Listen, O noble one, to the wondrous workings of the Lord and the mysterious passage of Time. The Lord, in His wisdom, brings beings together and separates them, weaving both pleasant and unpleasant events, expected and unexpected, into the fabric of existence. At any given moment, while one person suffers, another rejoices; such is the marvel of Time, whose nature eludes comprehension. Time transforms all: the young grow old, the strong become weak, and the prosperous may fall into destitution. O twice-born, observe how Time moves in ways that defy understanding. Neither noble birth, nor virtue, nor strength, nor skill alone can ensure accomplishment, for nothing can obstruct the flow of Time. Whether one is surrounded by music and generosity, or lives in poverty, dependent on others' food, Time acts equally among all. Even medicines and elixirs, though skillfully administered, fail to yield results if taken out of season; but when gathered at the proper time, they swiftly bring success and happiness. Nothing occurs before its appointed hour: no one dies or is born untimely; none attains full strength, nor happiness or sorrow, before their time. Everything unfolds precisely in its season. By Time, the winds blow cold; by Time, rain falls; by Time, heat subsides; and by Time, all things come to fruition. Time is the cause of all existence. Through Time, crops grow and perish, and the world of living beings is revived. Thus, one who truly understands the reality of the Self as Time, and transcends the self bound by Time, perceives that which is beyond Time. Homage is offered to Shiva, the Supreme Lord who is beyond all—who has neither time nor bondage nor liberation, who is not a man, nor nature, nor the universe, whose forms are wondrous and diverse. Now, let us consider how the span of life is measured and what is the ultimate limit of Time, which itself is counted and measured. The first unit of life is called a nimeṣa, the blink of an eye; the highest limit of measured Time reaches up to the state beyond tranquility. A nimeṣa is the closing of the eyelids; fifteen nimeṣas make one kāṣṭhā. Thirty kāṣṭhās comprise a kalā; thirty kalās make a muhūrta; and thirty muhūrtas constitute a day and night. A month, made of two fortnights, contains thirty such days and nights. The ancestral day and night is a month, composed of the dark and bright fortnights. Six months make a solstice; two solstices form a year, and thus is the human year remembered. This is the divine day and night as established by scripture: the southern solstice is night, the northern solstice is day. A divine month is thirty days and nights; a year of the gods is twelve such months. A divine year equals three hundred and sixty human years, as is known among people. By this divine measure, the reckoning of yugas proceeds. The sages declare that there are four yugas in the land of Bharata: first is the Kṛta Yuga, then Tretā, then Dvāpara, and finally Kali—these four yugas encompass the ages. The Kṛta Yuga is four thousand years long, with dawn and dusk of hundreds of years each, and a twilight of similar measure. The other three yugas, including their dawns and twilights, are each shorter by one quarter, with hundreds and thousands accordingly. Thus, the four yugas together total twelve thousand divine years, and a thousand such four-yuga cycles is called a kalpa. Seventy-one cycles of four yugas make a manvantara; in one kalpa, there are fourteen such cycles of Manus. By this sequence, hundreds and thousands of kalpas and manvantaras, along with their progeny, have passed away. Because they are unknowable and innumerable, it is not possible to describe them all in detail, nor to recount them in order. A kalpa is called a day of Brahmā, who is born from the unmanifest; a thousand kalpas make a year of Brahmā. Eight thousand years is a yuga of Brahmā; a thousand such yugas is a savana of Brahmā, the lotus-born. A thousand savanas, multiplied threefold and again threefold, is reckoned as the complete time of Brahmā, the supreme lord. During his day, fourteen Indras pass; in a month, four times twenty, together with hundreds; in a year, there are five thousand and forty; and in their lifespan, forty thousand and five hundred thousand. A day of Brahmā is a day of Viṣṇu; likewise, a day of Viṣṇu is a day of Rudra; and a day of Rudra is a day of Īśvara, the ever-named. The same number applies directly to Śiva, and also to Sadāśiva: forty thousand and five hundred thousand in lifespan. For Him who has no day, creation is called His day and dissolution His night; but truly, for Him there is neither day nor night—so it should be understood. This explanation is figurative, given for the benefit of the worlds: the beings, their lords, their forms, and the gods and asuras. The senses and their objects, the five great elements, the subtle elements, the source of the elements, and intellect, together with their presiding deities—all these remain during the day of the wise Supreme Lord. At the end of the day, they dissolve, and at the end of the night, the universe arises again.