SB 5.14.29 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

कदाचिदीश्वरस्य भगवतो विष्णोश्चक्रात्परमाण्वादिद्विपरार्धापवर्गकालोपलक्षणात्परिवर्तितेन वयसा रंहसा हरत आब्रह्मतृणस्तम्बादीनां भूतानामनिमिषतो मिषतां वित्रस्तहृदयस्तमेवेश्वरं कालचक्रनिजायुधं साक्षाद्भगवन्तं यज्ञपुरुषमनाद‍ृत्य पाखण्डदेवता: कङ्कगृध्रबकवटप्राया आर्यसमयपरिहृता: साङ्केत्येनाभिधत्ते ॥ २९ ॥

Verse text

kadācid īśvarasya bhagavato viṣṇoś cakrāt paramāṇv-ādi-dvi-parārdhāpavarga-kālopalakṣaṇāt parivartitena vayasā raṁhasā harata ābrahma-tṛṇa-stambādīnāṁ bhūtānām animiṣato miṣatāṁ vitrasta-hṛdayas tam eveśvaraṁ kāla-cakra-nijāyudhaṁ sākṣād bhagavantaṁ yajṣa-puruṣam anādṛtya pākhaṇḍa-devatāḥ kaṅka-gṛdhra-baka-vaṭa-prāyā ārya-samaya-parihṛtāḥ sāṅketyenābhidhatte.

Synonyms

kadācit — sometimes ; īśvarasya — of the Supreme Lord ; bhagavataḥ — of the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; viṣṇoḥ — of Lord Viṣṇu ; cakrāt — from the disc ; paramāṇu — ādi — beginning from the time of minute atoms ; dvi — parārdha — the duration of the life of Brahmā ; apavarga — ending ; kāla — of time ; upalakṣaṇāt — having the symptoms ; parivartitena — revolving ; vayasā — by the chronological order of ages ; raṁhasā — swiftly ; harataḥ — taking away ; ā — brahma — beginning from Lord Brahmā ; tṛṇa — stamba — ādīnām — down to the small clumps of grass ; bhūtānām — of all living entities ; animiṣataḥ — without blinking the eyes (without fail) ; miṣatām — before the eyes of the living entities (without their being able to stop it) ; vitrasta — hṛdayaḥ — being afraid in the heart ; tam — Him ; eva — certainly ; īśvaram — the Supreme Lord ; kāla — cakra — nija — āyudham — whose personal weapon is the disc of time ; sākṣāt — directly ; bhagavantam — the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; yajṣa — puruṣam — who accepts all kinds of sacrificial ceremonies ; anādṛtya — without caring for ; pākhaṇḍa — devatāḥ — concocted incarnations of God (man-made gods or demigods) ; kaṅka — buzzards ; gṛdhra — vultures ; baka — herons ; vaṭa — prāyāḥ — like crows ; ārya — samaya — parihṛtāḥ — who are rejected by authorized Vedic scriptures accepted by the Āryans ; sāṅketyena — by concoction or with no basis of authority indicated by scripture ; abhidhatte — he accepts as worshipable .

Translation

The personal weapon used by Lord Kṛṣṇa, the disc, is called hari-cakra, the disc of Hari. This cakra is the wheel of time. It expands from the beginning of the atoms up to the time of Brahmā’s death, and it controls all activities. It is always revolving and spending the lives of the living entities, from Lord Brahmā down to an insignificant blade of grass. Thus one changes from infancy, to childhood, to youth and maturity, and thus one approaches the end of life. It is impossible to check this wheel of time. This wheel is very exacting because it is the personal weapon of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sometimes the conditioned soul, fearing the approach of death, wants to worship someone who can save him from imminent danger. Yet he does not care for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose weapon is the indefatigable time factor. The conditioned soul instead takes shelter of a man-made god described in unauthorized scriptures. Such gods are like buzzards, vultures, herons and crows. Vedic scriptures do not refer to them. Imminent death is like the attack of a lion, and neither vultures, buzzards, crows nor herons can save one from such an attack. One who takes shelter of unauthorized man-made gods cannot be saved from the clutches of death.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Sometimes, afraid of the cakra of the Supreme Lord, which represents time from the smallest unit up to the life span of Brahmā, and which turns quickly through all the ages of life, destroying the lives of all beings from Brahmā to grass, who are absorbed in their material affairs, the jīva does not respect the Lord of sacrifice who holds that cakra, but instead accepts imposters devoid of proper conduct, who are like herons, vultures and cranes as objects of worship. This verse explains the sentence “Being afraid of group of lions in the forest, he makes friends with cranes, herons and vultures” in verse SB 5.13.16. In fear of the cakra, he accepts the imposters as worshipable along with their imaginary scriptures (sāṅketyena). The cakra is characterized prominently (upa) by time from the smallest fraction of time (paramāṇu) to the life span of Brahmā. Another version has dvi-parārdhāpavargāt kālopalakṣaṇāt. The cakra is the very form of time. It quickly destroys the living beings from Brahmā to grass by its turning, with the passing of age from youth to old age (vayasā). They do not notice this. The genitive used for the accusative case (bhūtānām). Or the word “life” can be supplied: the cakra destroys the life of the livings beings. The cakra is vigilant (animiṣataḥ). Arya-samaya-parihṛtāḥ means they are devoid of proper behavior.

Purport

It is stated: hariṁ vinā mṛtiṁ na taranti. No one can save himself from the cruel hands of death without being favored by Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Bhagavad-gītā it is stated, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te: whoever fully surrenders unto Kṛṣṇa can be saved from the cruel hands of material nature. The conditioned soul, however, sometimes wants to take shelter of a demigod, man-made god, pseudo incarnation or bogus svāmī or yogī. All these cheaters claim to follow religious principles, and all this has become very popular in this Age of Kali. There are many pāṣaṇḍīs who, without referring to the śāstras, pose themselves as incarnations, and foolish people follow them. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has left behind Him Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā. Not referring to these authorized scriptures, rascals take shelter of man-made scriptures and try to compete with Lord Kṛṣṇa. That is the greatest difficulty one encounters when trying to promote spiritual consciousness in human society. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying its best to bring people back to Kṛṣṇa consciousness in its pure form, but the pāṣaṇḍīs and atheists, who are cheaters, are so numerous that sometimes we become perplexed and wonder how to push this movement forward. In any case, we cannot accept the unauthorized ways of so-called incarnations, gods, cheaters and bluffers, who are described here as crows, vultures, buzzards and herons.