Shloka 138
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
मत्स्यो जलचरो जाल्यो5कल: केलिकल: कलि: । अकालकश्चातिकाल श्र दुष्काल: काल एव च
matsyo jalacaro jālyo 'kalaḥ kelikalaḥ kaliḥ | akālaś cātikālaś ca duṣkālaḥ kāla eva ca ||
Bhīṣma dice: «Tú eres el pez, la criatura que se mueve en el agua y el cocodrilo que porta la red; y, sin embargo, eres también “Akala”, más allá de toda atadura y límite. Eres el juego mismo, y eres también Kali. Eres el tiempo intempestivo, el tiempo desmesurado, el tiempo de calamidad y el Tiempo en sí».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the Supreme can be understood as manifesting in diverse, even paradoxical forms—creaturely and cosmic, playful and fearsome—yet remains beyond limitation. Time (kāla) and its auspicious/inauspicious phases are ultimately under that single divine sovereignty, reinforcing humility and dharmic vigilance.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and higher truths. Here he offers a hymn-like identification of the Lord with multiple forms and with Time itself, emphasizing the all-encompassing nature of the divine principle that governs worldly change and moral consequence.