Shloka 53
कालनिर्णयः, युगधर्मवर्णनम्, सृष्टिक्रमश्च
Time-Reckoning, Yuga-Dharma, and the Sequence of Creation
देवराज! समस्त प्राणियोंकी गति जो काल है
ṛtūn māsārdhamāsāṁś ca divasāṁś ca kṣaṇāṁs tathā | pūrvāhṇam aparāhṇaṁ ca madhyāhnam api cāpare ||
释迦罗说：“天帝啊！时间乃一切众生之归趋与行程；不抵达时间，你还能往哪里去？人纵然奔逃，也不能将它抛下——不能离它而去；即便伫立不动，也不能脱离它的钩爪。听觉等诸根，亦不能如实体验那被分为月、半月等五种差别的时间。有的人称这时间之神为阿耆尼，有的人称为生主。正是时间衡量并驱载万有前行——穿越四时、诸月与半月、诸日乃至刹那；也穿越上午、下午与正午。”
श॒क्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
Time (Kāla) is the universal force that governs all beings and all change. By listing seasons, months, days, and moments, the verse teaches that what we treat as ordinary timekeeping is actually the manifestation of an inescapable cosmic power; therefore pride, denial, or attempts to outrun destiny are futile, and one should live with humility and dharmic awareness.
Śakra (Indra) is explaining the nature of Kāla to his interlocutor, emphasizing that Time is perceived through its divisions—seasons, months, days, and parts of the day—and noting that different traditions identify this same principle as Agni or Prajāpati.