Devanagari
कपिल उवाच
तस्यैतस्य जनो नूनं नायं वेदोरुविक्रमम् ।
काल्यमानोऽपि बलिनो वायोरिव घनावलि: ॥ १ ॥
Verse text
kapila uvāca
tasyaitasya jano nūnaṁ
nāyaṁ vedoru-vikramam
kālyamāno ’pi balino
vāyor iva ghanāvaliḥ
Synonyms
kapilaḥ uvāca
—
Lord Kapila said
;
tasya etasya
—
of this very time factor
;
janaḥ
—
person
;
nūnam
—
certainly
;
na
—
not
;
ayam
—
this
;
veda
—
knows
;
uru
—
vikramam — the great strength
;
kālyamānaḥ
—
being carried off
;
api
—
although
;
balinaḥ
—
powerful
;
vāyoḥ
—
of the wind
;
iva
—
like
;
ghana
—
of clouds
;
āvaliḥ
—
a mass .
Translation
The Personality of Godhead said: As a mass of clouds does not know the powerful influence of the wind, a person engaged in material consciousness does not know the powerful strength of the time factor, by which he is being carried.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Kapila said: Indeed, men do not know the powerful influence of time. They are like clouds pushed by a strong wind.
Kapila has shown to his mother in five chapters bhakti mixed with guṇas, pure bhakti, as well jṣāna and aṣṭāṅga-yoga in sattva-guṇa. In three chapters he now shows, one after the other, results arising from activities of tamas, rajas and sattva. In the Thirtieth Chapter Kapila explains the pains in youth, old age, death and hell of persons agitated by attachment to wife and sons.
Kapila explains now in three chapters the suffering of material life produced by various actions without bhakti to the Lord. Tasya refers to time. Instead of balinaḥ the word balinā (with force) is sometimes seen.
Purport
The great politician-
paṇḍita
named Cāṇakya said that even one moment of time cannot be returned even if one is prepared to pay millions of dollars. One cannot calculate the amount of loss there is in wasting valuable time. Either materially or spiritually, one should be very alert in utilizing the time which he has at his disposal. A conditioned soul lives in a particular body for a fixed measurement of time, and it is recommended in the scriptures that within that small measurement of time one has to finish Kṛṣṇa consciousness and thus gain release from the influence of the time factor. But, unfortunately, those who are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are carried away by the strong power of time without their knowledge, as clouds are carried by the wind.