SB 1.4.17-18 (1962)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXTS No.'s 17 & 18
Bhoutikanancha bhavanam shaktihrasamcha tatkritam
Ashraddhanan nihsatwan durmedhan hrasita ayushah
Janan bikshya munir dibyena chakshusa sarva
Varnashramanam Yaddadhu oitam amoghadrik.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Bhoutikanancha—also of everything that is made of matter, Bhavanam—actions, Shaktihrashancha—deterioration of natural power, Tatkritam—rendered by that, Ashraddhadhanan—of the faithless, Niswatwam—impatient due to want of the mode of goodness, Hrashita—reduced, Ayusha—of duration of life, Durbhaganscha—also the unlucky, Janan—people in general, Bikshya—by seeing, Munir—the muni, Dibyena—by transcendental, Chakshusa—vision, Sarva—all, Varnshramanam—of all the status and orders of life, Yad—what, Dadhou—contemplated, Hitam—welfare, Amoghadrik—one who is fully equipped in knowledge.
TRANSLATION
The great sage who is fully equipped in knowledge could see by His transcendental vision about the deterioration of everything made of matter rendered by the influence of the age; as also he could see the faithless people in general reduced in duration of life and impatience due to lack of the quality of goodness. Thus he contemplated for the welfare of men in all status and orders of life.
PURPORT
The non manifested forces of time is so powerful that it reduces all matters into decaying in due course. As such the Kaliyuga being the last millennium of a round of the four millenniums, the power of all material objects deteriorates by such influence of time. In this age duration of the material body of the people in general is much reduced and so also the memory. The action of matter is also not so much an incentive. The land does not produce any more food grains in the same proportion as it did in other ages. The cow does not give so much milk as it used to give formerly. The production of vegetables and fruits are all less than before. As such all the living beings both men and animal do not have sumptuous nourishing food and due to want of so many necessities of life naturally the duration of life is reduced, the memory is short, intelligence is meagre, mutual dealings are full of hypocrisy and so on.
The great sage Vyasdeva could see them all by His transcendental vision on account of His becoming the liberated soul. As an astrologer can see the future fate of a man or an astronomer can foretell by calculation about the solar and lunar eclipses in future dates, similarly those who can see through the scriptures about the future of all mankind are called liberated souls. They can see so, on account of their sharp vision by spiritual attainment.
And all such transcendentalist, who are naturally devotees of the Lord, are always busy for rendering welfare service to the people in general. Such transcendentalist are real friends of the people in general than the so called public leaders who are unable to see what is going to happen five minutes ahead. In this age the people in general as well as their so called leaders are all unlucky fellows, faithless in spiritual knowledge and being influenced by the age of Kali, are always disturbed by various diseases and other disturbances. For example at the present age there are so many T.B. patients and T.B. hospitals but formerly it was not so because the time was not so much unfavorable. These unfortunate men of this age are always reluctant to give a reception to the transcendentalists who are representatives of Srila Vyasadeva and yet such selfless workers are always busy in planning something which may help everyone in all status and orders of life. So the greatest philanthropists are those transcendentalists who represent the mission of Vyasa, Narada, Madhya, Chaitanya, Rupa, Saraswati etc. They are all one and the same because the personalities may be different but the aim of mission is one and the same, namely to deliver the fallen souls back to home back to Godhead.