Shloka 27
Pracetās, Māriṣā, Dakṣa’s Re-manifestation, and the Brahma-parastava; Cyclic Creation and Genealogies
बहूनां विप्र वर्षाणां परिणामम् अहस् तव गतम् एतन् न कुरुते विस्मयं कस्य कथ्यताम्
bahūnāṃ vipra varṣāṇāṃ pariṇāmam ahas tava gatam etan na kurute vismayaṃ kasya kathyatām
“O Brāhmaṇa, when the outcome of countless years can, as it were, be compressed into a single day for you, for whom could this be a wonder? Tell me.”
Maitreya (addressing Sage Parāśara in the standard Parāśara–Maitreya dialogue frame)
Creation Stage: Kalpa
Concept: Time is not uniform in experience; for the spiritually potent (and by implication in cosmic measures), vast spans may be ‘as a day,’ so astonishment should yield to understanding kāla.
Vedantic Theme: Maya
Application: Hold personal anxieties lightly by contemplating larger time-scales; cultivate steadiness when circumstances ‘speed up’ or ‘slow down.’
Vishishtadvaita: Kāla is a real divine mode (prakāra) under the Lord’s governance—experienced differently without denying the reality of the world-order.
Vishnu Form: Narayana (cosmic)
Bhakti Type: shanta
FAQs
This verse highlights that time is relative across planes of existence—what is many years for humans may be like a single day for higher beings—supporting the Purana’s larger teaching on yugas and manvantaras.
Within the Parāśara–Maitreya dialogue, the teaching proceeds by comparing human time with higher, condensed measures of time, making the immense cycles of yugas and manvantaras intelligible.
By stressing the relativity and governance of time, the passage implicitly points to Vishnu as the Supreme Reality who orders cosmic cycles, transcending the temporal limits that bind ordinary beings.