Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Texts 11.10.14-16
अथैषाम् कर्मकर्तृणां भोक्तृणां सुखदु:खयो: ।
नानात्वमथ नित्यत्वं लोककालागमात्मनाम् ॥ १४ ॥
मन्यसे सर्वभावानां संस्था ह्यौत्पत्तिकी यथा ।
तत्तदाकृतिभेदेन जायते भिद्यते च धी: ॥ १५ ॥
एवमप्यङ्ग सर्वेषां देहिनां देहयोगत: ।
कालावयवत: सन्ति भावा जन्मादयोऽसकृत् ॥ १६ ॥
athaiṣām karma-kartṝṇāṁ
bhoktṝṇāṁ sukha-duḥkhayoḥ
nānātvam atha nityatvaṁ
loka-kālāgamātmanām
manyase sarva-bhāvānāṁ
saṁsthā hy autpattikī yathā
tat-tad-ākṛti-bhedena
jāyate bhidyate ca dhīḥ
evam apy aṅga sarveṣāṁ
dehināṁ deha-yogataḥ
kālāvayavataḥ santi
bhāvā janmādayo ’sakṛt
My dear Uddhava, I have thus explained to you perfect knowledge. There are philosophers, however, who challenge My conclusion. They state that the natural position of the living entity is to engage in fruitive activities, and they see him as the enjoyer of the happiness and unhappiness that accrue from his own work. According to this materialistic philosophy, the world, time, the revealed scriptures and the self are all variegated and eternal, existing as a perpetual flow of transformations. Knowledge, moreover, cannot be one or eternal, because it arises from the different and changing forms of objects; thus knowledge itself is always subject to change. Even if you accept such a philosophy, My dear Uddhava, there will still be perpetual birth, death, old age and disease, since all living entities must accept a material body subject to the influence of time.
Read the purport on Vedabase.ioFrom 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.