352
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 10]
then your punishment will be like beating a dead horse. There will be no effect. When a madman is punished, he is not cured of his madness.
PURPORT
Everyone in this material world is working like a madman under certain impressions falsely acquired in the material condition. For example, a thief who knows that stealing is not good and who knows that it is followed with punishment by a king or by God, who has seen that thieves are arrested and punished by the police, nonetheless steals again and again. He is obsessed with the idea that by stealing he will be happy. This is a sign of madness. Despite repeated punishment, the thief cannot give up his stealing habit; therefore the punishment is useless.
TEXT 14
श्रीशुक उवाच
एतावदनुवादपरिभाषया प्रत्युदीर्य मुनिवर उपशमशील उपरतानात्म्य- निमित्त उपभोगेन कर्मारब्धं व्यपनयन् राजयानमपि तथोवाह ॥१४॥
śrī-śuka uvāca
etāvad anuvāda-paribhāṣayā pratyudīrya muni-vara upaśama-śīla uparatānātmya-nimitta upabhogena karmārabdham vyapanayan rāja- yānam api tathovāha.
śrī-śukaḥ uvāca—Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued to speak;  etāvat —so much;  anuvāda-paribhāṣayā —by explanatory repetition of words spoken previously by the King;  pratyudīrya —giving replies one after another;  muni-varaḥ —great sage Jaḍa Bharata;  upaśama-śīlaḥ —who was calm and peaceful in character;  uparata —ceased;  anātmya —things not related to the soul;  nimittaḥ —whose cause (ignorance) for identification with things not related to the soul;  upabhogena —by accepting the consequences of his  karma ;  karma-ārabdham —the resultant action now attained;  vyapanayan —finishing;  rāja-yānam —the palanquin of the King;  api —again;  tathā —as before;  uvāha —continued to carry.