Shloka 18
अध्याय २९७ — श्रेयः, धृति, दान-नियमाः
Welfare, Steadfastness, and Norms of Giving
न जायते तु नृपते कंचित् कालमयं पुनः । परिभ्रमति भूतात्मा द्यामिवाम्बुधरो महान्
na jāyate tu nṛpate kaṃcit kālamayaṃ punaḥ | paribhramati bhūtātmā dyām ivāmbudharo mahān ||
Wahai raja, bhūtātman tidaklah lahir kembali sebagai makhluk baru yang dibentuk oleh Waktu. Ia hanya terus mengembara, berputar melalui keadaan-keadaan, laksana awan besar yang melintas di langit.
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the self is not newly manufactured by Time at each ‘rebirth’; instead, the embodied being continues its wandering through changing states, like a cloud traversing the sky. This supports an ethical stance of seeking stable wisdom and dharmic conduct amid impermanence.
Parāśara addresses a king and uses a vivid simile—an immense cloud moving across the sky—to explain the soul’s ongoing transmigration. The point is to reframe ‘birth again’ as continued movement through conditions rather than the creation of a completely new entity.