Table of Contents
King Vipaschit in Hell
The birds carried on telling Jaimini about the conversation between Vipaschit and the attendant of Yama.
The Attendant Explains Karma
"The attendant continued telling Vipaschit about the hells and sins. He said, 'Every action brings results. Sins committed with selfishness, cruelty, or neglect of one’s duty produce long-lasting suffering, which can manifest not only as physical but also as mental and emotional ailments. On the other hand, even the smallest acts of goodness—a kind gesture or a word of truth—bring pleasant results. One should be conscious of every thought, word, and deed, because nothing is wasted in the order of the universe—even a little goodness shines, and even subtle wrongdoing leaves a mark. When an act of goodness is performed that is selfless, pure, and born from righteousness, its reward is not small or short-lived. Instead, the results are so powerful that they can transcend time. Even when one enjoys the fruits of good deeds, they remain within the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. These results become embedded in the subtle body, which carries the blueprint of one’s next birth. This continues until all karma is neutralized, and the pure soul is seen as distinct from the subtle body—leading to final liberation.'"
"'Good or bad actions done in thought, word, or deed lead to temporary joy or pain. These results last only as long as the karma remains. Once the fruits of the karma are exhausted, the soul is reborn according to its remaining karma. You asked about the souls undergoing hardships. I will tell you all this in detail.'"
Punishments in Naraka: Sins and Their Consequences
"'You saw some whose eyes were being plucked by iron-beaked birds. They lusted after others' wives and possessions. As a result, iron-beaked birds pluck out their eyes—retribution for their desires. There are some who distorted knowledge and misled others through false teachings. They opposed authentic wisdom. As retribution, they are subjected to torment by the birds that tear out their tongues, destroying their power to speak lies and spread confusion. Then there are those who deliberately sowed discord and destroyed relationships. They are being cut with saws—the way they divided others, they themselves are being divided, painfully and repeatedly. There were some who deliberately caused suffering by obstructing the happiness of others—by stealing manuscripts, restricting access to fresh air and aromatic substances, and causing unwarranted grief to innocent and harmless people. They are punished by being placed in pitchers filled with mud and sand. The mud and sand represent heaviness, suffocation, and impurity. Some people went uninvited to ceremonies for departed ancestors and ate there. These souls are pulled in opposite directions by the birds. Just as the offender disrupted the harmony of the ritual by his wrongful presence, he is now being torn apart by opposing forces. Those who, through harsh, cruel, or deceitful words, wound the inner being of good people, are subjected to unobstructed piercing and beating by the iron-beaked birds. The ones who spoke ill of someone behind their back or injured others through their words have their tongues cut out. The ones who disrespected their parents or their teachers are thrown into pits filled with pus, urine, and excrement. Those who eat before offering food to gods, ancestors, fire, and animals are born as birds who feed on phlegm. There are those who disrespect social order. They are born with monstrous bodies, carrying a heavy burden, and feed on excrement. If someone eats without first ensuring that their traveling companion is fed, that person is condemned to subsist on phlegm.'"
"'If a person touches something sacred, like a cow, a priestly person, or anything else sacred, after touching leftover, uneaten food, their hands are thrown into fire. If a person touches this food and does not cleanse themselves properly, they remain impure. If such a person willfully looks at sacred bodies, like the sun, Yama’s attendants punish the offender by using his eyes as kindling for a fire. Anyone who touches sacred entities or respected persons using their feet gets their feet bound in iron and burned in fire.'"
"'If you look around, you will see those who have consumed sacred food and other offerings before they were ritually purified and properly offered. Yama’s attendants are pulling out their teeth—a symbol of both suffering and their being denied the pleasures they wrongfully indulged in. There are some who took pleasure in criticizing others through malicious slander, mockery, or dismissing others completely. Yama’s attendants are shown driving flaming iron stakes into the ears of these sinners, and their cries can be heard all around. Those who, driven by anger and avarice, committed destructive acts against public and sacred spaces get their skin torn off their bodies by Yama’s attendants. Flaying represents both the external removal of their former identities and the inner agony of guilt and consequence. Those who defiled sacred and public paths by urinating or defecating are getting their entrails pulled out through their anuses. A person who breaks a solemn promise regarding marriage betrays trust. That person’s body is cut into pieces and made to flow in a river of caustic and burning liquid, symbolizing the corrosive and dismembering effect of betrayal. The one who abandons one's dependents during times of crisis is forced to consume one's own flesh and must now sustain themselves through their own body. Those who betray trust due to greed are tortured using various machines. Individuals who have given away or squandered their store of good deeds by boasting, using them for personal gain, or turning to adharma later in life, are ground with rocks. Those who have indulged in sexual misconduct or committed adultery are impaled on trees with large, sharp thorns. The thorns pierce the person's body, mangling their limbs. Those who betrayed trust by stealing what was left with them in good faith are eaten by animals and insects.'"
Grave Sins and Unique Torments
"'See here, Vipaschit. These are those who derived pleasure from relations with others' spouses, and now they are being confined inside filthy, cramped rat holes. They once sought illicit pleasure and are now surrounded by filth and buried in shame. Students who disrespected their teachers now have to carry a heavy weight on their shoulders—the weight of their pride and disrespect. Those who failed to show hospitality towards guests and fellow beings and refused to share food or kindness with others suffer from unbearable hunger and are forced to eat each other’s flesh. The disregard for human dignity they once practiced has now turned outward as cannibalism. Those who defile sacred or public water bodies are sent to a hell that is foul-smelling and filled with phlegm, urine, and excrement. They are forced to live immersed in what they once defiled. Those who dishonored the Vedas, disrespected fire, and showed irreverence to sacrificial rituals are now punished by being thrown repeatedly from mountain peaks. Priests who live by adharma are reborn as worms and live hidden among stones, feeding on decay. Their survival in the next life is tied to dark crevices. Those who, driven by greed and lack of compassion, eat alone, without offering anything to their servants, guests, or companions who are present and watching, are made to swallow burning lumps of coal. The ones who exploit, harm, or feed off others’ suffering wander aimlessly and are eaten by wolves.'"
"'Look there, do you see a person? He is now blind, deaf, and dumb. This person caused grave harm to his friends. He will go to Taptakumbha where he will dry up and will then be put in pitchers full of mud and sand. After that, he will go to Asipatravana, where he will be cut by the trees whose leaves are like swords. Then he will go to a hell known as Kalasutra, where the land is made of copper and is as hot as an oven. He will then burn there both internally and externally. I am not sure how he will ever escape from there.'"
"'The wicked Brahmanas who caused conflict at rituals honoring ancestors by fighting among themselves and violated the spirit of the ritual will have to live on the froth emerging from their bodies. Those who stole gold, killed Brahmanas, were drunkards, or had relations with their teachers' wives are burned in flames from all directions, indicating total, inescapable suffering that lasts for thousands of years. A person who killed a cow is condemned to hell for three lifetimes.'"
Beyond Suffering: Rebirth and the Soul's Next Journey
"'Once the punishment in hell for the souls is completed, the next stage is rebirth. As per the kind of sin they committed, the person will take birth. The nature and species of birth is based on the sin and whether they will be born as a human, animal or something else is something I will tell you next.'"
Some more on this - Philosophical Insights and Core Principles
Every action, no matter how subtle or seemingly inconsequential, has corresponding consequences. The framework here aligns with Vedantic and Samkhya philosophies:
- **Karma** is cumulative across lifetimes and stored in the subtle body.
- **Liberation** occurs only when all karma is exhausted.
- **Hell** is not eternal but acts as a transformative purification process, leading to rebirth.
- **No act is ever wasted;** even minute good deeds have significance.
- **Intent matters,** not just the act itself — false teachings, selfishness, betrayal, and arrogance are punished more severely than physical crimes.
- **Ethical instruction:** It serves as a stark reminder of ethical norms—duty to parents, teachers, society, and guests (Atithi Devo Bhava), reinforcing dharma.
- **Societal order:** Many punishments relate to the breakdown of dharmas — dishonoring Vedas, rituals, hospitality, or purity rules.
- **Psychological dimension:** Emotional and spiritual impurities like jealousy, falsehood, ingratitude, and betrayal have direct consequences on the soul.
The Symbolism of Suffering: A Reflection of Sin
Each punishment is a symbolic reflection of the sin:
| Sin | Punishment | Symbolic Message |
| Lustful gaze | Eyes plucked | Misused perception leads to blindness |
| False teachings | Tongue torn | Speech is sacred — misuse destroys one’s voice |
| Sowing discord | Cut by saws | Social division returns as personal dismemberment |
| Obstruction of joy | Mud pitchers | Internalized suffocation of others |
| Backbiting | Tongues cut | Gossip dehumanizes the speaker |
| Disrespect to elders | Pits of filth | Sacred relationships soiled by contempt |
| Eating before offering | Phlegm-eating birds | Selfish indulgence leads to revolting rebirth |
| Sacrilege | Body used as fuel or firewood | The sacred reacts by consuming the violator |
| Ritual defilement | Teeth pulled; ears burned | Wrongful consumption and listening punished |
| Betrayal | Body dismembered | Moral bonds once broken tear the soul apart |
| Disregard for guests | Cannibalism | Refusal to share turns into brutal ego-feeding |
These are not literal, but archetypal realities — the soul internalizes the weight and quality of each act.
Themes in English Literature
- Dante’s *Inferno*: Sins of speech (flattery, false teaching), betrayal, and carnal desire punished with poetic symmetry — much like the iron-beaked birds, mud pitchers, or saws here.
- Milton’s *Paradise Lost*: The soul's fall due to pride and disobedience, similar to fall from dharma.
- T.S. Eliot’s *The Waste Land*: Suggests karmic decay in modernity — moral emptiness, existential suffering, like the lost souls of this Purana.
- Oscar Wilde's *The Picture of Dorian Gray*: Moral corruption leaves marks not on the body, but on the portrait — akin to karmic impressions on the subtle body.
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