Devanagari
यथेदानीं तथाग्रे च पश्चादप्येतदीदृशम् ॥ १३ ॥
Verse text
yathedānīṁ tathāgre ca
paścād apy etad īdṛśam
Synonyms
yathā
—
as it is
;
idānīm
—
at present
;
tathā
—
so it was
;
agre
—
in the beginning
;
ca
—
and
;
paścāt
—
at the end
;
api
—
also
;
etat īdṛśam
—
it continues to be the same .
Translation
This cosmic manifestation is as it is now, it was the same in the past, and it will continue in the same way in the future.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
As the universe exists now, it existed before devastation, and will exist after devastation.
“Because the universe has a beginning and end, the universe must be unreal. How can an unreal universe be divided?” This cannot be said. This universe existed before the great devastation (agre). After the devastation is over, it will exist. It is not a false object, but temporary.
Purport
There is a systematic schedule for the perpetual manifestation, maintenance and annihilation of the material world, as stated in
Bhagavad-gītā
(9.8)
:
bhūta-grāmam imaṁ kṛtsnam avaśaṁ prakṛter vaśāt.
As it is created now and as it will be destroyed later on, so also it existed in the past and again will be created, maintained and destroyed in due course of time. Therefore, the systematic activities of the time factor are perpetual and eternal and cannot be stated to be false. The manifestation is temporary and occasional, but it is not false as claimed by the Māyāvādī philosophers.