atha - thus; idānīm - now; pratiṣiddha - by what is forbidden; lakṣaṇasya - symptomized; adharmasya - of impious activities; tathā - so also; eva - certainly; kartuḥ - of the performer; śraddhāyāḥ - of faith; vaisādṛśyāt - by the difference; karma-phalam - the reaction of fruitive activities; visadṛśam - different; bhavati - is; yā - which; hi - indeed; anādi - from time immemorial; avidyayā - by ignorance; kṛta - performed; kāmānām - of persons possessing many lusty desires; tat-pariṇāma-lakṣaṇāḥ - the symptoms of the results of such impious desires; sṛtayaḥ - hellish conditions of life; sahasraśaḥ - by thousands upon thousands; pravṛttāḥ - resulted; tāsām - them; prācuryeṇa - very widely; anuvarṇayiṣyāmaḥ - I shall explain.

Just as by executing various pious activities one achieves different positions in heavenly life, by acting impiously one achieves different positions in hellish life. Those who are activated by the material mode of ignorance engage in impious activities, and according to the extent of their ignorance, they are placed in different grades of hellish life. If one acts in the mode of ignorance because of madness, his resulting misery is the least severe. One who acts impiously but knows the distinction between pious and impious activities is placed in a hell of intermediate severity. And for one who acts impiously and ignorantly because of atheism, the resultant hellish life is the worst. Because of ignorance, every living entity has been carried by various desires into thousands of different hellish planets since time immemorial. I shall try to describe them as far as possible.