Shloka 25
अध्यात्म-तत्त्व-निर्णयः
Adhyātma Taxonomy: Elements, Faculties, and Guṇas
काल: पचति भूतानि सर्वाण्येवात्मनात्मनि । यस्मिंस्तु पच्यते कालस्तं वेदेह न कश्नन
kālaḥ pacati bhūtāni sarvāṇy evātmanātmani | yasmiṁs tu pacyate kālas taṁ veda iha na kaścana ||
Dijo Vyāsa: El Tiempo “cocina”—madura y consume— a todos los seres dentro de sí, por su propio poder. Pero esa Realidad en la que incluso el Tiempo es “cocinado”, Aquel que está más allá del Tiempo como su propio límite, nadie en este mundo la conoce de verdad.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Time governs and transforms all conditioned beings, but the Supreme Reality that transcends Time—within which Time itself is subject to a higher principle—remains unknowable to ordinary worldly cognition. The verse urges humility about human knowledge and points toward a transcendent ground beyond change.
In the didactic setting of the Śānti Parva, Vyāsa delivers a philosophical instruction: he uses the metaphor of ‘cooking’ to describe how Time ripens and consumes all beings, then contrasts this with the higher reality that even Time cannot surpass, emphasizing the limits of worldly understanding.