Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 5 Chapter 26 Verse 21

Canto 5: The Creative Impetus | Chapter 26: A Description of the Hellish Planets

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.26.21

yas tv iha vai sarvābhigamas tam amutra niraye vartamānaḿ vajrakaṇṭaka-śālmalīm āropya niṣkarṣanti

SYNONYMS

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; vartamānam — 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-śālmalī. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement forbids illicit sex. From the description of these verses, we can understand what an extremely sinful act illicit sex is. Sometimes people disbelieve these descriptions of hell, but whether one believes or not, everything must be carried out by the laws of nature, which no one can avoid.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness