Upanishads · Mahā 3.38
॥
Devanāgarī
तृणं पांसुं महेन्द्रं च सुवर्णं मेरुसर्षपम् आत्मंभरितया सर्वमात्मसात्कर्तुमुद्यतः कालोऽयं सर्वसंहारी तेनाक्रान्तं जगत्त्रयम्
Transliteration (IAST)
tṛṇaṃ pāṃsuṃ mahendraṃ ca suvarṇaṃ merusarṣapam ātmaṃbharitayā sarvamātmasātkartumudyataḥ kālo'yaṃ sarvasaṃhārī tenākrāntaṃ jagattrayam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तृणम् पांसुम् महेन्द्रम् चtṛṇam pāṃsum mahendram caa blade of grass, dust and great Indra; a straw, the dirt and Indra himself
सुवर्णम् मेरु-सर्षपम्suvarṇam meru-sarṣapamgold, Meru and a mustard seed; bullion, mount Meru and a grain of mustard
आत्मम्-भरितया सर्वम्ātmam-bharitayā sarvamall — to stuff its own belly; everything, for the sake of its own gut
आत्मसात्-कर्तुम् उद्यतःātmasāt-kartum udyataḥis ready to make its own; has made ready to seize as its property
कालः अयम् सर्व-संहारीkālaḥ ayam sarva-saṃhārīthis all-destroying time; this time, the ruiner of all
तेन आक्रान्तम् जगत्-त्रयम्tena ākrāntam jagat-trayamby it the three worlds are overrun; by it the triple world is overpowered
Translation
“A blade of grass and dust, great Indra, gold, mount Meru and a mustard seed — all of it this all-destroying time is ready to seize for itself, stuffing its belly; by it the three worlds are overrun.”
Version
671f17764753 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Time is depicted as a glutton, and the list of its food is compiled deliberately pell-mell.
A blade of grass and Indra. Gold and dust. Mount Meru and a mustard seed.
In this jumbling is the whole argument: for time there is no difference between the great and the negligible. We suppose the great to be more durable; time makes no distinctions.
The word ātmam-bharitā — “the stuffing of one's own belly” — is coarse and rare in the Upaniṣads. It paints time not as a law and not as doom, but as an insatiable maw.
The Bhagavad-gītā in its eleventh chapter gives the same picture more majestically: the worlds enter the mouths of Time as moths enter a flame.
What matters is that both there and here Time is not the final power. In the Gītā, Time is a form of the Supreme; with Nidāgha it is as yet simply a devourer. The difference is that to the first one can entrust oneself, and to the second one cannot.