Shloka 43
सूर्यरथ-कालचक्र-आयनविभागः, संध्योपासनम्, देवयान-पितृयानम्, विष्णुपद-गङ्गावतरणम्
एकप्रमाणम् एवैष मार्गं याति दिवाकरः अहोरात्रेण यो भुङ्क्ते समस्ता राशयो द्विज
ekapramāṇam evaiṣa mārgaṃ yāti divākaraḥ ahorātreṇa yo bhuṅkte samastā rāśayo dvija
The Sun, bearer of day, travels a single measured path. In one full day-and-night, O twice-born, he traverses—‘consuming’ in order—the entire circuit of the zodiacal signs.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: How the Sun’s measured path defines time through traversal of the rāśis (zodiacal signs)
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Cosmic Hierarchy: Lokas
Concept: The Sun proceeds along one measured route and, in a single day-night, traverses the full circuit of zodiacal signs, thereby sustaining the rhythm by which time is known.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Let daily routine mirror cosmic regularity—steady sādhana at fixed times as an offering aligned with kāla.
Vishishtadvaita: Time is a real mode within the Lord’s ordered universe; the Sun’s regularity manifests the Lord’s governance without collapsing multiplicity into illusion.
Vishnu Form: Narayana
FAQs
It highlights a fixed cosmic order: the Sun’s regular motion becomes the dependable standard by which time (day-night and larger cycles) is recognized and maintained.
By linking ahorātra (a full day-night) to the Sun’s traversal of the rāśis, Parāśara frames time as an observable rhythm rooted in the heavens’ regulated movement.
Even when Vishnu is not named in the verse, the Purāṇic worldview treats such orderly celestial functioning as operating under the Supreme Reality’s governance—Vishnu as the sustaining principle of universal law.