Shloka 3
अध्याय १: महाप्रस्थानारम्भः
The Commencement of the Great Departure
काल: पचति भूतानि सर्वाण्येव महामते । कालपाशमहं मन्ये त्वमपि द्रष्टम्हसि
kālaḥ pacati bhūtāni sarvāṇy eva mahāmate | kālapāśam ahaṃ manye tvam api draṣṭum arhasi ||
「大賢よ、時はあらゆる生きとし生けるものを熟させ、例外なく呑み尽くす。われはこれを『時の縄（時の絞め縄）』と思う。汝もまた、それを認め、見届けよ。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the inevitability of Time: all beings are subject to maturation, decline, and death. Ethically, it urges clear-sighted acceptance of impermanence, encouraging detachment from pride and possessions and steadiness in dharma amid unavoidable change.
In the Mahāprasthānika context, the narration frames the final journey and end of the Pāṇḍavas under the larger law of Kāla. Vaiśampāyana emphasizes that their approaching departure is not merely personal tragedy but the working of Time’s inescapable ‘noose’ over all embodied beings.