Shloka 9
Parīkṣit Confronts Kali; Dharma and Bhūmi Lament Kṛṣṇa’s Departure
मन्दस्य मन्दप्रज्ञस्य वयो मन्दायुषश्च वै । निद्रया ह्रियते नक्तं दिवा च व्यर्थकर्मभि: ॥ ९ ॥
mandasya manda-prajñasya vayo mandāyuṣaś ca vai nidrayā hriyate naktaṁ divā ca vyartha-karmabhiḥ
มนุษย์ผู้เกียจคร้าน ปัญญาน้อย และอายุสั้น ย่อมปล่อยคืนให้ผ่านไปด้วยการหลับ และกลางวันด้วยกิจอันไร้สาระ
The less intelligent do not know the real value of the human form of life. The human form is a special gift of material nature in the course of her enforcing stringent laws of miseries upon the living being. It is a chance to achieve the highest boon of life, namely to get out of the entanglement of repeated birth and death. The intelligent take care of this important gift by strenuously endeavoring to get out of the entanglement. But the less intelligent are lazy and unable to evaluate the gift of the human body to achieve liberation from the material bondage; they become more interested in so-called economic development and work very hard throughout life simply for the sense enjoyment of the temporary body. Sense enjoyment is also allowed to the lower animals by the law of nature, and thus a human being is also destined to a certain amount of sense enjoyment according to his past or present life. But one should definitely try to understand that sense enjoyment is not the ultimate goal of human life. Herein it is said that during the daytime one works “for nothing” because the aim is nothing but sense enjoyment. We can particularly observe how the human being is engaged for nothing in the great cities and industrial towns. There are so many things manufactured by human energy, but they are all meant for sense enjoyment, and not for getting out of material bondage. And after working hard during the daytime, a tired man either sleeps or engages in sex habits at night. That is the program of materialistic civilized life for the less intelligent. Therefore they are designated herein as lazy, unfortunate and short-lived.
FAQs
This verse says that in Kali Yuga a person’s limited lifespan is robbed away—by excessive sleep at night and by pointless, spiritually unproductive activities during the day.
In the context of Parīkṣit’s encounter with Kali, Śukadeva describes Kali Yuga’s degrading influence—showing how human time and intelligence are diminished when life is centered on inertia and fruitless action.
Reduce time-draining habits (oversleeping, compulsive distractions) and dedicate daily hours to meaningful duty, sādhana, and hearing/chanting about Bhagavān so life is not lost to “vyartha-karma.”