Shloka 10
सूर्यरथ-कालचक्र-आयनविभागः, संध्योपासनम्, देवयान-पितृयानम्, विष्णुपद-गङ्गावतरणम्
काष्ठां गतो दक्षिणतः क्षिप्तेषुर् इव सर्पति मैत्रेय भगवान् भानुर् ज्योतिषां चक्रसंयुतः
kāṣṭhāṃ gato dakṣiṇataḥ kṣipteṣur iva sarpati maitreya bhagavān bhānur jyotiṣāṃ cakrasaṃyutaḥ
O Maitreya, when Bhagavān Bhānu, the Sun, reaches the southern turning-point, he seems to glide onward like an arrow released, bearing with him the revolving wheel of the luminaries.
Sage Parāśara (addressing Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Astronomical motion: the sun’s apparent swift glide at the southern turning-point, carrying the wheel of luminaries.
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: revealing
Cosmic Hierarchy: Lokas
Concept: Time and seasons proceed with arrow-like inevitability as the sun bears the cycle of luminaries, revealing the disciplined flow of cosmic law.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Align habits with cyclical time—seasonal disciplines, regularity in sādhana, and acceptance of change without inner disturbance.
Vishishtadvaita: Cyclic time operates within the Lord’s governance; the world’s temporal order is real and purposeful, not illusory chaos.
Vishnu Form: Narayana
FAQs
It marks a key transition in the Sun’s annual course used to explain seasons and the regulated flow of time; the verse highlights that cosmic time is upheld through ordered celestial motion.
He uses a vivid simile—like an arrow that has been shot—to convey the Sun’s smooth, continuous advance, while also portraying the Sun as bearing the ‘wheel’ of the luminaries in an ordered circuit.
By presenting the heavens as a disciplined, wheel-like order, the text implies a governing intelligence behind cosmic regularity—an order ultimately grounded in the Supreme Lord’s sovereignty as taught throughout the Vishnu Purana.