Srimad Bhagavatam — Panchama Skandha, Shloka 13
The Orbit of the Sun, the Measure of Day and Night, and the Sun-God’s Chariot
यस्यैकं चक्रं द्वादशारं षण्नेमि त्रिणाभि संवत्सरात्मकं समामनन्ति तस्याक्षो मेरोर्मूर्धनि कृतो मानसोत्तरे कृतेतरभागो यत्र प्रोतं रविरथचक्रं तैलयन्त्रचक्रवद् भ्रमन्मानसोत्तरगिरौ परिभ्रमति ॥ १३ ॥
yasyaikaṁ cakraṁ dvādaśāraṁ ṣaṇ-nemi tri-ṇābhi saṁvatsarātmakaṁ samāmananti tasyākṣo meror mūrdhani kṛto mānasottare kṛtetara-bhāgo yatra protaṁ ravi-ratha-cakraṁ taila-yantra-cakravad bhraman mānasottara-girau paribhramati.
El carro del dios Sol tiene una sola rueda, conocida como Saṁvatsara. Los doce meses son sus doce radios; las seis estaciones, las secciones de su llanta; y los tres períodos de cātur-māsya, su cubo dividido en tres. Un extremo del eje reposa en la cima del monte Sumeru y el otro en el monte Mānasottara; fijada al extremo exterior del eje, la rueda gira sin cesar sobre Mānasottara como la rueda de una prensa de aceite.
FAQs
This verse describes the year as a single cosmic wheel with twelve spokes, six rims, and three hubs—an image showing time’s structured, divinely governed cycles.
He uses Meru as the fixed axle-point and Mānasottara as the boundary-support to explain, in Purāṇic cosmology, how the Sun’s chariot-wheel is situated and how the Sun is said to circle in a continuous orbit.
Seeing time as an ordered cycle helps one live with discipline and devotion—aligning daily and yearly routines with remembrance of Bhagavān rather than being driven by anxiety and randomness.