(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 24 June 2013, Czech Summer Camp, Srimad Bhagavatam 8.2.33)
Transcribed by Jnana-samudra das
In this verse, there is a description of the kala-sarpa, the black snake of time. In Bengal, there is an ancient drawing that illustrates this point, kala-sarpa; it shows a frog croaking and a snake is crawling up from behind. And as we know, snakes don’t chew, they just swallow their prey whole.
So in the drawing, the snake came up from behind and starting swallowing the frog. And the frog is already swallowed up to its neck – only its head is still sticking out of the mouth of the snake – then a little fly comes past and the tongue of the frog is shooting out of its mouth trying to catch the fly!
So it is the snake of time, the kala-sarpa by which we can calculate, according to our age, how much we are already swallowed. Like myself, at age sixty, I don’t know how much is still sticking out of the mouth of the snake; not much! At age twenty-two, if you make it to seventy-five, almost one-third already swallowed. At age forty, most likely more than half is swallowed and above that…
So if you think like that, that’s valuable. We have to look at our life from the perspective as a whole and not just become lost in the moment, “Oh romantic springtime, oh beautiful daffodils and sweet fragrant flowers! Oh wonderful valleys, oh the enjoyment in the material world!” Yes, for a while! And even then, even while we are enjoying in the material world, it is still not fulfilling. There is enjoyment but it is not enough to fill the emptiness in the heart.
