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PAÑCALINGĪPRAKARAŅAM : 37
To narayaveyaņāo, tiriyagaīsambhavā anegão / Tā jariyajantuno majjiyae pāņovama visayā || 18 ||
Tasmānnarakavedanāḥ tiryaggatisambhavāḥ (khalu) anekāḥ / Tāḥ jvaritajantoḥ mārjitāyāḥ pānopamāḥ viṣayāḥ || 18 ||
As, for a fevered person, cold water bath or drink is harmful So are the sensual enjoyments : ultimately painful || 18 ||
18. Therefore, (because of the sinful activities) the creature suffers various pains and miseries of hellish births and births in subhuman (animal, birds, fishes, insects, etc.) species. Just as cold-water bath or drink feels good to a fevered person but proves fatal ultimately, so do the sensual pleasures – appear pleasurable initially but result in pain and misery ultimately.
Here, the author has drawn a beautiful simile. He says that the sinful karmic bondage bonded by indulging in such sensual enjoyments ultimately yield hellish and subhuman rebirths where the soul experiences extreme pain and misery. Just as the cold water bath and the most delicious and cold and fragrant drinks only harm and increase the ailment of a fevered person, so the apparently pleasurable sexual indulgence, ultimately, result in pain and misery in those hellish and subhuman rebirths.