SB 10.51.49 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

प्रमत्तमुच्चैरितिकृत्यचिन्तया प्रवृद्धलोभं विषयेषु लालसम् । त्वमप्रमत्त: सहसाभिपद्यसे क्षुल्ल‍ेलिहानोऽहिरिवाखुमन्तक: ॥ ४९ ॥

Verse text

pramattam uccair itikṛtya-cintayā pravṛddha-lobhaṁ viṣayeṣu lālasam tvam apramattaḥ sahasābhipadyase kṣul-lelihāno ’hir ivākhum antakaḥ

Synonyms

pramattam — thoroughly deluded ; uccaiḥ — extensive ; iti — kṛtya — of what needs to be done ; cintayā — with thought ; pravṛddha — increased fully ; lobham — whose greed ; viṣayeṣu — for sense objects ; lālasam — hankering ; tvam — You ; apramattaḥ — not deluded ; sahasā — suddenly ; abhipadyase — confront ; kṣut — out of thirst ; lelihānaḥ — licking its fangs ; ahiḥ — a snake ; iva — as ; ākhum — a mouse ; antakaḥ — death .

Translation

A man obsessed with thoughts of what he thinks needs to be done, intensely greedy, and delighting in sense enjoyment is suddenly confronted by You, who are ever alert. Like a hungry snake licking its fangs before a mouse, You appear before him as death.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

A man obsessed with thoughts of what he thinks needs to be done, intensely greedy, and delighting in sense enjoyment is suddenly confronted by You, who are ever alert. Like a hungry snake licking its fangs before a mouse, You appear before him as death. KB 10.51.49 “I think that, like me, all living creatures are careless about spiritual realization and are always full of anxieties, thinking, ‘What is to be done? What is next?’ But because we are strongly bound by material desires, we continue to remain in craziness. “Yet in spite of our being so absorbed in material thought, inevitable time, which is only a form of Yourself, is always careful about its duty, and as soon as the allotted time is over, Your Lordship immediately ends all the activities of our material dreams. As the time factor, You end all our activities, as a hungry black snake swiftly swallows up a small rat without leniency.

Purport

We may note here the contrast between the words pramattam and apramattaḥ. Those who are trying to exploit the material world are pramatta: “deluded, bewildered, maddened by desire.” But the Lord is apramatta: “alert, sober, and unbewildered.” In our madness we may deny God or His laws, but the Lord is sober and will not fail to reward or punish us according to the quality of our activities.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The lord in the form of time devours those who do not worship him. That is the meaning of this verse. Because the person is attracted to sense objects, he ignores you (pramattah). Thinking that he must do certain actions in the world, he develops ever increasing greed. Even though his desires are frustrated, he is still eager for those objects. You are the destroyer (antakah). With great attention (apramattha), not forgetting about him, as he forgot about you, you overpower him, just as a snake licking his tongue out of hunger, overpowers a mouse.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

This verse describes the ultimate condition of such thoughts. Pramattam means “devoid of attention to the Lord by remembrance etc.” Therefore attachment (lobham) to attained material objects increases and the person cannot desist from enjoying them. He has greed for objects he has not attained (lālasam). Since the Lord causes death through time, he is identified with time (antakaḥ) in the verse. One should worship you out of fear, since you are also the power of time. You approach him suddenly without giving him time to think, coming directly in front of him (abhipadyase). The descriptive terms in the example are general, not making Kṛṣṇa into a snake in all respects.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Though very proud, a man must die. This will happen suddenly. He is completely unaware. But you are aware (apramattaḥ), alert at all times in doing your job. As time you put an end to everything (antakaḥ). Suddenly or beyond logic (sahasā), you cause death (abhipadyase). An example shows the suddenness and alertness: you are like a snake waiting to devour a mouse. Or being completely inattentive to remember you (pramattam ucchaiḥ), increasing greedy for objects, longing for objects incessantly for enjoyment, the person suffers on not attaining them.