Shloka 12
Sañjaya’s Knowledge of Keśava and the Discipline of Indriya-nigraha (संजयस्य केशवज्ञानम्—इन्द्रियनिग्रह-उपदेशः)
कालचक्रं जगच्चक्रं युगचक्रं च केशव: । आत्मयोगेन भगवान् परिवर्तयतेडनिशम्,ये भगवान् केशव ही अपनी योगशक्तिसे निरन्तर कालचक्र, संसारचक्र तथा युगचक्रको घुमाते रहते हैं
kālacakraṁ jagaccakraṁ yugacakraṁ ca keśavaḥ | ātmayogena bhagavān parivartayate 'niśam ||
Sañjaya said: By his own divine Yoga, the Blessed Lord Keśava ceaselessly turns the wheel of Time, the wheel of the world’s course, and the wheel of the ages.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that Kṛṣṇa (Keśava), as Bhagavān, continuously governs the cycles of time, worldly change, and the ages through his own divine Yoga. Ethically, it suggests that human plans and conflicts unfold within a larger moral-cosmic order; one should act with steadiness and dharma, recognizing limits of personal control.
Sañjaya is describing Kṛṣṇa’s supreme role: even amid the political crisis leading to war, Kṛṣṇa is portrayed as the cosmic regulator who keeps the universe’s cycles turning. This elevates the immediate events of the Udyoga Parva into a framework of providence and inevitable temporal progression.