Canto 5: The Creative ImpetusChapter 26: A Description of the Hellish Planets

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.26.22

ye tv iha vai rājanyā rāja-puruṣā vā apākhaṇḍā dharma-setūn bhindanti te samparetya vaitaraṇyāḿ nipatanti bhinna-maryādās tasyāḿ niraya-parikhā-bhūtāyāḿ nadyāḿ yādo-gaṇair itas tato bhakṣyamāṇā ātmanā na viyujyamānāś cāsubhir uhyamānāḥ svāghena karma-pākam anusmaranto viṇ-mūtra-pūya-śoṇita-keśa-nakhāsthi-medo-māḿsa-vasā-vāhinyām upatapyante

SYNONYMS

ye — persons who; tu — but; ihain this life; vai — indeed; rājanyāḥ — members of the royal family, or kṣatriyas; rāja-puruṣāḥ — government servants; — or; apākhaṇḍāḥ — although born in responsible families; dharma-setūn — the bounds of prescribed religious principles; bhindanti — transgress; te — they; samparetya — after dying; vaitaraṇyām — named Vaitaraṇī; nipatanti — fall down; bhinna-maryādāḥ — who have broken the regulative principles; tasyāmin that; niraya-parikhā-bhūtāyām — the moat surrounding hell; nadyāmin the river; yādaḥ-gaṇaiḥ — by ferocious aquatic animals; itaḥ tataḥ — here and there; bhakṣyamāṇāḥ — being eaten; ātmanā — with the body; na — not; viyujyamānāḥ — being separated; ca — and; asubhiḥ — the life airs; uhyamānāḥ — being carried; sva-aghena — by his own sinful activities; karma-pākam — the result of his impious activities; anusmarantaḥ — remembering; viṭ — of stool; mūtra — urine; pūya — pus; śoṇita — blood; keśa — hair; nakha — nails; asthi — bones; medaḥ — marrow; māḿsa — flesh; vasā — fat; vāhinyāmin the river; upatapyanteare afflicted with pain.

TRANSLATION

A person who is born into a responsible family — such as a kṣatriya, a member of royalty or a government servant — but who neglects to execute his prescribed duties according to religious principles, and who thus becomes degraded, falls down at the time of death into the river of hell known as Vaitaraṇī. This river, which is a moat surrounding hell, is full of ferocious aquatic animals. When a sinful man is thrown into the River Vaitaraṇī, the aquatic animals there immediately begin to eat him, but because of his extremely sinful life, he does not leave his body. He constantly remembers his sinful activities and suffers terribly in that river, which is full of stool, urine, pus, blood, hair, nails, bones, marrow, flesh and fat.

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