Shloka 18
Brahmā’s Enumeration of Primacies (Ādi) and the Supremacy of Knowledge
Jñāna
अहान्यस्तमयान्तानि उदयान्ता च शर्वरी । सुखस्यान्तं सदा दु:खं दुःखस्यान्तं सदा सुखम्,दिनका अन्त है सूर्यास्त और रात्रिका अन्त है सूर्योदय। सुखका अन्त सदा दुःख है और दुःखका अन्त सदा सुख है
ahāny astamayāntāni udayāntā ca śarvarī | sukhasyāntaṃ sadā duḥkhaṃ duḥkhasyāntaṃ sadā sukham ||
Vāyu-deva said: “Days end in sunset, and the night ends in sunrise. In the same way, the end of pleasure is ever sorrow, and the end of sorrow is ever pleasure.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Happiness and sorrow are cyclical and impermanent, like day and night. Therefore one should cultivate steadiness and restraint—neither elation in pleasure nor despair in suffering—while continuing to act according to dharma.
Vāyu-deva speaks an instructive maxim, using the natural alternation of sunset/sunrise to console and guide the listener toward endurance and ethical composure amid changing fortunes.