Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.6.15
अस्यासि हेतुरुदयस्थितिसंयमाना-
मव्यक्तजीवमहतामपि कालमाहु: ।
सोऽयं त्रिणाभिरखिलापचये प्रवृत्त:
कालो गभीररय उत्तमपूरुषस्त्वम् ॥ १५ ॥
asyāsi hetur udaya-sthiti-saṁyamānām
[asyaasi hetur udaya-sthiti-samyamaanaam]
avyakta-jīva-mahatām api kālam āhuḥ
[avyakta-jeeva-mahataam api kaalam aahuh]
so ’yaṁ tri-ṇābhir akhilāpacaye pravṛttaḥ
[so ’yam tri-naabhir akhilaapachaye pravrittah]
kālo gabhīra-raya uttama-pūruṣas tvam
[kaalo gabheera-raya uttama-poorushas tvam]
Word-for-word
asya
—
of this (universe)
asi
—
You are
hetuḥ
—
the cause
udaya
—
of the creation
sthiti
—
maintenance
saṁyamānām
—
and annihilation
avyakta
—
of the unmanifest material nature
jīva
—
the individual living beings
mahatām
—
and of the mahat-tattva, with the manifest elements evolved from it
api
—
also
kālam
—
the controlling time factor
āhuḥ
—
You are said to be
saḥ ayam
—
this same personality
tri-ṇābhiḥ
—
appearing as a wheel with circumference divided into three parts (the year divided into four-month seasons)
akhila
—
of everything
apacaye
—
in effecting the diminution
pravṛttaḥ
—
engaged
kālaḥ
—
the time factor
gabhīra
—
imperceptible
rayaḥ
—
the movement of which
uttama-pūruṣaḥ
—
the Supreme Personality of Godhead
tvam
—
You are.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
asyāsi hetur udaya-sthiti-saṁyamānām
asya
of this (universe)
asi
You are
hetuḥ
the cause
udaya
of the creation
sthiti
maintenance
saṁyamānām
and annihilation
avyakta-jīva-mahatām api kālam āhuḥ
avyakta
of the unmanifest material nature
jīva
the individual living beings
mahatām
and of the mahat-tattva, with the manifest elements evolved from it
api
also
kālam
the controlling time factor
āhuḥ
You are said to be
so ’yaṁ tri-ṇābhir akhilāpacaye pravṛttaḥ
kālo gabhīra-raya uttama-pūruṣas tvam
saḥ ayam
this same personality
tri-ṇābhiḥ
appearing as a wheel with circumference divided into three parts (the year divided into four-month seasons)
akhila
of everything
apacaye
in effecting the diminution
pravṛttaḥ
engaged
kālaḥ
the time factor
gabhīra
imperceptible
rayaḥ
the movement of which
uttama-pūruṣaḥ
the Supreme Personality of Godhead
tvam
You are.
You are the cause of the creation, maintenance and destruction of this universe. As time, You regulate the subtle and manifest states of material nature and control every living being. As the threefold wheel of time You diminish all things by Your imperceptible actions, and thus You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Purport
The word gabhīra-rayaḥ, or “imperceptible speed and power,” is significant. We observe that by the laws of nature all material things, including our own bodies, gradually disintegrate. Although we can perceive the long-term results of this aging process, we cannot experience the process itself. For example, no one can feel how his hair or fingernails are growing. We perceive the cumulative result of their growth, but from moment to moment we cannot experience it. Similarly, a house gradually decays until it is demolished. From moment to moment we cannot perceive exactly how this is happening, but in the course of longer intervals of time we can actually see the deterioration of the house. In other words, we can experience the results or manifestations of aging and deterioration, but as it is taking place the process itself is imperceptible. This is the wonderful potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His form of time.
The word tri-ṇābhiḥ indicates that according to astrological calculation of the sun’s movements, the year can be divided into three sections: those represented by Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer; Leo, Virgo, Libra and Scorpio; and Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.
The word uttama-pūruṣa, or puruṣottama, is explained in Bhagavad-gītā (15.18) :
yasmāt kṣaram atīto ’ham akṣarād api cottamaḥ ato ’smi loke vede ca prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ
“Because I am transcendental, beyond both the fallible and the infallible, and because I am the greatest, I am celebrated both in the world and in the Vedas as that Supreme Person.”
— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura
Gauḍīya
Translation
You are the cause of the creation, maintenance and destruction of this universe. They say that you are the controller of prakṛti, jīva and the elements such as mahat-tattva. You are the year made of three parts, moving imperceptibly, causing destruction of all things. You are the Supreme Lord.
This verse explains the Supreme Lord mentioned in the previous verse. You are the cause of creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe. They say that you are the controller (kālam) of the cause called prakṛti (avyakta), which is the covering; the cause of the jīva who is covered by prakṛti; the cause of the elements such as mahat-tattva, which are coverings made of the products of prakṛti. You are also the year having three naves of four months, with imperceptible movement (rayaḥ). You are supreme because you are superior to the effects, the cause and the jīva. Gītā says:
yasmāt kṣaram atīto ’ham akṣarād api cottamaḥ |
ato ’smi loke vede ca prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ ||
Because I am superior to the jīvas, to the Brahman and to the puruṣa known as Paramātmā, and even to the other forms of Bhagavān, I am celebrated in the Vedas and the smṛtis, as the Supreme Person. BG 15.18
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Kṛṣṇa as time moves with imperceptible speed, silently dismantling all you cling to — surrender to Him, the uttama-pūruṣa behind the wheel.
Practical Applications
- Notice one thing today that has quietly aged or deteriorated without your perceiving it — your body, a relationship, a possession — and offer that recognition to Kṛṣṇa.
- Refuse the illusion of permanence: before committing to a worry about the future, remember that kāla is already at work and the outcome is not in your hands.
- Speak Kṛṣṇa's name once at the start and end of your day, acknowledging Him as the uttama-pūruṣa who governs the unseen wheel of time.
Reflection Questions
- Which area of my life am I treating as if it were exempt from the gabhīra-raya of time, and what would change if I admitted it is not?
- If Kṛṣṇa is personally the cause of creation, maintenance, and destruction in my life, where am I still acting as if I were the controller?
For Each Age Group
youth
- Open your camera roll from three years ago and notice how much has already silently changed — let that recognition cut through the fantasy that this current friend group, body, or crush is permanent.
- Before posting or scrolling tonight, pause and remember that the metrics you are chasing are already being eroded by kāla; offer that minute back to Kṛṣṇa instead.
- When exam stress hits, refuse the lie that the result is yours to control — do the preparation as sva-dharma and place the outcome at the feet of the uttama-pūruṣa.
householder
- Look at your spouse and children today as souls being moved through kāla beside you, not as fixed fixtures of your life — and let that soften one habitual reaction.
- Review one financial or career plan this week with the explicit admission that Kṛṣṇa as time governs its maintenance and destruction; adjust the grip of your planning accordingly.
- When the household routine feels endlessly demanding, anchor in the fact that this very phase is being silently consumed by kāla — serve it now as offering, because it will not return.
senior
- Examine your body honestly in the mirror and thank Kṛṣṇa as kāla for the imperceptible work He has done to loosen your grip on it.
- Identify one possession, role, or position you have been postponing handing over to the next generation, and begin the transfer this week as conscious cooperation with the wheel of time.
- Spend a measured hour daily chanting and remembering the uttama-pūruṣa, treating the remaining years as the narrowing window the verse implies they are.
Common Pitfalls
- Reducing kāla to an abstract impersonal force and forgetting that the verse names Kṛṣṇa Himself as the uttama-pūruṣa behind it.
- Using the imperceptibility of time as an excuse for fatalism or passivity rather than as a call to sober, surrendered action.
- Treating the teaching as a meditation on death in general while avoiding its specific bite on one's own current attachments.
Discussion Prompts
- Share one concrete attachment in your life where you can feel kāla quietly diminishing it — and discuss what surrender to the uttama-pūruṣa would look like there.
- Debate: does recognizing Kṛṣṇa as time make a practitioner more active and responsible, or more detached and withdrawn? Where do you actually land?
- Where in your daily routine do you act as if you, not Kṛṣṇa, are the cause of creation, maintenance, and destruction — and what would honest correction require?
Role Play
One student plays a family member who has just received a difficult medical diagnosis and is panicking about loss of control; the other plays a Gauḍīya friend who must speak from this verse — naming Kṛṣṇa as the uttama-pūruṣa behind kāla — without sliding into platitudes or cold detachment.
Objections & Responses
- Calling Kṛṣṇa the cause of destruction sounds cruel — why worship a God who diminishes everything?
The verse says He diminishes by imperceptible action, not by cruelty; kāla strips away what was never ours so the eternal soul can recognize its real shelter in Him. A father who lets a child outgrow toys is not cruel — he is preparing the child for something greater. - Modern science already explains aging and decay through physics and biology — why drag a personal God into it?
Physics describes the mechanism; the verse names the person behind the mechanism. The laws themselves do not enforce themselves — Kṛṣṇa as kāla is the one who makes the unseen process actually proceed, and that is precisely what the word gabhīra-raya points to.
My note
Source: vedabase.io