apsu plavante pāṣāṇā mānuṣā ghnanti rākṣasān |
kapayaḥ karma kurvanti kālasya kuṭilā gatiḥ ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
[Rāvaṇa:] “[In time] Stones float on water, men destroy fiends (rākṣasas), and monkeys perform duties. The course of time is crooked [i.e., no one can predict what will happen].”
āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko’pi sarva-ratnair na labhyate |
nīyate tad vṛthā yena pramādaḥ sumahān aho ||
(Unknown Source)
“Even one moment of life cannot be regained with all the riches [in the world]. Aho! That by which it is spent in vain is a very big mistake!”
ata ātyantikaṁ kṣemaṁ pṛcchāmo bhavato’naghāḥ |
saṁsāre’smin kṣaṇārdho’pi sat-saṅgaḥ śevadhir nṛṇām ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.30; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 59; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.85)
“Therefore, O sinless ones, I ask you all about the highest good. For human beings here in saṁsāra, even half a moment of association with the sat is a treasury.”
ādityasya gatāgatair ahar ahaḥ saṁkṣīyate jīvitaṁ
vyāpārair bahu-kārya-bhāra-gurubhiḥ kālo’pi na jñāyate |
dṛṣṭvā janma-jarā-vipatti-maraṇaṁ trāsaś ca notpadyate
pītvā mohamayīṁ pramāda-madirām unmatta-bhūtaṁ jagat ||
(Vairāgya-śatakam: 43)
“With the rising and setting of the sun day by day, life is passing away. With affairs heavy with the burden of numerous tasks, the time is also unrecognized [as it passes away]. And [even] after having observed birth, old age, misfortune, and death [occurring all around], [still] fear is not arising [in the people’s mind]. Having drunk the intoxicating wine of remiss, the world has become mad.”
anarghyāṇy api ratnāni labhyante vibhavaiḥ sukham |
durlabho ratna-koṭyāpi kṣaṇo’pi hi gatāyuṣaḥ ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“Even invaluable jewels can be obtained easily with riches, but even one moment of life bygone is difficult to attain even with millions of jewels.”
pustakasthā tu yā vidyā para-hasta-gataṁ dhanam |
kārya-kāle samutpanne na sā vidyā na tad-dhanam ||
(Cāṇakhya-nīti-darpaṇa: 16.20)
“Knowledge situated in a book is not knowledge, and wealth held in the hand of another is not wealth, when the time of need arises.”
labdhvā sudurlabham idaṁ bahu-sambhavānte
mānuṣyam arthadam anityam apīha dhīraḥ |
tūrṇaṁ yateta na pated anumṛtyu yāvan
niḥśreyasāya viṣayaḥ khalu sarvataḥ syāt ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.9.29)
“Having attained after many births here [i.e., in this world of saṁsāra] this rare to attain human form, which is highly valuable but temporary, the wise should immediately endeavor for the highest good so long as the body has not fallen to its inevitable death; objects of the senses (viṣaya) [which are satisifying to the senses of one’s present body] can be had everywhere [i.e., in all forms of life into which one is perpetually born throughout the beginningless and endless course of saṁsāra].”
vanaspater apakvāni phalāni pracinoti yaḥ |
sa nāpnoti rasaṁ tebhyo bījaṁ cāsya vinaśyati ||
(Vidura-nīti; Subhāṣita-ratna-bhāṇḍāgāra)
“One who picks the unripened fruits of a tree does not get any juice (rasa) from them, and its [i.e., the tree’s] seed is also destroyed.”
ye nāma kecid iha naḥ prathayanti avajñāṁ
jānanti te kim api tān prati naiṣa yatnaḥ |
utpatsyate tu mama ko’pi samāna-dharmā
kālo hy ayaṁ niravadhir vipulā ca pṛthvī ||
(Bhavabhūti’s Mālāti-mādhava: 1.8)
“Some may deride me. What do they know? This work [i.e., this book] is not for them. Someone of similar nature to me [i.e., an appreciator of my work], however, will come along [some day], since time is endless and this earth is vast.”
