TEXT 35
ayata-yamas tasyasan
yamah svantara-yapanah
srnvato dhyayato visnoh
kurvato bruvatah kathah
SYNONYMS
ayata-yamahtime never lost; tasyaof Manu; asanwere; yamahthe hours; sva-antarahis duration of life; yapanahbringing to an end; srnvatahhearing; dhyayatahcontemplating; visnohof Lord Visnu; kurvatahacting; bruvatahspeaking; kathahthe topics.
TRANSLATION
Consequently, although his duration of life gradually came to an end, his long life, consisting of a Manvantara era, was not spent in vain, since he ever engaged in hearing, contemplating, writing down and chanting the pastimes of the Lord.
PURPORT
As freshly prepared food is very tasteful but if kept for three or four hours becomes stale and tasteless, so the existence of material enjoyment can endure as long as life is fresh, but at the fag end of life everything becomes tasteless, and everything appears to be vain and painful. The life of Emperor Svayambhuva Manu, however, was not tasteless; as he grew older, his life remained as fresh as in the beginning because of his continued Krsna consciousness. The life of a man in Krsna consciousness is always fresh. It is said that the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening and its business is to reduce the duration of everyones life. But the sunrise and sunset cannot diminish the life of one who engages in Krsna consciousness. Svayambhuva Manus life did not become stale after some time, for he engaged himself always in chanting about and meditating upon Lord Visnu. He was the greatest yogi because he never wasted his time. It is especially mentioned here, visnoh kurvato bruvatah kathah. When he talked, he talked only of Krsna and Visnu, the Personality of Godhead; when he heard something, it was about Krsna; when he meditated, it was upon Krsna and His activities.
It is stated that his life was very long, seventy-one yugas. One yuga is completed in 4,320,000 years, seventy-one of such yugas is the duration of the life of a Manu, and fourteen such Manus come and go in one day of Brahma. For the entire duration of his life - 4,320,000 x 71 yearsManu engaged in Krsna consciousness by chanting, hearing, talking about and meditating upon Krsna. Therefore, his life was not wasted, nor did it become stale.
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