Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.10.10
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Los Angeles · 2022
Chapters
Verse recitation and text introduction
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Sudevaya, Omna mo Bhavate vaya bagavateva, Omnamo Bhavateva Sudevaya sudeva,
Nārāyaṇam namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva naroṭṭamam. tato jayam udīrayet naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata- sevayā bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī. yaṁ pravrajantam
anupetam apeta-kṛtyaṁ dvaipāyano viraha-kātara Yad-anudhyāsinā yuktaḥ pāṇḍavaḥ pāṇḍava-rṣabhaḥ tam sarva-bhūta-hṛdayam munim ānato 'smi. taṁ sarva-bhūta-hṛdayaṁ munim ānato 'smi.
Today we are reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 3, Chapter number 10, Divisions of Creation, Text 10. Vidura uvāca:
Yad etad bahu-rūpaṁ vai karmāṇy adbhuta-karmaṇaḥ kāla-khyā-lakṣaṇaṁ brahman yathā varṇaya me prabho. tattvato hy atibahurūpasya karmanaha, karma, pareta karmana, reanu karma, kalakyam laksyanam
brahman Kalakam Laksam Braham Laksam brama ja tavnaya na prabo, Yatavarnaya 'bhavat prabho, yat-tattvato 'bhavat prabho.
Viduruvacha, Yatatta Bahuru hareḥ adbhuta-karmaṇaḥ, Karmana, Karma Kalakyam laksanambra, lakyan laksam brahman, ja tavarnayana prabu Vidurahubacha Vidurahuacha Viduraset Viduret Yata S Atha, you have said, bahu-rūpaṁ paśya,
having varieties of forms of the Lord. Adbuta. Wonderful. Wonderful. Karmāṇaḥ. Karmāṇaḥ. Of the actor. Of the actor. Kāla-ākhyam, time, the name of the symptoms. Lakṣaṇam, symptoms. Brahman, O learned brāhmaṇa.
Yathā, as it is, varṇaya, please describe, naḥ, unto uslation and proportion by his Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada ki jaya.
Vidura inquired from Maitreya, O my Lord, O greatly learned sage, kindly describe eternal time, which is another form of the Supreme Lord, the wonderful actor. What are the symptoms of the eternal time? Please describe them to us in detail.
The complete universe is a manifestation of varieties of entities beginning from the atom up to gigantic universe itself and all is under the control of the Supreme Lord in his form of cala or eternal time.
The controlling time has different dimensions in relation to particular physical embodiments. There is time for atomic dissolution and time for the universal dissolution.
There is a time for the annihilation of the body of the human being, and there is a time for the annihilation of the universal body. Also, growth, development, and resultant actions all dependent on the time factor.
We wanted to know in detail the different the different physical manifestations and the times of annihilation. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya!
Viduru Vacha, Yatha, Bahurupa, Sya, Hare, Adbuta, Karmana naha,ha Karma kalakyam lakshanam Brahman Yathavarna nah Prabhu.
Vidur inquired from Maitreya, O my Lord, O greatly learned sage, kindly describe eternal time, which is another form of the Supreme Lord, the wonderful actor. What are the symptoms of the eternal time? Please describe them to us in detail.
Nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine. Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe. Śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.
Vidura inquiring about time
Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Yanda Pradisha Mamavachima Mamamprasuktam Sanjae Vaya takila shakti darakswadam Swa se stu vi shwasia, pracy da tam dh, butani, shiam mitu, Vidura
Vidura is asking this question. He is asking, please explain to me one form of the Lord who has many forms. You have already said that the Supreme Lord is Bahurupa. He has many, many different forms and manifestations.
And he is called Hari, which means that he steals away everything. So, and he is working in a very wonderful way, and one of his forms is color.
Please explain to me how he is working within this material universe through this energy of colour, which is one of his powerful forms.
And this question opens the whole section of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describing what is color.
And we can understand from reading this description that the very conception of time is very much different than the modern conception of time. In reality, people nowadays they don't really know what is time.
They have no clue what exactly the time factor is.
So let's try to a little bit describe what is the very conception of time and how the very conception of time is very much different from the modern understanding of what the time is.
First of all, the very word kāla is coming from kāla, which means time, kalaha, is coming from the verbal root kal kāla saṁkhyāne kāla means kalaha time means basically, something which calculates.
Saṁkhyāne means to calculate, and of course, there are different interpretations of this concept which is invested in this Sanskrit word kāla. The first and foremost, and the most prominent and most obvious interpretation
is that kāla. This is the etymology which Śaṅkarācārya gives in his Viṣṇu Sahasranāma commentary. By the way, Kālaḥ is one of thousand names of the Lord. So it's the Lord Himself.
Kāla, as Vidura Himself, says here that this is one of the forms of many multi-formed entity who is the Lord Himself and who is doing this amazing things in this material universe.
So the first interpretation of what kāla is kalayati sarvam iti kālaḥ kāla time is something which puts the end to everything, which calculates the end and ultimately brings about the destruction of everything from atom up to the gigantic universe.
As Prabhupāda explains here in the purpurt, that's the main meaning of Kāla. Kāla is this powerful and terrible horrifying force which puts the end to everyone, including our not so humble selves. So, this is what it is.
And actually that's the main purpose of kāla to make us not so humble selves humble because we all can understand the existence of the Supreme Power by the presence of cruel time which will sooner or later put the end of our limited life.
So the color is something which limits everyone. It's another slightly different concept. It puts the limit to everyone and we can see that even the most powerful demons in the universe, they were limited by time.
When the time comes, that's it. No matter how powerful you were, you know, my dear sir, you're finished, your time has come.
Your time has come basically means that you have an audience with the Supreme Lord in the form of time.
Time as a limiting force
You have his darshan in this particular form of his.
So that's one thing, but also kāla, it's saṅkhyāna has some other may have some other interpretations because this is the beauty of Sanskrit language you can twist it in a different ways and explain it in a very in a variety of ways.
So in other but to kāla means something which is calculating everything. And calculating everything basically also means that there is a time
for appearance of something, there is a time for maintenance of something, as again Śrīla Prabhupāda explains here. Growth, development, and resultant actions depend on time factor.
That's the force which is behind all the processes taking place in this material world. This is this very conception of time.
And of course, we know that in Brahma-saṁhitā, where the creation of this material world is described in a metaphorical way, or in a very interesting way, let's say, in a very profound way, it is explained that what is really kāla and how the Lord takes form of kāla.
It's a very amazing and peculiar process how the Lord, who is completely transcendental, who has nothing to do with this material world, who is totally immersed in his transcendental pastimes in the spiritual world, nevertheless takes this form of kāla which comes in a very intimate contact with this material world and basically pushes and manipulates
everything in this material world as Kṛṣṇa himself says, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram. When he speaks this verse in the ninth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā,
everything is moving and non-moving living entities are under my supervision, mayādhyakṣeṇa.
I am the adhyakṣa. I am literally the one who is looking at everything here and taking care of all the events of this material universe and that's basically the common conception of the Lord.
So the this process of turning somebody who is completely transcendental and has nothing to do with this material world into somebody who has everything to do with this material world and takes care of everything of all the processes which take place in this material world is is very beautifully described in Brahma-saṁhitā.
Disturbing the equilibrium of nature
And of course, in the commentaries of our ācāryas to Brahma-saṁhitā verses. First of all, it is explained here in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the eighth chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that Kala is the glance
of the Lord by which He disturbs the equilibrium of the modes of material nature. In the original state, the modes of material nature are in complete equilibrium. It means basically they all are in a static form.
So, in other conception of kala, what is kala. Kala is kāla-ga. Kala is uh the time factor. It's something which disturbs.
What the time factor disturbs, the time factor disturbs this static equilibrium form of the material nature and he basically throws it out of equilibrium.
This initial state where all the modes of material nature are in complete equilibrium is being disturbed by the Lord, by His glance, by the energy of His glance.
In the eighth chapter of this canto of the third canto of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, it is said that the Lord lay, this is verse number 11, just like the strengths of fire within the fuel wood, the Lord remained within the water of the solution, submerging all the living entities in their subtle bodies, he lay in the self-invigorated energy called Kala, the time.
It's a very interesting concept which Śrīla Prabhupāda very beautifully puts in English: self-invigorating energy called kala. When everything was in equilibrium, the kala was submerged within the Lord.
But then the Lord glances into this material world, into material energy, and with this glance, he impregnates this material world with all the living entities with their residual karma, the karma accumulated in previous lives. And this action throws out all the modes of material nature out of equilibrium.
And so this energy of color is the energy which moves the material modes.
Influence of modes on time
It's a very interesting concept, again, which is completely foreign to modern way of thinking. What is kala?
Kāla is something which moves about the modes of material nature. And therefore, Kāla is not an undifferentiated media in which all the events take place.
The modern conception is just color is something, you know, we don't know what it is, but it's something which really has no divisions.
But in reality, and that's exactly what is explained in this chapter and in the next chapter,
Kāla is dividing everything. Kāla has divisions. And Kāla is manipulating the modes of nature, and therefore each and every moment of fraction of time is
saturated by different modes or with unique combination of three modes of material nature. And that's exactly the concept upon which the whole Vedic science of astrology is based.
Every moment of time has a very unique combination of the modes of material nature because that's exactly what the time does.
How the time manipulates this material world, how Kṛṣṇa controls this material world through this minute, minutest, very precise manipulation of the modes of material nature.
And therefore, every moment of time is different. You know, while we're sitting here, there's so many differences taking
place because moment after moment the slight difference of influences upon our mind uh is taking place by the influence of Kāla. No.
And because different people have different receptive powers to this, you know, the time influences different people in this audience in a different way, in a unique way.
Like now somebody is sleeping. You know, that's the influence of time. Somebody is smiling, that's the influence of time on his particular, on this particular living entity. Somebody is just pondering what is it all about.
And somebody is dreaming at that time, you know, meditating what he will do when this useless class will finished. So yeah that's the that's how the time manifests right now.
And as I said because every moment of time is different, this is according to the modes of material nature.
This is how you know sometimes certain events take place and we don't know why they take place at this particular time. Like for example, war is going on now. You know, why did it start now?
It's because of time. Time factor, the time is ripe for this particular action. That's another—I will still explain something about Brahma-saṁhitā. I didn't forget about it, but I little diverge from this main uh stream.
But what is very important is that time being an active force, time again is not a neutral media which has nothing to do with this, according to the Vedas, which is the most important and peculiar concept.
Time is an active factor, is an active force which actively involves in the minutest events of this world. So and—and therefore, time is one of the causative factors of this world.
Very important causative factor of what is taking place.
Three causes governing material events
That's one of the causes. Actually, there are three main causes according to the very concept.
And these three main causes, unless you understand these three main causes, the concept of these three main causes, you will never be able to figure out why something takes place at the moment when it takes place.
So the first cause, very important cause, is the desire of the living entity. Why this material world takes place, why this degradation takes place, it's very simple.
Why Kali Yuga is so degraded age? Because the living entity wants to be degraded.
There is such a strong desire of the living entity for this, you know, all this gross sense gratification and that's the reason why uh it takes place. Now you know you can ask the the the second
cause, second very important cause is the laws of material nature. It's not that you know we're not here like uh other new age uh people who say, you know, whatever you desire you can get.
You know, just desire, you're not desiring is strong enough. Just visualize it, yeah, just see it and you know visualize it, it will come to you. No, no, it's not going to work like this exactly.
Because there is another cause. If the desire of the living entity was the only cause, that would be the fact. But there is another cause, that's the laws of material nature.
You can only get something which will be allowed for you to get according to the laws of material nature.
You know, I may, you know, I may spend my whole life desiring to be the President of the United States, you know, but lo and behold it didn't happen, you know, somehow or other.
So this is a useless concept because there are some strict laws which govern this material world, and they they have something to say, very important things to say. So the desire of the living entity answers the question why something happens, because of the desire. The laws of material nature they explain how something happens.
It answers the questions how. You know, the science is proudly saying, the scientists proudly claim that they answer the question why. No, they don't answer the question why.
They only answer the question how it takes place. When they describe the laws of material nature, they explain this aspect of causality, how it takes place.
But then there is a third factor which is completely unknown to us and very mysterious and very frightening, that's the time factor. And the time factor actually answers the question: what takes place?
Because you may have a desire. The laws of material nature may allow it to happen. But the time factor says, no, it's not the time for this to happen now. And still it will not happen.
Or the time factor says, yes, now the time is ripe and therefore this can take place.
So time is this choosing agent which chooses what can take place at this particular moment and actually completely filters out other possibilities.
So this when we understand these three factors together then only we will understand why certain events take place now. Like for example, the example which I already gave, the degradation of Kali Yuga.
Why did Kali Yuga take place now? Because of the desire of living entity, because of the laws of material nature, including the laws of the society, because that's the part of material nature.
You know, internet and different things, different, you know, the laws of this democratic society of freedom of speech and all other completely peculiar freedoms which are there, you can you can say any damn things, and you know you're you're supposed to be right because you're a free citizen of a free country.
So that's all a very important factor of degradation. That's the law which governs this. But again, why didn't it happen, let's say, you know, five thousand years back.
Well, of course it started 5,000 years back, but not to the same extent. Again, because the time factor says now is the time. Why?
For example, why God brothers of Śrīla Prabhupāda could not spread Krishna consciousness because the time was not right. Because the time was not ripe.
And why Krishna sent Śrīla Prabhupāda at that time and when it became possible? Because he wanted it to do through him. So that's how we should understand uh the events of this material world, including the time factor.
Again, time factor is not something which limits everything, but time factor is something which facilitates everything which takes place in this material world. Which is another very important concept.
Role of Shambu in material creation
And time factor says that I'm supposed to finish my class now.
Yeah, Brahma-saṁhitā. So Brahma-saṁhitā concept or idea or the description is very interesting cause Brahma-saṁhitā explains how again how the completely transcendental Lord, who
has nothing to do with this material world, takes the form of the time and Who has everything to do with this material world and who basically defines the course of events in this material creation.
And you know, this verse about Lord Shiva uh Shiram Yatada Divikare Vishesha Yogat Yatsambutama Pitatha Prithakastihet what is this?
Anyway, this verse where it is said that shambu which is the time factor uh ksiram yatada di vikare vi shesha yogat uh so the
metaphor or comparison which is here in this verse is that Krishna is turned into shambu exactly like the milk is turned into yogurt.
The milk and yogurt is one substance at the same time it has they have completely different properties, completely different actions upon human body and everything.
They're completely different even though they're one substance.
In the same way, the transcendental Lord Govinda, Govindaṁ ādi-puruṣaṁ tam-ahaṁ bhajāmi, is turned into Shambu, who is completely different and who is ruling in this material world by copulating with this material energy and coming in contact with her and starting all the processes of material nature through the certain agent.
As much as milk is turned into yogurt by adding certain agent you you add some, you know, some little you you add I don't know little sour substance and you add little yogurt into the milk and keep it warm for some time and then it becomes yogurt.
In the same way, there is a certain agent which,
you know, figuratively speaking, of course, it's the will of the Lord which is the agent, but it is said that what is the agent which turns the transcendental form of the Lord into the form of kala or the form of shambu, who is in charge of the processes of this material world?
The agent consists of tamo-guṇa, the influence of the mode of tamas of ignorance, the factor of minuteness. The transcendental Lord is unlimited, he is an Ananta.
But when he comes to this material world in the form of shambu to start to initiate the processes taking place in this material world, he
uh you know he adds to himself like uh in the world of Vaikuṇṭha, Vaikuṇṭha means something without limit, something without obstacles, something without limit. So in Vaikuṇṭha everything is unlimited.
The life is eternal, the love which is in the heart of living entities is eternal. Everything is eternal Everything is unlimited, there's no limit. But when the Lord, unlimited Lord, is turned into shambu,
then this aspect of limitedness, or I don't know, the minuteness is added to his nature. And therefore, you know, the time is what it is. It always puts the limit. That's the concept of time which is a limiting factor.
So this limitedness or minuteness is added to the form of the Lord. And then the minute fraction of uh Sat uh sorry uh cheat and ananda uh uh energies is added to this.
So it's a very interesting concept that the Lord turns into shambu and shambu copulates with material energy as as this time factor. The glance of the Lord takes shape of shambu and shambu is exactly this.
You know it has it has all these aspects in himself added to the transcendental nature of the Lord.
And while all these aspects are added to the transcendental nature of the Lord, to completely transcendental Lord, then He turns into Shambu and this Shambu is basically ruling over this material universe where the jivas are going through this cycle of births and deaths through this media of limiting factor of color.
So that's uh that's what the Brahma-saṁhitā version of it. Anyway, my time is over because you know I have to be obedient to the force of time, otherwise I would be self-contradicting.
You know, we have to take into consideration the time.
And that's something little which we can say about this concept of time and which will be described in much more detail by Maitreya to Vidura in the verses ahead of us. What is the time?
Practical advice on surrendering to time
So I don't know if if there is a time for for yeah.
I wanted to ask a question about this concept of time, about this concept of kāla, and how much I struggled with it. I very much struggled with the concept of time of understanding the right time of surrendering to kāla.
And I was I was wondering if you could give practical advice around how to understand kāla better or how to surrender to kāla better in my life or all that we're hav Um do you have any choice but not surrender to them?
So what's the problem? Simple. Um speaking of the uh factor which turns world into time, so the mode of ignorance is the agent which turns.
So my understanding that um for when we have the knowledge uh that we are eternal beings therefore the time doesn't exist to us as to people who are under ignorance think that's that's all they got is like they're for like oh ready 30 and they haven't made a million dollars and so on.
But for my understanding that engine that turns what what we see in the material world through material eyes. So we see the Lord that way.
How to reverse the process as saintly people they see the Lord in everything. So how to like utilize this knowledge to to see the Lord in everything, how to remove that agent.
When we are completely enamored or immersed in this temporary material existence and therefore very much concerned with the time. Why people are so much attached to the news?
You know, it's a very interesting phenomenon psychologically speaking, because news are very fleeting.
And you know, something which was so interesting to you today, which is so interesting to you today, you know, just even you know couple of weeks later becomes totally not
interesting, you know nobody reads newspapers which you know has you know one year back you know, no you know if you may you know open the newspaper and there's no juice there. But today's newspaper is so juicy, you know.
So that's that's the that's the phenomenon because we are completely enamored by these events of time which are fleeting.
You know, like also people who are doing all these advertisements, they know that we cannot really concentrate too long on something. Something should move. You know, the time is moving. So and by moving, by this, by its movement, it completely captures our attention.
And people who are immersed in this fleeting material nature, into this illusion of material nature, into this cinema of material nature which we have in front of our eyes they don't see the Lord, they only see this external manifestation.
They are under the influence of this tamasic element which is there in the time which moves everything here.
So if we want to understand the eternal Lord, the first thing which we have to do, we have to turn away from this fleeting illusory manifestation of material nature. We should not be too much absorbed in it.
We understand it's there, we have to relate to it in a reasonable way. We cannot really escape this.
But at least for some portion of time, some portion of time which is allotted to us, we should not meditate on this, we should meditate on eternal nature of our soul, of eternal nature.
Then only we will be able to see this material world through the different lens. Then we will see the eternal nature of the Lord, which is also there in this material world.
Until we're completely enamored by this phenomena of always changing phenomena of time. In other words, until we are very much attached to reading news,
then we will never be fig be able to understand what's going on really in this world? How the Lord is behind everything? We will never.
I remember once it was Kārtika time, and I asked I was in Vṛndāvana and I asked Jayadvaita Swami, what is your Kārtika vow? Because it's supposed to be very important time for all Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas.
So we give some severe vows for this month of Kārtika. And he said, no newspaper. This is my vow. This is my Kārtika vow. And it's very important vow. For one month, no newspaper.
So it means no no meditation on uh on this external appearance of uh of the material world.
Proper utilization of time in devotion
No, sure, sure, please. Thank you. Thank you very much for a very insightful class and the principles of time. Because it sheds a lot of light on our own lives and how we are regarding time and how we are using time.
That is what Śrīla Prabhupāda was emphasizing so often that we were wasting time.
Wasting we were wasting it in uh in such a way that uh it may take many, many years, thousands of years, millions of years to recover a position or a point that we had,
which could be the basis, but which could be the means by which we could, through time, ultimately transcend time and transcendental time, we could go and be free of the miseries, the sufferings,
the difficulties, the trials, the tribulations, and the problems. All that could be over if we make a good and proper use of time. What am I doing now?
Now I'm looking at all these wonderful faces that want to know how to get out of the miseries, how to get back to the spiritual world and how through that process to please, to satisfy, to uplift even more Krishna.
So that's our business and that's what Prabhupāda emphasizes. Make best use of now and stop complaining about you don't have it as good as you would like it. That's not the point.
The point is, is every moment Krishna is giving us that opportunity to thank God, to look up to God, to beg the Lord, to enable us to serve Him better, greater, higher, grander, and to serve devotees as well.
And through that process, through that process, we can become free, yes truly free, of the miseries and sufferings and difficulties and tribulations of material life.
So we can do that when we recognize every moment I am wasting or I am using. If we are using, that is good. Not only are we using it, but when we use it, we encourage others to use it as well.
And that is how the world becomes a better place to live in.
When we think beyond our own little noses and we begin to think about other noses, then they begin to think of their noses and other noses, and we become to be more selfless in the sense that we want to share this knowledge, as
Śrīla Prabhupāda says. Don't waste your time. Use it. Transcend through it. And by it, you'll be free from this world. But if you say, well, tomorrow, I can do that tomorrow.
Yeah, well I did sixty of I I I did only twelve rounds, I'll make them up tomorrow. This mentality, well you can make them up the next day, but the mentality of procrastination is not a good thing.
Procrastination means, well, I'll leave it, I can do it tomorrow, uh, and it, uh, I have tomorrow, why must I work, because today may be your last day so if it's going to be your last day, make it your best day.
And if it's going to be your best day, then all you can do is say, Krishna, Thank you, Prabhupada, thank you, thank you for giving me this. Help me to remember you at the final moment when there will be no more material world and I will hopefully go back to the spiritual world.
Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Śrīla Prabhupāda keeps.