नन्दन्त्युदित आदित्ये नन्दन्त्यस्तमिते रवौ।
आत्मनो नावबुध्यन्ते मनुष्या जीवितक्षयम्॥
nandanty udita āditye nandanty astamite ravau
ātmano nāvabudhyante manuṣyā jīvita-kṣayam
nandanti = are delighted; udite = arises; āditye = when the sun; nandanti = and are delighted; astamite = sets; ravau = when the sun; ātmanaḥ = their; na = do not; avabudhyante = they perceive; manuṣyāḥ = men; jīvita-kṣayam = the destruction of lifespans.
Men are delighted when the sun arises and are delighted when the sun sets. They do not perceive the destruction of their lifespans.
1 These are long-term, refined sense enjoyers who organize their day time for earning money and night time for sense enjoyment. It is clear from Mādhava’s Sarva-darśana-saṅgraha that the Cārvākas used to accept the practical teachings of the Artha- and Kāma-śāstras, both of which clearly recommend organizing one’s time in this very life to attain artha and kāma in this lifetime, which the vast majority in the modern world are struggling to attain. And yet the self-styled progressives among such modern people are convinced that humanity has become increasingly enlightened and happy over the last few centuries.
Even when one is young, [spiritual] discrimination is rare among men. This is pointed out in this verse.
Men are delighted when the sun arises, thinking, “The time to earn money has arrived.” They are delighted when the sun sets, thinking, “The time for sense enjoyment has arrived.”1
They do not perceive the continuous destruction of their lifespans just as one does not perceive the water continuously leaking from a broken pot. They don’t want to do that which would benefit them in their next lives.
NOTE. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.3.17) is explicit about this:
āyur harati vai puṁsām udyann astaṁ ca yann asau
tasyarte yat-kṣaṇo nīta uttama-śloka-vārtayā
“Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.”
Here is an excerpt from Prabhupāda’s commentary on this important verse:
This verse indirectly confirms the greater importance of utilizing the human form of life to realize our lost relationship with the Supreme Lord by acceleration of devotional service. Time and tide wait for no man. So the time indicated by the sunrise and the sunset will be uselessly wasted if such time is not properly utilized for realizing identification of spiritual values. Even a fraction of the duration of life wasted cannot be compensated by any amount of gold. Human life is simply awarded to a living entity (jīva) so that he can realize his spiritual identity and his permanent source of happiness. A living being, especially the human being, is seeking happiness because happiness is the natural situation of the living entity. But he is vainly seeking happiness in the material atmosphere. A living being is constitutionally a spiritual spark of the complete whole, and his happiness can be perfectly perceived in spiritual activities. The Lord is the complete spirit whole, and His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality are all identical with Him. Once a person comes into contact with any one of the above-mentioned energies of the Lord through the proper channel of devotional service, the door to perfection is immediately opened. In the Bhagavad-gītā (2.40) the Lord has explained such contact in the following words: “Endeavors in devotional service are never baffled. Nor is there failure. A slight beginning of such activities is sufficient even to deliver a person from the great ocean of material fears.” As a highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body, the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear by the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently. Aural realization of the transcendental messages implies total realization, just as fructification of one part of a tree implies fructification of all other parts. This realization for a moment in the association of pure devotees like Śukadeva Gosvāmī prepares one’s complete life for eternity. And thus the sun fails to rob the pure devotee of his duration of life, inasmuch as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence. Death is a symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being; only due to material infection is the eternal living entity subjected to the law of birth, death, old age and disease.