Shloka 94
Pracetās, Māriṣā, Dakṣa’s Re-manifestation, and the Brahma-parastava; Cyclic Creation and Genealogies
ते तु तद्वचनं श्रुत्वा प्रयाताः सर्वतो दिशम् अद्यापि न निवर्तन्ते समुद्रेभ्य इवापगाः
te tu tadvacanaṃ śrutvā prayātāḥ sarvato diśam adyāpi na nivartante samudrebhya ivāpagāḥ
Hearing those words, they departed in every direction; and even to this day they do not return—like rivers that, once they reach the ocean, never turn back.
Sage Parāśara (narrating to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Outcome of the Haryaśvas’ departure after the instruction
Teaching: Historical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Some choices—like rivers reaching the ocean—mark a point of no return, suggesting the firmness of renunciation once insight dawns.
Vedantic Theme: Moksha
Application: When clarity arises about life’s highest aim, commit steadily rather than oscillating back into old compulsions.
Vishishtadvaita: Renunciation is not void-merging but turning irrevocably toward the Supreme (Nārāyaṇa) as the soul’s ocean-like refuge.
FAQs
It highlights an irreversible movement: once a course is fulfilled, return is not expected—mirroring how events and beings proceed under the governance of time and cosmic order.
Through a vivid analogy: those who depart after hearing an injunction move outward in all directions and do not come back, just as rivers do not reverse after entering the sea.
Even when Vishnu is not named, the Purāṇic worldview assumes his supreme sovereignty: the orderly, irreversible flow of creation and history unfolds within the framework sustained by the Supreme Reality.