Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.68.24
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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kāla - gatyā
—
by the movement of time
Time as kāla — the destroyer. The Kurus invoke kāla to explain the world's disorder; they do not realize that kāla itself is a form of Kṛṣṇa (Gītā 11.32) and that He is here in person as Balarāma.
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duratyayā
—
unavoidable, hard to overcome
Dur-atyaya = difficult to cross. Time appears unavoidable; for the soul surrendered to Kṛṣṇa it becomes Kṛṣṇa's own helper. The Kurus use the word as lament; the devotee uses it as confidence.
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upānat
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a shoe
The Kurus' chosen metaphor for the Yadus. By verse 38 Balarāma will throw the word back at them in His mouth — 'Are we then shoes and you the head?' The metaphor will be answered, not refuted.
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mukuṭa - sevitam
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ornamented with a crown
The crown the Kurus boast of will, by verse 41, slide off the head of a tilting city.
By the words kāla-gatyā duratyayā, “the insurmountable movement of time,” the intolerant Kurus allude to the degraded Age of Kali, which was about to begin. Here the Kurus indicate that the fallen Age of Kali had indeed already begun, since they claim that now “the shoe wants to climb on the head that bears the royal crown.” In other words, they thought that the lowly Yadus now wanted to rise above the royal Kurus.
How astonishing! The movement of time is insurmountable (kala gatya duratyaya). Leather shoe wants to climb on the head, even on a head with a crown.
How amazing (aho)! But this is not surprising. Time cannot be overcome. This pride is impossible to avoid.
Aho indicates astonishment. By the force of insurmountable time something astonishing as happened. What is impossible has happened! Even (vai) the shoe wants to climb on the head, served by the crown.
A man wakes in a tilting house and calls the earthquake 'amazing' — the Kurus, on the brink of having their city dragged into the river, call it 'amazing' that a 'shoe' (the Yadus) dares speak to a 'crown' (themselves). Their metaphor is exactly inverted.
My note
Source: vedabase.io