Shloka 138
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
मत्स्यो जलचरो जाल्यो5कल: केलिकल: कलि: । अकालकश्चातिकाल श्र दुष्काल: काल एव च
matsyo jalacaro jālyo 'kalaḥ kelikalaḥ kaliḥ | akālaś cātikālaś ca duṣkālaḥ kāla eva ca ||
毗湿摩说：“你是鱼，是水中行者，也是执网之鳄；然而你亦是‘阿迦罗’（Akala），超越束缚与限量。你是嬉戏本身，你亦是迦梨（Kali）。你是不合时之时、过度之时、灾厄之时，亦是时间本体。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the Supreme can be understood as manifesting in diverse, even paradoxical forms—creaturely and cosmic, playful and fearsome—yet remains beyond limitation. Time (kāla) and its auspicious/inauspicious phases are ultimately under that single divine sovereignty, reinforcing humility and dharmic vigilance.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and higher truths. Here he offers a hymn-like identification of the Lord with multiple forms and with Time itself, emphasizing the all-encompassing nature of the divine principle that governs worldly change and moral consequence.