Shloka 283
कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः
Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma
लोकानां मनुजव्याघ्र प्रलयं त॑ विदुर्बुधा: । नरश्रेष्ठ] एक हजार चतुर्युग बीतनेपर ब्रह्माजीका एक दिन होता है। यह सारा जगत् ब्रह्माके दिनभर ही रहता है (और वह दिन समाप्त होते ही नष्ट हो जाता है।) इसीको विद्वान् पुरुष लोकोंका प्रलय मानते हैं
lokānāṁ manujavyāghra pralayaṁ taṁ vidur budhāḥ | naraśreṣṭha sahasraṁ caturyuga-bītane paraṁ brahmaṇo 'haḥ | etat sarvaṁ jagad brahmaṇo 'haḥ-paryantam eva tiṣṭhati (ahaḥ-samāpte ca naśyati) | etad eva vidvāṁsaḥ puruṣā lokānāṁ pralayaṁ manyante |
Disse Vaiśaṃpāyana: “Ó tigre entre os homens, os sábios sabem que isso é a dissolução dos mundos. Ó melhor dos homens! Quando mil ciclos das quatro eras se completam, conclui-se um único dia de Brahmā. Este universo inteiro perdura apenas pelo tempo do dia de Brahmā; quando esse dia termina, ele é destruído. Os eruditos chamam isso de ‘pralaya’—a dissolução periódica dos mundos.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the vastness of cosmic time and the impermanence of all created worlds: even the universe persists only for the duration of Brahmā’s day, after which dissolution (pralaya) occurs. This frames human events within a larger moral and metaphysical horizon, encouraging humility and detachment.
Vaiśampāyana explains to his listener (addressed as ‘manujavyāghra’/‘naraśreṣṭha’) a doctrinal point about pralaya: the wise define the dissolution of worlds as the destruction that occurs at the end of Brahmā’s day, which spans a thousand caturyugas.