Hear now the tale as told in the glorious Varaha Purana, where the greatness of the devoted wife is extolled and the profound mysteries of karma and virtue are revealed. A truly devoted wife is she who never lets her mind wander to another, for such steadfastness shields her from the very door of death. She who, in her heart, never abandons her husband—remaining loyal in thought and feeling—never encounters death’s threshold. The woman who always keeps her home pure and clean likewise remains untouched by death. Purity and good conduct, when firmly rooted in her nature, protect her from mortality. Moreover, she who acts always for her husband’s welfare is kept from the door of death. Such a wife, rare and precious, is indeed found among human beings in this world. Thus, O sage among the twice-born, all that has happened and all that I have heard has been related to you. Here ends the revered chapter called ‘The Greatness of the Devoted Wife’ in the cycle of worldly existence. Yet again, the glory of the devoted wife is spoken of, and the secret, righteous teaching has been revealed, O illustrious one. Among all beings, this subject stirs the highest curiosity within me. Tell me, of those men afflicted by suffering who take refuge in intense austerity, who, with resolved minds, forsake all that is dear and not dear—whose action is this? Who is the true doer or instigator? By what hatred does the mind act in such a way? If this is so, then I ask you a secret, difficult even for the gods to comprehend. Thus addressed by Nārada, the great-minded king of righteousness, Yama, replied: “By your words, I shall tell you; listen attentively, O sinless one. In this world, no one is seen as the doer or instigator. Whose name is praised, and by whom is the world commanded? In this divine assembly, O Brahman, surrounded by the hosts of Brahmarshis, each one experiences the fruits of his own actions, which have arisen and been performed by himself. The consciousness, shaped by the wind, is firmly established in worldly existence. Even when overwhelmed by affliction, one should uplift oneself by one’s own self. Relatives, and the afflictions caused by relatives, are all created by previous actions. This web of words, set in motion falsely, causes the world to wander in every way. Just as, little by little, the inauspiciousness of a person comes to an end, so too for the embodied being born into the world, who has acquired faults, the intellect becomes inclined toward good or evil, shaped by previous bodies. When suffering is exhausted, he performs virtuous deeds that remove sin. Having obtained both good and evil, a man likewise performs action and inaction. Heaven is attained by good results; hell arises from sin. Nārada then asked: “In this world, can there be a decrease of merit or perhaps a destruction of demerit? By mind, by action, by austerity, or by conduct?” Yama replied: “I shall properly declare to you the destruction of sin and fault, always. Having bowed with my head to Him who is the cause of both sin and merit, by whom all this—the three worlds with the moving and unmoving—was created, who is equal toward all beings, self-controlled, with a peaceful mind, who truly knows the reality of the principle, the person, and also nature, who knows both qualities and the absence of qualities, of the imperishable and the perishable, in his own body and in another’s, always through pleasure and pain—thus, O sage, the answer is revealed.” Thus the sacred teaching flows, connecting the greatness of the devoted wife with the deeper truths of karma, action, and the ultimate nature of reality, as spoken by the wise and preserved in the Varaha Purana.