Text 21]
The Hellish Planets
457
den with one's mother, sister and daughter. If one indulges in illicit sexual relations with another man's wife, that activity is considered identical with having sex with one's mother. This act is most sinful. The same principle holds for a woman also; if she enjoys sex with a man other than her husband, the act is tantamount to having sexual relations with her father or son. Illicit sex life is always forbidden, and any man or woman who indulges in it is punished in the manner described in this verse.
TEXT 21
यस्त्वह वै सर्वाभिगमस्तममुत्र निरये वर्तमानं वज्रकण्टकशाल्मलीमारोप्य निष्कर्षन्ति ॥ २१ ॥
yas tv iha vai sarvābhigamas tam amutra niraye vartamānam vajrakaṇṭaka-śālmalīm āropya niṣkarṣanti.
yaḥ—anyone who; tu—but; iha—in this life; vai—indeed; sarva- abhigamaḥ—indulges in sex life indiscriminately, with both men and animals; tam—him; amutra—in the next life; niraye—in the hell; var- tamānam—existing; vajrakaṇṭaka-śālmalīm—a silk-cotton tree with thorns like thunderbolts; āropya—mounting him on; niṣkarṣanti—they pull him out.
TRANSLATION
A person who indulges in sex indiscriminately—even with animals—is taken after death to the hell known as Vajrakaṇṭaka-śālmalī. In this hell there is a silk-cotton tree full of thorns as strong as thunderbolts. The agents of Yamarāja hang the sinful man on that tree and pull him down forcibly so that the thorns very severely tear his body.
PURPORT
The sexual urge is so strong that sometimes a man indulges in sexual relations with a cow, or a woman indulges in sexual relations with a dog. Such men and women are put into the hell known as Vajrakaṇṭaka-