Disclaimer: This translation does not guarantee complete accuracy, please confirm with the original page text.
## The Nature of Impermanence
**Verse 59:**
Wealth is as fleeting as the waves of the ocean; the company of loved ones is as ephemeral as a dream; and youth is as unstable as the cotton wool of the silk-cotton tree blown away by a whirlwind.
**Explanation:**
There are some inner verses related to this. Their meaning is presented here:
- Afflictions come from all directions, both to oneself and to others.
- The living being is suffering, trapped in the teeth-like mechanism of Yama (the god of death).
- The body of a Chakravarti (universal monarch), Indra (king of the gods), etc., is like a thunderbolt. But even they are subject to impermanence. What then can be said of those who have a body as empty as the core of a banana?
- One who desires to dwell in a body that is empty, is like one who desires to dwell in a body made of dry, withered leaves.
- No mantra, tantra, or medicine can save the body-bearer who is situated in the mouth of the death-like disease.
- As lifespan increases, the living being is first overtaken by old age, and then Yama quickly makes him his food.
- Shame on those living beings who are born! Knowing full well that they are subject to Yama, how can they even take a single morsel of food? What then can be said of their actions?
- Just as a bubble arises in water and is immediately destroyed, so too the body of a living being is born and destroyed in an instant.
- Whether rich or poor, king or pauper, learned or ignorant, virtuous or wicked, Yama is the equal destroyer of all. He has no partiality for virtues, nor hatred for vices.
- Just as a forest fire burns and consumes the entire forest, so too Yama destroys all beings.
- Even when fascinated by the power of weapons, one cannot doubt that this body can be made safe by any means.
- Even he who is capable of making Mount Meru his staff and the earth his umbrella, is unable to save himself or others from the jaws of death.
- No intelligent human being, from an ant to Indra, will ever say, "I will cheat death, who is under the rule of Yama."
- And O wise one! Understand that youth is also impermanent, for old age, which steals strength and beauty, makes it decrepit.
- Those women who desired your company in your youth, will spit on you in your old age and will not even come near you.
- The wealth that the rich have earned with great effort and kept safe without spending, is also destroyed in an instant.
- The wise have compared wealth to a water bubble or the light of lightning! Just as these things are destroyed in the blink of an eye, so too is wealth destroyed.
- Separation is always associated with the company of friends, relatives, and loved ones.
- Thus, one who constantly contemplates impermanence does not grieve at the death of a son.
- Only the foolish man, who is possessed by the ghost of permanence, weeps when an earthen pot breaks.
- Therefore, in this world, not only the body, wealth, youth, or relatives of the body-bearers are impermanent, but the entire universe, both conscious and unconscious, is impermanent.
- The saints say: Only Dharma (righteousness) is permanent.
**Verse 60:**
Thus, with a steady mind, one should contemplate the impermanent nature of the world every moment, to awaken the feeling of detachment, which is like a mantra to subdue the serpent of desire.
**Verse 61:**
Alas! When even Indra, Upendra (Vishnu), Vasudeva (Krishna), Chakravarti, and other humans become subject to death, who then is the refuge of living beings in the face of death's terror? Even Indra cannot protect himself at the time of death.
**Verse 62:**
Even in the presence of father, mother, sister, brother, and son, karma takes the living being, devoid of refuge, to the abode of Yama, the four-gated realm. No one can protect him at that time. In reality, the living being goes to various realms and births in the cycle of existence, according to his karma.