← Canto 4: The Creation of the Fourth Order

Chapter 28: Purañjana Becomes a Woman in the Next Life

Verse 1 of 64
SB 4.28.1

नारद उवाच सैनिका भयनाम्नो ये बर्हिष्मन्दिष्टकारिणः प्रज्वारकालकन्याभ्यां विचेरुरवनीमिमाम्

nārada uvāca sainikā bhaya-nāmno ye barhiṣman diṣṭa-kāriṇaḥ prajvāra-kāla-kanyābhyāṁ vicerur avanīm imām

Synonyms

nāradaḥ uvācathe great sage Nārada continued to speak; sainikāḥthe soldiers; bhaya-nāmnaḥof Bhaya (fearfulness); yeall of them who; barhiṣmanO King Prācīnabarhiṣat; diṣṭa-kāriṇaḥthe order carriers of death; prajvārawith Prajvāra; kāla-kanyābhyāmand with Kālakanyā; viceruḥtraveled; avanīmon earth; imāmthis..

Translation

The great sage Nārada continued: My dear King Prācīnabarhiṣat, afterward, the King of the Yavanas, whose name is fear itself, as well as his soldiers, Prajvāra and Kālakanyā, began to travel all over the world.

Purport

The period of life just prior to death is certainly very dangerous because usually at this time people are attacked by the weakness of old age as well as many kinds of disease. The diseases that attack the body are compared here to soldiers. These soldiers are not ordinary soldiers, for they are guided by the King of the Yavanas, who acts as their commander-in-chief. The word diṣṭa-kāriṇaḥ indicates that he is their commander. When a man is young, he does not care for old age but enjoys sex to the best of his satisfaction, not knowing that at the end of life his sexual indulgence will bring on various diseases, which so much disturb the body that one will pray for immediate death. The more one enjoys sex during youth, the more he suffers in old age.

Verse 1 of 64
Prabhupāda Says