Mahabharata — Shanti Parva, Shloka 76
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
स निमज्जति कालस्य यदैकत्वं न बुध्यते । उनन््मज्जति हि कालस्य समत्वेनाभिसंवृत:
sa nimajjati kālasya yadaikatvaṁ na budhyate | unmajjati hi kālasya samatvenābhisaṁvṛtaḥ ||
Yājñavalkya said: When one does not awaken to one’s oneness (with the Supreme Self), one sinks under the power of Time. But when one is enveloped in equanimity, one rises above Time. The teaching is that bondage is sustained by misapprehension of identity and attachment, while liberation comes through steady sameness of vision and recognition of unity with the highest reality.
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Failure to realize one’s unity with the Supreme leads to being overwhelmed by Time (mortality, change, suffering). Equanimity (samatva) grounded in right knowledge enables one to transcend Time’s sway.
In a didactic discourse within the Śānti Parva, Yājñavalkya explains the spiritual condition of the jīva: ignorance of oneness causes ‘submergence’ in kāla, while the cultivation of even-minded wisdom brings ‘emergence’—a metaphor for liberation.