"The Story of the Fortunate One"

by KRISHNA-DVAIPÂYANA VYÂSA

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Anand Aadhar Prabhu  

 Canto 1

S.B. 1.5: 18

The philosophically inclined should for that reason endeavor only for this [spiritual fulfillment] that is not so much found by searching from high to low, because material fulfillment - countered by miseries - is in the course of the time that operates so subtly, found anyhow as a result of one's actions.

S.B. 1.6: 8-9

Being only five years old, I attended the school of the brahmins and lived, depending on her, without having a clue about time, place and direction. 

When she once went out at night to milk a cow, she was bitten in the leg by a snake on the path and thus my poor mother fell victim of the supreme time.

S.B. 1.8: 4

Krishna together with the munis pacified the shocked and affected family who had lost their friends and members, by showing how each is subjected to the Time that cannot be avoided.

S.B. 1.8: 28

I consider You the personification of Eternal Time, the Lord without a beginning or an end, the All-pervasive One who distributes His mercy everywhere, equally, among the beings who live in mutual dissent.

S.B. 1.9: 14-15

All the unpleasant that transpired, I think, is the inescapable effect of Time; you, just like the rest of the world with its ruling demigods, fall under that control the way clouds are carried by the wind.

Why else would there be such misfortune with Yudhishthhira, the son of the ruler of religion, being present, as also Bhîma with his mighty club, Arjuna carrying his Gândîva and our well-wisher Krishna?

S.B. 1.11: 6

They said: 'We have always bowed down to Your lotus feet, oh Lord, like one does in the worship of Brahmâ and his sons and the king of heaven. You after all are for the ones who desire the supreme welfare in this life, the Master of Transcendence upon whom the inevitable time has no grip.

S.B. 1.13: 17-20

But the insurmountable and imperceptible Time surpasses inimitably those who are inattentive and engrossed in the mind of attachment to family affairs. 

Vidura, well aware of this, said to Dhritarâshthra: 'Oh King, [dear brother], please withdraw yourself without delay, just see how fear is ruling your life. 

In this material world, oh master, there is no help from anyone or anything to escape this fear, because that fear concerns the Supreme Lord who approaches us all in the form of eternal Time.

Inevitably overtaken by the pull of time a person must, just like that, give up this life, as dear as it is to everyone, not to mention the wealth and such he has acquired.

S.B. 1.13: 46

How is this body, which is made out of the five elements [fire, water, air, earth and ether] and is controlled by time, by materially motivated action and by the modes of nature [kâla, karma and the gunas], capable of protecting others when it is just as well bitten by that snake?

S.B. 1.13: 49

He, the Father of all creation, the Supreme Lord, has now, oh great King, descended in this world in the form of [death, the all-devouring] Time, in order to eliminate everyone inimical to the enlightened souls.

S.B. 1.14: 3

The time had taken an inauspicious turn: he observed seasonal irregularities and saw that human beings sinfully turned to anger, greed and falsehood in heartening their civil means of livelihood.

S.B. 1.14: 5

The people gradually were acquiring godless habits like wantonness and such. The king facing these serious matters and bad omens, spoke with his younger brother about it.

S.B. 1.14: 8

Might it be so that, as Nârada told us, the Supreme Personality has decided it is time to leave this physical manifestation of Himself?

S.B. 1.15: 27

Bearing in mind the words spoken by Govinda, I remember how attractive they are, and how they, imbued with importance and appropriate to time and circumstance, put an end to the pain in the heart.' "

S.B. 1.16: 24

Please inform me, oh reservoir of all riches, about the reason of your sadness that reduced you to such a weak state. Or has, oh mother, powerful Time that even subdues the most powerful soul, stolen away your good fortune extolled by the demigods?'

S.B. 1.18: 37

'Verily, seven days from now the wretched soul of the dynasty who offended my father will, because of breaking with the etiquette, be bitten by a snake-bird.'

S.B. 1.19: 4

Thus pondering, the message reached him of the curse of death pronounced by the sage's son. That curse in the form of the fire of a snake bird, he accepted as auspicious because that impending happening would be the consequence of his indifference about worldly affairs.

 

Canto 2

S.B. 2.1: 14

Oh member of the Kuru family, therefore also your life's duration that is limited to seven days, should inspire you to perform everything that traditionally belongs to the rituals for a next life.

S.B. 2.1: 24

His personal body is this gross material world in which we experience all that belongs to the past, the present and the future of the existence of this universe.

S.B. 2.1: 33-34

His veins are the rivers and the plants and trees are the hairs on the body of the Universal Form, oh King. The air is His omnipotent breathing, the passing of the ages, Time, is His movement and the constant operation of the modes of material nature is His activity. 

Let me tell you that the hairs on the head of the Supreme One are the clouds, oh best of the Kurus, and that the intelligence of the Almighty One is the prime cause of the material creation, so one says. His mind, the reservoir of all changes, is known as the moon.

S.B. 2.2: 15

Whenever one desires to give up one's body, oh King, one should as a sage, without being disturbed, comfortably seated and with one's thinking unperturbed by matters of time and place, in control of the life air restrain the senses with the help of the mind.

S.B. 2.2: 17-18

Therein one will not find the supremacy of time that for sure controls the godly who direct the worldly creatures with their demigods, nor will one find there mundane goodness, passion or ignorance or any material change or causality of nature at large.

Knowing what and what not relates to the divine of the transcendental position, they who wish to avoid what is godless, completely give up the perplexities [of arguing to time and place], and place thereto in purely at Him directed good-will every moment His worshipable lotus feet in their heart.

S.B. 2.2: 24-25

In the control of the divinity of fire [Vais'vânara, or with regular sacrifice and meditation] one attains by following the path of [the sushumnâ, the channel of balancing] the breath, the illuminating pure Spirit of the Absolute, whereupon being freed from impurities going upwards one [in respect of the cyclic order of the luminaries] reaches the [galactic cakra order of the] Lord, oh King, called S'is'umâra [meaning: dolphin, to the form of the Milky Way, galactic time]. 

Passing beyond that navel of the universe, the pivot, the center of spin of the Maintainer [Vishnu], only the individual living being who got purified by the realization of his smallness [the yogi], reaches the place worshiped by those who know the Absolute Spirit. The self-realized souls enjoy their stay there for the time of a kalpa [a day of Brahmâ].

S.B. 2.5: 11

All of the world that I created was created from the effulgence [the brahmajyoti] of His existence, just like it is with the fire, the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars [that radiate from His effulgence].

S.B. 2.5: 21-22

The Lord of Control by the potency of His material energy thus, from the independent will of His divine self, arrived at many appearances, taking upon Himself their karma, [being subjected to] time and their particular natures.

Because of the superintendence of the Original Person the creation of the mahat-tattva [the 'greater reality'] took place, from eternal time there was the transformation of the modes and from the modification of the original nature the different activities found their existence.

S.B. 2.5: 26-29

By transformation of the ether the air found its existence which is characterized by the quality of touch. Along with it sound also appeared as a characteristic that was remembered from the ether. Air thus acquired also a life of diversity with energy and force. Air in its turn again transformed under the influence of time and generated from its nature the element of fire in response to what preceded. With its form there was likewise touch and sound [as the hereditary burden or the karma of the previous elements]. Fire transformed [or condensed from oxygen and hydrogen] into water. Thus the element of taste came about which consequently was accompanied by touch, sound and form. But because of the variegatedness of that transformation of water next the smell of the juice followed that assumed form [as the earth element] together with the qualities of touch and sound.

S.B. 2.5: 34

The universe after countless millennia having been submerged in the [causal] waters, was by the personal soul [the Lord] who animates the inanimate awakened to its own time of living.

S.B. 2.6: 11

The unseen mover [viz. Time] of the seas and oceans of the living beings that are involved with evolution and extinction is, as seen from His belly [the middle worlds, S'iva], by the intelligent souls known as the [beating] heart that is located in the subtle body.

S.B. 2.6: 24

For the performance of sacrifices, the sacrificed such as flowers and leaves and burning material [such as straw] is needed together with an altar as also a framework of time [a calendar e.g.] in order to follow the modes of nature.

S.B.  2.6: 42

The first avatâra of the Lord is the Original Person: [Mahâvishnu or Kâranodakas'âyî Vishnu. He forms the basis of] spacetime [kâla svabhavah, the original nature of time], cause, effect, the elements, the modes, as also the ego, the senses and the mind. These together constitute the diversity of  the complete whole of all that moves and does not move of the universal being [also called Garbhodakas'âyî Vishnu].

S.B.  2.8: 12-13

And what about a day of Brahmâ [a kalpa] and the periods between them [vikalpas]? What can you say about the time we refer to with the words past, future and present? And how about the lifespan allotted to embodied beings? 

Oh purest of the twice-born souls, when did time begin and what can you say about the indication of time as being short or long as like passing with a certain activity?

 S.B. Text 2.9: 3

 The very moment he [the witness, the soul], in his glory of transcending the time of the material energy, enjoys it to be free from illusion, he in that fulness will forsake these two [of 'I' and 'mine'].

Canto 3

S.B. 3.2: 7

Uddhava said: 'What can I say about our wellbeing now the sun of Krishna has set and the house of my family has been swallowed by the great serpent of  the past?

 S.B. 3.4: 16-17

Even though You have no desires You engage in all kinds of activities, even though You are unborn You still take birth, being the controller of eternal Time You nevertheless take shelter of the fortress out of fear for Your enemies and despite enjoying within Yourself, You lead a household life in the association of women; this bewilders the intelligence of the scholars in this world.

You are never divided and ever fresh, yet You, in Your eternal intelligence, oh Master, call upon me for consultation, as if You would be bewildered. But that is never the case. That boggles my mind, oh Lord.

S.B. 3.5: 14

I pity all those ignorant poor people who, in decay with the divinity of Time, in the sinfulness of their pitiable state of ignorance have turned away from the stories about the Lord and waste the length of their lives with useless philosophical exercises, imaginary purposes and a diversity of rituals.

3.5: 26-28

With the effect of Eternal Time [kâla] upon the three modes of this illusory energy, the Supreme being, He who essentially is spiritual, generated the virility [the valor, the manliness, the power] by [entering the universe as] the person [as the Purusha].

From the unmanifested then by the interaction of time came about the Mahat-tattva [the complete of the Supreme, the cosmic intelligence]. This self of discernment seated in the physical self, dispels the ignorance and makes the universe clearly visible.

That [cosmic intelligence] thus being a part of [or subjected to] guna, kāla and [jîv-]âtmâ [the material qualities, time and the individual self], transformed itself, within the range of sight of the Personality of Godhead, into the individuality of all the different life forms of this universe with their desire to [pro]create [to continue their identification and karma].

S.B. 3.5: 33-36

Material energy is a partial mixture of time [the time of expanding and contracting]. The Supreme Lord glancing this over from the ether, thus being contacted created the transformation of that touch in the form of air.

The air, also transformed by the extremely powerful ether, gave rise to the form of light and [the bio-electricity] of sense perception by which the world is seen.

From the interaction of the air and its bio-electricity with the glance of the Lord [of the ether] there was by the mixture of time a transformation of the material energy that created the taste [for life] in water. 

The electrified water thus created due to the transformation of the Supreme Spirit [of the ether] glancing over the earth, led to the creation of the quality of smell with the partly uniting of the external energy with eternal time.

S.B. 3.5: 49

Oh Unborn One, direct us in making our offerings at the right time whereby we can share our meals and also all other living beings can have their sustenance so that we with our offerings of food can eat without disturbance.

S.B. 3.6: 15

Eyes appeared in the gigantic body that offered a position to Tvashthâ, the director of light and the power of sight by which forms can be seen.

S.B. 3.6: 24

Next the heart of the Universal Being manifested in which Candra, the god of the moon took his position with the function of mental activity because of which one is lost in thoughts.
 
 S.B. 3.7: 33

Oh brahmin, how are the periodical offerings [of S'râddha] regulated to honor the deceased and to respect what the forefathers have created and how are the times settled in respect of the positions of the luminaries like the planets and the stars?

 S.B. 3.8: 11-12

The way the power of fire is hidden in wood, He resided there in His place in the water, keeping all living beings in their subtlety within His transcendental body from where He gives life in the form of Time [kâla].

For the duration of thousand times four yugas [4.32 billion years] He with His internal potency lay dormant for the sake of the further development - by means of His force called kâla [time] - of the worlds of the living beings who depend on fruitive activities. That role gave His body a bluish look [the blue of the refuge of the vivifying water].

 S.B. 3.8: 14

With the Time that roused the karma to activity, soon from the original self [of Vishnu] with that [agitation] a lotus bud appeared that, just like a sun, illumined the vast waters with its effulgence. 

 S.B. 3.8: 20

Groping in the dark, oh Vidura, with his contemplating this way it thus came to pass that the enormity of the three-dimensional reality of time [tri-kâlika] was generated that, as a weapon [a cakra], inspires fear in the embodied unborn soul by limiting his span of life to a hundred years [compare 2.2: 24-25].

 S.B. 3.9: 17

As long as the people of the world are engaged in unwanted activities and in the activities of their self-interest despise the by You as beneficial pronounced devotional activities, the struggle for existence of these people will be very tough and with [the defiance of] Your Vigilant Rule [of Time] lead straight to a shambles. Let there be my obeisances unto You.

 S.B. 3.10: 5

He who was born on the lotus, then saw how the lotus upon which he was situated and the water surrounding it trembled because of the wind that was propelled by the power of eternal Time.

 S.B. 3.10: 12-13

It is by means of time [kâla], the hidden, impersonal feature, that the Lord separated from the Supreme Absolute [God or brahma] the material phenomenon that was established as the bewildering material potency of Vishnu.

The way it [Eternal Time] is there in the present, it was there in the beginning and will also be there hereafter.

S.B.  3.11: 2-4

The supreme oneness of that particle being present within material bodies, keeps its original form till the end of time, it is of a continual, unrivaled uniformity.

Time, my best one, besides being known as the supreme, non-manifest Almighty Lord who controls all physical action, can therefore also be measured by the motion of the minutest and largest forms of combinations of particles.

The time of that infinitesimal particle is the time it takes to occupy [or vibrate in] a certain atomic space. The greatest of time is the time taken by the existence of the complete of all atoms.

S.B.  3.11: 11-15

The aggregate of such a 'day' and 'night' is called an ancestral [traditional or solar] month with two of them forming a season. There are six of them [respectively 'cold' or hemanta, 'dew' or s'is'ira, 'spring' or vasanta, 'warm' or grîshma, 'rainy' or varshâs and 'autumn' or s'arad, counting from December 22] corresponding to the movement of the sun going through the southern and northern sky. 

This movement of the sun is said to form one day of the demigods and is called a vatsara [a tropical year] of twelve months. The duration of life of the human being is estimated to be of a great number [a hundred] of those years [see also the 'full calendar of order'].

  The infinitesimal particles and their combinations, the planets, the heavenly bodies [like the moon] and the stars, all rotate in the universe, to complete their orbit in a year of the Almighty [cyclic order, the command] of eternal  time.

 We speak about an orbit of the sun, about an orbit of the other planets, the orbit of the stars [in our galaxy around Sagittarius A in the sky], the orbit of the moon, oh Vidura, and the orbit of the earth as being a single [but differently named] year [respectively a celestial year, a planetary year, a galactic year, a lunation and a tropical year]. 

With attention for all His five different types of years, one should be of respect for the One [Lord of Time] who, differing from all that was created, moves under the name of Eternal Time and who with His energy in different ways invigorates the seeds of creation while during the day dissipating the darkness of the living entities. By thus performing sacrifices one develops quality in one's material existence.'

S.B. 3.11: 38-39

 The time measured by the two halves of Brahmâ's life takes but a second for the beginningless, unchanging and unlimited Soul of the universe. 

This eternal time, beginning from the atom up to the final duration of two parârdhas, is never capable of controlling the Supreme Lord, it is the controller of those souls who are identified with their body.

 S.B. 3.15: 3

The demigods said: 'You, oh mighty one, must be knowing about this darkness we are so very afraid of. Your supreme divinity is not affected by time and thus nothing is hidden for you.

  S.B. 3.21: 16

Oh original father of all, the conditioned souls in the grip of desire are all bound by the rope of the words of You, the Lord of the living beings. I, following their example, also offer my oblations to You, oh light of eternal time.

 S.B. 3.21: 18

The wheel of the universe that with a tremendous speed spins around the axle of Your imperishable [nature, Brahman] with the three naves [of the sun, the moon and the stars], the [twelve to] thirteen spokes [of the lunar months], the three hundred and sixty joints [of the days in a demigod year], the six rims [of the seasons], and the innumerable leaves [that are the moments], may be cutting short the life-span of the universe but not the lives of the devotees.

 S.B. 3.24: 33

I surrender myself to You Lord Kapila, who are the supreme, transcendental personality, the origin of the world, the full awareness of time and the three basic qualities of nature, the Maintainer of All the Worlds and the sovereign power who by His own potency absorbs the manifestations after their dissolution.

 S.B. 3.25: 38

Oh mother, My devotees will never, not by time nor by a weapon of destruction, lose Me [and My opulence], who was chosen by them as their dearest self, son, friend, preceptor, benefactor and deity.

 S.B. 3.26: 15-18

Thus, with the classification I provided, the material qualities of the Absolute Truth of Brahman are summed up [called saguna brahman]. One speaks thereto of time as the twenty-fifth element.

Some say that the time factor constitutes the power of the Original Person that is feared by the doer, the individual soul, who is deluded by the false ego of being in touch with material nature.

The [expanding, accelerating] movement of material nature without the interaction of her modes and their specific qualities, oh daughter of Manu, is the [space]time [the fourth dimension] from which we in our world know Him, the Supreme Lord.

He, the Lord of All Entities, abides, as a consequence of His potencies, within in the form of the original person [purusha] and without in the form of time [the twenty-fifth element].

S.B. 3.26: 22

The characteristic traits of one's [reason in this state of Krishna or natural time] consciousness thus are similar to those of the natural state of pure water: clarity, invariability and serenity.

S.B. 3.26: 35

From the ether evolved, from the subtlety of sound, the subtle element of touch under the transforming impulse of time. Thus the air is found as also the sense organ for it and the active perception with that sense of touch.

 S.B. 3.26: 50

When [in the beginning of creation] the seven primary elements [the five material elements, ego and cosmic intelligence - the mahat-tattva] were not yet mixed, [the Lord,] the origin of creation endowed with kâla, karma and guna [time, workload and the modes] entered the universe.

 S.B. 3.28: 12

one's thinking is purified and controlled by the practice of yoga, one should, while looking at the tip of one's nose, meditate on the goal of the Supreme Lord [kâshthhâ, His form and measure of time, e.g. represented by a mechanical clock or water clock fixed on the sun's summit with the division of time according to the Bhâgavatam].

S.B. 3.29: 4

And what about the nature of Eternal Time, [the drive of nature,] the form of the Supreme Lord, of You as the ruler over all the other rulers, under the influence of whom the common people act piously?

 S.B. 3.29: 37

[Natural] time, known as the divine cause of the different manifestations of the living entities, constitutes the reason why all living beings who consider themselves as existing in separation, from the greatest on, live in fear.

 S.B. 3.29: 38

He who from within enters all the living entities, constitutes the support of everyone and annihilates [them again] by  means of  other living beings, is named Vishnu, the enjoyer of all sacrifices who is that time factor, the master of all masters.

 S.B. 3.29: 40-45

He for whom the wind out of fear blows and this sun is shining, for whom out of fear Indra sends his rains and the heavenly bodies are shining; He because of whom out of fear the trees, creepers and herbs each in their own time bear flowers and produce their fruits; He afraid of whom the rivers flow and the oceans do not overflow, because of whom fire burns and the earth with her mountains does not submerge; He because of whom the sky provides air to those who breathe and under the control of whom the universe expands its body of the complete reality [mahat-tattva] with its seven layers [**], He for whom out of fear the gods of creation and more, in charge of the basic qualities of nature, within this world carry out their functions according to the yugas [see 3.11], He of whom afraid all the animate and inanimate beings find their control; that infinite, final operator of beginningless Time is the unchangeable Creator who creates people out of people and by means of death puts an end to the rule of death.'

 S.B. 3.30: 1

Kapila said: 'Just like a mass of clouds has no knowledge of the powerful wind, a person has no knowledge of this time factor, even though he is being conditioned by it.

 S.B. 3.31: 16

What else but Your divinity, that as a partial aspect [the Paramâtmâ] dwells in both the animate and the inanimate, would give us the knowledge of the threefold of Time, of past, present and future? In order to be freed from the threefold misery [as caused by oneself, nature and others] we, as individual souls engaged on the path of fruitive activities, have to surrender to that divinity.

S.B. 3.32: 12-15

[But remember that] even Brahmâ, the Creator of the mobile and immobile manifestations who is the source of Vedic wisdom, as also the sages and the masters of yoga, the Kumâras and the other perfected souls and original thinkers of yoga who attained the original Person of the Absolute Truth, the first among all the souls, by dint of their detached, egoless actions, despite their independent vision and all their spiritual qualities, again take birth to assume their positions when this manifestation of the Lord is recreated through the operation of time and the three modes. And that is also true for all others who enjoyed the divine opulence that resulted from their pious deeds, they also return when the interaction of the modes again takes place.


S.B. 3.32: 37

I explained to you the four divisions of identity [svarûpa] in devotional service [three according to the modes and one for their transcendence*], as also the imperceptible action of time [the conditioning] that drives the living entities.

Canto 4

S.B. 4.11: 15

Man and woman evolved [by the impelling force of Time] from the five elements of matter and by their sexual behavior even more men and women came about in this world.

 S.B. 4.11: 18-20

Under the influence of the, no doubt hard to fathom, potency of the Almighty One in the form of the force of Time, the interaction [or disturbance of the equilibrium] of the modes of nature resulted in this diversity of energies. The Supreme Personality exerts His influence upon this diversity, even though He is not the one acting, and in this diversity He leads to death, even though He is not the one who kills.

 He to whom there is no end puts in the form of Time everything to an end, He who knows no beginning constitutes the beginning of everything, He who is inexhaustible gives life to one living being by means of another one and He as death puts an end to everything that kills.

As death entering everyone's life no one is His ally or enemy. All the combinations of the elements [organic and inorganic] helplessly follow His movement like dust particles moved by the wind.

 S.B. 4.11: 22

Some, oh king, explain this karma [the work load of fruitive activities] as arising from one's particular nature or as brought about by others, oh protector of men. Some say it is due to time, others refer to fate, while still others ascribe it to the desire of the living entity.

 S.B. 4.12: 4

One's intelligence is of ignorance with the misconceptions of 'I' and 'you'. To a person following the bodily concept life appears to be just like in a dream; it [the physical approach] constitutes the cause of bondage and misfortune.

 S.B. 4.12: 16

He considered everything created comprising his body, his wives, children, friends, his influence, riches, the pleasure grounds, the facilities for his women and the complete of the beauty of the earth with its oceans, as something bound to time and for that reason he left for Badarikâs'rama [the Himalayan forest].

S.B. 4.12: 36

Radiating by its effulgence that place illumines from within all the three worlds everywhere and also makes them radiate. It can only be reached by those who constantly engage in welfare activities and not by those who are not merciful with other living beings.

S.B. 4.24: 56

The invincible time, by which You in Your prowess and majesty with simply raising Your eyebrows vanquish the entire universe, constitutes no threat to a soul of complete surrender.

S.B. 4.24: 65

One may guess about [the authority and order of] Your reality [of Time]. [All] we see is how You, just like the wind scattering the clouds, with Your so very great force [of Time] in the long run destroy all the planetary systems and how all living beings equally find their end because of external causes.

S.B. 4.27: 3

   Intimately making fun, she embraced him as he held her in his arms. Thus being captivated by the woman he lost his keenness and was not quite aware of how, day and night, the insurmountable time was passing.

S.B. 4.27: 12 & 13

Thus wantonly involved with a heart enslaved by kith and kin, one day the time [of old age] arrived that is not very loved by those who are fond of women. (13) Oh King, there is a king belonging to the heavenly kingdom [Gandharvaloka] who is called Candavega ['the impetuously streaming time']. He is at the head of three hundred and sixty very powerful other Gandharvas [the days in a year].

S.B. 4.27: 19

[All of this happened during the time that] the daughter of the Almighty Time [called Kâlakanyâ] traveled the three worlds desiring someone for a husband, oh King Prâcînabarhi, but there was never anyone who accepted her proposal.

S.B. 4.27: 27

When the king of the Yavanas heard the daughter of Time express herself in these words, he, wishing to serve the Lord, was willing to do his duty in the private sphere and addressed her with a smile:

S.B. 4.29: 21-22

The year called Candavega stands for the [passage of] time to which the three hundred and sixty men and women from heaven are to be understood as being the days and nights that by their moving around reduce the lifespan that one has on this earth [see 4.27: 13].  (22) The daughter of Time who was welcomed by no one and as the sister-in-law was accepted by the king of the Yavanas in favor of death and destruction, stands for jarâ, old age [see 4.27: 19-30].  

S.B. 4.29: 54

The flowers work just like a woman who with her sweet scent of flowers suggests the safety of a household existence as being the result of an innocent desire for sensual pleasures such as plucking flowers. Thus one fulfills one's desires [like the deer] in always being absorbed in thoughts of sex with the wife and pleasures to the tongue. The sound of the different bumblebees, that is so very attractive to the ears, compares to the most attractive talks of the wife in the first place and also to those of the children that occupy one's mind completely. The tigers in front of him are together alike all the moments of the days and nights that, in enjoying one's household, unnoticed take away one's life span. And from behind there is the hunter taking care not to be seen while crouching upon him like the superintendent of death by whose arrow one's heart is pierced in this world. You should see yourself in this as the one whose heart is pierced, oh King.

S.B. 4.29: 69

With the Fortunate One constantly at one's side, abiding by a spirit of pure goodness [free from passion and ignorance], the world around oneself [the so-called 'here and now' that with all those impressions can be] like with the dark appearance of the [new] moon [also called Rahu with an eclipse], thus being connected will manifest itself [crystal clear].

S.B. 4.29: 79 footnote**

According to Vijayadhvaja Tîrtha, who belongs to the Madhvâcârya-sampradâya the two following verses appear after verse 79. "Being of devotion unto Krishna, of mercy towards others and of perfect knowledge of the True Self, liberation from being bound to a material life will be the consequence. The great secret of it all is that the material existence of what we [will] see and do not see [anymore] all dissolves, just like when one sleeps; in other words, everything that happened in the past, happens in the present and is going to happen in the future, is but a dream."

S.B. 4.30: 28

You who in Your compassion by Your expansions [and teachers] are visible to the humble devotees, are by one's devotional service - with [the necessary respect of] time - always remembered as such [ - by Your beautiful embodiment and not so much by thousands of mantras -], oh destroyer of all inauspiciousness.

S.B. 4.31: 18

All of you united in His quality, be therefore engaged in the devotional service of directly the Supreme Lord who is the actual cause [pradhâna] of Time, who is the original Person and the One Supreme Soul of the unlimited number of individual souls*, He who, by His spiritual power, is aloof from all emanations of the self.

 

Canto 5

S.B. 5.4: 17

 Being of worship [unto Vishnu] He, also in respect of the different gods and purposes and, in line with the instructions, providing in abundance for everything that was needed, performed according to time and circumstance a hundred times over all kinds of ceremonial sacrifices with priests of the proper age and faith.

S.B. 5.8: 9

'Alas! [he thought to himself], by the Controller turning the wheel of time this creature was deprived of its family, friends and relatives. Finding me for its shelter, it has only me as its father, mother, brother and member of the herd. Surely having no one else it puts great faith in me as the support to rely upon and thus fully depends on me for its learning, sustenance, love and protection. I have got to admit that it is wrong to neglect someone who has taken shelter and must accordingly act without regrets.

S.B. 5.9: 6

Supposing that his son, despite not feeling for it, had to be fully instructed by him in all the cleanliness, Vedic literature, vows, principles, sacrifice and service to the guru that belongs to the celibate state [the brahmacarya-âs'rama], the brahmin, who considered his son his life breath, in reality acted out of household attachment. Therefore he died, when he was seized by death not as forgetful [as he was], as a man full of frustration about the unfit obstinacy of his son.

S.B. 5.9: 20

Oh, Vishnudatta ['protected by Vishnu'; Parîkchit], to those who are not perplexed, this is not such a great miracle. They who without animosity are of goodness to all, are by the Supreme Lord of the invincible Time who carries the best of all weapons [the Sudars'ana disc], personally fully liberated from the very strong and tight knot in the heart [that is the consequence] of a false physical concept of life. Even when threatened by decapitation [or by other attacks on their lives], those liberated souls and devotees, who full of surrender are protected at His lotus feet, are never upset by these kinds of emotional conditions, they have nothing to fear.'

S.B. 5.10: 6

Thus he sarcastically criticized him severely. But there was no protest of a false belief of 'I' and 'mine' from him, who in silence kept carrying the palanquin. As someone on the spiritual platform, he happened to be of such a particular disposition concerning the physical matters of having a, from ignorance resulting, finite vehicle of time, a physical body that consists of a mixture of the natural modes, the workload and material intentions.

 S.B. 5.11: 13-14

The knower of the field is [originally] the all-pervading, omnipresent, authentic person, the Oldest One who is seen and heard of as existing by His own light. He is never born, He is the transcendental Nârâyana, the Supreme Lord Vâsudeva. He is the one who, just like the air present within the body, by His own potency, exists in the soul as the controller of the moving and unmoving living entities. He is the Supersoul of expansion who has entered [and initiated the creation] and thus is of control as the Fortunate One in the beyond. He is the shelter and knower of everyone in every field. He is the vital force [the Mover of Time] that appeared in this material world [see also B.G. 9: 10 & 15: 15]. 

 S.B. 5.12: 10 

Please understand that being meager, fat, tiny or big, existing as an individual entity, inanimate matter or whatever other natural phenomenon of disposition, all concerns impermanence in the name of a certain place, time and activity; a temporary state [inherent] to the operation of nature's duality.

S.B. 5.14: 9

Sometimes, in the dark of night driven by a momentary whirlwind of passion, he copulates like mad, in a total neglect of the rules. Blinded by the strength of that passion he, notwithstanding the divinities [of the sun and the moon, of regularity and order], then loses all notion being overcome by a mind full of lust.

 S.B. 5.14: 29

Thus it may happen that, because of the cakra of the Controller, the Supreme Lord Vishnu's disc of Time, the influence of which stretches from the first expansion of atoms to the duration of the complete life of Brahmâ, one has to suffer the symptoms of its rotating.  With that rotation in the course of time, swiftly before one's eyes [in terms of eternity], in a moment, all lives of the living entities are spent, from Brahmâ to the simplest blade of grass. Directly of Him, the Controller whose personal weapon is the disc of Time, one is afraid at heart. As a consequence not caring about the Supreme Lord, the Original Person of Sacrifice, one then accepts as worshipable what lacks foundation, with self-invented gods who, operating like buzzards, vultures, herons and crows, are denied by the scriptures of one's civilization.

S.B.  5.18: 15

 The Supreme Lord resides in Ketumâla in the form of Kâmadeva [or also Pradyumna, see 4.24: 35], according to His wish to satisfy the Goddess of Fortune as also the sons [the days] and the daughters [the nights] of the founding father [Samvatsara, the deity of the year], who rule the land and of whom there are as many as there are days and nights in a human lifetime. The fetuses of these daughters, whose minds are upset by the radiation of the mighty weapon [the cakra] of the Supreme Personality, are ruined and after one year expelled dead [from the womb] as miscarriages.

5.18: 33

From You, with Your countless different names, forms and features, the scholars derive their notion of numerical proportions, enumerations and compositions, the truth of which they verify by observation. Unto Him who thus discloses Himself in analysis, You, I offer my obeisances [see also Kapila 3.28-33].'

S.B.  5.19: 13-14

Having forsaken one's identification with the body, one must, at the end of one's time [of living], with a devotional attitude concentrate one's mind on You who are transcendental to the material qualities. This forsaking constitutes the perfection of the practice of yoga as explained by the almighty Lord Brahmâ. (14) A person driven by desire thinks in fear about the present and future of his children, wife and wealth, but anyone who knows about the hopelessness of this deficient vehicle of time, considers such endeavors only a waste of time because the body is lost in the end.

S.B. 5.20: 12

'With his effulgence he divides the time in the light and dark period of the month [s'ukla and krishna]. May he, that divinity of the moon and the grain to be distributed to the forefathers and the demigods, may that king of all people, remain favorably disposed unto us.'

 S.B. 5-20: 30

That dvîpa has one mountain [range] named Mânasottara that separates the varshas on the inner and the outer side. Measuring a 10.000 yojanas high and wide, it harbors in its four directions the cities of the four demigods ruling there [Indra, Yama, Varuna and Soma]. The chariot of the sun god Sûrya, circumambulating mount Meru on its highest point, moves around in an orbit that, calculated in terms of the days and nights of the demigods [**], consists of one complete year.

 S.B. 5.21: 7

Thus encircling with an orbit before the Mânasottara mountains [thereabout] of ninety-five million one hundred thousand yojanas long, so the scholars teach us, one, on the east of Meru, finds Devadhânî, the city of King Indra, south of it the city named Samyamanî of Yamarâja, in the west the city named Nimlocanî of Varuna and in the north the city of the moon named Vibhâvarî. At all the four sides of Meru [as the energetic pivot] thus creating sunrise, sunset, noontime and midnight, it brings about the particular times of the living beings to be active or to cease their activity [*].

 S.B. 5.21: 13

This vehicle has only one wheel with twelve spokes [the months], six segments [the seasons] and three pieces to its hub [four month periods], that in its entirety is known as a solar year [a samvatsara]. Its axle is fixed on the top of Meru with Mânasottara at the other end. The wheel of the chariot of the sun being fixed there rotates to the mountain range of Mânasottara like a wheel of an oil press machine.

 S.B. 5.22: 2

To that he [S'uka] clearly stated: 'Just as what one sees with the movements of small ants spinning around on a potter's wheel, that because of their changing positions experience a different orientation, such a difference can also be observed with the movement [of the sun and the planets] in relation to Meru and Dhruvaloka [the central heap of stars and the galaxy center]. With the stars moving around [that center], the two are located at their right side, but because of the individual movements of the planets led by the sun upon that rotating wheel of time, the sun and planets that are observed in different mansions and constellations are evidently of another progress.

S.B. 5.22: 3

He [that solar lead of time], this supremely powerful Original Person who is Nârâyana Himself, the Supersoul of the three Vedic principles who is there for the benefit and karmic purification of all the worlds, is the cause sought by all saintly and Vedic knowing. He divides the year, as He thinks fit, in its twelve parts and arranges the six seasons beginning with spring with their different qualities.

 S.B. 5.22: 5&6

He now, the Soul of all the worlds, who [in the form of the sun] has entered the wheel of time in a position between heaven and earth, passes through the twelve divisions of the year consisting of the months that are named after the signs of the zodiac. The scholars teach that they [according to the moon] are divided in bright and dark halves or [fifteen day] fortnights and that, following their instruction, the six portions of its orbit, called ritu or season, calculated to the stars, each cover two and a quarter constellations [thus one speaks of twelve or more constellations]. (6) They also say that the period of time the sun moves through [the visible] half of outer space is called an ayana.

 S.B. 5.22: 11

[More than] two hundred thousand yojanas behind [the moon], there are [spinning] with Meru to the right, to the many stars that by the Supreme Controller were attached to the wheel of time, the twenty-eight lunar mansions including Abhijit.

 S.B. 5.23: 1-3

S'rî S'uka then said: '1.3 Million yojanas above them [the stars of the sages] one finds that supreme abode of Lord Vishnu where the great devotee Dhruva, the son of Uttânapâda, resides whose glory of obedient devotion I described already [see 4.9]. It is the source of life of all living entities from now until the end of the kalpa, about which Agni, the fire god, Indra the king of heaven, the founding father who is the Prajâpati, Kas'yapa as also Dharmarâja, in unison full of respect move clockwise. (2) For all the restless luminaries, the planets, the stars and the rest, that place constitutes the incandescent radiating pivot that is established by the Lord. The inconceivable, all-powerful force of Time is considered the cause of their revolving. (3) The luminaries keep their positions, just like three bulls that for threshing rice are yoked to a central pole. Moving in their orbits they have a fixed position relative to the inner and outer rims of the wheel of time, the same way the planets keep their positions around the sun. Holding on to Dhruvaloka till the end of creation, they revolve in the sky as if they are driven by the wind, just like heavy clouds and big birds do, that controlled by the air, move their bodies around according to their respective positions. Thus the luminaries behave consequently, by the combined effort of material nature and the Original Person, the way they always have and never collide with the earth.

 S.B. 5.23: 4

Some imagine this great army of luminaries to be a s'is'umâra [a dolphin] and describe it, concentrated in yoga, as [that what can be seen of] the Supreme Lord Vâsudeva [see also a picture of the celestial sky as factually seen in a telescope].

 S.B. 5.23: 8&9

  This [form of S'is'umâra] certainly is the form of the Supreme Lord, of Lord Vishnu who consists of all the demigods. With that form before one's eyes one should each morning, noon and evening in all modesty meditate on the following words: 'Our obeisances unto this resting place of all the luminous worlds, unto the master of the demigods, the Supreme Personality in the form of Time upon whom we meditate' [namo jyotih-lokâya kâlâyanâya animishâm pataye mahâ-purushâya abhidhîmahîti, see also 2.2: 24]. (9) Those who in respect of that leader of the demigods consisting of all the planets and stars, that destroyer of sin, practice the mantra as mentioned above by three times a day offering their respects this way or by three times a day meditating as such [in silence], will by that respect [for our sweet Lord in the form of] time very soon find all their sins annihilated.'

 5.24: 3

The Supreme Lord who is there for the protection of both [these divinities] operates by the supreme presence of the wheel of Time [the Sudars'ana Cakra]. This disc is deemed the most dear, most devoted and favorite weapon that by its power and unbearable heat makes Râhu flee, with a mind full of fear and a bewildered heart, far away from that position wherein he resides for almost an hour and that by the people is called an eclipse.
 
  5.24: 11

There one assuredly is of no concern about divisions of time relative to the changes of day and night [as observed with sundials and lunar phases].

5.24: 14

No other cause of death than the almighty wheel of Time in the form of His disc weapon, is capable of influencing them in any way.

5.24: 15

It is practically always out of fear for the Lord's cakra order [the compelling natural order of time] that the wives of the godless souls lose their fetuses in miscarriages.

 5.24: 28

Below Sutala in the world of Talâtala the dânava [demon] king rules named Maya. His cities were burned by the almighty Tripurâri [S'iva], the lord of the three cities, who desired the welfare of the three worlds. But he, Maya, the master and teacher of all sorcery, regained his kingdom by his grace. Being protected by Mahâdeva [the great god who is S'iva] he thinks he has nothing to fear from the Sudars'ana Cakra [the presence of the Lord in the form of Time] that [in all worlds] is worshiped [with clocks and calendars].

5.26: 8  

Someone who takes away the money, the wife or children of someone else is sure to be bound with the fetters of time by the most frightening men of Yamarâja and by force to be thrown into the hell of Tâmisra ['the darkness']. Having landed in that darkest of all conditions being deprived of food and water, beaten with sticks and scolded, he sometimes, in his desperation, loses his consciousness because of the severe punishments received.

 

Canto 6

6.1: 42

The sun, the fire, the sky, the air, the gods, the moon, the evening, the day and the night, the directions, the water and the land are all evidence of the personal dharma [the very nature] of the embodied living entity [see also B.G. 8: 4].

 6.1: 47

Just as the present time carries the characteristics of what was and what will become, someone's present birth likewise is indicative of the dharma and adharma of what one did and will be doing.

 6.3: 27

They, the devotees, who with an equal vision are of surrender to the Supreme Lord and whose sacred histories are proclaimed by the demigods and perfected souls, you should never approach, for they are fully protected by the mace of the Lord. It is not to us to punish them, just as it is not given to time itself [to tell right from wrong].

 6.5: 11

The earth[ly affair, the body,] was the field of action, the eternal cause engrossing the individual soul that constitutes the basis of his bondage. What would the use of time-bound labor be when one fails to see the finality of it all?

 6.5: 19

kâla-cakram bhrami tîkshnam
sarvam nishkarshayaj jagat
svatantram abudhasyeha
kim asat-karmabhir bhavet

The so very sharp, revolving wheel of Time governs all the world according to its own rule and measure; of what use is it to endeavor in desire for results  in this world when one does not know about this [this order of time]? 

 6.5: 20

How can one, entangled in the modes of nature [see B.G. 18: 19-29], undertake anything [like begetting children], if one does not understand the instructions of the scriptures of the Father, that tell one how to put an end to the material way of life?'

 6.8: 20-23

(20) May Kes'ava protect me with His club during the hours after sunrise, may Govinda holding His flute protect me early in the morning, may Nârâyana, the Lord of all potencies, protect me late in the morning and may Lord Vishnu, the ruler with the disc in His hand, protect me during the hours at noon [see also 5.21: 10].

(21) May Lord Madhusûdana with the fearful bow S'ârnga protect me early in the afternoon. May Mâdhava, the Lord of Brahmâ, Vishnu and S'iva, protect me in the late afternoon and may Lord Hrishîkes'a protect me during the hours at dusk. May Lord Padmanâbha [the Lord from whose navel the universe sprang] be the one protector during the entire evening early and late.

(22) May the Lord with the S'rîvatsa mark protect me during the hours after midnight, may Janârdana, the Lord with the sword in His hand, protect me late at night and may Lord Dâmodara protect me during the hours before dawn [during which there is the brâhmamuhûrta **]. May the Controller of the Universe, the Supreme Lord in the form of time, protect me [as the kâla-mûrti, also the clock].

 (23) Please let the sharp rimmed [Sudars'ana] disc [His order of time, the cyclic of natural time] that, wielded by the Lord, destructively moves in all directions alike the fire at the end of time, burn to ashes the enemy forces, the same way a blazing fire with its friend the wind would burn dry grass in an instant.

6.8: 31

We pray that whatever is disturbing us [and our devotion], will find its end as a logical consequence of the fact that it is You, the Lord [of time] alone, who decides what the ultimate reality would be of that what is and that what is not [like happiness and grief coming and going, see B.G. 2: 14].

6.9: 31

The godly souls said: 'You, oh Lord awarding the results of sacrifice, we offer our obeisances. You, using the cakra [the disc, the cyclic order of time] as a weapon, are the one to set the limits. All our respect for You who are known by so many transcendental names.

6.9: 35

Therefore we do not really know whether Your Lordship is there like an ordinary human being bound to actions in the material world, like someone who under the influence of the modes thus depends on time, space, activities and nature - and thereby is forced to accept the good and bad results of his own actions, or whether You are there as a completely self-satisfied [âtmârâma] and self-controlled person who never fails in his spiritual potency and is always a neutral witness.

6.9: 38

You, on closer scrutiny, are the essence of authenticity, the controller of all and everything spiritual and material. You are there as the cause of all causes of the entire universe who with all qualities are present within all, up to the minutest atom. You are [with the temporality] of all manifestations the only one who remains.

 6.9: 42

Therefore, oh Supreme Lord, what can we, as sparks of the original fire [the 'golden seed' that You are], tell You, You who personally are amused to be engaged in creation, destruction and maintenance with Your divine energy, You, who as the Supersoul and spirit of the absolute Brahman resides in the hearts of all the different living beings and externally are present according to time, place and the physical constitution, You, whom one realizes as the cause of that what constitutes the [existence and consciousness of the] living being, You, as the witness of all that is going on, as the witnessing itself and the embodiment of the eternal memory of the entire universe [the âkâs'a record]?

6.12: 8-10

(8) Like birds caught in a net, all worlds and their rulers sigh powerlessly under the time factor that is the cause out here. (9)  People not aware of that [time factor, Him, the Lord of Time, the] strength of our senses, mind, body, life force, death ànd immortality, consider their indifferent body the cause. (10) Oh sir [dear Indra], please understand that all things thus, oh generous one, just like a wooden doll [a 'woman made of wood'] or a cuddly animal [of 'straw and leaves'], depend on Îs'a [the Power, the Lord and master of Time constituting their life and coherence].

6.12: 12 & 13

(12) Not knowing [the Lord, the time factor] one considers oneself - despite being fully dependent - to be the one in control, but it is He who creates beings by other living beings and it is He who devours them through others. (13) The blessings of longevity, opulence, fame and power arise when the time is ripe [His time], just as the opposite is found without having chosen for it.

6.15: 3

 The way grains of sand wash ashore and drift apart by the force of the waves, the embodied souls are brought together and separated by time [compare B.G. 2: 13]. 

6.16: 5

In the course of time eventually all people become each other's friends, family members, enemies, neuters, well-wishers, indifferent or envious ones  [compare B.G. 3: 27].

6.16: 41

Engaged a different way [as in demigod worship] one lacks in consciousness and arrives in human society thus at the 'I' and 'mine' and the 'me' and 'you' [of the false ego]. In approaches other than Yours one is, as a result of the deviating vision, impure in one's conduct, time bound and full of adharma [compare B.G. 18: 66].

6.17: 21

He, the One Supreme Lord, by His potencies gives shape to the conditioned existence of all living beings as also to their liberation [in devotional service]. He constitutes the reason for their happiness and distress as also for the position of being elevated [with Him] above time.

6.18: 66-67

 When a person worships the Original Person, he immediately gets a grip on his life [as for time and measure]. And so it happened with Diti who for almost a year had worshiped the Lord [see 5.18: 12]. In order to compensate for the faults made by the mother, the Lord changed the forty-nine parts that Indra had created, the Maruts, into [the fifty] demigods [together with Indra] who became soma-drinkers [priests].

Canto 7

7.1: 8

 According to the time of their prevalence one with the mode of sattva [goodness] finds the devas and the rishis [the gods and sages], with the mode of rajas [passion] one encounters Asuras [the unenlightened ones] and with the mode of tamas [inertia] one is faced with Yakshas and Râkshasas [ghosts and demons, see also B.G.  14: 11-13].  

7.1: 11-12

Oh ruler of man, the true cause that is the male principle, the original unmanifest foundation of matter [pradhâna], is the [primal, expanding] movement of time [as the fourth dimension] which forms the shelter of the Lord [to meditate upon, see also B.G. 11: 32]. (12) Oh King, also being this [authentic notion of] Time, the Supreme Lord of name and fame increases, in the mode of goodness, the numbers of enlightened souls and is consequently, as the friend of the demigods, inimical to and destructive with the unenlightened souls [the materialists] who are ruled by passion and ignorance.

7.2: 43

The fire in wood can be observed separately, just as the air within the body and the [time-effect of the] all pervading ether that does not mix with anything. The same way the living entity can be separately considered as transcendental to its material encasement of involvement with the modes.

7.3: 9-11

[This is what he considers:] 'Lord Brahmâ, who, by his austerity absorbed in yoga, created the moving and unmoving living beings [see 3.8], has his throne in all the worlds high and low. I, by dint of an even more severe penance [than his] being absorbed in yoga, will, from the eternality of time and the soul, achieve the same for myself. (11) By my strength I will turn this world upside down and handle everything that is not right different from before. What is the use of all other practices? At the end of a day of creation, time will vanquish all the worlds of Vishnu anyway!'

7.3: 26-27

S'rî Hiranyakas'ipu said: 'At the end of a day of creation, when he [Lord Brahmâ] under the influence of time is covered by the dense darkness of ignorance, this cosmic creation manifests [again] by the light of the rays emanating from his body. This world, endowed with the three basic qualities of rajas, sattva and tamas [passion, goodness and ignorance], is by him created, maintained and annihilated. That transcendental and supreme Lord I offer my respectful obeisances.

7.3: 31

Not affected by anything, you are [the personification of] the ever vigilant Time that, by each of its segments in the form of days, hours and minutes and such, reduces the duration of life of all beings. You are the cause of life of this material world, the Great Self and Supreme Controller who was never born.

7.8: 8

He, the Supreme Controller of Time, Urukrama, the Lord of the Great Strides [Vâmana], is the one strength of one's mind and life, the steadiness of one's physical power and senses. He, the True Self, is the Supreme Master of the three basic qualities, who by His different natural forces creates, maintains and withdraws again the entire universe.

7.8: 42

S'rî Indra said: 'Our share of the sacrifices was secured by Your Lordship protecting us, oh Supreme One. We have no words to describe the degree our lotus-like hearts were afflicted by the Daitya, our hearts that are really Your residence. Alas, oh Lord, how insignificant is our world in the grip of Time, but for the sake of the devoted souls in Your service, You have shed Your light so that they may find liberation from their bondage. What else but considering the visible world as unimportant, would constitute their way, oh Nrisimhadeva?'

7.8: 52

The keepers of the wealth [the Yakshas] said: 'We, serving You to Your pleasure, belong to Your best followers. This son of Diti forced us to carry his palanquin, but caused the sorrow [the poverty] of each and everyone. Thus we acknowledge You, oh Lord Nrisimha, for You are the one who put him to death, oh twenty-fifth principle [that is the Time, see 3.26: 10-15].'

7.9: 5

The godhead was by him, such a little boy fallen at His lotus feet, greatly moved and filled with mercy He raised His lotus hand, placed it on his head and dispelled the fear for the snake of time from all minds [present there].

7.9: 20-24

(20) Whatever situation it may concern, whatever seems to be the reason, whatever time it might be, by whatever agent and relating to whatever agent, caused by whatever agent or for the sake of whatever agent, whatever the way of something or of whatever nature something might be, is certainly all nothing but another form of the Supreme Reality. Stated differently: in nature one finds, because of all kinds of changes, a specific form of separateness, but whatever form it may concern, it is always a manifestation of Your Lordship's energy. (21) The illusory nature of matter creates a mind that constitutes the source of fruitful actions [or karma] that are difficult to control. These actions are conditioned by the Time, that agitates the modes of nature and is respected [in a certain way] by the person. Thus being defeated by the alluring - but deluding - material energy, one is tied to the sixteen spokes [of the senses of action and perception, the elements and the mind] of the wheel of rebirth, oh Unborn One. Who can escape from this without taking to Your way [see also B.G. 9: 25]? (22) You are that one element of Time to the tender mercy of which the soul eternally is left, being defeated by the modes of Your rule. I present here, who as a form of material energy in all his forsaking and appearing is subjected to Your cyclic control, am powerless, oh Lord and Master. I am crushed under the wheel with the sixteen spokes. Please help me, this soul of surrender, to get out of this, oh Almighty One. (23) Oh Almighty One, I have seen that people in general desire the longevity, opulence and glory of the pious leaders of heaven. But our father wishing this all [for himself], was simply by the laughter he provoked of Your expansion [as Nṛsiṁha], pulled down by You in the blink of an eye and destroyed. (24) Therefore I do not want to live as long as Lord Brahmâ does, or be rich and mighty. I know where all these foolish blessings of the senses of the embodied being lead to. I have no desire to be finished by You, so powerful as the Master of Time. Please lead me to the association of Your servants.

7.9: 33

Having awakened from Your slumber on the bed of Ananta in the causal ocean, the great lotus of all the worlds appeared from Your navel, like a banana tree does from its seed. That cosmic body of Yours, this universe agitated by the Time factor, constitutes Your way [in the form of the modes and their divinities] of dealing with the material affair [with prakriti].

7.10: 13

By relishing your merit being happy, by acting piously defeating sin, by the rapid progress of time forsaking your body and by spreading your reputation throughout even the worlds of the gods, you will, freed from all attachment, turn back to Me.

7.10: 43-44 

This history describes the character of the devotion, spiritual knowledge and renunciation of that most exalted devotee Prahlâda. Try to understand each of these stories and thus discover what belongs to the Lord, the Master of maintenance, creation and destruction, what His qualities and activities are, the wisdom handed down [in disciplic succession] and how He, by the time factor, stands for the finality of all the higher and lower living beings and their cultures, however great they might be.

7.10: 67

Oh ruler of man, with the arrows joined on his bow Lord S'iva thus, being the Master and Controller, at noon set the so difficult to pierce three cities afire.

7.12: 11

The above [in verse 6] described directions of the guru for the householder apply equally to the renunciate soul, be it that the householder can have sexual intercourse for a certain period of time [see also B.G. 7: 11].

7.13: 6

He should not rejoice in the certainty of the death of the body, nor in the uncertainty of its life, he instead should observe the supreme [command] of Time that rules the manifestation and disappearance of all living beings.

7.13: 33

He who lives for the money is always afraid of the government, of thieves, of enemies, relatives, animals and birds, of beggars, of Time and of himself.

7.14: 3-4

When one at the appropriate time, in good association being surrounded by persons of peace, repeatedly listens to the nectar of the narrations about the Lord's avatâras, one will gradually see the bonds slackened of the association with one's wife and children, like one awakens from a dream [see also 5.5: 1  and B.G. 18: 54]. 

7.14: 10

On the threefold path [of dharma, artha and kâma] not being too zealous [not engaging in ugra-karma or harmful actions], a person, according to time and circumstance, should aspire for only as much as the grace of God would provide [see also 4.8: 54].

7.14: 13

What is [the value of] the attachment to this insignificant vehicle of time that is doomed to be eaten by the insects, to turn into stool or into ashes? What is the value of being attracted to the body of one's wife, compared to [the value of one's attraction for] the soul that is as all-pervading as the ether?

7.14: 24-26

It is by these auspicious times [of being regular to natural occurrences] that the fate of human beings is improved. For the human being during all seasons to have auspiciousness, success and longevity, one therefore on those days must perform all kinds of ceremonies [*]. (25) At all these natural times taking a holy bath, doing japa [the Vedic rosary], performing fire sacrifices and keeping to vows, constitutes a permanent benefit, with whatever that is given in respect of the Supreme Lord, the twice-born souls managing the deities, the forefathers, the godly souls, the human beings in general and all other living beings. (26) Oh King, the purification rituals, which serve the interest of [having days with] the wife, the children and oneself as also serve the interest of having funerals, memorial days and days for doing fruitful labor, must be performed at the [natural] times [relative to sun and moon] meant for them.

7.15: 4

In exceeding this number of invitees or relatives [with the s'raddha ceremony], things will not work out perfectly as for the most suitable time and place, the paraphernalia, the person to receive the honor and the method applied.

7.15: 26

 The guru, who is the light on the path, must be considered the Supreme Lord in person and he who considers him and what he heard from him as being mortal and time-bound, is like an elephant that has bathed [and thereafter takes a dust bath].

7.15: 28

One has wasted one's time when all the prescribed activities and observances, designed for the definite subjugation of the six departments [of the five senses and the mind], have not led to the ultimate goal: the connectedness in yoga [of one's individual consciousness with Him].

7.15: 50-51

The fine substances [of the sacrifice] result in the smoke [that is associated with] the divinity of the night, the dark half of the month, the sun going through the south and the new moon [compare B.G. 8: 25]. By that divinity [one finds] the food grains that are the seeds of the vegetation on the earth's surface, oh ruler of the earth. Thus called into existence by the father [of Time] they [by feeding us through the sacrifices] lead to one after the other birth, to the time and again regular assuming of a physical form to be present in this world [see also B.G. 9: 21].

7.15: 60
The body consisting of the five elements cannot exist without the sense-objects belonging to it. The untrue is found in the total form of that body which, just like that what belongs to it, in the end, turns out to be a temporary appearance.

7.15: 66

Oh king, a person should perform his duties according to his [varnâs'rama] position in society, engaging with the means, the place and the time that are not [scripturally] forbidden and he should not follow any other course of action, unless there is an emergency [see also 7.11: 17  and B.G.  3: 35].

 

 Canto 8

 8.2: 33

He, the Lord, protects anyone who is of surrender. He protects those who are afraid of death against the so very strong serpent of time that chases someone endlessly with its terrifying force [see B.G. 11: 32]. I surrender to Him, who is the refuge and for whom even death flees away.'

 8.3: 25

I do not want to live like this in the world. What is the use of this captivation from within and from without in being born as an elephant? I do not want the misery and destruction because of the time factor. I want to be liberated from that covering of my spiritual existence [see also 1.2: 3, 6.15: 16]!

 8.5: 28

Let us offer our obeisances to the truth of Him, whom one considers the axle of Lord Brahmâ's lightning fast revolving sacred wheel of Time with its fifteen spokes [the knowing and working senses and the five airs], three naves [the modes] and eight segments [the five elements, mind, false ego and intelligence] that feed one's thought process [compare 3.21: 18, 7.9: 21, 5.21: 13  and B.G. 18: 61].

 8.5: 42-43

Greed is there from His lower lip and affection from His upper lip, from His nose there is the bodily luster and from His touch animalistic love manifested. From His brows there is the Lord of Death [Yamarâja] but from His eyelashes there is eternal Time. May He, the One of all Prowess, be favorably disposed towards us. (43) The material elements, their weaver [kâla, time], fruitive labor [karma], the modes of nature [the gunas] and the diversity brought about by His creative potency [yoga-mâyâ], constitute a difficult to fathom completeness from which the great sages turn away [in their aversion against the delusional quality of the material world]. May He, the Controller of All and Everything, be contented with us.

8.5: 48

Not even the slightest activity properly performed [for Your sake] is in vain, because being dedicated to the Controller [who is the Time], You are realized as the Original Soul friendly and beneficial to all persons.

8.6: 25

Do not fear the kâlakûtha ['false time'] poison that will appear from the ocean of milk, and take care not to be led by greed, lust or anger with the result of the churning.'

8.7: 25-26

You are the source of the [spiritual, Vedic] sound, the origin of the universe, the soul, the life breath, the senses and the elements. You are the basic qualities of nature and the natural disposition, the eternal time, the sacrifice and the dharma of truth [satya] as also truthfulness [rita]. It is unto you that one utters the original syllable consisting of the three letters [A-U-M]. (26) Oh soul of all godly souls, fire constitutes your mouth, oh Lord of all the worlds, the surface of the globe is known as your lotus feet, oh self of the gods, time constitutes your movement, the directions are your ears and the controller of the waters [Varuna] is your taste.

8.7: 32
In this world, which has originated from you and at the time of her destruction is burned to ashes by you with the sparks of the fire emanating from your eyes, you have, out of your mercy for the living beings, annihilated Tripura [7.10: 53] as also put an end to the sacrifices out of desire [see e.g. 4.5], the poison of [false] time [in this story] and many other forms of misery. But these matters are not part of the praises offered to you, since you ban this world from your mind.

8.8: 21-22

Someone might be of dharma but is he friendly towards other living beings? Someone can be of renunciation but he might miss the cause of liberation. A person may have power over people, but still not be liberated from the great force of material nature [from the power of time]. Someone may be free from the influence of the modes of nature but never be a second one [another Lord of Control and Yoga, see also 1.2: 8]. (22) Someone may live a long time but still not know how to behave and be happy, someone may master the art of living but still not know how to get old. And when someone knows the both of them, such a person still might be unlucky in another respect. Nor is of someone excelling in all walks of life said that he wishes Me [in my position of devotion unto Vishnu]!'

 8.11: 7-8

Bali retorted: 'All present here on this battlefield are subjected to the rule of time and successively acquire with what they do a reputation, achieve a victory, suffer defeat and then find their death. (8) Because the entire world is moved by time, an enlightened soul who sees this will not rejoice or complain. In that sense you all pretty much lost your way [compare B.G. 2: 11]!

8.12: 40

The moment one, [living] with the time and all its different elements, is joined with Me in the form of Eternal Time [or the pure Time Spirit], that illusory energy of the modes of nature [the goddess Durgâ in sum **] will no longer be able to bewilder you.'

8.14: 9

In the form of the founding fathers [the Prajâpatis] He creates offspring, to annihilate the miscreants He assumes the form of kings and in the form of time He is there to put an end to everything that became different in following the basic qualities of nature.

 8.17: 27

You as the original cause, the dissolution and the maintenance of the universe, are the reservoir of endless potencies whom one calls the Original Person. You are the Lordship, the Controller who is the Time that holds the entire universe in its grip, the way waves drag someone along who fell in them.

8.19: 8-9

Seeing him with the trident in his hand coming towards Him like death personified, the Chief of the Mystics, the Knower of Time, Lord Vishnu, thought the following: (9) 'Wherever I go, this one here - like the death of each - will also go. I will therefore enter his heart, he only looks outside himself.'

 8.21: 21-22

Formerly time worked in our favor and brought us the victory over the gods, but today time, which indeed is the Greatest Power [the Supreme Authority] in our existence, works against us. (22) No man is able to surpass the time factor by any power, counsel, cleverness, fortifications, spells, herbs, diplomacy or by whatever other means.

 8.22: 34

None of the controllers of the worlds will be able to overrule your command there, not to speak of the common man, for I, with my cakra, will personally take care of all the Daityas who defy your rule.

 8.23: 16

As for the time and place, the person, the paraphernalia, [the practice of] the mantras and following the principles, faults can be made, but these are all nullified by regularly chanting Your glories in congregation [*].

Canto 9

9.1: 38-39

S'iva, being pleased with him, oh servant of the state, in order to keep his promise [to Umâ] and to show the sage his love, said: 'This disciple of your line will one month be a female and the next month be a male. Sudyumna may with this arrangement [then] rule the world as he likes.'

  9.4: 3

The so highly intelligent descendants of Angirâ [see 6.6: 19] are today performing a sacrifice, but on every sixth day that they do this, oh learned one, they will fall in illusion with their self-interested actions.

9.4: 28

Pleased with his unalloyed devotional service, the Lord gave him His cakra [disc weapon] that protects the devotees but is so fearful to the ones opposing Him [see also 7.9: 43 and B.G. 9: 31].

9.4: 53-59

(53-54) Lord Brahmâ said: 'At the end of my lifetime [a dvi-parârdha, see 3.11: 33] when His pastimes have ended, the Lord of the End Time [Vishnu], the Self of Time, with a single movement of His eyebrows will destroy this universe including my heavenly abode. I, Lord S'iva, Daksha, Bhrigu and the other sages, as also the rulers of man, the rulers of the living beings and the rulers of the demigods, all carry out His orders and together bow, for the salvation of all living beings, our heads in surrender to the principle regulating our lives.'

(55) Durvâsâ who, scorched by Vishnu's cakra, was turned down by Lord Brahmâ, [next] for his shelter went to the one who always resides on Kailâsa [Lord S'iva]. (56) S'rî S'ankara [S'iva] said: 'My dear one, we have no power over the Supreme One, the Transcendence in Person with whom I, the other living beings and even Lord Brahmâ wander around within the countless universes that, together with us, at times arise and then are destroyed again. (57-59) I, Sanat and the other Kumâras, Nârada, the great Unborn Lord, Kapila, Vyâsadeva, Devala [the great sage], Yamarâja, Âsuri [the saint], Marîci and other masters of perfect knowledge headed by him, have learned to know the limits of all there is to know, but none of us can fully comprehend His illusory energy [of mâyâ] and that what is covered by it. The weapon of the Controller of the Universe [the cakra] is even for us difficult to handle, and you should therefore seek your refuge with the Lord who will certainly bestow upon you His happiness and fortune.'

(from the Cakra-prayers: ) 9.5: 6

All my respects for you, the auspicious center of spin, the measure for the complete of nature who are like a fire of destruction to the unenlightened souls who lack in pious conduct. You, the keeper of the three worlds with a wonderful effulgence, are of a supreme goodness and act as fast as the mind I try to voice.

9.6: 35-36

He also in full awareness of the [Super]soul worshiped Yajña, the Lord of Sacrifices, the God and Supersoul of everyone elevated above the sensual plane. This happened in sacrificial ceremonies that were attended by all the godly people whom he rewarded with large donations. The ingredients, the mantras and the regulative principles, the worship and the worshiper as also the priests in their dharma of proceeding according to the time and place, all together contributed to assure that the interest of the true self was done justice.

9.7: 15

With his mind thus controlled by the affection for his son, he cheated the god with words about the time [that it would take] and made him wait.

9.9: 2

His son Dilîpa did, just like his father, not succeed and was also defeated by time. Thereafter Dilîpa's son Bhagîratha performed severe austerities.

9.10: 22

Râma said to him: 'You scum of the earth, since you, oh criminal, like a dog have kidnapped My helpless wife, I, as Time itself, as someone not failing in His heroism, will personally punish you today for that shameless act, you abominable evildoer [see also B.G. 16: 6-18]!'

9.19: 27-28

She understood that living with friends and relatives, who are all subjected to the control of the rigid laws of nature [Time], is like associating with travelers at a water place. It is a creation [according to one's karma] of the Lord's illusory potency. The daughter of S'ukrâcârya gave up all her attachments in this dreamlike world, fixed her mind fully on Lord Krishna and shook off the worries about her self [about both her gross and subtle nature, the linga].

9.20: 16

The king, well aware of what would befit the time and place, said yes and then married, according to the rules of dharma, with S'akuntalâ the gandharva way [of mutual consent].

9.22: 8
Brihadratha begot with a second wife he had a son in two halves who, because the mother rejected them, by Jarâ [the daughter of Time, see also 4.27: 19] playfully were united while she said: 'Come alive, come alive'. Thus a son called Jarâsandha ['Jarâ's hermaphrodite'] was born [who later became a vital enemy of Lord Krishna].

Canto 10

10.1: 5-7

When in the past, on the battlefield, my grandfathers [the Pândavas] were fighting with imperishable warriors, like Devavrata [Bhîshma] and other great commanders who were like timingilas [shark-eaters], they crossed the so very difficult to overcome ocean of Kaurava soldiers in the boat that He is, as easily as one steps over a calf's hoof print. This body of mine, the only seed left of the Kurus and Pândavas, was scorched by As'vatthâmâ's weapon when I resided in the womb of my mother, but it was by Him, [Krishna,] holding the cakra in His hand, protected because my mother sought His protection [1.8: 11 and 1.12: 7]. Oh man of learning, please describe the glories of the Lord who, by His own potency, appeared as a normal human being, of Him, the Giver of Death and Eternal Life, as one calls Him, of Him who manifests Himself in physical forms bound to time, of Him, the Original Person who is present both inside and outside of all the embodied beings.

10.1: 22

Before we came here, the Personality of Godhead knew already about the distress of mother earth. Together with your good selves as His parts, He wants to manifest Himself by taking birth in the family of the Yadus. He wants you to be there with Him [for the fulfillment of His mission] for as long as He, the Lord of Lords, with His potency of Time, moves around on this earth to diminish the burden of the planet.

10.3: 25-26

  When, after millions and millions of years, the cosmos runs at its end, the primary elements merge with their primal forms, and everything that manifested, by the force of Time, turns into the unmanifest, You, oh Lord with the Many Names, are the only one to remain. (26) This so powerful Time factor, by which, from the smallest measure of time up to the measure of a year, this entire creation works, is said to be Your action, the movement of You, the secure abode, the Supreme Controller, whom I offer my surrender.

10.5: 4

Material things are purified by time, by washing and bathing them, by rituals, by penance, by worship, by charity and by contentment, but the soul is purified by self-realization.

10.10: 30-31

You are the One for all living beings, You are the master of the life force, of the body, of the soul and the senses. You are the Time, the Supreme Lord Vishnu, the Imperishable  Controller. You, as the Greatest One, who are both the cosmic creation and the subtle reality, You, consisting of passion, goodness and slowness, are the Original Personality, Overseer and the Knower of the restless mind in all fields of action.

10.11: 22

Upananda [Nanda's elder brother], the oldest and wisest one with the greatest experience, said in that meeting what, according to the time and circumstances, to the interest of Râma and Krishna would be the best thing to do: 

10.13: 39

[Balarâma said to Krishna:] 'These boys are no [incarnated] masters of enlightenment, nor are these calves great sages. You, oh Supreme Controller, only You, are the One who manifests Himself in all the diversity of existence. How can You be everything that exists at the same time? Tell Me, what exactly is Your word to this?' By saying these words Baladeva then with His Lordship arrived at an understanding of the situation [**].

10.13: 53

They were worshiped by the time factor [kâla], the individual nature [svabhâva], the reform by purification [samskâra], desire [kâma], fruitive action [karma], the modes [guna] and other powers the glory of whose appearances was defeated by His greatness [see also B.G. 13: 22]

10.16: 41

We pray for You as the Time, for You as the Certainty with the Time and for You as the Witness of all Time measures. Our prayers are there for You in the Form of the Universe, for You as the One Supervising it All, for You as its Supreme Creator, and for You who are the Original Cause of the Universe.

10.16: 49

You are the Almighty Lord of the Creation, Maintenance and Destruction of this universe who, beginningless and without acting with the modes, with the potency of Time endeavors [to promote the balance] in relation to the modes. While impeccably playing Your game, You by Your glance awaken the distinctive dormant characteristics of each of these [modes].

10.16: 57

Oh Creator, oh Lord of the Time and the Seasons, You are the one who generated this universe filled with the appearances of the natural modes that are endowed with different personal propensities in varieties of talents and physical capabilities, wombs and seeds, and different mentalities and forms

10.17: 24

Please protect us, Your people, Your friends, against this insurmountable [deadly] fire of Time. Oh Master, we at Your benevolent, blessed feet which drive away all fear, are incapable [to escape from here]!'

10.20: 16

The roads, no longer used, faded away being overgrown by grass, just like written texts do that, not being studied by the brahmins, wither away under the influence of time.

10.23: 10-11

Even though the place and time, the items used, the hymns, the rituals, the priests and the fire, the officiating God-conscious souls, the performer of the sacrifice, that what was sacrificed and the dharmic result, are all part of the directly visible reality of His Absolute Truth, of Him, the Supreme Lord Beyond the Senses, they with their borrowed intelligence considered Him arrogantly just an ordinary person.

10.23: 48-49

He constitutes the place and time, the items used, the hymns, the rituals, the priests and the fire, the officiating God-conscious souls, the performer of the sacrifice, the performance and its dharmic result [see verse 10-11]. He, the Supreme Lord Vishnu, the Master of all Yoga Masters, has directly visible taken birth among the Yadus, but despite having heard about this we foolishly failed to understand that.

10.24: 31

S'rî S'uka said: 'When Nanda and the elders heard these words being spoken by the Supreme Lord, by the Time in person, in order to break the pride of Indra, they accepted them as excellent.

10.26: 4

As a new-born child with hardly His eyes open, He sucked [the poisoned milk] from the breast of the greatly powerful Pûtanâ, in the process also sucking away her life air, just like the force of time sucks away the youth from a body [see 10.6].

10.27: 6

You are the father and the guru of the entire universe, the Original Lord and the insurmountable Time who, when You by Your own decision assume Your transcendental forms, strives to be the authority to eradicate the self-conceit of those who think they are the Lord of the Universe.

10.34: 29

When he saw the two approaching like Time and Death personified, he became afraid. In his confusion he left the women behind and ran for his life.

 10 36: 32

When you have brought Them here I will have Them killed by the elephant, that is as mighty as time itself. And if They manage to escape that, my wrestlers, who are as strong as lightning, will put an end to Them.

10.37: 21

Then I will see You, as the charioteer of Arjuna, assume the form of Time in bringing about the destruction of the armed forces of this world.

10.38: 5

But enough of that, even for a fallen soul like me there is a chance to acquire the audience of Acyuta. Some time someone, pulled along by the river of time, may reach the other shore!

10.38: 16

And when I have fallen at the base of His feet, the Almighty One will place upon my head His lotus hand that dispels the fear for the serpent of time, the snake because of whose swift force the people terrified seek shelter.

10.43: 5

Thus being threatened the elephant keeper got angry and goaded the furious elephant, that was like Yama, time and death, in the direction of Krishna.

10.43: 36

When Krishna heard this He, welcoming the fight and [thus] considering it desirable, spoke words befitting the time and place [see also 4.8: 54]:

10.50: 5-6

When Krishna, the Supreme Lord Hari, saw how his army, like an ocean that overflowed its boundaries, besieged His city and filled His subjects with fear, He as the Ultimate Cause in a Human Form, considered what, to the purpose of His descent into this world, would be the best course of action considering the time and place:

10.51: 18 & 19

Your children, your queens and your other relatives, ministers, advisors and subjects, do not live anymore. Time has swept them away. The Supreme, Inexhaustible Lord of Control is the Time itself, more powerful than the most powerful, who, playing a game of herdsman and flock, sets the mortal beings in motion.

10.51: 38

Not even the greatest sages enumerating My births and activities, which take place in respect of the three aspects of time [past, present, future], oh King, can reach the end [compare 8.5: 6 and 8.23: 29].

10.54: 14

Nevertheless I never lament or rejoice, for I know that the world is driven by Time and fate combined.

10.54: 16

Our enemies, with the time in their favor, have won now, but then again, when our time has come, we will win.

10.59: 29

Desiring to create, oh Master, You stand out as being the Unborn One [as Brahmâ], for the purpose of annihilation You adopt the mode of ignorance [as S'iva], and for the sake of maintenance You are [manifested as] the  goodness [as the Vishnu avatâras] of the Universe. [Yet You are] not covered [by these basic qualities], oh Lord of Jagat [the Living Being that is the Universe]. Being Kâla [time], Pradhâna [the unmanifested state of matter, the primal ether] and the Purusha [the Original Person], You nevertheless exist independently thereof.

10.60: 39

You are the Supreme Soul of all the Worlds who gives Himself away and about whose prowess the sages speak who gave up their staff [for wandering around, becoming Paramahamsas, see 5.1*]. You were for that reason chosen by me in rejection of those masters of heaven - the one born on the lotus [Brahmâ] and the one ruling existence [S'iva]. What would my interest be in others whose aspirations are destroyed by the force of Time generated by Your eyebrows

10.63: 26

I approach You for being the negation of this mâyâ, this material bewilderment of time, fate, karma, the individual propensities, the subtle elements, the field [that is the body], the life force [prâna], the self, the transformations [the eleven senses] and the aggregate of all of this [in the form of the subtle body called the linga]. That illusory reality constitutes a never ending flow [like that] of seeds and sprouts.

10.64: 11

What would be unknown to You, oh Master, oh Witness of the Mind of all Beings whose vision is not impeded by time? Nevertheless I shall speak as You wish.

10.68: 24

'Look how wondrously inescapable Time moves on. That what is a shoe now wants to step on a head that is ornamented with a crown!

10.69: 32

[He saw Him] arranging opulent weddings for daughters and sons in accordance with the vidhi, at the right time, with wives and husbands compatible to them.

10.70: 3-5

But Vaidarbhî [Rukminî] did not like that most auspicious time of the day, because she then would have to miss the embrace of her beloved [Krishna]. (4-5) Mâdhava rose during the brâhma-muhûrta [the hour before sunrise], touched water and cleared His mind to meditate on the unequaled, exclusive, self-luminous Self beyond all dullness of matter. This True Self dispels, infallible as it is, by its [His] own nature, perpetually the impurity and gives the joy of existence. It is known as the Brahman that, with its [His] energies, constitutes the cause of the creation and the destruction of this universe [see also 3.29: 31 & 36-37, B.G. 7: 5 & 6 and *].

10.70: 26

The whole world delighting in misconduct, is bewildered about the duties out here to be of one's own worship for You according to Your [varnâs'rama] command. May there be the obeisances unto You, the Ever Vigilant ['unblinking eye of Time'], who all of a sudden [at the time of one's death] cuts off that headstrong hope for longevity in this life.

10.71: 8

Hiranyagarbha ['the one of the golden light' or Brahmâ] and S'arva ['he who kills by the arrow', S'iva, see 7.10: 67] are but the instruments, in universal creation and annihilation, of the Supreme Lord of the Universe, of You in the form of formless Time.

10.73: 12-13

We who in the past, in our lusting about the wealth, were blinded and quarreled with each other about ruling this earth, have very mercilessly harassed our citizens, oh Master, and have with [You in the form of] death standing before us, arrogantly disregarded You. We, oh Krishna, have been forced to part with our opulence and were hurt in our pride by Your mercy in the form of the irresistible power of the Time that moves so mysteriously. We beg You to allow us to live in the remembrance of Your feet.

10.74: 6

S'rî S'uka said: 'The son of Prithâ thus having spoken, with the permission of Krishna chose, at a proper time for the sacrifice, the priests who were suitable, brahmins who were Vedic experts:

10.74: 19

  'Acyuta deserves the supreme position, He is the Supreme Lord, the leader of the Sâtvatas. He stands for all the demigods as also for the place, the time and the paraphernalia, and such.

10.74: 31

'The Vedic word of truth that Time is the unavoidable controller, has by this been proven, for even the intelligence of the elders could be led astray by the words of a boy!

10.77: 35

As he ran toward Him carrying his club, Krishna severed his arm with a bhalla cutting arrow. In order to kill S'alva, He next raised His wonderful disc weapon. Looking like a mountain beneath a rising sun, He shone with a radiation resembling the light at the end of time.

10.82: 29-30

His fame as praised in the Vedas, the water washing from His feet and the words of the revealed scriptures thoroughly purify this universe [see also B.G. 15: 15]. Even though her wealth had been ravaged by Time, the earth's vitality has been awakened by the touch of His lotus feet with her fulfilling all our desires like an abundance of rain. By seeing Him in person, by touching Him and walking with Him, conversing, lying down, sitting, eating, being bound through marriage with Him and having Him as a blood-relative, you [normally] following the hellish path of family life have now found Vishnu, liberation and heaven [in person] who constitutes the cessation [of one's searching in life. See also 5.14 and 7.14 and B.G. 11: 41-42].'

10.83: 4

By the light of Your personal form we are released from the bonds of the three [states] of material consciousness [wakefulness, dreaming and sleeping]. Being totally immersed therein, we are of spiritual happiness having bowed down to You, the goal of the perfected saints [the paramahamsas], who by the power of Your illusion have assumed this form for the protection of the unlimited and ever fresh Vedic knowledge, which is threatened by time.'

10.84: 12

Neither the fire, the sun, the moon nor the firmament, neither the earth, the water, the ether, the breath, the speech nor the mind, take away, when they are worshiped, the sins of someone entangled in material opposites. But they are wiped away by just a few moments of service to men of [brahminical] learning.

10.84: 23

None of these kings who enjoy Your company, nor the Vrishnis, know You, hiding behind the curtain of mâyâ, as the Supreme Soul, the Time and the Lord [B.G. 6: 26].

10.84: 32-33

The quality of [the Lord] His awareness is never disturbed by time-dependent matters like the creation, destruction and so on of this universe, not by its own activity nor by another agency [see B.G. 4: 14 and 10: 30]. The consciousness of Him, the One Controller without a Second, is not affected by hindrances, material actions and their consequences, and the basic qualities of nature with their flow of changes [kles'a, karma and guna]. Others [though] may consider Him as being covered by His own expansions of prâna and other elements of nature, just like the sun is hidden by clouds, snow or eclipses.'  

10.84: 38

An intelligent person should renounce the desire for wealth by means of sacrifices and charity. He should give up the desire for a wife and kids by engaging in temple affairs. With the help of [the cakra order of] Time [the Time that is also the destroyer of all worlds, see also 9.5 and B.G. 3: 16] he should forget the desire for a world for himself, oh Vasudeva. All sages renounced their [three types of] desires for [the wealth, the family and one's own command of] a household life and went into the forest for doing penances [see also B.G. 2: 13].

10.85: 30

Having taken birth from me You have now descended because of the kings who, living in defiance of the scriptures and with their good qualities destroyed by the time [of Kali-yuga], became a burden to the earth

10.86: 48

May there be my obeisances unto You, who are the Supersoul for the knowers of the Supreme Spirit and the One who [in the form of Time **] brings death to the conditioned soul, You, the One who assumes the forms of effect as also the forms of cause, You whose vision is not covered by Your deluding potency but who are covered to our vision.

 10.87: 24

Ah, who out here, who but recently was born and soon will die, has an inkling of the One Who Came First, from whom the [leading] seer [Brahmâ] arose who was followed by the two groups of demigods [controlling the senses and the principles. See B.G. 7: 26]? When He lies down to withdraw, at that time nothing remains of the gross and the subtle, nor of that what comprises them both [the bodies], while also the flow of Time and the S'âstras are no longer there [B.G. 9: 7].

10.87: 30

If the countless embodiments of the living beings would be eternal, the omnipresent [Time] as a consequence would not be such a sovereign rule, oh Unchanging One. But it is not otherwise. Because the substance cannot be independent from that from which it was generated [- pradhâna, the primeval ether -] [You] the regulator [who are the Time, B.G. 10: 30] must be known as being equally present everywhere [as the 'fourth dimension']. When one supposes that one knows [You materially], one is mistaken in the falsehood of an opinion [on the local order, see 6.5: 19].

10.87: 31

Material nature [prakriti] and the person [purusha] do not find their existence at a particular point in time. Not originating as such [from one or the other], it is from the combination of these two [primordial elements] that living bodies find their existence in You, just as bubbles find their existence as a combination of water and air. And just as rivers merge into the ocean and all flavors [of flower nectar] merge into the honey, these living beings with all their different names and qualities [in de end] merge [again] in [You,] the Supreme [see also B.G. 9: 7].

10.87: 32

Those who are wise understand the extend to which Your mâyâ bewilders human beings, and frequently render traditional service unto You, the source of liberation. How could there, for the souls who faithfully follow You, be any kind of fear about a material existence, a fear that by the three rimmed [wheel of Time - of past, present and future] - by Your furrowing eyebrows - repeatedly is raised in those who do not take shelter of You [see also B.G. 4: 10, 7: 14 & 14: 26]?

10.87: 41

Neither the masters of heaven nor even You, can reach the end of Your glories oh Unlimited One, oh You within whom the many universes by the drive of Time, each in their own shell, are blown about in the sky like particles of dust. The s'rutis bearing fruit by [neti neti] eliminating that what is not the Absolute Truth, find in You their ultimate conclusion [see siddhânta].'

10.90: 47

Oh King, when Krishna took His birth among the Yadus, He outshone the pilgrimage site of the heavenly river [the Ganges] that washes from His feet. Because of His embodiment friends and foes attained their goal [7.1: 46-47]. The undefeated and supremely perfect goddess S'rî belongs to Him, she for whom others are struggling. His name, being heard or chanted, is what destroys the inauspiciousness. He settled the dharma for the lines of [disciplic] succession [the schools of the sages]. With Lord Krishna holding the weapon that is the wheel of Time [His cakra], it is no wonder that the burden of the earth was removed [see also 3.2: 7-12].

Canto 11

11.1: 11-12

After in the house of the lord of the Yadus [Vasudeva] having performed most favorable rituals to bestow piety and take away the impurities of Kali-yuga, the sages Vis'vâmitra, Asita, Kanva, Durvâsâ, Bhrigu, Angirâ, Kas'yapa, Vâmadeva, Atri, Vasishthha, Nârada and others, were by The Soul of Time [Lord Krishna] sent away to go to Pindâraka [a pilgrimage site]. 

11.1: 24

Even though the Supreme Lord very well knew what it all meant, He did not want to reverse the curse of the scholars and so He, in His form of Time, accepted it.'

11.3: 08

When the dissolution of the material elements is at hand, [the Lord in the form of] Time, which has no beginning or an end, withdraws the manifest universe, consisting of the gross objects and subtle modes, back into the not manifest [see also 3.29: 40-45, 3.26: 51].

11.3: 14

Fire, by darkness deprived of its [quality, its] form, turns into air and the air, losing its [quality of] touch, dissolves into the ether. When the sky [the ether], by the Supreme Soul of Time is deprived of its quality [of sound], it merges into the ego [of not-knowing].

11.6: 14-16

(14) Brahmâ and all the other embodied beings have their existence like oxen bound by a rope through their nose. Being controlled by Time they trouble each other. May the lotus feet of You, the Supreme Personality transcendental to both material nature and the individual person, bring us transcendental happiness [compare 1.13: 42, 6.3: 12].

(15) You are the cause of the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this [universe]. You are the cause of the unseen, of the individual soul and of the complete whole of the manifest reality. They say that You, this very same personality, are the time factor controlling all, who appears as a wheel divided in three [summer, winter and spring/autumn]. One says that You are the Supreme Personality who, in the form of Time, uninterrupted in Your flow effects the decay of everything [*].

(16) The living being [beginning with Mahâ-Vishnu] acquires its power [potency] from that [time aspect] of Yours. You establish the vastness of matter with it [mahat-tattva]. United with that same nature You therefrom generate - the way an ordinary fetus is produced - the golden primeval egg of the universe endowed with its [seven] outer layers [see kos'a].

11.7: 43

(43) Just as the realm of the ether is not touched by the winds that blow the clouds, a person [in his real self] is not affected by his physical bodies consisting of fire, water and earth, that are moved by the basic qualities of nature created by Time.

11.7: 48-50

(48) The state of the body [one undergoes] from one's birth until one's death, changes by the course of Time that itself cannot be seen; it is the body that changes, not the soul, just as the phases of the moon [change, but not the moon itself, B.G. 2: 13, 2: 20]. (49) Just as with flames [which one cannot see apart] from a fire individual souls cannot be seen separately from the bodies that constantly die and are born again, also the [absolute of] Time itself cannot be seen, despite [the relativity of] its speeding, compelling stream [*].

(50) A yogi with his senses accepts and forsakes sense objects depending the moment [according to the cakra order] and does not attach to them, just as the sun, with its rays engaged in [evaporating and returning] bodies of water, is not ruled by them..

11.8: 36

(36) How little happiness did the sensual pleasure give me and the men who pleased my senses! The enjoyment of having a man or [even the grace of] the gods has, being spread in time, all its beginning and its end.

11.8: 41-42

(41) When one has fallen in the well of a material existence, by sensual pleasures has been robbed of one's insight and is caught in the grip of the snake of Time, who else but the Original Lord, would deliver one's soul [see also 10.34]? (42) The moment a soul attentively sees the universe as being seized by the snake of Time, he, being sober, will detach from everything material and be fit to serve as his own protector.'

11.9: 16-19

(16) The one Self, the One Lord without a second who became the Foundation and Reservoir of All, is Nârâyana, the Godhead who by His own potency created the universe in the beginning and by His potency of Time withdraws His creation within Hi mself at the end of the kalpa. (17-18) When the material powers of sattva and so on, are balanced by the time factor that is the potency of the True Self [the Soul, the Lord], the Original Personality, the purusha is found as the Supreme Controller, the Lord of both the primary nature [pradhâna] and the person. He, the worshipable object of all conditioned and transcendental souls, has His existence in the purest experience that one describes as kaivalya [or beatitude], the fulness of the blissful state without [guna] attributes [see also B.G. 7: 5 and *]. (19) By means of the pure potency of His Self, His own bewildering energy composed of the three basic qualities, He, oh subduer of the enemies, at the onset of creation agitating [in the form of Time], manifests the plan of matter [the sûtra, the thread, the rule or direction of the mahat-tattva, see also 3.26: 19].

11.10: 14-16

For the controllers and enjoyers of karma, fruitful labor, there is of course the eternal duality of happiness and grief, time and place, to have and to be. When you take all that is matter for eternal and complete, your intelligence is ruled by all the different forms and changes belonging to it. All living beings thinking thus, oh Uddhava, time and again will find themselves being born [falling ill and dying] and so on [see 3.11]; after all, being united with a form one is bound to the [conditioning] limbs of time [of sun and moon, day and night etc.].

11.10: 26

After for long having enjoyed the heavens until his pious credits were used up, having exhausted his merits he against his will falls down from heaven, [not properly fixed] being forced from his course by time [compare B.G. 9: 20-22].

11.10: 30

In all the worlds among all their leaders there exists fear of Me [in the form of Time]; the individual souls living as long as a kalpa fear Me, and even the one supreme, Brahmâ, who lives for two parârdhas, fears Me [see also 1.13: 17-20, 3.8: 20, 3.11: 33, 3.25: 42, 3.26: 16, 3.29: 37, 3.29: 40-45, 5.24: 15, 5.24: 28].

11.10: 33-34

As long as one is not free from this dependence there will be fear for the Lord and Controller [who is the Time]. They [then] who enjoy this [karmic bond] will become bewildered and always be full of sorrow. (34) With the given reciprocal action [or the operation] of the basic qualities of nature, one calls Me variously the Time, the Soul, the Vedic Knowledge, the World, [the original nature or] Nature [at large], as also the Dharma.'

11.13: 4

The doctrine [followed], [the way one deals with] water, the people [one associates with], one's surroundings and [the way one behaves with] time, one's [occupational] activities, one's birth [or social background], as also [the type of] meditation, mantras and purificatory rites [one respects], are the ten [factors] determining the [prominence of a  particular] mode.

11.13: 13

 When one has conquered the breathing process [prânâyâma] and has mastered the sitting postures [âsana], one should attentively, step by step, without slackening gather one's mind by concentrating on Me at appointed times [to the positions of the sun and the moon, see B.G. 7: 8 and 5: 26-28].

[Edited 30-04-2022]11.15: 12

The yogi may obtain laghimâ [lightness] by attaching to Me as the supreme element of the smallest elements [the atoms], the subtle property of Time [see also cakra].

11.15: 15

When one focusses one's consciousness on Vishnu, the Original Controller of the Three [gunas, see also B.G. 7: 13] who is the mover in the form of Time, one will obtain the siddhi of îs'itvâ [the supremacy] by means of which the conditioned body [the field] and its knower can be controlled [*]. 

11.15: 28

A yogi, pure of character, who by dint of his devotion unto Me knows how to focus his mind [dhâranâ], acquires insight in the three phases of time [past, present and future] including knowledge of birth and death [see tri-kâlika].

11.15: 33

One says [though] that they [these siddhis], for the one who practices the highest form of yoga - the [bhakti] yoga by means of which one obtains everything thinkable from Me - are a hindrance and a waste of time.

11.16: 10

I am the goal of those who seek progress, the Time of those who exert control, I am the equilibrium of the basic qualities of nature, as also the virtue of those endowed with good qualities.

11.16: 27-28

Of that what constitutes a stable vision I am the solar year, of the seasons I am spring, among the months I am Mârgas'îrsha [November-December] and of the lunar mansions [the twenty-seven nakshatras] I am Abhijit. (28) Among the yugas I am Satya-yuga, among the steady I am Devala and Asita, of the Vedic editors I am Dvaipâyana [Vyâsadeva] and among the scholars learned in spirituality I am S'ukrâcârya.

11.18: 3

 [In the forest] one should allow the hair on one's head and body, one's facial hair and nails [to grow], as also the filth of one's body, not [extensively] clean one's teeth, [but] bathe three times a day and [at night] sleep on the ground.

11.18: 5-6

One eats what is either prepared on a fire, what has ripened by time or what was pulverized with a mortar, with a stone or ground with one's teeth. (6) One should personally collect whatever that is needed for one's sustenance depending the place, the time and one's energy, and understand that [living in the forest] one must not store anything for another time [see also 7.12: 19]. 

11.19: 10

Please uplift this person who so badly craving for some insignificant happiness, bitten by the snake of time, hopelessly fell down in this dark pit [of material existence]. Oh Greatest Authority, pour out Your words of mercy that lead to liberation!'

11.20: 2

They also discuss the differences within the varnâs'rama system wherein the father may be of a higher [anuloma] or a lower [pratiloma] class than the mother, they are about heaven and hell and expound on the subjects of having possessions, one's age, place and time [see also 4.8: 54 and *].

11.21: 7

What would be the right and wrong considerations concerning the time, place, the things and so on, is established by Me with the purpose of restricting materially motivated activities.

11.21: 9-10

The time that by its nature [solar position, lunar phase] or by its objects [appointment by calendar and sundial] is suitable for performing one's prescribed duties is considered good and the time that impedes the performance of one's duties or is unsuitable [night time e.g. or times of different obligations] is considered bad [see also B.G. 7: 8, 11.20: 26, kâla and kâlakûtha **]. (10) The purity or impurity of a thing [or of a substance] is determined [validated] with the help of another thing, in respect of what one says about it, by means of a ritual performance [of purification], in respect of time or according to its relative magnitude [***].

11.21: 12

By a combination of time, air, fire, earth and water, or by each of them separately, [matters are purified, like] grains, things made of wood, clay and bone, thread, skins, liquids and things won from fire.

11.21: 15

The purification derived from a mantra is a consequence of the correct knowledge about it. The purification by a certain act is the consequence of one's dedication to Me. Dharma [religiosity] prospers by [the purity of] the six factors [as mentioned: the place, the time, the substance, the mantras, the doer and the devotional act], whereas godlessness [adharma] is produced by the contrary.

11.22: 13

In this world the mode of goodness is of knowledge [light], the mode of passion is of fruitive labor [karma] and the mode of ignorance is of a lack of wisdom. The interaction of the modes is called Time and [the combination of] their natural disposition [svabhâva] constitutes the thread [or lead, symbolically worn by the first three varnas, see also 11.12: 19-21].

11.22: 33

The agitation of the modes takes place on the basis of the primal ether and leads to changes [or pradhâna constitutes the cause of the time phenomena]. The principle of the intellect [the mahat-tattva, see also ***] therefrom gives rise to a false I-awareness that is the cause of three different types of bewilderment: emotion [vaikârika], ignorance [tâmasa] and sensual pleasure [aindriya].

11.22: 43

My best one, created bodies constantly find and lose their existence as a consequence of Time, the imperceptible stream not seen for being that subtle.

11.23: 11

Oh Uddhava, a part of the wealth of this so-called brahmin was seized by his relatives, some by thieves, some by providence, some by time, some by common people and some by higher authorities [see also 10.49: 22].

11.23: 42

The brahmin said: 'These people are not the cause of my happiness or distress, nor can I blame the demigods, my body, the planets, my karma or the time. It is, according to the standard authorities [the s'ruti], nothing but the mind that causes someone to rotate in the cycle of material life.

11.23: 55

And if we say that time would be the cause of our happiness and distress, where do we find the soul in that notion? The soul is not equal to the time [phenomena], the way fire is not equal to its heat and snow is not equal to [cold]. With whom must one be angry when there is no duality in the transcendental position [see also B.G. 18: 16 and time quotes]?

 11.24: 5

By My agitation of the elementary nature [in the form of time, of kâla], the modes of tamas, rajas and sattva [the gunas] have manifested in order to fulfill the desires of the living entity.

 11.24: 15

As arranged by Me, the Supporter, the Soul [the energy] of Time, one rises up from or drowns in the mighty stream of the modes of this world in which one is bound to performing fruitive labor.

 11.24: 19

Material nature [prakriti] the foundation of which is constituted by the causal [transformed] ingredient of the Supreme Person [the purusha], together with that what is the agitating agent, viz. Time [kâla], makes up the threefold of the Absolute Truth [Brahman] that I am.

11.24: 21-27

When the form of the universe that is pervaded by Me has manifested the planetary variety of its time periods [of creation, maintenance and decay], this variety with its different worlds [losing its synergy] arrives at [a dissolution into] its five composing gross elements [see yugas, manvantaras, and B.G. 11: 13]. (22-27) The mortal frame [at the time of annihilation] will merge with the food, the food with the grains, the grains with the earth and the earth with the fragrance. Fragrance becomes merged with the water, the water with its quality of taste, the taste with the fire and the fire with the form. Form merges with air, air merges with touch and touch merges thereupon with the ether. Ether merges with the subtle object of sound and the senses [of sound etc.] become merged with their sources [the gods of the sun and moon etc.]. The sources, My dear Uddhava, merge with the mind of the ego of goodness, the controller of the sound, that dissolves in the original state of the elements [the ego of slowness]. This all-powerful primal elementary nature then merges with the cosmic intelligence [mahat]. That greater principle dissolves in its own basic qualities and they in their turn merge with their ultimate abode, the unmanifest state of nature that merges with the infallible Time. Time merges with the individuality [the jîva] of the Supreme in command of the illusory potency and that individuality merges with Me, the Supreme Self Unborn [âtmâ], who, characterized by creation and annihilation, is perfectly established in Himself and remains alone [see also 3.11: 28, 4.23: 15-18, 11.3: 12-15].

11.25: 30

Material substance, the place, the fruit of action, time, knowledge, activity, the performer, faith, the state of consciousness, and the species and destinations of life thus all belong to the three gunas.

11.28: 16

The individual soul [of identification] with his attention directed at the body, the senses, the life force and the mind, assumes, depending the gunas and the karma, his form within the [great universal] Self. With the lead [the sûtra] of the complete of nature thus very differently denominated [as a dog, ape or human being], he then, controlled by time, moves around in material existence.

11.28: 18

Spiritual knowledge [jñâna, entails] the discrimination [of spirit and matter and is nourished by] scripture and penance, personal experience, historical accounts and logical inference. [It is based upon] that what is there in the beginning, what stays the same in between and what remains in the end of this [creation], namely the Time and Ultimate Cause [of brahman, the Absolute Truth, see also B.G. 10: 30 & 33, 11: 32 and kâla].

11.29: 11

Either alone or in association one should with respect for the position of the moon [e.g.], at special occasions and at festivals, engage in singing and dancing and so on, with royal opulence [and generous contributions].



Canto 12

12.2: 1

S'rî S'uka said: 'And then, oh King, under the strong influence of the time [of Kali-yuga] religiousness, truthfulness, cleanliness, tolerance and mercy, as also the quality of life, physical strength and memory, will diminish day after day [see also 1.16].

12.2: 44

Oh King, of whatever that kings may enjoy in the world with all their power, is by Time nothing more preserved than some accounts and histories [compare with 2.9: 33, 5.19: 28, 11.19: 16, 11.28: 21].'

12.3: 9-13

Prithu, Purûravâ, Gâdhi, Nahusha, Bharata, Kârtavîryârjuna, Mândhâtâ, Sagara, Râma [*], Khathvânga, Dhundhuhâ [or] Kuvalayâs'va [9.6: 23-24], Raghu [9.10: 1], Trinabindu [9.2: 30], Yayâti, S'aryâti [9.3: 1], S'antanu [9.22: 12-13], Gaya [5.15: 6-13], Bhagîratha [9.9: 2-17], Kakutstha [9.6: 12], Naishadha [Nala, 9.9: 16-17, 9.23: 20-21, from the descendants of Nishadha, 9.12: 1], Nriga [Nâbhâga, 10.64: 10], Hiranyakas'ipu, Vritra, Râvana, who made the whole world lament, Namuci [8.11: 29-49], S'ambara [10.36: 36], Bhauma, Hiranyâksha and Târaka [8.10: 19-24], as also many other demons and kings of great control over others, were all heroes who well informed were unconquerable and subdued everyone. Living for me, oh mighty one, they expressed great possessiveness but, by the force of Time being subjected to death, they failed to accomplish their goals, historical accounts is all that remained of them [see also B.G. 4: 7].

12.3: 16-17

The honorable king [Parîkchit] said: 'By what means, my Lord, do the people living in Kali-yuga eradicate the faults accumulating because of that age? Please explain that to me. (17) How about the yugas, the duties prescribed for them, the time they last and when they end, as also the Time itself that represents the movement of the Controller, of Lord Vishnu the Supreme Soul [see also time quotes page].'

12.3: 26

The qualities of goodness, passion and ignorance that thus [depending the age] are observed in a person, undergo - being impelled by [the operation of] Time - permutations within the mind [***].

12.4: 1

S'rî S'uka said: 'Time, beginning with the smallest unit of the atom and culminating in the two halves [or parârdhas of the life of Brahmâ], oh King, has been described [in 3.11] together with the duration of the yugas. Now hear about the annihilation of a kalpa.

12.4: 15-19

Fire then takes away the taste of water, after which it, deprived of this quality, dissolves. Next follows fire that by air is deprived of its form because it takes its quality [of touch] away, after which the air enters the ether that takes away that quality. Then, oh King, the ether dissolves in the original element of nature [âdi, false ego in ignorance] that takes away its quality of sound. Subsequently the senses are seized by the vital power of the universe [tejas or false ego in passion], my best, while the gods are absorbed by the universal modification [vikara, the false ego of goodness]. Cosmic intelligence [mahat] seizes the false ego with all its functions after which mahat is absorbed by the modes of nature of sattva and so on. These three modes, oh King, are then, under the pressure of Time, overtaken by the inexhaustible doer [the original unmanifest form of nature]. The original doer is not subject to transformation in divisions of time [shad-ûrmi] and such qualities; being unmanifest without a beginning and an end, it [or He] constitutes the infallible eternal cause.

12.4: 22

This [state] constitutes the [prâkritika pralaya] dissolution wherein all the material elements of nature and energies of the unseen Original Person are completely dismantled by Time and helplessly merge.

12.4: 29

Even though it is knowable to us, the changeable nature of [the phenomenal world or] even a single atom, can in no way be explained without [- or as standing apart from -] the Self inside [of the Time, the Lord, the expansion of the universe, the 'fourth dimension'], for if that would be so [if there would be not such a Self] it should, being equal to the consciousness, stay the way it is.

12.4: 36-37

 The [more or less favorable living] conditions of all living beings subject to transformation, are rapidly and continuously wiped out by the mighty force of the current of Time and constitute the causes of their birth and death. (37) These states of existence created by the Time, the form of the Lord without a beginning or an end, one does not see [directly], just as the [movements of the] planets in the sky are not seen [directly, see also 3.10: 10-14].

12.6: 47

The brahmin sages, inspired by the Infallible Lord situated in their hearts, came to that dividing among each other of the Vedas when they saw that under the influence of time the intelligence [of the people] diminished, the life span shortened and the strength weakened [see also 1.4: 16-18].

12.6: 67

S'rî Yâjñavalkya said: 'My obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who, appearing as the sun and just like the ether, in the form of the Supersoul inside and in the form of Time outside, is present in the hearts of the four kinds of living entities beginning from Brahmâ down to the blades of grass [as born from wombs, eggs, moist and seed, see also 2.10: 37-40]. You who cannot be covered by material terms, all by Yourself, with the flow of years made up of the tiny fragments of kshanas, lavas and nimeshas [see 3.11: 7], carry out the maintenance of this universe by taking away and returning its water [in the form of rain].

12.8: 43

We know of nothing else but the attainment of Your feet, the very form of liberation, oh Lord, that benefits the person who has to fear from all sides. Brahmâ whose time takes two parârdhas, is most afraid on account of this because You are the Time. And how much more would that not be true for the worldly entities created by him [see 10.13: 56]?

12.9: 28-29

 He overlooked the entire expanse of all the stars, the mountains and oceans, the directions of the great islands and continents, the enlightened and unenlightened souls, the forests, countries, rivers, cities and mines, the peasant villages, the cow pastures and the various engagements of the varnâs'rama society. Of this universe being manifested as real, he saw the basic elements of nature and all their gross manifestations, as also the Time itself in the form of the different yugas and kalpas, and whatever other object of use in material life.

12.10: 37    

 May you have knowledge of the threefold nature of time [tri-kâlika], oh brahmin, as also wisdom in combination with a free heart. May there for you being blessed with brahminical potency, be the status of teacher of the Purâna.' "

12.10: 42  

Oh best one of Bhrigu [S'aunaka], the story I described is infused with the potency of the Lord with the Chariot wheel in His hand [Krishna as the Lord of Time]; for anyone who hears it himself or makes someone else listen to it, there will never be a repetition of births based on karma, a worldly conditioned existence." 

12.11: 14-15

The club He carries constitutes the principle element [of prânaor the vital air] relating to the sensory power, physical power and the power of mind. His excellent conch shell is the element water and His Sudars'ana disc is the principle of tejas [the vital power, the dignity, the fire in opposition]. His sword is, [pure] as the atmosphere, the ether element, His shield consists of the mode of ignorance, His bow S'ârnga is the specific order [or spirit, the rûpa] of time, and His quiver of arrows consists of the karma [the action or the karmendriyas].

12.11: 17

The cyclic order [of time, viz. the sun and the moon] constitutes the exercise of respect for the Godhead, spiritual initiation [dîkshâ] is the purification process for the spiritual soul, and devotional service to the Fortunate One is how one puts an end to a bad course [sin].

12.11: 29

Sûta said: "This regulator of all the planets [the sun] revolving in their midst [around mount Meru, see 5.22: 2] was [by the Lord in the form of Time] created from the [proto]material primal energy [pradhâna] of Vishnu, the Supreme Soul of all embodied beings.

12.11: 31

Oh brahmin, the material energy of the Lord is thus described in nine: the time, the place, the endeavor, the performer, the instrument, the specific ritual, the scripture, the paraphernalia and the result [compare B.G. 18: 13-15].

12.11: 32

The Supreme Lord assuming the form of Time, is there for the [regulation of the] planetary motion to the rule of twelve [months or mâsas, see also B.G. 10: 21], beginning with Madhu. In each of the twelve He [accompanying the sun god] moves differently with His [six] associates [He as a certain Deva together with a different Apsara, Râkshasa, Nâga, Yaksha, sage and Gandharva].

12.11: 45

All these [personalities] constitute the glories of Vishnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the form of the sun god; they take away the sinful reactions of everyone who in the morning and the evening, day after day remembers them.

12.12: 10

The gross and subtle movements of time [3.11 are also discussed, including] the generation of the lotus [3.8] and the killing of Hiranyâksha for the sake of delivering the earth from the ocean [3.17-19].

12.12: 45

[Finally there is an account about] Vishnurata [Parîkchit], the intelligent saintly king who had to relinquish his body [12.5-6], the story of how the seer [Vyâsa and others] conveyed the branches of the Veda [12.6-7], the pious narration about Mârkandeya [12.8-10], the composition of the [universal form of the] Mahâpurusha and the arrangement [of time] in relation to the sun, the self of the universe [12.11].

12.12: 61

When one self-controlled and fasting studies this collection of verses at [the holy places of] Pushkara, Mathurâ or Dvârakâ, one will be freed from the fear [of time, or of a material life, see also 1.13: 19].

[Edited 18-12-2022]

 

Bhagavad Gîtâ   

4: 2

Thus one following the other, the saintly kings received this science understanding it that way but in the course of time in this world this great way of connecting oneself was scattered, o subduer of the enemies.

4: 7

Whenever and wherever it is sure that one weakens in righteousness and a predominance of injustice does manifest, o descendant of Bharata, at that time I do manifest Myself.

4: 38

Surely there exists nothing of knowledge in this world that can compare to this purification and he who is mature in his own yoga will enjoy that in due course of time within himself.

6: 4

When surely he is never for the good of the senses engaged in the necessary fruitive labor, at that time he is a renouncer of selfhood elevated in yoga, one says.

7: 30

Those who know Me as ruling all as well as the godly and the sacrifices also; they with their minds connected in Me even know me at the time of their death too.

8: 7

Therefore go on remembering Me at all times and fighting with your mind and intelligence surrendered to Me, certainly you will attain Me without doubt.

8: 26-27

According the Vedas there are these two ways of light and darkness in passing from this world by which one either does not return or does return again. Of knowing any of these different path's, o son of Prithâ, the yogi is never bewildered; therefore always get unified in yoga, o Arjuna.

9: 10

This material nature, which is one of My energies, is working under My direction, O son of Kuntî, producing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.  

10: 30

Of the Daityas [non-theist sons of Diti who churned the ocean] I am Prahlâda, of what rules I am the Time, of the animals the lion and of the birds I am Garuda [Vainateya].

10: 33

Of the letters I am the first one [the A], of the compound words I am the dual one and certainly am I the eternal of Time and the Creator facing all directions [Brahmâ].

11: 7

See here and now the universe completely, all at the same time, with all that moves and not moves, in this body of Mine, o conqueror of sleep, and also whatever else you wish to see.

11: 32

Time I am, the great destroyer of the worlds engaged here in destroying all people, except for you [brothers] only, will all the soldiers who are situated on both sides, find their end.

13: 31

When one following that tries to see that the diversity of the living beings is resting in oneness and that it expanded to that reality, at that time one attains the Absolute of the Spirit.

14: 11

When to all the gates of the body the enlightenment of knowledge develops, at that time one says is the mode of goodness prevailing.

17: 20

Donations given dutifully, irrespective the return, at the proper time and place and to suitable persons - that giving is considered to be of goodness.

17: 22

That charity which is given at the wrong place, the wrong time and to unworthy persons and as well is given without respect and proper attention - that is said to be in the mode of ignorance.

18: 61

The Supreme Master resides in the heart of all living entities, o Arjuna, directing each creature subject to the mechanical of time and matter.