Text 35] The Marriage of Kardama Muni and Devahiti 895
TEXT 35
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ayata-yamas tasyasan
yamah svantara-yapanah
§rnvato dhydayato visnoh
kurvato bruvatah kathah

aydta-yamah—time never lost; tasya—of Manu; asan—were; yamah—the
hours; sva-antara—his duration of life; yapanadh—bringing to an end;
§rnvatah—hearing; dhydyatah—contemplating; visnoh—of Lord Visnu;
kurvatah—acting; bruvatah—speaking; kathah—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 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 everyone’s life. But
the sunrise and sunset cannot diminish the life of he who engages in
Krsna consciousness. Svayambhuva Manu’s life did not become stale after
some time because he engaged himself always in chanting about and
meditating upon Lord Visnu. He was the greatest yogr because he never
wasted his time. It is especially mentioned here, visnoh kurvato bruvatah
kathah. When he talked, he talked only of Krgna and Visnu, the Personality
of Godhead; when he heard something, it was about Krsna; when he
meditated, it was upon Krsna and His activities.
