संयुज्यन्ते वियुज्यन्ते तथा कालेन देहिन: ॥ ३ ॥
sroto-vegena bālukāḥ
saṁyujyante viyujyante
tathā kālena dehinaḥ
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati
SYNONYMS
yathā—just as; prayānti—move apart; saṁyānti—come together; srotaḥ-vegena—by the force of waves; bālukāḥ—the small particles of sand; saṁyujyante—they are united; viyujyante—they are separated; tathā—similarly; kālena—by time; dehinaḥ—the living entities who have accepted material bodies.
TRANSLATION
O King, as small particles of sand sometimes come together and are sometimes separated due to the force of the waves, the living entities who have accepted material bodies sometimes come together and are sometimes separated by the force of time.
PURPORT
The misunderstanding of the conditioned soul is the bodily conception of life. The body is material, but within the body is the soul. This is spiritual understanding. Unfortunately, one who is in ignorance, under the spell of material illusion, accepts the body to be the self. He cannot understand that the body is matter. Like small particles of sand, bodies come together and are separated by the force of time, and people falsely lament for unification and separation. Unless one knows this, there is no question of happiness. Therefore in Bhagavad-gītā (2.13) this is the first instruction given by the Lord:
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati