FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.30.2

यं यमर्थमुपादत्ते दु:खेन सुखहेतवे । तं तं धुनोति भगवान्पुमाञ्छोचति यत्कृते ॥ २ ॥
yaṁ yam artham upādatte
[yam yam artham upaadatte]
duḥkhena sukha-hetave
[duhkhena sukha-hetave]
taṁ taṁ dhunoti bhagavān
[tam tam dhunoti bhagavaan]
pumāṣ chocati yat-kṛte
[pumaash chochati yat-krite]
yam yam — whatever artham — object upādatte — one acquires duḥkhena — with difficulty sukha-hetave — for happiness tam tam — that dhunoti — destroys bhagavān — the Supreme Personality of Godhead pumān — the person śocati — laments yat-kṛte — for which reason.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
yaṁ yam artham upādatte
yam yam
whatever
artham
object
upādatte
one acquires
duḥkhena sukha-hetave
duḥkhena
with difficulty
sukha-hetave
for happiness
tam tam
that
taṁ taṁ dhunoti bhagavān
dhunoti
destroys
bhagavān
the Supreme Personality of Godhead
pumāṣ chocati yat-kṛte
pumān
the person
śocati
laments
yat-kṛte
for which reason.
Whatever is produced by the materialist with great pain and labor for so-called happiness, the Supreme Personality, as the time factor, destroys, and for this reason the conditioned soul laments.

The main function of the time factor, which is a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is to destroy everything. The materialists, in material consciousness, are engaged in producing so many things in the name of economic development. They think that by advancing in satisfying the material needs of man they will be happy, but they forget that everything they have produced will be destroyed in due course of time. From history we can see that there were many powerful empires on the surface of the globe that were constructed with great pain and great perseverance, but in due course of time they have all been destroyed. Still the foolish materialists cannot understand that they are simply wasting time in producing material necessities, which are destined to be vanquished in due course of time. This waste of energy is due to the ignorance of the mass of people, who do not know that they are eternal and that they have an eternal engagement also. They do not know that this span of life in a particular type of body is but a flash in the eternal journey. Not knowing this fact, they take the small flash of life to be everything, and they waste time in improving economic conditions.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Whatever a person attains with trouble for his pleasure is destroyed by time, which causes the person to lament. Bhagavān refers to time.
The Lord is named here as the actual proprietor of everything we manage. The verse asks us to relax our grip on what was never ours and let Him hold it again. The verse keeps returning to Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Reflection Questions
  • Whom do you actually address when you pray — a concept, or a person?
  • What single attribute of the Lord, taken seriously today, would reorganize a corner of your life?
📝 My note

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