ŚB 4.28.1
Devanagari
नारद उवाच
सैनिका भयनाम्नो ये बर्हिष्मन् दिष्टकारिण: ।
प्रज्वारकालकन्याभ्यां
विचेरुरवनीमिमाम् ॥ १ ॥
सैनिका भयनाम्नो ये बर्हिष्मन् दिष्टकारिण: ।
प्रज्वारकालकन्याभ्यां
विचेरुरवनीमिमाम् ॥ १ ॥
Verse text
nārada uvāca
sainikā bhaya-nāmno ye
barhiṣman diṣṭa-kāriṇaḥ
prajvāra-kāla-kanyābhyāṁ
vicerur avanīm imām
sainikā bhaya-nāmno ye
barhiṣman diṣṭa-kāriṇaḥ
prajvāra-kāla-kanyābhyāṁ
vicerur avanīm imām
Synonyms
nāradaḥ uvāca — the great sage Nārada continued to speak; sainikāḥ — the soldiers; bhaya-nāmnaḥ — of Bhaya (Fear); ye — all of them who; barhiṣman — O King Prācīnabarhiṣat; diṣṭa-kāriṇaḥ — the order carriers of death; prajvāra — with Prajvāra; kāla-kanyābhyām — and with Kālakanyā; viceruḥ — traveled; avanīm — on earth; imām — this.
Translation
The great sage Nārada continued: My dear King Prācīnabarhiṣat, afterward the King of the Yavanas, whose name is fear itself, as well as Prajvāra, Kālakanyā, and his soldiers, began to travel all over the world.
Purport
The period of life just prior to death is certainly very dangerous because usually at this time people are attacked by the weakness of old age as well as many kinds of disease. The diseases that attack the body are compared here to soldiers. These soldiers are not ordinary soldiers, for they are guided by the King of the Yavanas, who acts as their commander-in-chief. The word diṣṭa-kāriṇaḥ indicates that he is their commander. When a man is young, he does not care for old age but enjoys sex to the best of his satisfaction, not knowing that at the end of life his sexual indulgence will bring on various diseases, which so much disturb the body that one will pray for immediate death. The more one enjoys sex during youth, the more he suffers in old age.