Shloka 3
Śrāddha’s Cosmic Reach and Kāla-Nirṇaya (Sacred Timings): Amāvāsyā, Nakṣatra-Yoga, Tīrtha, and Minimum Offerings
मासि मास्य् असिते पक्षे पञ्चदश्यां नरेश्वर तथाष्टकासु कुर्वीत काम्यान् कालाञ् छृणुष्व मे
māsi māsy asite pakṣe pañcadaśyāṃ nareśvara tathāṣṭakāsu kurvīta kāmyān kālāñ chṛṇuṣva me
O lord of men, in every month—on the fifteenth day of the dark fortnight, and likewise on the Aṣṭakā days—one should perform kāmya rites prompted by one’s intent. Hear from me the proper seasons and appointed times for these sacred acts.
Sage Parāśara (in instruction to Maitreya; addressing a kingly addressee in the verse)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Auspicious and effective times (kāla) for kāmya rites and śrāddha-related observances within dharma
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Dharma is enacted through right timing (kāla) of prescribed and desire-motivated rites, aligning human action with sacred order.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Keep a disciplined observance calendar and perform duties at appropriate lunar days rather than acting only from impulse.
Vishishtadvaita: Temporal order is meaningful as a divinely governed framework in which embodied souls serve the Supreme through regulated action.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Bhakti Type: Shanta
FAQs
This verse treats pañcadaśī of the kṛṣṇa-pakṣa as a regularly recurring, ritually potent time when kāmya (wish-oriented) observances are considered especially effective due to alignment with sacred lunar timing.
Parāśara frames ritual efficacy around calendrical precision—specific tithis and observance-days (like Aṣṭakā)—and instructs the listener to follow these recurring monthly markers as the authorized windows for such rites.
Even when the verse discusses kāmya rites, the Vishnu Purana’s broader stance is that kāla (time) and dharma operate under the sovereignty of the Supreme—Vishnu—so correct observance is ultimately participation in divinely ordered cosmic law.