Verse 8.17
Speaker: Krishna
Sanskrit
सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तमहर्यद्ब्रह्मणो विदुः | रात्रिं युगसहस्रान्तां तेऽहोरात्रविदो जनाः ||१७||
Transliteration (IAST)
sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ | rātriṁ yuga-sahasrāntāṁ te 'ho-rātra-vido janāḥ ||17||
Word-by-Word Meanings
sahasra-yuga-a thousand ages
paryantam-extending to
ahaḥ-day
brahmaṇaḥ-of Brahma
rātrim-night
yuga-sahasra-antām-ending after a thousand ages
aho-rātra-vidaḥ-knowers of day and night
Translation
Those who know that the day of Brahma extends for a thousand yugas, and that his night also extends for a thousand yugas - they are the knowers of day and night.
Commentary
Krishna introduces cosmic time to illustrate the impermanence of even the highest created realms. One day of Brahma equals 4.32 billion human years. Shankaracharya uses this to demonstrate that all temporal existence, however vast, is finite compared to the eternal nature of the Supreme.
Themes
timejnana