Text 32
tat putra-pautra-naptṝṇāṁ
gotrāṇi ca na śṛṇmahe
kālo ’bhiyātas tri-ṇava-
catur-yuga-vikalpitaḥ
tat — there; putra — of the sons; pautra — of the grandsons; naptṝṇām — and of the descendants; gotrāṇi — the family dynasties; ca — also; na — not; śṛṇmahe — we do hear of; kālaḥ — time; abhiyātaḥ — have passed; tri — three; nava — nine; catur-yuga — four yugas (Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali); vikalpitaḥ — thus measured.
Twenty-seven catur-yugas have already passed. Those upon whom you may have decided are now gone, and so are their sons, grandsons and other descendants. You cannot even hear about their names.
During Lord Brahmā’s day, fourteen Manus or one thousand mahā-yugas pass away. Brahmā informed King Kakudmī that twenty-seven mahā-yugas, each consisting of the four periods Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali, had already passed. All the kings and other great personalities born in those yugas had now departed from memory into obscurity. This is the way of time as it moves through past, present and future.