Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.7.49
Nirodha· Winding upTime’s Changes Teach Detachment
“The flames of a fire appear and disappear at every moment, and yet this creation and destruction is not noticed by the ordinary observer. Similarly, the mighty waves of time flow constantly, like the powerful currents of a river, and imperceptibly cause the birth, growth and death of innumerable material bodies. And yet the soul, who is thus constantly forced to change his position, cannot perceive the actions of time.”
What the purport teaches
- Flames constantly appear and disappear, although we perceive a continuous fire. Similarly, time continually brings material bodies into being and destroys them.
- The soul remains a continuous reality while its bodies change. Because the soul is eternal, we tend to mistake fleeting material situations for permanent ones.
- Our eternal nature can be truly experienced only in the eternal spiritual atmosphere. Conviction in this truth develops vairāgya, or detachment from material illusion.
Try this today
Identify one material attachment today and reflect briefly on how time will change it.
Ask yourself
What temporary situation am I treating as though it will last forever?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
From Canto 10, chapter 14 onward, the translation and purports were completed by Śrīla Prabhupāda's disciples after his departure, and published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.