Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 15, Shloka 64
Adhyaya 15 — Karmic Retribution: Rebirths After Naraka and the King’s Compassion in Hell
क्षुत्पिपासाभवं दुःखं यच्च मूर्च्छाप्रदं महत् ।
एतेषां त्राणदानन्तु मन्ये स्वर्गसुखात् परम् ॥
kṣutpipāsābhavaṃ duḥkhaṃ yac ca mūrcchāpradaṃ mahat |
eteṣāṃ trāṇadānaṃ tu manye svargasukhāt param ||
Nỗi khổ do đói và khát sinh ra, cùng sự hành hạ lớn lao khiến ngất lịm—việc cứu độ các hữu tình bị bức bách bởi những điều ấy, ta xem còn cao quý hơn cả lạc thú cõi trời.
{ "primaryRasa": "karuna", "secondaryRasa": "bhakti", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
The verse elevates active compassion (protecting those in extreme suffering) above personal reward. It frames dharma not as a transaction for svarga, but as a commitment to relieve others’ duḥkha even at the cost of delaying one’s own heavenly enjoyment.
Primarily Dharma/ācāra material within a narrative setting; it is not directly sarga/pratisarga/vaṃśa/manvantara/vaṃśānucarita, but functions as ethical instruction embedded in vaṃśānucarita-style storytelling (exemplary conduct of a ruler).
Hunger and thirst symbolize existential lack; ‘fainting’ suggests collapse of egoic endurance. The teaching hints that transcending svarga-oriented desire occurs when one’s consciousness turns outward into universal empathy—an inner ‘ascent’ higher than heaven.