Srimad Bhagavatam — Panchama Skandha, Shloka 3
Naraka-varṇana: The Hellish Planets and the Karmic Logic of Punishment
अथेदानीं प्रतिषिद्धलक्षणस्याधर्मस्य तथैव कर्तु: श्रद्धाया वैसादृश्यात्कर्मफलं विसदृशं भवति या ह्यनाद्यविद्यया कृतकामानां तत्परिणामलक्षणा: सृतय: सहस्रश: प्रवृत्तास्तासां प्राचुर्येणानुवर्णयिष्याम: ॥ ३ ॥
athedānīṁ pratiṣiddha-lakṣaṇasyādharmasya tathaiva kartuḥ śraddhāyā vaisādṛśyāt karma-phalaṁ visadṛśaṁ bhavati yā hy anādy-avidyayā kṛta-kāmānāṁ tat-pariṇāma-lakṣaṇāḥ sṛtayaḥ sahasraśaḥ pravṛttās tāsāṁ prācuryeṇānuvarṇayiṣyāmaḥ.
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FAQs
This verse says karmic fruits become varied because forbidden irreligious acts and the doer’s faith/disposition are diverse; under beginningless ignorance, countless paths of consequences arise.
In Canto 5, Chapter 26, Parīkṣit hears about the workings of karma and the hellish destinations; Śukadeva explains how sinful, prohibited actions generate specific sufferings and then proceeds to describe them.
It encourages careful ethical choices—avoiding prohibited, harmful actions—and cultivating purified faith and knowledge, since desires shaped by ignorance multiply suffering through many consequences.