Those who know the Divinely established order of Cosmic Time which affects all beings from humankind to Lord Brahma, understand that Lord Brahma’s day is comprised of a unit period of one thousand four Yuga cycles and a night is a unit of equal duration.

Catur Yuga —Tetrad of Ages

Kali Yuga —432,000 human years

Dvāpara Yuga —864,000

Treta Yuga —1,296,000

Kṛta Yuga —1,728,000

1 tetrad of Yugas = 1 Mahā Yuga = 4,320,000 human years.

71 Mahā Yugas = 1 Manvantara = 308,448,000 human years

14 Manvantaras = 1 Kalpa = 4,320,000,000 human years

2 Kalpas = one day and night of Brahma = 8,640,000,000 human years

360 Brahma days = 1 Brahma year = 3,110,400,000,000 human years

100 such years = 1 lifetime of Brahma = 311,040,000,000,000 human years

“मां प्राप्य न पुनरावृत्तिः इति स्थापयितुं अव्यक्ताख्यात्ममार्थ्यं दर्शयितुं प्रलयादि दर्शयति – सहस्रयुग इत्यादिना । सहस्र शब्देऽत्रानेकवाची । ब्रह्म परम् । सा विश्वरूपस्य रजनी इति हि श्रुतिः ।” – To establish the fact that after attaining the supreme Lord there is no return to the primordial world, his power as the unmanifest is shown through the instances of dissolution (of universe) etc. सहस्र means countless. Brahman is the Supreme One. “He is the night of the universal form”, thus speak the scriptures. Here He speaks of the dissolution at the end of the cycle. “Everything comes to be created by the un-manifest”.

“सहस्रम् इति वल्लभः | ब्रह्मणः परब्रह्मणः | अव्यक्ताद् व्यक्तयः सर्वाः प्रभवन्त्यहरागमे | रात्र्यागमे प्रलीयन्ते तत्रैवाव्यक्तसञ्ज्ञके || इति वाक्यशेषात् | न विरिञ्चाहन्त्येव सर्वव्यक्तिलयः || नित्यस्यापि हरेः कालो द्विपराधात्मकस्त्वयम् | अहं श्वासो निमेषश्वेत्प्रवरत्योपचर्यते || इति च ||” — सहस्र means immeasurable. ब्रह्मणः is supremely immeasurable, infinite. The unmanifest who has become manifest, only the nights and days being spoken in reference to unmanifest Brahman. The arrival of the night is when the universe gets dissolved by the four-faced Brahma. Sri Hari alone is the Eternal Time, He himself being both night and the day. The night and day is said to be like the closing and opening his eye-lids, as formal statement.

17 *“The day that reaches its termination after a thousand aeons (Yugas): that the persons who possess the knowledge of day and night know as the Day of the Brahmā, as also that as (his) Night which comes to an end after a thousand yugas.”* (156)

One thousand rounds of the four aeons (युगे—yugas) cycles, form the day of creator Brahmā, and one thousand similar rounds of that cycle make a night. Those fortunate ones that live in a sphere of such days and nights and yet do not come to the end of their time, remain as the immortal denizens of the heavenly abode and abide there as spectators of all time. What of other petty Gods then in this vast cycle of time? Just see the pitifully narrow span of life of their Chief—Indra; as many as fourteen Indras come to rule in a single day of this cosmic time. Yet those that see with their own eyes the eight periods of three hours each (अष्टप्रहर) viz. a full day and night of God Brahmadev, are named the knowers of (His) “day and night” (Ahorātra-Vida—अहोरात्रविद).

'Sahasrayugaparyantamaharyadbrahmaṇo viduḥ rātriṁ yugasahasrāntām te'horātravido janāḥ'—In this mortal world, the combination of the four ages—satya, tretā, dvāpara and kali is called, a fourfold age. A day of Brahmā, lasts such a thousand fourfold age and so does his night.* With this standard of time, Brahmā's age is of a hundred years. Then Brahmā, after his span of time, merges into God, his world merges into nature and nature merges, into God. All those, who are born, are subject to death. The greatest pleasures, which are born of sense-contacts, are verily sources of pain (Gītā 5/22), and have a beginning and an end, while only God is beyond time. Thus, knowing this fact, the great souls do not attach the least importance to the heavenly

* A day of the gods lasts men's six months and so does a night. Thus a year of the gods lasts three hundred and sixty years of men. Similarly the duration of the four ages—Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali is equal to a divine age of the gods. It means that a divine age of the gods is equal to—Satya age of seventeen lac and twenty-eight thousand years, Tretā age of twelve lac and ninety-six thousand years, Dvāpara age of eight lac and sixty-four thousand years and Kali age of four lac and thirty-two thousand years—total forty-three lac and twenty thousand years. It is also called 'Mahāyuga' or 'Caturyugi'. Brahmā's one day lasts a thousand divine ages of the gods (men's four thousand, three hundred and twenty million years) and so does his night. This day of Brahmā is called 'Kalpa' or 'Sarga' (Creation) and the night is called 'Pralaya' (Dissolution).

pleasures, of even the world of Brahmā.

Link:—In the next verse, there is description of creation and dissolution, of the universe as per the day and night of Brahmā.

सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तं सहस्राणि युगानि पर्यन्तः पर्यवसानं यस्य अह्नः तत् अहः सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तम्, ब्रह्मणः प्रजापतेः विराजः विदुः, रात्रिम् अपि युगसहस्रान्तां अहःपरिमाणामेव । के विदुरित्याह -- ते अहोरात्रविदः कालसङ्ख्याविदो जनाः इत्यर्थः । यतः एवं कालपरिच्छिन्नाः ते, अतः पुनरावर्तिनो लोकाः ॥ प्रजापतेः अहनि यत् भवति रात्रौ च, तत् उच्यते --

ब्रह्मलोकसहित समस्त लोक पुनरावर्ती किस कारणसे हैं ? कालसे परिच्छिन्न हैं इसलिये; कालसे परिच्छिन्न कैसे हैं ?—

ब्रह्मा—प्रजापति अर्थात् विराट्के एक दिनको, एक सहस्रयुगकी अवधिवाला अर्थात् जिसका एक सहस्रयुगमें अन्त हो, ऐसा समझते हैं ।

तथा ब्रह्माकी रात्रिको भी सहस्रयुगकी अवधिवाली अर्थात् दिनके बराबर ही समझते हैं ।

ऐसा कौन समझते हैं ? सो कहते हैं—

वे दिन और रातके तत्त्वको जाननेवाले, अर्थात् कालके परिमाणको जाननेवाले योगीजन ऐसा जानते हैं । इस प्रकार कालसे परिच्छिन्न होनेके कारण वे सभी लोक पुनरावृत्तिवाले हैं

जैं चौकडिया सहस्त्र जाये । तैं ठायेठावो विळुचि होये । आणि तैसेंचि सहस्त्र भरिये पाहें । रात्री जेथ ॥ १५६॥

येवढें अहोरात्र जेथिंचें । तेणें न लोटती जे भाग्याचे । देखती ते स्वर्गींचे । चिरंजीव ॥ १५७॥

येरां सुरगणांची नवाई । विशेष सांगावी तेथ काई । मुद्दल इंद्राचीचि दशा पाहीं । जे दिहाचे चौदा ॥ १५८॥

परि ब्रह्मयाचियाहि आठां पहारांतें । आपुलिया डोळां देखते । जे आहाति गा तयांतें । अहोरात्रविद म्हणिपे ॥ १५९॥

(8.156) जब युगों की हजार चौकड़ियाँ व्यतीत होती हैं, तब जहाँ वास्तव में एक दिन होता है तथा हजार चौकड़ियों की एक रात होती है,

(8.157) जहाँ इतने बड़े दिन-रात होते हैं, वहाँ उन (दिन-रातों) को वे ही भाग्यवान् देखते हैं जिनका क्षय नहीं होता;—वे स्वर्गस्थ चिरंजीव हैं। (8.158) वहाँ और देवताओं की प्रतिष्ठा का विशेष वर्णन क्या किया जाय? मुख्य इन्द्र की ही दशा देखो कि दिन में चौदह हो जाते हैं।

(8.159) ब्रह्मा के आठों पहरों को जो अपने नेत्रों से देख रहे हैं उन्हें अहोरात्रविद् कहते हैं।

संगति— अगले श्लोक में ब्रह्मा के दिन-रात्रि का परिमाण बताते हैं—

भावार्थ— जो लोग एक सहस्र युगपर्यन्त ब्रह्मा का दिन और [इतनी ही] रात्रि जानते हैं वे ही दिन-रात्रि को जानने वाले हैं।

‘सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तम् ...’ तेऽहोरात्रविदो जनाः—सत्य, त्रेता, द्वापर और कलि—मृत्युलोकके इन चार युगोंको एक चतुर्युगी कहते हैं। ऐसी एक हजार चतुर्युगी बीतनेपर ब्रह्माजीका एक दिन होता है और एक हजार चतुर्युगी बीतनेपर ब्रह्माजीकी एक रात होती है*। दिन-रातकी इसी गणनाके अनुसार सौ वर्षोंकी ब्रह्माजीकी आयु होती है। ब्रह्माजीकी आयुके सौ वर्ष बीतनेपर ब्रह्माजी परमात्मामें लीन हो जाते हैं और उनका ब्रह्मलोक भी प्रकृतिमें लीन हो जाता है तथा प्रकृति परमात्मामें लीन

हो जाती है।

कितनी ही बड़ी आयु क्यों न हो, वह भी कालकी अवधिवाली ही है। ऊँचे-से-ऊँचे कहे जानेवाले जो भोग हैं, वे भी संयोगजन्य होनेसे दुःखोंके ही कारण हैं—‘ये हि संस्पर्शजा भोगा दुःखयोनय एव ते’ (गीता ५। २२) और कालकी अवधिवाले हैं। केवल भगवान् ही कालातीत हैं। इस प्रकार कालके तत्त्वको जाननेवाले मनुष्य ब्रह्मलोकतकके दिव्य भोगोंको किंचिन्मात्र भी महत्त्व नहीं देते।

सम्बन्ध—ब्रह्माजीके दिन और रातको लेकर जो सर्ग और प्रलय होते हैं, उसका वर्णन अब आगेके दो श्लोकोंमें करते हैं।

अव्यक्तादव्यक्तयः सर्वाः प्रभवन्त्यहरागमे।