बीजकाण्डरुहाण्येव प्रताना वल्ल्य एव च । तमसा बहुरूपेण वेष्टिताः कर्महेतुना
Seeds and tuberous roots are like the foremost sprouts, and the curling shoots are indeed their twining tendrils; many forms are enveloped in darkness, serving as causes for action.
अन्तःसंज्ञा भवन्त्येते सुखदुःखसमन्विताः । एतावत्यस्तु गतयः प्रोद्भूताः कुरुनन्दन
These become inner notions, accompanied by joy and sorrow; such are the manifold destinies that arose, O descendant of Kuru.
तस्माद्देवाद्दीप्तिमन्तो भास्कराच्य महात्मनः । घोरेऽस्मिंस्तात संसारे नित्यं सततयायिनि
Therefore the gods, luminous like the great sun, dwell in that dread world; they continually shine through the ever-flowing cycle of this existence.
एवं सर्वं स सृष्ट्वेदं राजँल्लोकगुरुं परम् । तिरोभूतः स भूतात्मा कालं कालेन पीडयन्
Thus he created this entire world and became the supreme teacher of people; he entered into beings as the inner self, tormenting time by means of time.
यदा स देवो जागर्ति तदेदं चेष्टते जगत् । यदा स्वपिति शान्तात्मा तदा सर्वं निमीलति
When that god is awake the world performs its activity; when the peaceful self sleeps, then all things withdraw and are closed.
तस्मिन्स्वपिति राजेन्द्र जन्तवः कर्मबन्धनाः । स्वकर्मभ्यो निवर्तन्ते मनश्च ग्लानिमृच्छति
In the sleep of that sovereign beings are bound by actions; their deeds cease and the mind falls into a state of languor.
युगपत्तु प्रलीयन्ते यदा तस्मिन्महात्मनि । तदायं सर्वभूतात्मा सुखं स्वपिति भारत
Simultaneously all dissolve when that great soul is dissolved; then the soul of all beings rests in blissful sleep, O Bharata.
तमो यदा समाश्रित्य चिरं तिष्ठति सेन्द्रियः । न नवं कुरुते कर्म तदोत्क्रामति मूर्तितः
When the senses long remain rooted in darkness they no longer enact new deeds; the embodied one does not take on new actions.
यदाहंमात्रिको भूत्वा बीजं स्थास्नु चरिष्णु च । समाविशति संसृष्टस्तदा मूतिं विमुञ्चति
If I, assuming only a seed-form, stay as the seed and wander, then when the created world enters into me I release liberation.
एवं स जाग्रत्स्वप्नाभ्यामिदं सर्वं जगत्प्रभुः । संजीवयति चाजस्रं प्रमापयति चाव्ययः
Thus, by waking and sleeping, the Lord of the world both quickens all things repeatedly and, unfailing, withdraws them away.
कल्पादौ सृजते तात अन्ते कल्पस्य संहरेत् । दिनं तस्येह यत्तात कल्पान्तमिति कथ्यते
O son, worlds are brought forth at a kalpa’s dawn and dissolved at its close; that span of time here is called the day of the kalpa.
कालसंख्यां ततस्तस्य कल्पस्य शृणु भारत । निमेषा दश चाष्टौ च अक्ष्णः काष्ठा निगद्यते
Listen, Bharata, to the reckoning of time for that kalpa: there are ten nimishas and eight nimishas together called an akshna, and a kashtha is named accordingly.
त्रिंशत्काष्ठाः कलामाहुः क्षणस्त्रिंशत्कलाः स्मृताः । मुहूर्तमथ मौहूर्ता वदन्ति द्वादश क्षणम्
They say thirty kashthas make a kala, and thirty kalas constitute a kshana; a muhurta or its half is spoken of as twelve kshanas.
त्रिंशन्मुहूर्तमुद्दिष्टमहोरात्रं मनीषिभिः । मासस्त्रिंशदहोरात्रं द्वौ द्वौ मासावृतुः स्मृतः
Wise ones declare that thirty muhurtas form the day and night; a month is thirty such day‑nights, and months proceed in pairs to complete a cycle.
ऋतुत्रयमप्ययनमयने द्वे तु वत्सरः । अहोरात्रे विभजते सूर्यो मानुषदैविके
There are three seasons and two half‑years (ayana) in a year; day and night are apportioned for the sun, both for human and divine reckoning.
रात्रिः स्वप्नाय भूतानां चेष्टायै कर्मणामहः । पित्र्ये रात्र्यहनी मासः प्रविभागस्तु पक्षयोः
Night is for the beings’ sleep and for the activity of their deeds; day belongs to the ancestors — the month is divided into the two lunar fortnights.
कर्म चेष्टास्वहः कृष्णः मुक्तः स्वप्नाय शर्वरी । दैवे रात्र्यहनी वर्षं प्रविभागस्तयोः पुनः
The dark fortnight (Krishna paksha) is for action and exertion, the bright fortnight (Shukla) for dreaming and liberation; in the divine reckoning a year too is divided into night and day again.
अहस्तत्रोदगयनं रात्रिः स्याद्दक्षिणायनम् । ब्राह्मस्य तु क्षपाहस्य यत्प्रमाणं महीपते
When the sun turns upward there is day; when downward, night — for the southward course it is night. As for the brahmana, measure his day by the ruler’s specification.
एकैकशो युगानां तु क्रमशस्तन्तिबोध मे । चत्वार्याहुः सहस्राणि वर्षाणां तत्कृतं युगम्
I will teach you, thread by thread, the sequence of each hundred yugas: they say that a yuga was made of four times one thousand years each.
तस्य तावच्छती सन्ध्या सन्ध्यांशश्च तथाविधः । त्रेता त्रीणि सहस्राणि वर्षाणि च विदुर्बुधाः
That yuga has a certain number of sandhyas and portions thereof as established; in Treta, sages know that there are three times one thousand years.