ävåtaà jïänam etena
jïänino nitya-vairiëä
käma-rüpeëa kaunteya
duñpüreëänalena ca
SYNONYMS
ävåtam-covered; jïänam-pure consciousness; etena-by this; jïäninaù-of
the knower; nitya-vairiëä-by the eternal enemy; käma-rüpeëa-in the form
of lust; kaunteya-O son of Kunté; duñpüreëa-never to be satisfied; analena-by
the fire; ca-also.
TRANSLATION
Thus the wise living entity's pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy
in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire.
PURPORT
It is said in the Manu-småti that lust cannot be satisfied by any amount of
sense enjoyment, just as fire is never extinguished by a constant supply of fuel. In the
material world, the center of all activities is sex, and thus this material world is
called maithunya-ägära, or the shackles of sex life. In the ordinary prison
house, criminals are kept within bars; similarly, the criminals who are disobedient to the
laws of the Lord are shackled by sex life. Advancement of material civilization on the
basis of sense gratification means increasing the duration of the material existence of a
living entity. Therefore, this lust is the symbol of ignorance by which the living entity
is kept within the material world. While one enjoys sense gratification, it may be that
there is some feeling of happiness, but actually that so-called feeling of happiness is
the ultimate enemy of the sense enjoyer.