Shloka 138

Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment

Parāśara’s Instruction

Devanagari script

मत्स्यो जलचरो जाल्यो5कल: केलिकल: कलि: । अकालकश्चातिकाल श्र दुष्काल: काल एव च,आप मत्स्य, जलचर और जालधारी घड़ियाल हैं। फिर भी अकल (बन्धनसे परे) हैं। आप केलिकलासे युक्त और कलहरूप हैं। आपही अकाल, अतिकाल, दुष्काल तथा काल हैं

Transliteration

matsyo jalacaro jālyo 'kalaḥ kelikalaḥ kaliḥ | akālaś cātikālaś ca duṣkālaḥ kāla eva ca ||

Translation

Bhīṣma spricht: „Du bist der Fisch, das im Wasser sich regende Wesen und das netztragende Krokodil – und doch bist du auch ‘Akala’, jenseits von Fessel und Begrenzung. Du bist das Spiel selbst, und du bist auch Kali. Du bist die unzeitige Zeit, die übermäßige Zeit, die Zeit des Unheils und die Zeit an sich.“

Word by Word

मत्स्यःfish

जलचरःwater-dweller (aquatic creature)

जाल्यःnet-bearing / having a net

कलःcrocodile (as a name/epithet: kala/kalā)

केलिकलःsportive/playful (lit. having play)

कलिःKali (strife/discord; Kali age personified)

अकालकःtimeless / not subject to time

चand

अतिकालःexcessive/overwhelming time; time beyond measure

दुष्कालःbad time; calamity/famine-time

कालःTime; Death

एवindeed/alone

चand

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Matsya (Fish form/allusion)

Kali

Kāla (Time)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that the Supreme can be understood as manifesting in diverse, even paradoxical forms—creaturely and cosmic, playful and fearsome—yet remains beyond limitation. Time (kāla) and its auspicious/inauspicious phases are ultimately under that single divine sovereignty, reinforcing humility and dharmic vigilance.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and higher truths. Here he offers a hymn-like identification of the Lord with multiple forms and with Time itself, emphasizing the all-encompassing nature of the divine principle that governs worldly change and moral consequence.