Kṛshṇa (Naraka)
Kṛshṇa, “the black one”
Kṛshṇa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kṛshṇa.
Kṛshṇa is one of the narakas, the places of suffering into which those who do pāpa (wrong deeds) are cast after death. The Brahma Purāṇa names it in its description of the narakas, where Lomaharshaṇa tells the vipras of Raurava and the rest. Like all the narakas, it is a domain ruled by Yama. It is a different naraka from Kṛshṇasūtra, which the same list names later.
Its place among the narakas
“O vipras! Now hear about the narakas, Raurava and the rest, into which those who do pāpa are cast.” So the chapter opens, and it names the narakas in order: Raurava, Śaukara, Rodha, Tāla, Viśasana, Mahājvāla, Taptakuḍya, Mahālobha, Viyocana, Rudhirāndha, Vasātapta, Kṛmīśa, Kṛmibhojana, Asipatravana, Kṛshṇa, Lālābhaksha, Pūyavaha, Vahnijvāla, Adhaśśiras, Sadaṃśa, Kṛshṇasūtra, Tamas, Āvīci, Śvabhojana, Apratishṭha and Māvīci. Kṛshṇa stands fifteenth, after Asipatravana and before Lālābhaksha. Beyond these, the Purāṇa says, there are many more narakas, supremely dreadful, in hundreds and thousands.
All of them are the domains ruled by Yama. In them are the servants of Yama, the yama-bhaṭas, who use weapons, fire and poisons. Those who do pāpa leave this body, take yātanā-śarīras (bodies made for suffering) and are tormented there. Those who act against varṇa and āśrama with mind, speech and body go to naraka.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 22
How one is kept from naraka
The same chapter teaches that one who does pāpa and does not perform prāyaścitta (expiation) goes to naraka. The great ṛshis laid down in the smṛtis a prāyaścitta suited to each pāpa, and Svāyambhuva Manu and others composed the section on prāyaścitta. Yet for all of them the prāyaścitta is Kṛshṇa-smaraṇa, the remembrance of Śrī Kṛshṇa, and there is nothing beyond it. If one who has done pāpa feels remorse and remembers Śrī Hari, there is no greater means of puṇya. By remembering Nārāyaṇa at dawn, through day and night and at the sandhyā times, a person’s pāpas are destroyed and he reaches Nārāyaṇa. Therefore, the Purāṇa says, one should remember Bhagavān Vishṇu day and night; with his pāpas destroyed and purified, he never sees naraka.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 22
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 22