Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya

Now Sri Krishna will continue this discussion and the emphasis of this discussion is everything is temporary.

Bg 8.19

bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ
bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate
rātry-āgame ’vaśaḥ pārtha
prabhavaty ahar-āgame

Word for word: 

bhūta–grāmaḥ — the aggregate of all living entities; saḥ — these; eva — certainly; ayam — this; bhūtvā bhūtvā — repeatedly taking birth; pralīyate — is annihilated; rātri — of night; āgame — on the arrival; avaśaḥ — automatically; pārtha — O son of Pṛthā; prabhavati — is manifest; ahaḥ — of daytime; āgame — on the arrival.

Translation: 

Again and again, when Brahmā’s day arrives, all living entities come into being, and with the arrival of Brahmā’s night they are helplessly annihilated.

 

bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ, the whole aggregate of living entities, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate, again and again they come into being they take birth and they are destroyed again, , rātry-āgame ’vaśaḥ pārtha, rātry-āgame, when night comes, ’vaśaḥ, means helplessly pralīyate means destruction happens helplessly then prabhavaty again at the time of manifestation, manifestation happens at ahar-āgame, at the time of day, the point here is to highlight how we are not in control, if  we study the history of the world even from the perspective of modern science knows from last 1000 – 2000 years we will see that when nature charges so wrath at that time such devastation can happen the entire civilisation can be wiped out completely because of say one river just turning it course, the Sarasvati river which would have gone from Rajasthan area, the Sarasvati river just turned its course the sarasvati river dried out eventually the whole green land became a waste land it became a desert so one calamity when nature unleashes force that which is a flourishing city like Bombay one earthquake and whole thing can be just be destroyed immediately one moment everything is gone, so we often feel that we have control in the world I can go here I can do this I can achieve that and we have this illusion of control but then with compare to the working on nature we are ’vaśaḥ, the ’vaśaḥ we are helpless, our body is so fragile that we are walking along the road and one vehicle comes and hits one blow that can be proved to be fatal or even one germ come inside the body and that can destroy us so one germ one bug one blow can fell us individually and similarly one slap of material nature can destroy entire city or entire civilisation also so these are within our experience, and our experience is so limited, we see that sometimes some Tsunami some Harricanes, some cyclones some thing like that comes up and that cause devastation within our limited experience also we can see the frightening furry and power of nature but here Sri Krishna is talking at the level of universe, at universe level cosmic times comes and actually it brought into creation when day of Brahma comes and aggregate of living entities are annihilated bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate, so helplessly we are put in the arena of action or we are withdrawn from arena, so when we understand this helpless situation for us then we wanted to seek something eternal, something lasting, something that won’t let us down, therefore the important point here is to recognise in this world there is everything else which is temporary and only Krishna is eternal reality apart from Him everything else is temporary, prabhavaty ahar-āgame, so here let us discuss Brahma Ji time little bit more, 

So Brahma Ji life time Srila Prabhupada explains in purport:

During the daytime of Brahmā they can exhibit their activities on higher and lower planets within this material world, but at the coming of Brahmā’s night they are all annihilated.

So the point here is there are higher and lower planets but ultimately everything is temporary so within out temporary lifespan the disparity of higher and lower we see very significant, somebody is wealthy somebody is travelling in a car, and I am travelling in a local, that person is travelling in a plane and I am travelling in a train, the disparity may seem huge, that person lives in a villa and I have to live in a condo so this may seem huge difference but when we understand it is temporary then we don’t get so worked up by it because we understand that ultimately what eternal destination we get that is really going to matter.

So again we see in this purport Srila Prabhupada is quoting Hare Krishna Maha Mantra in full. So the emphasis is to remember Krishna only when we remember Krishna can we attain Him.

End of transcription.