Text 26
yo ’yaṁ kālas tasya te ’vyakta-bandho
ceṣṭām āhuś ceṣṭate yena viśvam
nimeṣādir vatsarānto mahīyāṁs
taṁ tveśānaṁ kṣema-dhāma prapadye
yaḥ — that which; ayam — this; kālaḥ — time (minutes, hours, seconds); tasya — of Him; te — of You; avyakta-bandho — O my Lord, You are the inaugurator of the unmanifested (the original mahat-tattva or prakṛti); ceṣṭām — attempt or pastimes; āhuḥ — it is said; ceṣṭate — works; yena — by which; viśvam — the entire creation; nimeṣa-ādiḥ — beginning with minute parts of time; vatsara-antaḥ — up to the limit of a year; mahīyān — powerful; tam — unto Your Lordship; tvā īśānam — unto You, the supreme controller; kṣema-dhāma — the reservoir of all auspiciousness; prapadye — I offer full surrender.
O inaugurator of the material energy, this wonderful creation works under the control of powerful time, which is divided into seconds, minutes, hours and years. This element of time, which extends for many millions of years, is but another form of Lord Viṣṇu. For Your pastimes, You act as the controller of time, but You are the reservoir of all good fortune. Let me offer my full surrender unto Your Lordship.
As stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.52):
yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ
rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ
yasyājñayā bhramati saṁbhṛta-kāla-cakro
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
“The sun is the king of all planetary systems and has unlimited potency in heat and light. I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, under whose control even the sun, which is considered to be the eye of the Lord, rotates within the fixed orbit of eternal time.” Although we see the cosmic manifestation as gigantic and wonderful, it is within the limitations of kāla, the time factor. This time factor is also controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram). Prakṛti, the cosmic manifestation, is under the control of time. Indeed, everything is under the control of time, and time is controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore the Supreme Lord has no fear of the onslaughts of time. Time is estimated according to the movements of the sun (savitā). Every minute, every second, every day, every night, every month and every year of time can be calculated according to the sun’s movements. But the sun is not independent, for it is under time’s control. Bhramati saṁbhṛta-kāla-cakraḥ: the sun moves within the kāla-cakra, the orbit of time. The sun is under the control of time, and time is controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore the Lord has no fear of time.
The Lord is addressed here as avyakta-bandhu, or the inaugurator of the movements of the entire cosmic manifestation. Sometimes the cosmic manifestation is compared to a potter’s wheel. When a potter’s wheel is spinning, who has set it in motion? It is the potter, of course, although sometimes we can see only the motion of the wheel and cannot see the potter himself. Therefore the Lord, who is behind the motion of the cosmos, is called avyakta-bandhu. Everything is within the limits of time, but time moves under the direction of the Lord, who is therefore not within time’s limit.