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 ||
“大智者啊，时间使一切众生成熟，又无一例外地吞噬一切。我以此为‘时间之索’；你也当识之、观之。”
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.