Shloka 147
Ādi-parva Adhyāya 3 — Janamejaya’s Rite, Dhaumya’s Parīkṣā, and Uttanka’s Kuṇḍala Quest (सर्पसत्रप्रस्तावना–गुरुपरीक्षा–उत्तङ्कोपाख्यान)
तन्त्रं चेद॑ विश्वरूपे युवत्यौ वयतस्तन्तून् सतत वर्तयन्त्यौ । कृष्णान् सितांश्वैव विवर्तयन्त्यौ भूतान्यजस््रं भुवनानि चैव,यह सम्पूर्ण विश्व जिनका स्वरूप है, ऐसी दो युवतियाँ सदा काले और सफेद तन्तुओंको इधर-उधर चलाती हुई इस वासना-जालरूपी वस्त्रको बुन रही हैं तथा वे ही सम्पूर्ण भूतों और समस्त भुवनोंका निरन्तर संचालन करती हैं
tantraṃ ced viśvarūpe yuvatyau vayatas tantūn satataṃ vartayantyau | kṛṣṇān sitāṃś caiva vivartayantyau bhūtāny ajasraṃ bhuvanāni caiva ||
If one reflects on the cosmic loom: two youthful maidens—Time’s ever-moving powers—unceasingly draw and turn the threads, black and white alike, weaving the fabric of worldly entanglement. By their ceaseless motion, all beings and all worlds are continually set in motion and governed.
राम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a moral-cosmic insight: worldly experience is like a woven fabric produced by ceaseless time-driven forces, mixing ‘black’ and ‘white’ strands (pain/joy, vice/virtue, fortune/misfortune). Recognizing this helps cultivate detachment, steadiness, and discernment in dharmic living.
Rāma speaks in a reflective, allegorical mode, describing the universe as a loom operated by two feminine agents of Time who continuously move and alternate black and white threads, thereby sustaining and directing the ongoing activity of beings and worlds.