SB 1.5.18
तल्लभ्यते दुःखवदन्यतः सुखं कालेन सर्वत्र गभीररंहसा ॥ १८ ॥
na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ
tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ
kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā
Synonyms
kovidaḥ — a person of awakened discrimination [vivekī68]; prayateta — should strive [yatnaṁ kuryāt]; tasya eva hetoḥ — for that goal alone [(tad-artham); which is of the essence of the immediate intuition of the Absolute Reality (parabrahmānubhavātmakam)69]; yat — which; na labhyate — is unattainable; bhramatām — of [i.e., by] living beings who wander [brahmadbhir jīvaiḥ]; upari — from the highest plane of material existence [from the abode of Brahmā (brahmaloka-paryantam)]; adhaḥ — down to inanimate life forms [sthāvara-paryantañ ca]; tat [tu] — [on the other hand,] that; sukham — happiness [which is derived from sense objects (viṣaya-sukham)]; labhyate — is obtainable; sarvatra — everywhere [even in hell or hellish conditions of life (narakādāv api)]; anyataḥ — on a different basis [via the reactions to past karma (prācīna-sva-karmanā)]; gabhīra raṁhasā — due to the imperceptible flow [or the undetected force (alakṣita-vegena)70]; kālena — of time; duḥkhavat — just as misery [is so obtained even without endeavoring for it (yathā duḥkhaṁ prayatnaṁ vināpi labyate tad-vat)].
Translation
A person of awakened discrimination should strive for that goal alone which is unattainable by living beings who wander from the highest plane of material existence down to inanimate life forms. On the other hand, mundane happiness is obtainable everywhere on the basis of previous karma due to the imperceptible flow of time, just as misery is so obtained [even without endeavoring for it].