má¹›tyur janmavatÄá¹ vÄ«ra
dehena saha jÄyate
adya vÄbda-Å›atÄnte vÄ
má¹›tyur vai prÄṇinÄá¹ dhruvaḥ
má¹›tyuḥ - death; janma-vatÄm - of the living entities who have taken birth; vÄ«ra - O great hero; dehena saha - along with the body; jÄyate - is born (one who has taken birth is sure to die); adya - today; vÄ - either; abda-Å›ata - of hundreds of years; ante - at the end; vÄ - or; má¹›tyuḥ - death; vai - indeed; prÄṇinÄm - for every living entity; dhruvaḥ - is assured.
O great hero, one who takes birth is sure to die, for death is born with the body. One may die today or after hundreds of years, but death is sure for every living entity.
Vasudeva wanted to impress upon Kaá¹sa that although Kaá¹sa feared dying and therefore wanted to kill even a woman, he could not avoid death. Death is sure. Why then should Kaá¹sa do something that would be detrimental to his reputation and that of his family? As confirmed in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (2.27):
jÄtasya hi dhruvo má¹›tyur
dhruvaá¹ janma má¹›tasya ca
tasmÄd aparihÄrye ’rthe
na tvaṠśocitum arhasi
“For one who has taken his birth, death is certain; and for one who is dead, birth is certain. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament.†One should not fear death. Rather, one should prepare oneself for the next birth. One should utilize one’s time in this human form to end the process of birth and death. It is not that to save oneself from death one should entangle oneself in sinful activities. This is not good.
