Mahabharata — Shanti Parva, Shloka 18
अध्याय २९७ — श्रेयः, धृति, दान-नियमाः
Welfare, Steadfastness, and Norms of Giving
न जायते तु नृपते कंचित् कालमयं पुनः । परिभ्रमति भूतात्मा द्यामिवाम्बुधरो महान्
na jāyate tu nṛpate kaṃcit kālamayaṃ punaḥ | paribhramati bhūtātmā dyām ivāmbudharo mahān ||
Tâu đại vương, linh ngã không thật sự sinh lại như một hữu thể mới do Thời gian nhào nặn. Trái lại, hữu tình cứ tiếp tục phiêu du—xoay vần qua các cảnh và trạng thái—như một đám mây lớn trôi ngang bầu trời.
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the self is not newly manufactured by Time at each ‘rebirth’; instead, the embodied being continues its wandering through changing states, like a cloud traversing the sky. This supports an ethical stance of seeking stable wisdom and dharmic conduct amid impermanence.
Parāśara addresses a king and uses a vivid simile—an immense cloud moving across the sky—to explain the soul’s ongoing transmigration. The point is to reframe ‘birth again’ as continued movement through conditions rather than the creation of a completely new entity.