Chapter 27 · Class prep
A printable handout for teaching this chapter. For each verse with Personal Guidance, you'll see Prabhupāda's translation, the essence, two or three practical applications, and a discussion prompt. Press ⌘P / Ctrl P to print as a handout.
BG 27.1
The great sage Nārada continued: My dear King, after bewildering her husband in different ways and bringing him under her control, the wife of King Purañjana gave him all satisfaction and enjoyed sex life with him.
Essence. Having brought him under control, the queen gave him satisfaction and enjoyed life with him. Reconciled-but-controlled is a real outcome; satisfaction at the cost of agency is a kind of bondage.
BG 27.2
The Queen took her bath and dressed herself nicely with all auspicious garments and ornaments. After taking food and becoming completely satisfied, she returned to the King. Upon seeing her beautifully decorated attractive face, the King welcomed her with all devotion.
Essence. She bathed, dressed, ornamented, returned satisfied; he welcomed her with devotion. Intelligence properly groomed and well-fed becomes the soul's preferred company; preparation matters.
BG 27.3
Queen Purañjanī embraced the King, and the King also responded by embracing her shoulders. In this way, in a solitary place, they enjoyed joking words. Thus King Purañjana became very much captivated by his beautiful wife and deviated from his good sense. He forgot that the passing of days and nights meant that his span of life was being reduced without profit.
Essence. They embraced and joked; he became captivated, deviating from good sense, forgetting time was passing. The captivation of intimacy can become temporal blindness; an hour feels like a moment because reckoning has stopped.
BG 27.4
In this way, increasingly overwhelmed by illusion, King Purañjana, although advanced in consciousness, remained always lying down with his head on the pillow of his wife’s arms. In this way he considered woman to be his ultimate life and soul. Becoming thus overwhelmed by the mode of ignorance, he could not understand the meaning of self-realization, whether regarding his own self or the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Essence. Always lying on his wife's arm-pillow, he considered woman to be life and soul; the mode of ignorance covered him. Treating the relationship as ultimate is a mode-of-ignorance error; love is real but not ultimate.
BG 27.5
My dear King Prācīnabarhiṣat, in this way King Purañjana, with his heart full of lust and sinful reactions, began to enjoy sex with his wife, and in this way his new life and youth expired in half a moment.
Essence. With heart full of lust and sin, his youth expired in half a moment. Subjective duration in the wrong absorption is treacherous; decades pass while you think it's an evening.
BG 27.6
The great sage Nārada then addressed King Prācīnabarhiṣat: O one whose life span is great [virāṭ], in this way King Purañjana begot 1,100 sons within the womb of his wife, Purañjanī. However, in this business he passed away half of his life span.
Essence. He begot 1,100 sons in her womb and half his lifespan passed. Productive reproduction can still consume the lifespan without spiritual fruit; numbers aren't the same as growth.
BG 27.7
O Prajāpati, King Prācīnabarhiṣat, in this way King Purañjana also begot 110 daughters. All of these were equally glorified like the father and mother. Their behavior was gentle, and they possessed magnanimity and other good qualities.
Essence. He also begot 110 daughters, equally gentle and magnanimous. Rules-following yields children who resemble the parents — culture passes intact when conducted properly.
BG 27.8
After this, King Purañjana, King of the Pañcāla country, in order to increase the descendants of his paternal family, married his sons with qualified wives and married his daughters with qualified husbands.
Essence. He married off his children to qualified spouses to increase his lineage. Increasing the paternal line is one mode of householder dharma; recognize it and limit it.
BG 27.9
Of these many sons, each produced hundreds and hundreds of grandsons. In this way the whole city of Pañcāla became overcrowded by these sons and grandsons of King Purañjana.
Essence. Each son produced hundreds of grandsons; the city of Pañcāla became overcrowded. Successful reproduction crowds the body-city; descendants multiply faster than the founder can attend to.
BG 27.10
These sons and grandsons were virtually plunderers of King Purañjana’s riches, including his home, treasury, servants, secretaries and all other paraphernalia. Purañjana’s attachment for these things was very deep-rooted.
Essence. His sons and grandsons plundered his riches, home, treasury, servants — yet his attachment was deep. Even when they plunder you, you remain attached; the bond of family wealth is hard to see clearly while you're inside it.
BG 27.11
The great sage Nārada continued: My dear King Prācīnabarhiṣat, like you King Purañjana also became implicated in so many desires. Thus he worshiped demigods, forefathers and social leaders with various sacrifices which were all very ghastly because they were inspired by the desire to kill animals.
Essence. Like you, he worshiped demigods, ancestors and leaders with sacrifices that were ghastly because they involved animal-killing. The figural tale is now revealed as autobiography; you, Prācīnabarhi, are Purañjana.
BG 27.12
Thus King Purañjana, being attached to fruitive activities [karma-kāṇḍīya] as well as kith and kin, and being obsessed with polluted consciousness, eventually arrived at that point not very much liked by those who are overly attached to material things.
Essence. Attached to fruitive activity and family, polluted in consciousness, he reached the point women don't like to think about — death. Materialism cycles directly into death; the more it succeeds, the closer the unwelcome conclusion.
BG 27.13
O King! In Gandharvaloka there is a king named Caṇḍavega. Under him there are 360 very powerful Gandharva soldiers.
Essence. In Gandharvaloka there's King Caṇḍavega ('swiftly passing') with 360 Gandharva soldiers. Time itself is the king; the days are his army; you live inside his campaign.
BG 27.14
Along with Caṇḍavega were as many female Gandharvīs as there were soldiers, and all of them repetitively plundered all the paraphernalia for sense enjoyment.
Essence. Equal number of female Gandharvīs accompany, repetitively plundering sense-paraphernalia. 360 days, 360 nights — each pair plunders what you've built; the design is total, not random.
BG 27.15
When King Gandharva-rāja [Caṇḍavega] and his followers began to plunder the city of Purañjana, a snake with five hoods began to defend the city.
Essence. A five-hooded snake (life-airs) defended the city. The vital force does its job for years, holding back the time-army by sheer biological persistence.
BG 27.16
The five-hooded serpent, the superintendent and protector of the city of King Purañjana, fought with the Gandharvas for one hundred years. He fought alone, with all of them, although they numbered 720.
Essence. The five-hooded serpent fought the 720 Gandharvas alone for 100 years. The vital force is heroic but outnumbered; 100 years is the maximum it can hold.
BG 27.17
Because he had to fight alone with so many soldiers, all of whom were great warriors, the serpent with five hoods became very weak. Seeing that his most intimate friend was weakening, King Purañjana and his friends and citizens living within the city all became very anxious.
Essence. Weakening alone against many warriors, he caused anxiety to Purañjana and citizens. The body's slow decline registers as growing anxiety in everyone who depends on it.
BG 27.18
King Purañjana collected taxes in the city known as Pañcāla and thus was able to engage in sexual indulgence. Being completely under the control of women, he could not understand that his life was passing away and that he was reaching the point of death.
Essence. He collected taxes and indulged in sex, completely controlled by women, not noticing his life passing. Even as the defender weakens, the king keeps extracting and indulging — denial as policy.
BG 27.19
My dear King Prācīnabarhiṣat, at this time the daughter of formidable Time was seeking her husband throughout the three worlds. Although no one agreed to accept her, she came.
Essence. The daughter of formidable Time (Jarā, old age) sought a husband through the three worlds; no one accepted her, then she came. Old age is shopping for a husband; she'll find someone, no matter how unwelcome.
BG 27.20
The daughter of Time [Jarā] was very unfortunate. Consequently she was known as Durbhagā [“ill-fated”]. However, she was once pleased with a great king, and because the king accepted her, she granted him a great benediction.
Essence. She was unfortunate ('Durbhagā') but once pleased a king and granted him a benediction. Even old age can grant gifts; recognize what she gives, not just what she takes.
BG 27.21
When I once came to this earth from Brahmaloka, the highest planetary system, the daughter of Time, wandering over the universe, met me. Knowing me to be an avowed brahmacārī, she became lusty and proposed that I accept her.
Essence. Once I came from Brahmaloka and Kālakanyā, knowing me a brahmacārī, became lusty and proposed. Even old age tries to attach to the unattached; refusing her is itself a discipline.
BG 27.22
The great sage Nārada continued: When I refused to accept her request, she became very angry at me and cursed me severely. Because I refused her request, she said that I would not be able to stay in one place for a long time.
Essence. Refused, she angrily cursed me — that I would not stay in one place for long. Refusing certain offers earns a wandering life; some 'curses' are also missions in disguise.
BG 27.23
After she was thus disappointed by me, with my permission she approached the King of the Yavanas, whose name was Bhaya, or Fear, and she accepted him as her husband.
Essence. With my permission she went to Yavana-rāja Bhaya ('Fear') and accepted him as husband. Old age is married to Fear; the pair is structural, not coincidental.
BG 27.24
Approaching the King of the Yavanas, Kālakanyā addressed him as a great hero, saying: My dear sir, you are the best of the untouchables. I am in love with you, and I want you as my husband. I know that no one is baffled if he makes friends with you.
Essence. Kālakanyā praised Yavana-rāja as best of untouchables; she loved him and wanted him as husband. Old age finds her natural ally in those who don't follow dharma; lifestyle and aging interact directly.
BG 27.25
One who does not give charity according to the customs or injunctions of the scriptures and one who does not accept charity in that way are considered to be in the mode of ignorance. Such persons follow the path of the foolish. Surely they must lament at the end.
Essence. Those who don't follow scriptural injunctions on charity must lament at the end. Foolish lifestyles produce inevitable end-stage regret; install correction now.
BG 27.26
Kālakanyā continued: O gentle one, I am now present before you to serve you. Please accept me and thus show me mercy. It is a gentleman’s greatest duty to be compassionate upon a person who is distressed.
Essence. Please accept me; be compassionate; a gentleman's greatest duty is compassion for the distressed. Even unwelcome forces (old age, decline) request acceptance by appeal to compassion.
BG 27.27
After hearing the statement of Kālakanyā, daughter of Time, the King of the Yavanas began to smile and devise a means for executing his confidential duty on behalf of providence. He then addressed Kālakanyā as follows.
Essence. Yavana-rāja smiled and devised a confidential means for providence; he addressed her. Providence works through even adversarial agents; what looks like alliance with the dark is sometimes a hidden mercy.
BG 27.28
The King of the Yavanas replied: After much consideration, I have arrived at a husband for you. Actually, as far as everyone is concerned, you are inauspicious and mischievous. Since no one likes you, how can anyone accept you as his wife?
Essence. He says: I've found a husband for you; you're inauspicious — no one would accept you as wife. The right framing of old age is sister-not-wife; useful but not consort.
BG 27.29
This world is a product of fruitive activities. Therefore you may imperceptibly attack people in general. Helped by my soldiers, you can kill them without opposition.
Essence. This world is a product of fruitive activity; attack people imperceptibly, helped by my soldiers. Fear gives old age permission to advance with stealth; the campaign is structurally enabled.
BG 27.30
The King of the Yavanas continued: Here is my brother Prajvāra. I now accept you as my sister. I shall employ both of you, as well as my dangerous soldiers, to act imperceptibly within this world.
Essence. I have a brother Prajvāra (fire of fever); I accept you as sister and we'll all act imperceptibly together. Old age, Fear and Fever travel together; their alliance is the natural conclusion of a non-dharmic life.