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Shloka 973

ब्राह्मणस्य पूर्वतरा वृत्तिः — The Earlier Ideal Conduct of a Brahmana

River-of-Saṃsāra Metaphor

सम्पीडयति य: कालो वृद्धि वार्धुषिको यथा । जैसे ऋण देनेवाला पुरुष व्याजका हिसाब जोड़कर ऋण लेनेवालोंको तंग करता है

sampīḍayati yaḥ kālo vṛddhi-vārdhuṣiko yathā |

Bhīṣma nói: Thời Gian đè nén chúng sinh như kẻ cho vay tiền tính lãi và lãi chồng lãi mà bức bách con nợ. Cũng vậy, Thời Gian ghi sổ không nương tay—ngày và đêm, tháng, sát-na và những đơn vị còn nhỏ hơn—rồi không ngừng đặt lên muôn loài gánh nặng và khổ não.

सम्पीडयतिafflicts, torments
सम्पीडयति:
TypeVerb
Rootसम्-पीड्
FormLat, Present, 3, Singular, Parasmaipada
यःwho
यः:
Karta
TypePronoun
Rootयद्
FormMasculine, Nominative, Singular
कालःtime
कालः:
Karta
TypeNoun
Rootकाल
FormMasculine, Nominative, Singular
वृद्धिinterest (increase)
वृद्धि:
TypeNoun
Rootवृद्धि
FormFeminine, Nominative, Singular
वार्धुषिकःmoneylender, usurer
वार्धुषिकः:
TypeNoun
Rootवार्धुषिक
FormMasculine, Nominative, Singular
यथाas, just as
यथा:
TypeIndeclinable
Rootयथा

भीष्म उवाच

B
Bhishma
T
Time (Kāla)
M
moneylender/usurer (vārdhuṣika)

Educational Q&A

Time is inexorable and continually diminishes life; like a lender adding interest, it keeps adding up moments and thereby burdens beings. The teaching encourages vigilance, detachment, and ethical discipline in the face of inevitable decay.

In Bhīṣma’s instruction during the Śānti Parva, he uses a social analogy familiar to listeners—an interest-taking moneylender—to explain how Kāla relentlessly ‘accounts’ for time-units and thereby afflicts all creatures.