Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 49
Kṛṣṇa’s Impending Departure; Uddhava’s Surrender; King Yadu and the Avadhūta’s Twenty-Four Gurus
Beginnings
कालेन ह्योघवेगेन भूतानां प्रभवाप्ययौ । नित्यावपि न दृश्येते आत्मनोऽग्नेर्यथार्चिषाम् ॥ ४९ ॥
kālena hy ogha-vegena bhūtānāṁ prabhavāpyayau nityāv api na dṛśyete ātmano ’gner yathārciṣām
ด้วยกระแสอันเชี่ยวกรากของกาลเวลา การเกิดและดับของสรรพชีวิตเกิดขึ้นไม่ขาดสายแต่ไม่เป็นที่สังเกต เหมือนเปลวไฟที่ผุดขึ้นและดับไปทุกขณะโดยคนทั่วไปไม่ทันเห็น ฉันนั้นคลื่นแห่งกาลเวลาก่อให้เกิด การเติบโต และความตายของกายมากมายนับไม่ถ้วน โดยอาตมันกลับไม่รู้เท่าทันการงานของกาล
The brāhmaṇa avadhūta instructing King Yadu again gives the example of fire after having already proceeded to the example of the moon. This analytic method is called siṁhāvalokana, or “the lion’s glance,” by which one simultaneously proceeds forward and casts backward glances to see if anything has been overlooked. Thus the sage proceeds with his analysis but returns to the example of fire to illustrate the need for renunciation. The material body is certainly an ephemeral and phantasmagorical manifestation of the Lord’s external potency. The flames of a fire constantly take birth and disappear, yet we perceive the fire as a continuous reality. Similarly, the soul is a continuous reality, although his material bodies appear and disappear constantly, by the influence of time. It is said that the most astonishing thing is that no one thinks that they will die. Because the soul is eternal, the living entity is prone to accept any fleeting situation as permanent, forgetting that his eternal nature can be truly experienced only in the eternal atmosphere of the spiritual sky. If one is convinced of this fact, he develops the quality of vairāgya, or detachment from material illusion.
FAQs
This verse says that the strong current of time brings about the arising and dissolution of all beings, yet the Self remains untouched and is not truly implicated in these changes.
Krishna instructs Uddhava in discrimination between the changing world and the unchanging Self, using the analogy of flames and fire to show that birth and death belong to transformations, not to the atman.
See life’s gains and losses as movements of time, and anchor your identity in the steady Self—this reduces anxiety and supports steady devotion and wise detachment.