Vana Parva Adhyaya 164 Shloka 42 - Mahabharata | Japanese | Vedapath

Vyasa

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Shloka 42

Arjuna meets the Lokapālas, is tested by Indra, and is led to Amarāvatī for astra-śikṣā

Indraloka-gamana

Devanagari script

विभजन्‌ सर्वभूतानामायु: कर्म च भारत । अहोरात्र॑ कला: काष्ठा: सृजत्येष सदा विभु:

Transliteration

vibhajan sarvabhūtānām āyuḥ karma ca bhārata | ahorātraṃ kalāḥ kāṣṭhāḥ sṛjaty eṣa sadā vibhuḥ ||

Translation

ヴァイシャンパーヤナは語った。「バーラタよ、この大いなる主（太陽）は、あらゆる生きものに寿命と業の果を常に配分する。昼と夜、さらにkalāやkāṣṭhāといった微細な時の尺度をも絶えず生み出し、世界の秩序ある運行を支えている。」

Word by Word

विभजन्dividing, apportioning

सर्वभूतानाम्of all beings

आयुःlifespan

कर्मaction, deed (destined work)

चand

भारतO Bharata (descendant of Bharata)

अहोरात्रम्day-and-night (the nychthemeron)

कलाःparts (time-divisions), kalās

काष्ठाःtime-units (kāṣṭhās)

सृजतिcreates, produces

एषःthis (one)

सदाalways

विभुःthe mighty one, the all-powerful

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Bhārata (Yudhiṣṭhira as addressee)

Sūrya/Savitṛ (the Sun, implied by context)

Ahorātra (day-night cycle)

Kalā (time-unit)

Kāṣṭhā (time-unit)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse presents time as a divinely sustained order: the Sun, as a cosmic regulator, continually generates the measures of time and thereby ‘distributes’ beings’ lifespan and karmic outcomes—emphasizing that ethical causality (karma) unfolds within an ordered, ceaseless temporal flow.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana is explaining to Yudhiṣṭhira the Sun’s unbroken motion and cosmic function: by producing day and night and finer time-divisions (kalā, kāṣṭhā), the Sun maintains the world’s rhythm in which beings live out their allotted life and experience the results of their actions.