Text 16
sa saptabhiḥ śatair eko
viṁśatyā ca śataṁ samāḥ
purañjana-purādhyakṣo
gandharvair yuyudhe balī
saḥ — he; saptabhiḥ — with seven; śataiḥ — hundred; ekaḥ — alone; viṁśatyā — with twenty; ca — also; śatam — hundred; samāḥ — years; purañjana — of King Purañjana; pura-adhyakṣaḥ — superintendent of the city; gandharvaiḥ — with the Gandharvas; yuyudhe — fought; balī — very valiant.
The five-hooded serpent, the superintendent and protector of the city of King Purañjana, fought with the Gandharvas for one hundred years. He fought alone, with all of them, although they numbered 720.
The 360 days and 360 nights combine to become the 720 soldiers of Caṇḍavega (time). One has to fight these soldiers throughout one’s life span, beginning with birth and ending with death. This fight is called the struggle for existence. Despite this struggle, however, the living entity does not die. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (2.20), the living entity is eternal:
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre
“For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” Actually the living entity does not take birth nor does he die, but he has to fight with the stringent laws of material nature throughout the entire span of his lifetime. He must also face different kinds of miserable conditions. Despite all this, the living entity, due to illusion, thinks that he is well situated in sense gratification.