Upaniṣads · Mahā 3.38
॥
Devanāgarī
तृणं पांसुं महेन्द्रं च सुवर्णं मेरुसर्षपम् आत्मंभरितया सर्वमात्मसात्कर्तुमुद्यतः कालोऽयं सर्वसंहारी तेनाक्रान्तं जगत्त्रयम्
Transliteración (IAST)
tṛṇaṃ pāṃsuṃ mahendraṃ ca suvarṇaṃ merusarṣapam ātmaṃbharitayā sarvamātmasātkartumudyataḥ kālo'yaṃ sarvasaṃhārī tenākrāntaṃ jagattrayam
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
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
Traducción
“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.”
Versión
671f17764753 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 6:29:20 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
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.