Text 28
tapto ’ham te tejasā duḥsahena
śāntogreṇāty-ulbaṇena jvareṇa
tāvat tāpo dehināṁ te ’nghri-mūlaṁ
no severan yāvad āśānubaddhāḥ
taptaḥ — burned; aham — I; te — Your; tejasā — by the power; duḥsahena — insufferable; śānta — cold; ugreṇa — yet burning; ati — extremely; ulbaṇena — terrible; jvareṇa — fever; tāvat — for so long; tāpaḥ — the burning torment; dehinām — of embodied souls; te — Your; aṅghri — of the feet; mūlam — the sole; na — do not; u — indeed; severan — serve; yāvat — as long as; āśā — in material desires; anubaddhāḥ — continuously bound.
I am tortured by the fierce power of Your terrible fever weapon, which is cold yet burning. All embodied souls must suffer as long as they remain bound to material ambitions and thus averse to serving Your feet.
In the previous verse, the Śiva-jvara stated that those who live by violence will suffer similar violence at the hands of the Lord. But here he further states that those who do not surrender to the Supreme Lord are especially liable to punishment. Although the Śiva-jvara himself had acted violently up till now, since he has surrendered to the Lord and rectified himself, he hopes to receive the Lord’s mercy. In other words, he has now become the Lord’s devotee.