Shloka 5

Devanagari script

तेभ्य: सृजति भूतानि काल आत्मप्रचोदित: । एतेभ्यो य: परं ब्रूयादसद्‌ ब्रूयादसंशयम्‌

Transliteration

tebhyaḥ sṛjati bhūtāni kāla ātmapracoditaḥ | etebhyo yaḥ paraṃ brūyād asad brūyād asaṃśayam ||

Translation

قال أسيتا: «من هذه المبادئ يُنشيء الزمان—مدفوعًا بقوته الكامنة في ذاته—جميعَ الكائنات. ومن زعم أن ثَمَّةَ ما هو “أعلى” من هذه، فلا ريب أنه يتكلم بما لا حقيقة له.»

Word by Word

तेभ्यःfrom them / to them

सृजतिcreates, produces

भूतानिbeings, creatures, elements

कालःTime

आत्मप्रचोदितःimpelled by himself (self-urged)

एतेभ्यःfrom these

यःwho

परम्higher, beyond (something higher)

ब्रूयात्should say, would declare

असत्non-being, falsehood, the unreal

ब्रूयात्should say, would declare

असंशयम्undoubtedly, without doubt

Speaker

असित उवाच

Characters & Entities

Asita

Kāla (Time)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse asserts a causal hierarchy in which beings arise from certain stated principles, with Time (kāla) functioning as the operative force. It warns that positing something ‘beyond’ these as a higher cause is to assert an unreality—i.e., to depart from what is being presented as the true explanatory framework.

What is happening in the narrative?

In a didactic discourse within Śānti Parva, the sage Asita is explaining a cosmological/ontological account of how creation proceeds. He emphasizes Time as the effective agent and closes the point by rejecting speculative claims of a superior principle beyond the ones under discussion.