Shloka 49
कालनिर्णयः, युगधर्मवर्णनम्, सृष्टिक्रमश्च
Time-Reckoning, Yuga-Dharma, and the Sequence of Creation
वह कालरूप ब्रह्म अनन्त जलसे भरे हुए महासागरके समान गम्भीर एवं गहन है। उसका कहीं आदि-अन्त नहीं है। उसे ही क्षर एवं अक्षररूप बताया गया है ।। सत्त्वेषु लिड्रमावेश्य निर्लिड्रमपि तत् स्वयम् । मन्यन्ते ध्रुवमेवैनं ये जनास्तत्त्वदर्शिन:,जो लोग तत्त्वदर्शी हैं, वे निश्चितरूपसे ऐसा मानते हैं कि वह कालरूप परबत्रह्म परमात्मा स्वयं निराकार होते हुए भी समस्त प्राणियोंके भीतर जीवका प्रवेश कराता है
śakra uvāca — sa kālarūpaḥ brahma anantajalase bhareṣu mahāsāgareṣu iva gambhīraḥ gahanaś ca; tasya kvacid ādir na antaś ca. sa eva kṣara-akṣararūpa iti kathitaḥ. sattveṣu liṅdram āveśya nirliṅdram api tat svayam; manyante dhruvam evainaṃ ye janās tattvadarśinaḥ—sa kālarūpaḥ parabrahma paramātmā svayaṃ nirākāraḥ san api sarvaprāṇiṣu jīvasya praveśaṃ kārayati.
Śakra said: “That Brahman, whose form is Time, is deep and unfathomable like a vast ocean filled with endless waters. It has no beginning and no end anywhere. It is described as both the perishable and the imperishable. Though itself without any mark or form, it causes the subtle living principle (jīva) to enter into beings; those who truly see reality hold this as certain.”
श॒क्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the Supreme Reality, appearing as Time, is beginningless and endless, and is spoken of as both perishable and imperishable. Though formless and unmarked, it governs embodied existence by causing the living principle to enter beings, while itself remaining beyond embodiment.
Indra (Śakra) is speaking in a philosophical discourse within Śānti Parva, describing the nature of the supreme Brahman as Time—vast like an ocean, without beginning or end—and explaining how the formless Supreme is understood by truth-seers to be the inner governor of living beings.