Shloka 57
इन्द्रद्युम्नोपाख्यानम्
Indradyumna Upākhyāna: On Kīrti, Smṛti, and Restoration
आरामांश्वैव वृक्षांश्ष॒ नाशयिष्यन्ति निर्व्यथा: । भविता संशयो लोके जीवितस्य हि देहिनाम्,सभी स्वभावतः क्रूर और एक-दूसरेपर मिथ्या कलंक लगानेवाले होंगे। युगान्तकाल उपस्थित होनेपर सब लोग बगीचों और वृक्षोंको कटवा देंगे और ऐसा करते समय उनके मनमें पीड़ा नहीं होगी। प्रत्येक मनुष्यके जीवनधारणमें भी शंका हो जायगी। अर्थात् प्रत्येक मनुष्यका जीवन धारण करना कठिन हो जायगा
ārāmāṃś caiva vṛkṣāṃś ca nāśayiṣyanti nirvyathāḥ | bhavitā saṃśayo loke jīvitasya hi dehinām ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “In the world’s decline, people will, without the least pang, destroy gardens and cut down trees. In such a time, even the continuance of embodied beings’ lives will become uncertain—life itself will be hard to sustain.”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse portrays ethical collapse: when compassion and reverence for life fade, people destroy even life-sustaining and sacred natural spaces without remorse. Such hard-heartedness becomes a sign of yuga-decline, bringing insecurity and fragility to human life itself.
Mārkaṇḍeya is describing ominous future conditions associated with the world’s degeneration (yugānta-like decline): people will cut down gardens and trees without feeling pain, and society will reach a state where the very survival of embodied beings becomes doubtful.