Shloka 14

Adhyāya 302: Guṇa-vicāra, Gati-bheda, and the Imperishable State

Yājñavalkya–Janaka

Devanagari script

युगं द्वादशसाहस्र॑ कल्पं विद्धि चतुर्युगम्‌ दशकल्पशतावृत्तमहस्तद्‌ ब्राह्ममुच्यते

Transliteration

yugaṁ dvādaśasāhasraṁ kalpaṁ viddhi caturyugam | daśakalpaśatāvṛttam ahas tad brāhmam ucyate ||

Translation

Vasiṣṭha nói: “Hãy biết rằng một chu kỳ mười hai nghìn năm (của chư thiên) hợp thành vòng yuga bốn thời; điều ấy phải hiểu là một kalpa, một đại kiếp. Và một ngày của Phạm Thiên (Brahmā) được tuyên bố là sự viên mãn của một nghìn đại kiếp như thế.”

Word by Word

• युगम्: yuga (an age-cycle)
• युगम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: युग
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• द्वादशसाहस्रम्: twelve-thousand (in measure/extent)
• द्वादशसाहस्रम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: द्वादशसाहस्र
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• कल्पम्: kalpa
• कल्पम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: कल्प
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• विद्धि: know (you should know)
• विद्धि: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: विद्
• Form: Imperative, Second, Singular, Parasmaipada

• चतुर्युगम्: a four-yuga cycle (caturyuga)
• चतुर्युगम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: चतुर्युग
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• दशकल्पशतावृत्तम्: having the recurrence of a hundred tens of kalpas (i.e., 1000 kalpas)
• दशकल्पशतावृत्तम्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दशकल्पशतावृत्त
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• अहः: day
• अहः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अहन्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• तत्: that
• तत्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• ब्राह्मम्: of Brahmā / Brahmā’s
• ब्राह्मम्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: ब्राह्म
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• उच्यते: is said / is called
• उच्यते: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच्
• Form: Present, Third, Singular, Passive

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vasiṣṭha
• Brahmā
• caturyuga
• kalpa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse defines traditional measures of cosmic time: a caturyuga is reckoned as twelve thousand (divine) years, and Brahmā’s single day is described as consisting of a thousand such great age-cycles, emphasizing the vast scale of time within dharmic cosmology.

What is happening in the narrative?

In a didactic passage of Śānti Parva, the sage Vasiṣṭha instructs his listener by laying out the structure of yugas, kalpas, and Brahmā’s day, using cosmological time to frame moral and philosophical teaching.