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 ||
“O marunong, pinapahinog at nilalamon ng Panahon ang lahat ng nilalang, walang itinatangi. Itinuturing ko itong silo ng Panahon; ikaw man ay dapat kumilala at masdan ito.”
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.