FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.2.57

एवं यूयमपश्यन्त्य आत्मापायमबुद्धय: । नैनं प्राप्स्यथ शोचन्त्य: पतिं वर्षशतैरपि ॥ ५७ ॥
evaṁ yūyam apaśyantya
[evam yooyam apashyantya]
ātmāpāyam abuddhayaḥ
[aatmaapaayam abuddhayah]
nainaṁ prāpsyatha śocantyaḥ
[nainam praapsyatha shochantyah]
patiṁ varṣa-śatair api
[patim varsha-shatair api]
Word-for-word
evam — thus yūyam — you apaśyantyaḥ — not seeing ātma-apāyam — own death abuddhayaḥ — O ignorant ones na — not enam — him prāpsyatha — you will obtain śocantyaḥ — lamenting for patim — your husband varṣa-śataiḥ — for a hundred years api — even.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
evaṁ yūyam apaśyantya
evam
thus
yūyam
you
apaśyantyaḥ
not seeing
ātmāpāyam abuddhayaḥ
ātma-apāyam
own death
abuddhayaḥ
O ignorant ones
nainaṁ prāpsyatha śocantyaḥ
na
not
enam
him
prāpsyatha
you will obtain
śocantyaḥ
lamenting for
patiṁ varṣa-śatair api
patim
your husband
varṣa-śataiḥ
for a hundred years
api
even.
Thus Yamarāja, in the guise of a small boy, told all the queens: You are all so foolish that you lament but do not see your own death. Afflicted by a poor fund of knowledge, you do not know that even if you lament for your dead husband for hundreds of years, you will never get him back alive, and in the meantime your lives will be finished.
Purport

Yamarāja once asked Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, “What is the most wonderful thing within this world?” Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira replied ( Mahābhārata, Vana-parva 313.116):

ahany ahani bhūtāni gacchantīha yamālayam śeṣāḥ sthāvaram icchanti kim āścaryam ataḥ paraṁ

Hundreds and thousands of living entities meet death at every moment, but a foolish living being nonetheless thinks himself deathless and does not prepare for death. This is the most wonderful thing in this world. Everyone has to die because everyone is fully under the control of material nature, yet everyone thinks that he is independent, that whatever he likes he can do, that he will never meet death but live forever, and so on. So-called scientists are making various plans by which living entities in the future can live forever, but while they are thus pursuing such scientific knowledge, Yamarāja, in due course of time, will take them away from their business of so-called research.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Ignorant women! Simply lamenting for your husband for a hundred years, while not seeing your own death, you will not regain him. Ātmāpāyam means “one’s own death.”
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Yamarāja-as-boy tells the queens: you lament without seeing your own death. Hundreds of years of grief will not bring him back, and meanwhile your life will be over. The most wonderful thing in this world is that everyone dies yet no one prepares.
Reflection Questions
  • How much of your finite life are you currently spending on irretrievable grief?
  • What would 'preparing for your own death' actually look like as a weekly practice?
📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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