SB 3.8.20 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

तमस्यपारे विदुरात्मसर्गं विचिन्वतोऽभूत्सुमहांस्त्रिणेमि: । यो देहभाजां भयमीरयाण: परिक्षिणोत्यायुरजस्य हेति: ॥ २० ॥

Verse text

tamasy apāre vidurātma-sargaṁ vicinvato ’bhūt sumahāṁs tri-ṇemiḥ yo deha-bhājāṁ bhayam īrayāṇaḥ parikṣiṇoty āyur ajasya hetiḥ

Synonyms

tamasi apāre — because of an ignorant way of searching ; vidura — O Vidura ; ātma — sargam — the cause of his creation ; vicinvataḥ — while contemplating ; abhūt — it so became ; su — mahān — very great ; tri — nemiḥ — time of three dimensions ; yaḥ — which ; deha — bhājām — of the embodied ; bhayam — fearfulness ; īrayāṇaḥ — generating ; parikṣiṇoti — diminishing the one hundred years ; āyuḥ — duration of life ; ajasya — of the self-born ; hetiḥ — the wheel of eternal time .

Translation

O Vidura, while searching in that way about his existence, Brahmā reached his ultimate time, which is the eternal wheel in the hand of Viṣṇu and which generates fear in the mind of the living entity like the fear of death.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

O Vidura! A hundred years passed for Brahmā who was searching out his source in the unfathomable darkness. Time, the cakra of Viṣṇu, which proclaims the approach of death for the embodied souls, destroys the lifespan. Ātma-sargam means source of his creation. Trinemiḥ means time. Time, proclaiming (īryānaḥ) the approach of death (bhayam) for men (deha-bhājam), destroys life span of a hundred years. Ajasya hetiḥ means the cakra of Viṣṇu. Time is an aṁśa of this cakra.