अव्याकृतस्यानन्तस्य ह्यनादेर्जगदात्मनः ॥३८॥
kÄlo 'yaá¹ dvi-parÄrdhÄkhyo
nimeá¹£a upacaryate
avyÄká¹›tasyÄnantasya
hy anÄder jagad-Ätmanaḥ
kÄlaḥ - eternal time; ayam - this (as measured by BrahmÄ's duration of life); dvi-parÄrdha-Äkhyaḥ - measured by the two halves of BrahmÄ's life; nimeá¹£aḥ - less than a second; upacaryate - is so measured; avyÄká¹›tasya - of one who is unchanged; anantasya - of the unlimited; hi - certainly; anÄdeḥ - of the beginningless; jagat-Ätmanaḥ - of the soul of the universe.
The duration of the two parts of BrahmÄ’s life, as above mentioned, is calculated to be equal to one nimeá¹£a [less than a second] for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is unchanging and unlimited and is the cause of all causes of the universe.
The great sage Maitreya has given a considerable description of the time of different dimensions, beginning from the atom up to the duration of the life of BrahmÄ. Now he attempts to give some idea of the time of the unlimited Personality of Godhead. He just gives a hint of His unlimited time by the standard of the life of BrahmÄ. The entire duration of the life of BrahmÄ is calculated to be less than a second of the Lord’s time, and it is explained in the Brahma-saá¹hitÄ (5.48) as follows:
yasyaika-niÅ›vasita-kÄlam athÄvalambya
jÄ«vanti loma-vilajÄ jagad-aṇá¸a-nÄthÄḥ
viṣṇur mahÄn sa iha yasya kalÄ-viÅ›eá¹£o
govindam Ädi-puruá¹£aá¹ tam ahaá¹ bhajÄmi
“I worship Govinda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, whose plenary portion is MahÄ-Viṣṇu. All the heads of the innumerable universes [the BrahmÄs] live only by taking shelter of the time occupied by one of His breaths.†The impersonalists do not believe in the form of the Lord, and thus they would hardly believe in the Lord’s sleeping. Their idea is obtained by a poor fund of knowledge; they calculate everything in terms of man’s capacity. They think that the existence of the Supreme is just the opposite of active human existence: because the human being has senses, the Supreme must be without sense perception; because the human being has a form, the Supreme must be formless; and because the human being sleeps, the Supreme must not sleep. ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, however, does not agree with such impersonalists. It is clearly stated herein that the Supreme Lord rests in yoga-nidrÄ, as previously discussed. And because He sleeps, naturally He must breathe, and the Brahma-saá¹hitÄ confirms that within His breathing period innumerable BrahmÄs take birth and die.
There is complete agreement between ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam and the Brahma-saá¹hitÄ. Eternal time is never lost along with the life of BrahmÄ. It continues, but it has no ability to control the Supreme Personality of Godhead because the Lord is the controller of time. In the spiritual world there is undoubtedly time, but it has no control over activities. Time is unlimited, and the spiritual world is also unlimited, since everything there exists on the absolute plane.
