472
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 4, Ch. 11]
TEXT 21
आयुषोऽपचयं जन्तोस्तथैवोपचयं विभुः । उभाभ्यां रहितः स्वस्यो दुःस्थस्य विदधात्यसौ ॥२१॥
āyuṣo 'pacayam jantos tathaivopacayam vibhuḥ ubhābhyām rahitaḥ sva-stho duḥsthasya vidadhāty asau
āyuṣaḥ —of duration of life;  apacayam —diminution;  jantoḥ —of the living entities;  tathā —similarly;  eva —also;  upacayam —increase;  vibhuḥ —the Supreme Personality of Godhead;  ubhābhyām —from both of them;  rahitaḥ —free;  sva-sthaḥ —always situated in His transcendental position;  duḥsthasya —of the living entities under the laws of  karma ;  vidadhāti —awards;  asau —He.
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, is all-powerful, and He awards the results of one's fruitive activities. Thus, although one living entity's duration of life is very small whereas that of another is very great, He is always in His transcendental position, and there is no question of lessening or increasing His duration of life.
PURPORT
Both the mosquito and Lord Brahmā are living entities in the material world; both are minute sparks and are part of the Supreme Lord. The very short duration of life of the mosquito and the very long lifetime of Lord Brahmā are both awarded by the Supreme Personality of Godhead according to the results of their  karma . But in the  Brahma-saṁhitā  we find it said,  karmāṇi nirdahati : the Lord diminishes or vanquishes the reactions of devotees. The same fact is explained in  Bhagavad-gītā ,  yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra : one should perform  karma  only for the purpose of satisfying the Supreme Lord, otherwise one is bound by the action and reaction of  karma . Under the laws of  karma  a living entity wanders within the universe under the rule of eternal time, and sometimes he becomes a mosquito and sometimes Lord Brahmā. To a sane man this business is not very fruitful.  Bhagavad-gītā  (9.25) gives a warning to the living entities:  yānti deva-vratā devān —those who are addicted to the worship of the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, and those who are addicted to worship of the  pitās , forefathers, go to the  pitās . Those who are inclined to material activi-