Pradyumna: Ṛṣayaḥ—the sages; śaunaka-ādayaḥ—headed by the sage Śaunaka; satram—sacrifice; svargāya—the Lord who is glorified in heaven; lokāya—and for the devotees who are always in touch with the Lord; sahasra—one thousand; samam—years; āsata—performed. Translation . . .
Prabhupāda: So samam āsata, they were performing the sacrifice for one thousand years. How they were able to do? Because in those days, in the Tretā-yuga . . . Tretā-yuga . . . in the Satya-yuga they used to live for one hundred thousands of years; in Tretā-yuga, ten thousands of years; and in the Dvāpara-yuga, one thousands of years. And now in this Kali-yuga, one hundred . . . one hundred years. That also not complete. Nobody can complete one hundred years, and it is reducing. Maybe our forefathers and grandfathers might have lived for hundred years, but we are not living so much.
And gradually our children, our grandchildren, they will gradually reduce that span of life so much so that at the end of Kali-yuga, if a man would live for twenty to thirty years, he'll be considered a grand old man. Yes. We are reducing. But formerly, they were living so many years. Alpāyuṣaḥ. Prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ. Prāyeṇa. Almost everyone is short span of life. Prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ (SB 1.1.10). Kalau. In this age, kalau. It is not for a particular nation or party or religion. Everyone is subjected to the laws of nature.
So in this Kali-yuga the duration of life, the span of life, will be gradually reduced. Memory will be reduced. Strength will be reduced. Mercifulness will be reduced. In this way . . . now, it is a age of reduction, not increasing. So prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ kalau asmin yuge janāḥ. People in this age are of short span of life. And manda. Manda means all faulty, or slow. Manda, two meaning. Either you take slow . . . actually they are manda. Manda means faulty. So many faults. And slow means slow in spiritual realization. Slow. The human form of life is meant for spiritual realization. That is the distinction between human form of life and animal form of life. The animals are not interested, or they do not know what is spiritual life. But the human form of life with developed consciousness is meant for understanding our identification. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This human form of life is meant for inquiring about our spiritual identity. That is real business. So in that line of thought we are manda. Manda means very slow. "All right, we shall take it later on. Now I have got strength, let me enjoy senses. Then we shall see later on." That is called manda. Not serious.