Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 8, Verse 17
सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तमहर्यद्ब्रह्मणो विदुः।
रात्रिं युगसहस्रान्तां तेऽहोरात्रविदो जनाः।।
रात्रिं युगसहस्रान्तां तेऽहोरात्रविदो जनाः।।
sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ
rātriṁ yuga-sahasrāntāṁ te ’ho-rātra-vido janāḥ
also searched as "sahasra yuga paryantam ahar yad brahmano viduh"
Translation
Those people who know what day and night are, know the day of Brahma which ends in a thousand yugas [The four yugas (in the human worlds), viz Satya, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali are made up of 4,320,000 years. This period multiplied by a thousand constitutes one day of Brahma. His night also extends over a similar period. See M.S. and V.S.A.], and His night which also ends in a thousand yugas.
Vāṇi's rendering
The Creator's day lasts a thousand ages, his night a thousand more. Who knows this knows what day and night are.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तम्sahasra-yuga-paryantam | having a thousand ages as its limit |
| अहःahar | day |
| यत्yad | which |
| ब्रह्मणःbrahmaṇo | of Brahmā, the Creator (brahmaṇaḥ, softened before the next word) |
| विदुःviduḥ | they know |
| रात्रिम्rātriṁ | night |
| युगसहस्रान्ताम्yuga-sahasrāntāṁ | ending with a thousand ages (yuga-sahasra + antām) |
| तेte | they |
| अहोरात्रविदः’ho-rātra-vido | knowers of day and night (ahaḥ-rātra-vidaḥ; the initial a is elided after te) |
| जनाःjanāḥ | people |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8 Verse 17 mean?
It measures one day of Brahmā, the Creator, as a thousand ages, and his night as a thousand more. Creation unfolds through that day and withdraws through that night. Krishna adds a sharp claim: only those who hold this measure understand what day and night are at all.
What does sahasra yuga paryantam ahar yad brahmano viduh mean?
The line says: they know that day of Brahmā which extends to a thousand yugas. Yuga is an age; a thousand of them make a single day for the Creator. The words are not asking you to calculate. They are asking you to feel how small the frame is that you usually call time.
How long is a day of Brahma in the Gita?
A thousand yugas — the traditional reckoning gives four ages totalling 4,320,000 human years, multiplied by a thousand. His night runs the same length. Through the day the worlds appear; through the night they rest unmanifest. Krishna states it plainly and moves on.
Why does Krishna talk about cosmic time here?
Because Arjuna is asking how to leave rightly, and grief always mistakes its own moment for the whole of time. Krishna does not soothe him. He widens the field until the urgent thing takes its proper size, and what remains urgent after that is worth attending to.
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Commentary
Krishna answers a question about time by making time enormous. A thousand ages of day, a thousand of night — not a figure to compute but a figure to break the habit of computing. Against it, your deadline is nothing; so is the empire that outlived its founder. And notice what the verse claims: those who know this scale are the ones who know what day and night actually are. Everyone else is calling a small rotation the whole of time. Arjuna wants to know when he will be free. Krishna shows him the clock he has been reading. Let the afternoon get its true size.