Text 35]
The Marriage of Kardama Muni and Devahūti
895
TEXT 35
अयातयामास्तस्यासन् यामाः स्वान्तरयापनाः ।  
 शृण्वतो ध्यायतो विष्णोः कुर्वतो ब्रुवतः कथाः ॥३५॥
ayāta-yāmās tasyāsan 
    yāmāḥ svāntara-yāpanāḥ 
    śṛṇvato dhyāyato viṣṇoḥ 
    kurvato bruvataḥ kathāḥ
ayāta-yāmāḥ—time never lost; tasya—of Manu; āsan—were; yāmāḥ—the hours; sva-antara—his duration of life; yāpanāḥ—bringing to an end; śṛṇvataḥ—hearing; dhyāyataḥ—contemplating; viṣṇoḥ—of Lord Viṣṇu; kurvataḥ—acting; bruvataḥ—speaking; kathāḥ—the 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 Svāyambhuva Manu, however, was not tasteless; as he grew older, his life remained as fresh as in the beginning because of his continued Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The life of a man in Kṛṣṇa 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 everyone's life. But the sunrise and sunset cannot diminish the life of he who engages in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Svāyambhuva Manu's life did not become stale after some time because he engaged himself always in chanting about and meditating upon Lord Viṣṇu. He was the greatest  yogī  because he never wasted his time. It is especially mentioned here,  viṣṇoḥ kurvato bruvataḥ kathāḥ . When he talked, he talked only of Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu, the Personality of Godhead; when he heard something, it was about Kṛṣṇa; when he meditated, it was upon Kṛṣṇa and His activities.