📿 Shloka Collection

Sahasrayugaparyantam

Gita 8.17 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 8 — Akshara Brahma Yoga
सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तमहर्यद्ब्रह्मणो विदुः ।
रात्रिं युगसहस्रान्तां तेऽहोरात्रविदो जनाः ॥
Sahasrayugaparyantam ahar yad brahmano viduh,
Ratrim yugasahasrantam te'horatravido janah.
सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तम्
lasting a thousand yugas
अहः
day
यत्
which
ब्रह्मणः
of Brahma
विदुः
they know
रात्रिम्
the night
युगसहस्रान्ताम्
ending after a thousand yugas
ते
they
अहोरात्रविदः
knowers of day and night
जनाः
people

Krishna reveals the staggering scale of cosmic time. One day of Brahma lasts a thousand chaturyugas (cycles of the four ages — Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali). His night is equally long. Only those who grasp this immense timescale truly understand what "day" and "night" mean.

Our day is twenty-four hours. Brahma's single day spans billions of years. The mind reels at the comparison. For an ant, a garden is the entire world. For us, what feels like an eternity is just one day in Brahma's life.

This shloka puts everything in perspective. Time is vast beyond imagination, and even Brahmaloka is bound by its passage. True liberation lies beyond time itself — with God.

This shloka supports 8.16 by explaining why Brahmaloka is impermanent — Brahma himself is time-bound, with his own day and night. The next shlokas (8.18-8.19) describe what happens during Brahma's day and night: creation emerges and dissolves in a repeating cycle.

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