Devanagari
कालोऽयं द्विपरार्धाख्यो निमेष उपचर्यते ।
अव्याकृतस्यानन्तस्य ह्यनादेर्जगदात्मन: ॥ ३८ ॥
Verse text
kālo ’yaṁ dvi-parārdhākhyo
nimeṣa upacaryate
avyākṛtasyānantasya
hy anāder jagad-ātmanaḥ
Synonyms
kālaḥ
—
eternal time
;
ayam
—
this (as measured by Brahmā’s duration of life)
;
dvi
—
parārdha — ākhyaḥ — measured by the two halves of Brahmā’s life
;
nimeṣaḥ
—
less than a second
;
upacaryate
—
is so measured
;
avyākṛtasya
—
of one who is unchanged
;
anantasya
—
of the unlimited
;
hi
—
certainly
;
anādeḥ
—
of the beginningless
;
jagat
—
ātmanaḥ — of the soul of the universe .
Translation
The duration of the two parts of Brahmā’s life, as above mentioned, is calculated to be equal to one nimeṣa [less than a second] for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is unchanging and unlimited and is the cause of all causes of the universe.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The span of two parardhas, the life time of Brahmā, is represented by a moment of time for the Supreme Lord who is beyond change, without end or beginning, and the cause of the universe.
Very minute and expansive measures of time have been described. Now the greatest extent of time is described. Two parardhas, the total duration of Brahmā’s life is designated in the scriptures as the greatest measure of time, though it is impossible to include all time. Two parardhas is only one moment for the Supreme Lord, the soul of the universe. Can one measure the Lord’s life span in terms of seconds or other measurements of time? No. The measure of a second is figurative only (upacaryate). Thus Brahma-saṁhitā says that the life of Brahmā lasts for a breath of Mahaviṣṇu. Niśvasita-kālam athāvalanvya jīvanti lomavilajā jagadaṇḍanāthāḥ: the Brahmās who arise from the hair holes of the Lord live for one exhalation of breath of the Lord. Thus the lifespan of Brahmā is not even a second for the Lord or a breath of the Lord. It is indicative only, because the Lord is devoid of change caused by material time (avyākṛtasya), since the Lord is without beginning or end. This means he is beyond the divisions of time such as seconds, minutes, days, and years. And this is because he is the soul of the universe, the cause of time and all other things in the material world.
Purport
The great sage Maitreya has given a considerable description of the time of different dimensions, beginning from the atom up to the duration of the life of Brahmā. Now he attempts to give some idea of the time of the unlimited Personality of Godhead. He just gives a hint of His unlimited time by the standard of the life of Brahmā. The entire duration of the life of Brahmā is calculated to be less than a second of the Lord’s time, and it is explained in the
Brahma-saṁhitā
(5.48)
as follows:
yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya
jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ
viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
“I worship Govinda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, whose plenary portion is Mahā-Viṣṇu. All the heads of the innumerable universes [the Brahmās] live only by taking shelter of the time occupied by one of His breaths.” The impersonalists do not believe in the form of the Lord, and thus they would hardly believe in the Lord’s sleeping. Their idea is obtained by a poor fund of knowledge; they calculate everything in terms of man’s capacity. They think that the existence of the Supreme is just the opposite of active human existence: because the human being has senses, the Supreme must be without sense perception; because the human being has a form, the Supreme must be formless; and because the human being sleeps, the Supreme must not sleep.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
however, does not agree with such impersonalists. It is clearly stated herein that the Supreme Lord rests in
yoga-nidrā,
as previously discussed. And because He sleeps, naturally He must breathe, and the
Brahma-saṁhitā
confirms that within His breathing period innumerable Brahmās take birth and die.
There is complete agreement between
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
and the
Brahma-saṁhitā.
Eternal time is never lost along with the life of Brahmā. It continues, but it has no ability to control the Supreme Personality of Godhead because the Lord is the controller of time. In the spiritual world there is undoubtedly time, but it has no control over activities. Time is unlimited, and the spiritual world is also unlimited, since everything there exists on the absolute plane.