Great Throughts Treasury

"Whatever situation it may concern, whatever seems to be the reason, whatever time it might be, by whatever agent and relating to whatever agent, caused by whatever agent or for the sake of whatever agent, whatever the way of something or of whatever nature something might be, is certainly all but another form of the Supreme Reality. Stated differently: in nature one finds because of all kinds of changes a specific form of separateness, but whatever form it may concern, it is always a manifestation of Your Lordship's energy. The illusory of matter creates a mind that constitutes the source of difficult to control fruitive actions [or karma]. These actions are conditioned by the Time that agitates the modes of nature and is respected [in a certain way] by the person. Thus being defeated by the alluring but deluding material energy one is tied to the sixteen spokes [of the senses of action and perception, the elements and the mind] of the wheel of rebirth, oh Unborn One. Whoever can get out of this by anything else but Your way [see also B.G. 9: 25]? You are that one element of Time to the tender mercy of which the soul eternally is left being defeated by the modes of Your rule. I here present as a form of material energy who in all his forsaking and appearing is subjected to Your cyclic control, am powerless oh Lord and Master. I am crushed under the wheel with the sixteen spokes. Please help me, this soul of surrender, to get out of this oh Almighty One.Oh Almighty One, I have seen how people in general desire the longevity, opulence and glory of the pious leaders of heaven. But our father wishing this all [for himself] was simply by the provoked laughter of Your expansion [as Nrisimha] in the blink of an eye pulled down by You and completely vanquished. Therefore I do not covet to live as long as Lord Brahmâ or be rich and mighty. I know where all this foolish blessing of the senses of the embodied being leads to. I have no desire to be closed down by You who are so powerful as the Master of Time. Please take me to the side of Your servants."

"Whatever that kings may enjoy in the world with all their power, is by Time all turned into accounts and histories only."

"When [in the beginning of creation] the seven primary elements [the five material elements, ego and cosmic intelligence - the mahat-tattva] were not yet mixed, [the Lord,] the origin of creation endowed with kâla, karma and guna [time, workload and the modes] entered the universe."

"When a living entity, by his intelligence, reawakens his attraction for Krsna, he can understand that he is not the body but part and parcel of Krsna. Thus filled with knowledge, he no longer labors under attachment to the body and everything related to the body."

"When a person worships the Original Person he immediately gets a grip on his life [as for time and measure]. And so it happened with Diti who for almost a year had worshiped the Lord [see 5.18: 12]. In order to compensate for the faults made by the mother the Lord changed the forty-nine parts that Indra had created, the Maruts, into [the fifty] demigods [together with Indra] who became soma-drinkers [priests]."

"When one according to time [on 'sundays'], in the company of others completely being relieved of material [karmic] activities, hears the nectar of the narrations about the Lord His avatâras, one will by such good company being separated from the physical association with one's wife and children, gradually be freed from one's desires [and pride] like awakening from a dream."

"When one establishes one's consciousness within Vishnu, the Original Controller of the Three [gunas] in the form of Time, one will obtain the siddhi of îs'itvâ [the supremacy] by means of which the conditioned body [the field] and its knower can be controlled."

"When one falls down before a superior just like a stick, one’s offering of obeisances is called dandavat."

"When one following that tries to see that the diversity of the living beings is resting in oneness and that it expanded to that reality, at that time one attains the Absolute of the Spirit."

"When one wants to supersede a superior power, one’s own inferior power becomes ludicrous."

"When one's thinking by the practice of yoga is purified and controlled, one should looking at the tip of one's nose meditate upon the Supreme Lord His form and measure of time [a mechanical clock or waterclock fixed on the sun's summit with the division of time according to the Bhâgavatam]."

"When she once went out at night to milk a cow, she was bitten in the leg by a snake on the path and thus fell victim of the supreme time."

"When surely he is never for the good of the senses engaged in the necessary fruitive labor, at that time he is a renouncer of selfhood elevated in yoga, one says."

"When the dissolution of the material elements is at hand withdraws the [Lord in the form of] Time that is Without a Beginning or an End, the manifest universe consisting of the gross objects and subtle modes [back] into the unmanifest."

"When the king of the Yavanas heard the daughter of Time express herself in these words, he, according to the will of God prepared to do his duty in the private sphere, addressed her with a smile:"

"When to all the gates of the body the enlightenment of knowledge develops, at that time one says is the mode of goodness prevailing."

"When you with this in mind think of the variegatedness of the different ways of making a living, when you think of those enjoyers of happiness and distress; if you keep in mind the perpetual existence of the material world, the time, the revealed scriptures and the soul; when you face the fact that all knowledge is subject to change because it is based upon the difference created by all the forms of exisence and the changes of the sense objects; then, o Uddhava, [you must admit from merely that material vision * that] one thus always has the states of existence of being born [of being old and being diseased] etc. For everyone embodied happens to have a body [which found its order] by the different limbs of time [knowing the divisions according the sun and moon."

"Whenever and wherever it is sure that one weakens in righteousness and a predominance of injustice does manifest, o descendant of Bharata, at that time I do manifest Myself."

"Whenever one desires to give up one's body o King, one should as a sage, without being disturbed, comfortably seated and with one's thinking unperturbed by matters of time and place, in control of the life air restrain the senses with the help of the mind."

"Whether a gosvami or a tiger or other ferocious animal, everyone’s business is the same - to please Krsna. Even the tigers are also devotees. This is the specific qualification of Vrndavana. In Vrndavana everyone is happy. The calf is happy, the cat is happy, the dog is happy, the man is happy - everyone. Everyone wants to serve Krsna in a different capacity, and thus there is no envy."

"Who else but the Original Controller, who is capable of delivering the living being that is seized by the timeserpent, would there be when one like me in pleasing the senses is bereft of all insight and fell down in the dark well of the material ocean [see also 10.34]? When the self thus can behold the universe as being seized by the timeserpent, becomes he, attentively detached from all that is material, for sure his own protector.'"

"Why else would there be that misfortune with the presence of Yudhishthhira, the son of the ruler of religion, Bhîma with his mighty club, Arjuna carrying his Gândîva and our well-wisher Lord Krishna?"

"'With His effulgence He divides the time in the light and dark period of the month [s'ukla and krishna]. May He, that divinity of the moon and the grain to be distributed to the forefathers and the gods, may that King of All People, remain favorably disposed unto us.'"

"With knowledge of the threefold of time [tri-kâlika] o brahmin, and with wisdom plus renunciation, let there for him who is given the brahminical potency, for you, be the status of being a teacher of the purâna'."

"With one’s limited senses, one cannot argue about that which is inconceivable. Therefore the inconceivable is called acintya, that which is beyond cintya, our thoughts and arguments. Acintya refers to that which we cannot contemplate but have to accept."

"With the effect of Eternal Time [kâla] upon the three modes of this illusory energy, the Supreme being, He who essentially is spiritual, generated the virility [the valour, the manliness, the power] by [entering the universe as] the person [as the Purusha]."

"With the Fortunate One constantly at one's side abiding by a spirit of pure goodness [free from passion and ignorance], the world around oneself [the so-called 'here and now'] that [with all those impressions] can be as dark as the [new] moon, thus being connected will manifest itself crystal clear."

"With the hair on the head and body, the facial hair and the nails to carry the dirt, and the teeth not to be cleansed [at other times], should one three times a day get into the water and [at night] sleep on the ground."

"With the Time that roused the karma into activity, soon from the original self [of Vishnu] with that [agitation] a lotus bud appeared that just like a sun illumined the vast waters with its effulgence."

"Within the eternal spiritual body of the Supreme Lord there is infinite potency, which effortlessly manipulates all existence according to the omniscient desire of the Absolute Truth."

"Without touching the original cows and cowherd boys kept by Brahma, Krsna had created another assembly of calves and boys, who were all expansions of visnu-tattva. Thus Brahma’s mystic power was superseded."

"You are never divided under the influence of time, yet You, in Your eternal intelligence o Master, call me in for consultation, as if You would be bewildered. But that is never the case. That boggles my mind, o Lord."

"You are the cause of this creation, maintenance and annihilation, the cause of the unseen, the individual soul and the greater of the manifest reality. They say that You, this very same personality, are the factor of time controlling all who appears as a threefold wheel, that You are the Supreme Personality who in the form of Time uninterrupted in Your flow effects the diminution of everything."

"You are the One for all living beings, You are the master of the living force, of the body, of the soul and the senses; You indeed are the time, the Supreme Lord Vishnu, the imperishable controller. You as the greatest, the cosmic creation ànd the subtle are, consisting of the passion, goodness and slowness, indeed the Original Personality and Proprietor, the knower of the restless mind in all fields."

"You are the source of the [spiritual, Vedic] sound, the origin of the universe, the soul, the life breath, the senses and the elements. You are the modes of nature and the natural disposition, the eternal time, the sacrifice and the dharma of truth [satya] and truthfulness [rita]. It is unto you that one utters the original syllable consisting of the three letters [A-U-M]. Oh soul of all the godly ones, fire constitutes your mouth; oh Lord of all the worlds the surface of the globe is known as your lotus feet; oh self of the gods, time constitutes your movement, the directions are your ears and the controller of the waters [Varuna] is your taste."

"You as the Original Cause, the end and the maintaining of the universe, You as the reservoir of endless potencies, are the Supreme Person of whom one speaks as being the Time; You are the Lordship, the Controller taking hold of the whole universe the way waves take hold of someone along who fell in them."

"You didn't kill the Yakshas, nor killed the Yakshas your brother, for it is the Time that is really the master of annihilation and generation of all living beings."

"You indeed are the Almighty Lord of creation, maintenance and destruction of this universe who, beginningless with the potency of Time by the modes art the employer uninvolved; awakening by Your glance the distinctive dormant characteristics of each of them [modes] You play Your game impeccable."

"You not affected by anything are [the personification of] the ever vigilant Time that by each of its segments reduces the duration of life of all beings. You are of this material world the essential cause of life, the Great Self and Supreme Controller who was never born."

"You who in Your compassion by Your expansions are visible for the humble devotees, are - with the necessary respect of time - always remembered by one's devotional service o destroyer of all inauspiciousness."

"You, the Supreme Soul of all the Worlds giving away Your Self, of Whose prowess speak the sages who gave up on the staff [of wandering, becoming Paramahamsa's, see 5.1*], have thus by me been chosen in rejection of those masters of heaven, born on the lotus [Brahmâ] and ruling existence [S'iva], whose aspirations are destroyed by the force of Time generated from Your eyebrows. What [then would I, next to You, have] of others?"

"Your children, your queens and your other relatives, ministers, advisers and subjects are not alive now, are not of this time anymore; time separates. Time, more powerful than the powerful, is the Supreme Inexhaustible Lord in Control who, playing a game of herdsman and flock, sets the mortal beings in motion."