Shloka 3

Śrāddha’s Cosmic Reach and Kāla-Nirṇaya (Sacred Timings): Amāvāsyā, Nakṣatra-Yoga, Tīrtha, and Minimum Offerings

Devanagari script

मासि मास्य् असिते पक्षे पञ्चदश्यां नरेश्वर तथाष्टकासु कुर्वीत काम्यान् कालाञ् छृणुष्व मे

Transliteration

māsi māsy asite pakṣe pañcadaśyāṃ nareśvara tathāṣṭakāsu kurvīta kāmyān kālāñ chṛṇuṣva me

Translation

हे नरेश्वर, प्रतिमासं कृष्णपक्षस्य पञ्चदश्यां तथा अष्टकासु काम्यकर्माणि कुर्यात्; तेषां यथाकालं नियतकालांश्च मे शृणु।

Word by Word

मासिin a month

मासिmonth by month

असितेin the dark (fortnight)

पक्षेin the fortnight

पञ्चदश्याम्on the fifteenth (tithi)

नरेश्वरO lord of men (king)

तथाalso/likewise

अष्टकासुon the aṣṭakā days

कुर्वीतshould perform

काम्यान्desired/optional

कालान्times/occasions

छृणुष्वlisten

मेof me / my

Speaker

Sage Parāśara (in instruction to Maitreya; addressing a kingly addressee in the verse)

Characters & Entities

Kings

Aṣṭakā

Kṛṣṇa-pakṣa (dark fortnight)

Pañcadaśī (15th lunar day)

FAQs

What is the significance of performing rites on the dark-fortnight fifteenth day (pañcadaśī) in the Vishnu Purana?

This verse treats pañcadaśī of the kṛṣṇa-pakṣa as a regularly recurring, ritually potent time when kāmya (wish-oriented) observances are considered especially effective due to alignment with sacred lunar timing.

How does Sage Parāśara explain the choice of proper ritual time (kāla) for kāmya acts?

Parāśara frames ritual efficacy around calendrical precision—specific tithis and observance-days (like Aṣṭakā)—and instructs the listener to follow these recurring monthly markers as the authorized windows for such rites.

What is the theological importance of Lord Vishnu in this context of ritual timing?

Even when the verse discusses kāmya rites, the Vishnu Purana’s broader stance is that kāla (time) and dharma operate under the sovereignty of the Supreme—Vishnu—so correct observance is ultimately participation in divinely ordered cosmic law.