Shloka 25
सूर्यरथ-कालचक्र-आयनविभागः, संध्योपासनम्, देवयान-पितृयानम्, विष्णुपद-गङ्गावतरणम्
आताम्रा हि भवन्त्य् आपो दिवा नक्तप्रवेशनात् दिनं विशति चैवाम्भो भास्करे ऽस्तम् उपागते तस्माच् छुक्लीभवन्त्य् आपो नक्तम् अह्नः प्रवेशनात्
ātāmrā hi bhavanty āpo divā naktapraveśanāt dinaṃ viśati caivāmbho bhāskare 'stam upāgate tasmāc chuklībhavanty āpo naktam ahnaḥ praveśanāt
By day the waters take on a coppery hue, for night is then entering into them. And when the Sun has gone to setting, the waters in turn enter into the day. Therefore by night the waters become bright and pale, because day is then entering into them.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Why waters appear coppery by day and pale by night—day/night ‘entering’ the waters in alternation
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Cosmic Hierarchy: Lokas
Concept: Waters become coppery by day as night is said to enter them, and become pale by night as day enters them—an account of alternating qualities through reciprocal ‘entry’.
Vedantic Theme: Maya
Application: Practice discernment: appearances vary with conditions; cultivate steady perception and humility before complex causality.
Vishishtadvaita: Acknowledges changing modes (prakāra) of real substances (waters) under lawful alternation—change in attributes without denying reality, aligning with Viśiṣṭādvaita’s satkārya-like realism about modes.
FAQs
It illustrates a Purāṇic cosmological principle: day and night are not merely external times but cyclical forces that “enter” and condition the world’s appearances, showing the universe as an ordered, law-governed system.
Parāśara frames day and night as alternating presences that successively ‘enter’ water and the world—by day, night is said to be entering (yielding a coppery tint), and after sunset, day is said to enter (yielding a brightened appearance).
Even when Vishnu is not named in the verse, the Vishnu Purana treats such cosmic regularity as grounded in the Supreme Reality—Vishnu as the sustaining principle whose sovereignty is reflected in the stable cycles of time and nature.