Shloka 5
Śrāddha’s Cosmic Reach and Kāla-Nirṇaya (Sacred Timings): Amāvāsyā, Nakṣatra-Yoga, Tīrtha, and Minimum Offerings
विषुवे चापि संप्राप्ते ग्रहणे शशिसूर्ययोः समस्तेष्व् एव भूपाल राशिष्व् अर्के च गच्छति
viṣuve cāpi saṃprāpte grahaṇe śaśisūryayoḥ samasteṣv eva bhūpāla rāśiṣv arke ca gacchati
When the equinox arrives, and when eclipses of the Moon and Sun occur, O king, the Sun also passes through all the zodiacal signs—by these ordered revolutions time in the world is measured.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya; vocative 'bhūpāla' used as an honorific address in the discourse)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Astronomical markers (equinox, eclipses, solar transit through rāśis) relevant to dharmic observances and measurement of time
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: revealing
Cosmic Hierarchy: Lokas
Concept: The revolutions of Sun and Moon—equinoxes, eclipses, and zodiacal transits—constitute the visible grammar of kāla by which dharma is scheduled and understood.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Use natural cycles (seasons, lunar phases) to structure spiritual practice and self-discipline rather than treating time as merely secular.
Vishishtadvaita: Kāla is not inert: it is a meaningful, divinely ordered medium through which beings participate in sacred duty.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Bhakti Type: Shanta
FAQs
This verse uses equinoxes and eclipses as recognizable celestial markers that demonstrate the regularity of cosmic time and the orderly structure of the universe described in the Purana.
By pointing to the Sun’s movement through all rāśis and to events like equinoxes and eclipses, Parāśara frames time as something known through repeated, law-governed celestial cycles.
Even in an astronomical passage, the implied theology is that the cosmos is not random—its dependable cycles reflect a higher sovereignty; in Vaishnava Purāṇic thought, that sustaining order ultimately rests in Vishnu as the supreme ground of cosmic law.