- विष्णोर्व्यतिरिक्तम् = विष्णोः + व्यतिरिक्तम्
- पापकर्माणस्ते = पापकर्माणः + ते
Varāha
Concerned about sectarian error and its consequences
What is the consequence of treating Varāha as separate from Viṣṇu (and misdirecting worship), and what constitutes correct worship?
Avatāra (Varāha) is non-different from Viṣṇu; worship grounded in difference-notion becomes spiritually harmful when it denies the supreme unity.
Direct devotion to Viṣṇu/Nārāyaṇa while honoring Varāha as his very form; avoid polemical fragmentation and cultivate tattva-aligned bhakti.
Varāha safeguards correct identification of his form with Viṣṇu; protective theological instruction within the Earth-dialogue frame.
The avatāra-form is not an independent deity competing with the source; it is the same supreme Viṣṇu appearing for cosmic function—difference-notion fractures the unity of the divine.
Implicit: as yajña has many limbs but one sacrificial reality, so Viṣṇu has many forms but one essence; mistaking limb for separate whole is error.
Bheda-buddhi toward the supreme is avidyā; correct tattva-jñāna recognizes non-separation of avatāra and avatārin (form and source).
Do not worship Varāha as distinct from Viṣṇu; sectarian bheda in the object of worship is condemned as sinful misapprehension.
Those who persist in such sinful, divisive worship fall to naraka; right understanding supports liberation (cf. 70.70.40).
Varāha Purāṇa: unity-vision leading to mokṣa (70.70.40)
FAQs
It reflects a Purāṇic-era doctrinal concern with defining the identity of the supreme deity and critiquing forms of worship considered theologically inconsistent within a Vaiṣṇava framing, illustrating how sectarian theologies were articulated in classical Sanskrit literature.
No geographic location is mentioned in this verse; the content is primarily theological and ethical rather than topographical or pilgrimage-oriented.
The verse presents a moral warning: worship framed as separating the speaker’s identity from Viṣṇu is characterized as a mistaken and ethically negative practice, with adverse post-mortem consequences described in the Purāṇic idiom (naraka).
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