Shloka 156
Śuka’s Manifestation from the Araṇi (Āraṇeya-janma) — शुकजन्म (आरणेय-सम्भव)
रात्रिरेतावती चैव मनसश्ष नराधिप । ऐसे विषयासक्त प्राणी तिर्यग्योनियोंमें प्रवेश करके इसी संसारमें चक्कर काटते रहते हैं। इन शब्दादि विषयोंका एक दिन तीन हजार कल्पोंका बताया जाता है। नरेश्वर! इनकी रात भी इतनी ही बड़ी है। मनके भी दिन-रातका परिमाण इतना ही है
rātrir etāvatī caiva manasaś ca narādhipa | evaṃ viṣayāsaktaḥ prāṇī tiryagyonīṣu praviśya asmin saṃsāre paribhramati | śabdādi-viṣayāṇāṃ divasaḥ trīṇi-sahasra-kalpātmakaḥ proktaḥ | nareśvara etāvatī eva teṣāṃ rātriḥ | manaso 'pi divā-rātra-parimāṇam etāvat eva ||
Yājñavalkya said: “O king, the night is of this very measure for the mind as well. Thus a being, attached to sense-objects, enters animal wombs and keeps revolving within this world. For the domains of sound and the other sense-objects, a single ‘day’ is declared to span three thousand kalpas; O lord of men, their ‘night’ is equally vast. The mind’s own day and night are to be understood as of the same measure.”
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Attachment to sense-objects binds the mind and drives continued wandering in saṃsāra, even into animal births; therefore one should cultivate detachment and mastery of the mind, recognizing the vast, cosmic scale of bondage symbolized by immense ‘days and nights’ of sense-experience.
In a didactic discourse within Śānti Parva, the sage Yājñavalkya addresses a king and explains a cosmological-ethical point: the realms of sensory enjoyment have enormous cycles of ‘day and night’ (measured in thousands of kalpas), and beings attached to these objects keep revolving through rebirth within the world.