॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Friday, 23 December 2022 V.26 - Here is a blood-curdling description of hell and what takes man to hell. Finally, Sage Shuka reinforces the importance of Bhakti. End of Skandha V.
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A question arises from King Parikshit. Why do people behave the way they do? The answer from Sage Shuka is simple. Everyone is driven by his nature, composed of his Samskaras manifesting as the admixture of the three Gunas - Sattva, Rajas, Tamas. The Lord has given ample scope for man to think through the consequences of his action and learn from the past. But Maya or the play of Gunas is also a very strong force. Life is nothing but a tussle between the higher wisdom of man and the lower nature of Guna-driven instincts.
अथेदानीं प्रतिषिद्धलक्षणस्याधर्मस्य तथैव कर्तु: श्रद्धाया वैसादृश्यात्कर्मफलं विसदृशं भवति या ह्यनाद्यविद्यया कृतकामानां तत्परिणामलक्षणा: सृतय: सहस्रश: प्रवृत्तास्तासां प्राचुर्येणानुवर्णयिष्याम: ॥
T: Just as by engaging in various pious activities one achieves different positions in heavenly life, by acting impiously one achieves different positions in hellish life. Those who engage in impious activities according to the extent of their ignorance are placed in different grades of hellish life. If one acts in the mode of ignorance because of madness, his resulting misery is the least severe. One who acts impiously but knows the distinction between pious and impious activities is placed in a hell of intermediate severity. And for one who acts impiously and ignorantly with an incorrigible nature of Adharma, the resultant hellish life is the worst. Because of ignorance, every undergoes suffering in hell since time immemorial. I shall try to describe them as far as possible.
Now Sage Shuka gives a blood-curdling description of different types of hell, the different punishments there, and what transgression takes one to which hell. It pretty much covers the gamut of man's misdeeds we can imagine. I am unable to write all that myself. However it is surely worth a reading. So I have scanned Swami Tapasyananda's translation with the Sanskrit verses which I share below.
