Śivasaṃhitā 2.55

This verse describes the archetypal saṃsārī: the person whose attention is oriented exclusively toward viṣayas, sense objects. This attachment (āsakti) is not neutral; it generates the perpetual motion of the cycle of birth and death. The pursuit of pleasure in the transient is the very definition of the ignorance this text seeks to cure.

The compound viṣayāsakta (‘attached to sense objects’) combines viṣaya (sense object, sensory domain) with āsakta (adhered, trapped). The term sukhepsavaḥ (‘desirous of pleasure’) derives from sukha (pleasure, happiness) and icchā (desire). The grammar itself reveals the trap: desiring pleasure through the senses guarantees suffering.

This verse closes the chapter on the microcosm with a psychological warning: all knowledge of the subtle body — nāḍīs, cakras, kuṇḍalinī — is useless if the practitioner remains bound to the pursuit of sensory satisfaction. Knowledge of subtle anatomy must be accompanied by vairāgya (dispassion) to be liberating.