Shloka 75
प्रह्लादचरितम् (हिरण्यकशिपोः स्वर्गापहरणं, प्रह्लादस्य विष्णुभक्तिः, उपदेशः)
बाल्ये क्रीडनकासक्ता यौवने विषयोन्मुखाः अज्ञानयन्त्य् अशक्त्या च वार्द्धकं समुपस्थितम्
bālye krīḍanakāsaktā yauvane viṣayonmukhāḥ ajñānayanty aśaktyā ca vārddhakaṃ samupasthitam
In childhood they cling to playthings; in youth they turn toward the objects of sense. Thus, through ignorance—and later through sheer incapacity—they fail to recognize that old age has already arrived.
Sage Parāśara (in instruction to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: How play in childhood and sense-objects in youth, followed by incapacity, make people fail to notice old age’s arrival.
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: didactic
Concept: Attachment to play and sense-pleasures blinds one to time’s passage; by the time awareness comes, strength is gone.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Build ‘early-warning’ habits: periodic reflection on mortality/time, and disciplined enjoyment governed by dharma.
Vishishtadvaita: Encourages regulated life (niyama) as service to the Lord, where worldly stages are integrated under dharma rather than opposed to it.
Vishnu Form: Hari
Bhakti Type: Shanta
FAQs
It is presented as Time’s undeniable arrival, often ignored due to play in childhood and sense-pleasure in youth—urging timely awakening and reorientation toward dharma and devotion.
He frames it as a progression: distraction in childhood, outward sense-orientation in youth, and then helplessness in later years—so people remain unaware of life’s decline until it is unavoidable.
By highlighting the tyranny of Kāla over embodied life, the passage implicitly points to seeking refuge in Vishnu—the Supreme Reality beyond decay—as the stable goal amid impermanence.