SB 10.51.38

SB 10.51.38

Devanagari

कालत्रयोपपन्नानि जन्मकर्माणि मे नृप । अनुक्रमन्तो नैवान्तं गच्छन्ति परमर्षय: ॥ ३८ ॥

Verse text

kāla-trayopapannāni janma-karmāṇi me nṛpa anukramanto naivāntaṁ gacchanti paramarṣayaḥ

Synonyms

kāla of time ; traya in three phases (past, present and future) ; upapannāni occurring ; janma births ; karmāṇi and activities ; me My ; nṛpa O King (Mucukunda) ; anukramantaḥ enumerating ; na not ; eva at all ; antam the end ; gacchanti reach ; parama the greatest ; ṛṣayaḥ sages .

Translation

O King, the greatest sages enumerate My births and activities, which take place throughout the three phases of time, but never do they reach the end of them.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

O King, the greatest sages enumerate My births and activities, which take place throughout the three phases of time, but never do they reach the end of them. KB 10.51.38 “Many great sages and saintly persons have tried to list My different forms and activities, yet they have failed to make a complete list.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

The greatest sages, even knowers of Vedānta, successively cannot count my births and activities, birth, names and qualities which appear in past, present and future. Yato vāco nivartante: the Lord cannot be fully described by words. (Taittirīya Upaniṣad)

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

The sages count my birth and activities taking place in past, present and future and cannot reach an end. The qualities are even more. Guṇātmanas te’ pi guṇān vimātum: it is impossible to count the qualities of you who are composed of all qualities. (SB 10.14.7) Since the names arise from the qualities and activities they are also unlimited. The births are unlimited because the Lord appears many times over time and there are various forms which are many. The extent of time is unlimited. Counting in order, the great sages like Bhṛgu find that there is no end. O king! You can understand this since many great sages have gathered here because of your being a great king.