Bg. 8.17 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तमहर्यद्ब्रह्मणो विदु: । रात्रिं युगसहस्रान्तां तेऽहोरात्रविदो जना: ॥ १७ ॥

Verse text

sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ rātriṁ yuga-sahasrāntāṁ te ’ho-rātra-vido janāḥ

Synonyms

sahasra — one thousand ; yuga — millenniums ; paryantam — including ; ahaḥ — day ; yat — that which ; brahmaṇaḥ — of Brahmā ; viduḥ — they know ; rātrim — night ; yuga — millenniums ; sahasra-antām — similarly, ending after one thousand ; te — they ; ahaḥ-rātra — day and night ; vidaḥ — who understand ; janāḥ — people.

Translation

By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together form the duration of Brahmā’s one day. And such also is the duration of his night.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

17. The knowers of the day and night of Brahmā, knowing that a day lasts one thousand cycles, also know that a night of Brahmā lasts one thousand yuga cycles.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

17. Those who know that a day of Brahmā lasts one thousand cycles, and also know that a night of Brahmā lasts one thousand yuga cycles are knowers of the day and night of Brahma.

Purport

The duration of the material universe is limited. It is manifested in cycles of kalpas. A kalpa is a day of Brahmā, and one day of Brahmā consists of a thousand cycles of four yugas, or ages: Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali. The cycle of Satya is characterized by virtue, wisdom and religion, there being practically no ignorance and vice, and the yuga lasts 1,728,000 years. In the Tretā-yuga vice is introduced, and this yuga lasts 1,296,000 years. In the Dvāpara-yuga there is an even greater decline in virtue and religion, vice increasing, and this yuga lasts 864,000 years. And finally in Kali-yuga (the yuga we have now been experiencing over the past 5,000 years) there is an abundance of strife, ignorance, irreligion and vice, true virtue being practically nonexistent, and this yuga lasts 432,000 years. In Kali-yuga vice increases to such a point that at the termination of the yuga the Supreme Lord Himself appears as the Kalki avatāra, vanquishes the demons, saves His devotees, and commences another Satya-yuga. Then the process is set rolling again. These four yugas, rotating a thousand times, comprise one day of Brahmā, and the same number comprise one night. Brahmā lives one hundred of such “years” and then dies. These “hundred years” by earth calculations total to 311 trillion and 40 billion earth years. By these calculations the life of Brahmā seems fantastic and interminable, but from the viewpoint of eternity it is as brief as a lightning flash. In the Causal Ocean there are innumerable Brahmās rising and disappearing like bubbles in the Atlantic. Brahmā and his creation are all part of the material universe, and therefore they are in constant flux. In the material universe not even Brahmā is free from the process of birth, old age, disease and death. Brahmā, however, is directly engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord in the management of this universe – therefore he at once attains liberation. Elevated sannyāsīs are promoted to Brahmā’s particular planet, Brahmaloka, which is the highest planet in the material universe and which survives all the heavenly planets in the upper strata of the planetary system, but in due course Brahmā and all the inhabitants of Brahmaloka are subject to death, according to the law of material nature.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

It is said in Bhāgavatam: amṛtaṁ kṣemam abhayaṁ tri-mūrdhno ’dhāyi mūrdhasu Deathlessness, fearlessness and freedom from the anxieties of old age and disease exist in the kingdom of God, which is beyond the three higher planetary systems and beyond the material coverings. SB 2.6.19 “But some say that there is fearlessness on Brahmaloka as well, and thus, it is not possible for the sannyāsī to die there, if they desire to stay there.” No, if even Brahmā, the master of that planet, must die, what can we say of others? Those who are knowledgeable of scripture, who know that the day of Brahmā lasts a thousand yugas, also know that the night lasts a thousand yugas, because they are knowers of day and night. By such days, fortnights and months pass. A hundred of such years make the life of Brahmā. Then after that, Brahmā dies. However, a Brahmā who is a Vaiṣṇava attains liberation.

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

This verse presents the idea that all planets such as svarga and even Brahma-loka are destroyed because of the limitations of time. Those yogīs who (yad) know that Brahmā’s day ends after (paryantam) a thousand yugas by human calculation and also know that the night of Brahmā ends after one thousand cycles of four yugas are called knowers of the day and night. catur-yuga-sahasraṁ tu brahmaṇo dinam ucyate One day of Brahmā is one thousand cycles of four yugas. Viṣṇu Purāṇa These knowers of day and night are distinct for knowers of day and night based on the movements of the sun and moon. This verse “knowers” refers to persons situated on elevated planets such as Mahar-loka (who experience such days and nights). The meaning is this. One year of humans is a day and night of the devatās. By such days and nights, fortnights and months are calculated. Twelve thousand of those devatā years make a cycle of four yugas (360 human years x 12,000= 4,320,000 human years). One thousand of these cycles makes one day of Brahmā. The night is the same duration. By such days and nights, the fortnights, months and years are calculated for Brahmā. One hundred of those years is the lifespan of Brahmā. After that, with the destruction of that planet and its inhabitants, the cycle is repeated.