Shloka 48
कालनिर्णयः, युगधर्मवर्णनम्, सृष्टिक्रमश्च
Time-Reckoning, Yuga-Dharma, and the Sequence of Creation
गम्भीरं गहन ब्रह्म महत्तोयार्णवं यथा । अनादिनिधनं चाहुरक्षरं क्षरमेव च
gambhīraṃ gahanaṃ brahma mahat-toyārṇavaṃ yathā | anādinidhanaṃ cāhur akṣaraṃ kṣaram eva ca ||
Śakra said: “Brahman is profound and unfathomable—like a vast ocean of mighty waters. The wise also declare it to be without beginning and without end, both the imperishable and, in a certain sense, the perishable as well.”
श॒क्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
Brahman is described as immeasurably deep and beyond ordinary grasp, and as beginningless and endless. It is spoken of in two complementary ways: as the imperishable (akṣara), the unchanging ground of reality, and as the perishable (kṣara), the changing manifest domain—indicating a teaching that integrates transcendence with the world of change.
Śakra (Indra) is speaking in a didactic context within Śānti Parva, offering a contemplative description of Brahman. The verse uses the ocean simile to convey the depth and inaccessibility of ultimate reality while also framing it through the paired categories of imperishable and perishable to guide philosophical understanding.