Shloka 4
कलिस्वरूप-वर्णनम् एवं कालमान-प्रस्तावना
अहोरात्रं पितॄणां तु मासो ऽब्दस् त्रिदिवौकसाम् चतुर्युगसहस्रे तु ब्रह्मणो द्वे द्विजोत्तम
ahorātraṃ pitṝṇāṃ tu māso 'bdas tridivaukasām caturyugasahasre tu brahmaṇo dve dvijottama
For the Pitṛs, the reckoning of day and night is different; for the dwellers in heaven, a month is their day-and-night and a year their measure of time. A thousand cycles of the four yugas make up Brahmā’s day-and-night, O best of the twice-born.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Relative measures of time for Pitṛs, Devas, and Brahmā (day/night of Brahmā)
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Creation Stage: Kalpa
Cosmic Hierarchy: Lokas
Concept: Time is relative across realms: Pitṛs, Devas, and Brahmā experience different day-night measures, culminating in Brahmā’s vast day-night of a thousand caturyugas.
Vedantic Theme: Maya
Application: Use the vastness of cosmic time to recalibrate priorities toward dharma and liberation rather than short-lived gains.
Vishishtadvaita: The ordered gradation of time across lokas reflects a real cosmic hierarchy sustained under the Supreme’s governance, not a mere illusion.
FAQs
It teaches that time is experienced and measured differently across cosmic realms, establishing a graded universe where human, ancestral, divine, and cosmic times fit into one ordered hierarchy.
He lays out a ladder of time-units—moving from human measures to Pitṛ and Deva measures—culminating in Brahmā’s day-and-night defined by a thousand four-Yuga cycles.
By mapping the universe through precise cycles, the Purana implies a sovereign cosmic law ultimately grounded in Vishnu, within whose order creation, duration, and dissolution proceed.