Upanishads · Bhāvanā p25
॥
Devanāgarī
पञ्चदशतिथिरूपेण कालस्य परिणामावलोकनस्थितिः पञ्चदशनित्याः
Transliteration (IAST)
pañcadaśatithirūpeṇa kālasya pariṇāmāvalokanasthitiḥ pañcadaśanityāḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पञ्चदश-तिथि-रूपेणpañcadaśa-tithi-rūpeṇain the form of the fifteen lunar days
कालस्य परिणाम-अवलोकन-स्थितिःkālasya pariṇāma-avalokana-sthitiḥstanding in contemplation of the transformation of time
पञ्चदश नित्याःpañcadaśa nityāḥare the fifteen Eternal [goddesses]
Translation
Standing in contemplation of the transformation of time, in the form of the fifteen lunar days — these are the fifteen Eternal [goddesses].
Version
173d03b63738 · published Aug 6, 2026, 6:48:41 PM UTC
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The equation is set thus: the fifteen nityā, "Eternal [goddesses]," are equated to the observation of how time passes. The fifteen Eternals are the goddesses of the lunar days, discussed when reading the Tripurā (10); and there too the sixteenth, non-waning one, was mentioned. What is remarkable here is not the equation itself but the word by which the occupation is named: pariṇāma-avalokana-sthiti, "standing in contemplation of transformation." That is, not a stopping of time and not an exit from it, but standing and watching how it passes.
This is, to my mind, the finest definition in the book of what can be attained in time at all. It cannot be stopped; one cannot leave it while alive either; but to watch its course without being swept away — this one can, and everyone has experienced it at times. The Vaiṣṇava side says the same in her own words, and the words are unexpected. Time, for her, is one of the Lord's names: the Gītā says "I am time" (10.30, and the famous 11.32); and the Bhāgavatam constantly calls Him kāla-rūpa, "having the form of time."
The consequence of this is unexpected and comforting. If time is His form, watching the course of time means watching Him; and a person from whom the passing of years has taken everything has been taken from not by an impersonal force, but by the One to whom one may turn.