Shloka 14
Gṛhastha-vṛtti and Niyama: Models of Householder Livelihood and Discipline (गृहस्थवृत्ति-नियमाः)
कालोदकेन महता वर्षावर्तेन संततम् । मासोर्मिणर्तुवेगेन पक्षोलपतृणेन च,कालरूपी महान् नद बह रहा है। इसमें वर्षरूपी भँवरें सदा उठ रही हैं। महीने इसकी उत्ताल तरंगें हैं। ऋतु वेग हैं। पक्ष लता और तृण हैं। निमेष और उन्मेष फेन हैं। दिन और रात जल-प्रवाह हैं। कामदेव भयंकर ग्राह है। वेद और यज्ञ नौका हैं। धर्म प्राणियोंका आश्रयभूत द्वीप है। अर्थ और काम जल हैं। सत्यभाषण और मोक्ष दोनों किनारे हैं। हिंसारूपी वृक्ष उस कालरूपी प्रवाहमें बह रहे हैं। युग हद है तथा ब्रह्म ही उस कालनदको उत्पन्न करनेवाला पर्वत है। उसी प्रवाहमें पड़कर विधाताके रचे हुए समस्त प्राणी यमलोककी ओर खिंचे चले जा रहे हैं
vyāsa uvāca | kālodakena mahatā varṣāvartena santatam | māsormibhir ṛtuvegena pakṣolapatṛṇena ca | nimeṣonmeṣa-phenena dinarātri-jalapravāhaiḥ | kāmadevo bhayaṅkaro grāhaḥ | vedā yajñāś ca naukāḥ | dharmo dvīpaḥ prāṇinām āśrayabhūtaḥ | artha-kāmau jalāni | satyabhāṣaṇaṃ mokṣaś ca ubhe tīre | hiṃsā-rūpā vṛkṣāḥ tasmin kāla-pravāhe vahanti | yugaṃ maryādā | brahmaiva ca taṃ kālanadaṃ prasūte parvataḥ | tasmin pravāhe patitā vidhātṛ-sṛṣṭāḥ sarve prāṇino yamalokaṃ prati ākarṣyante ||
Vyāsa said: “Time is a vast river. Its water is Time itself; its whirlpools are the rains that rise without cease. Months are its surging waves; the seasons are its driving currents; fortnights are its creepers and grasses. Blinking and unblinking are its foam; days and nights are its flowing stream. Desire (Kāma) is a dreadful crocodile within it. The Vedas and sacrifices are boats; Dharma is an island that gives shelter to living beings. Wealth and pleasure are its waters; truth-speaking and liberation are its two banks. Trees of violence drift along in that current. The yugas mark its limits, and Brahman is the mountain-source from which this river of Time is born. Fallen into this stream, all creatures fashioned by the Creator are drawn onward toward Yama’s realm.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Time is an irresistible current carrying all beings toward death and judgment; only disciplined life—grounded in Dharma, truthful speech, and oriented to moksha—provides safe footing and a way to ‘cross’ the dangers of desire, violence, and attachment.
Vyāsa delivers a sustained metaphor: the cosmos is a river of Time with cycles (days, months, seasons, yugas) as its features; desire is a predator within it; Vedic knowledge and sacrifice are boats; Dharma is a refuge-island; and all created beings are pulled along toward Yama’s realm.