Devanagari
एवं कृष्णमतेर्ब्रह्मन्नासक्तस्यामलात्मन: ।
काल: प्रादुरभूत्काले तडित्सौदामनी यथा ॥ २७ ॥
Verse text
evaṁ kṛṣṇa-mater brahman
nāsaktasyāmalātmanaḥ
kālaḥ prādurabhūt kāle
taḍit saudāmanī yathā
Synonyms
evam
—
thus
;
kṛṣṇa
—
mateḥ — one who is fully absorbed in thinking of Kṛṣṇa
;
brahman
—
O Vyāsadeva
;
na
—
not
;
āsaktasya
—
of one who is attached
;
amala
—
ātmanaḥ — of one who is completely free from all material dirt
;
kālaḥ
—
death
;
prādurabhūt
—
become visible
;
kāle
—
in the course of time
;
taḍit
—
lightning
;
saudāmanī
—
illuminating
;
yathā
—
as it is .
Translation
And so, O Brāhmaṇa Vyāsadeva, in due course of time I, who was fully absorbed in thinking of Kṛṣṇa and who therefore had no attachments, being completely freed from all material taints, met with death, as lightning and illumination occur simultaneously.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O brāhmaṇa Vyāsa! Concentrating only on Kṛṣṇa, not attached to material enjoyment and pure in mind, the time of receiving my spiritual body occurred simultaneously with that of giving up my material body, like lightning flashing simultaneously with lightning.
Purport
To be fully absorbed in the thought of Kṛṣṇa means clearance of material dirts or hankerings. As a very rich man has no hankerings for small petty things, so also a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is guaranteed to pass on to the kingdom of God, where life is eternal, fully cognizant and blissful, naturally has no hankerings for petty material things, which are like dolls or shadows of the reality and are without permanent value. That is the sign of spiritually enriched persons. And in due course of time, when a pure devotee is completely prepared, all of a sudden the change of body occurs which is commonly called death. And for the pure devotee such a change takes place exactly like lightning, and illumination follows simultaneously. That is to say a devotee simultaneously changes his material body and develops a spiritual body by the will of the Supreme. Even before death, a pure devotee has no material affection, due to his body’s being spiritualized like a red-hot iron in contact with fire.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
At the time of dissolving my subtle and gross bodies (kāle), the time (kālaḥ) that I was waiting for expectantly for a long time made its appearance. That is the meaning. It is like saying “The time when the king went was the time he arrived.” It is said that the intelligence, even when identified with the Lord completely, being non-different, still has the ability to make distinctions. But this case was different. Intelligence could not make a distinction. Suddenly the two times (disappearance of the material body and attainment of the spiritual body) simultaneously made their appearance, connected closely like subject and predicate. An example is given. It is like the simultaneity of lightning with another flash of lightning. Just as sometimes lightning appears at the same time as another flash of lightning, similarly at the exact time of giving up my material body, the time of receiving my spiritual body as an associate also occurred.