From sensual desire is born grief, from sensual desire is born fear. For one freed from sensual desire, there is no grief; whence fear?

Kāmato — from sensual desire: kāma is sensory pleasure, desire for gratification through the senses. It is more specific than previous terms and more connected with the biological basis of desire.

Kāma in Buddhism is not sinful but is recognized as a natural force that, when it becomes compulsive, generates suffering. There is nothing wrong with sensory perception itself; the problem is the attachment to it.

Liberation from kāma is not the destruction of the senses but freedom from the compulsion to continuously seek sensory gratification. The liberated practitioner’s senses function normally — they simply do not generate the slavery of compulsive seeking.

The cumulative sequence (212-216) progressively deepens: from the dear (piya) to deep affection (pema), to pleasure (rati), to sensual desire (kāma), and finally to fundamental craving (taṇhā).