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Bhagavad-gītā 8.17

सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तमहर्यद्ब्रह्मणो विदु: । रात्रिं युगसहस्रान्तां तेऽहोरात्रविदो जना: ॥ १७ ॥
sahasra-yuga-paryantam
[sahasra-yuga-paryantam]
ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ
[ahar yad brahmano viduh]
rātriṁ yuga-sahasrāntāṁ
[raatrim yuga-sahasraantaam]
te ’ho-rātra-vido janāḥ
[te ’ho-raatra-vido janaah]
Word-for-word
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 .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
sahasra-yuga-paryantam
sahasra
one thousand
yuga
millenniums
paryantam
including
ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ
ahaḥ
day
yat
that which
brahmaṇaḥ
of Brahmā
viduḥ
they know
rātriṁ yuga-sahasrāntāṁ
rātrim
night
yuga
millenniums
sahasra - antām
similarly, ending after one thousand
te ’ho-rātra-vido janāḥ
te
they
ahaḥ - rātra
day and night
vidaḥ
who understand
janāḥ
people .
Important Words
  • sahasra - yuga - paryantam — including one thousand millenniums
    Sahasra (thousand) + yuga (age) + paryanta (extending to, lasting). A thousand mahā-yugas, each itself comprising four yugas. The compound is doing real arithmetic: roughly 4.32 billion solar years per day of Brahmā. The Gītā states cosmic time-scales with precision.
  • ahaḥ — day
    The Sanskrit word for daytime. Used here not metaphorically but technically — Brahmā's actual diurnal cycle. The same word is used for our human day; the analogy across scales is exact even where the magnitude is not.
  • brahmaṇaḥ — of Brahmā
    Genitive of Brahmā — the demigod, not Brahman the Absolute. Sanskrit distinguishes the two by the masculine ending (Brahmā, m.) and the neuter ending (Brahman, n.). Translators sometimes blur the distinction; the Gītā holds it.
  • viduḥ — they know
    Perfect tense of vid — to know. 'They have known, they do know'. The verb form implies established traditional knowledge — this is not Kṛṣṇa speculating but transmitting what the seers have always known.
  • rātrim — night
    Brahmā's night, equal in duration to his day. The cosmos has a sleeping phase as well as a waking one — a feature the verse will exploit in 8.18–19 by speaking of manifestation and dissolution as Brahmā waking and sleeping.
  • ahaḥ - rātra - vidaḥ — who understand day and night
    A compound naming those who know both phases of Brahmā's cycle. The phrasing implies a specific category of knowers — not all cosmologists, but those who have grasped the full diurnal structure. Kṛṣṇa is appealing to traditional astronomical knowledge here, not asking anyone to take His word alone.
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.
Classical Sanskrit analysis शास्त्रीय विश्लेषण
How Sanskrit scholars read this verse — split, rearranged, grammar-tagged. For the plain English distilled meaning, jump to Plain meaning below.
Auto-generated study layers — original analysis of the public-domain śloka. Review against a published edition for academic work.
Plain meaning (तात्पर्य · Tātparya)
Kṛṣṇa specifies the cosmic measure that proves even brahmaloka's impermanence: Brahmā's day is 1000 yugas; his night the same. Those who grasp these units 'know day and night.' The verse is technical — it lays the metric for the dissolution argument that follows.
Further notes (विवरण · Vivaraṇa)
A 'yuga' here means a mahā-yuga (kṛta+tretā+dvāpara+kali = 4,320,000 human years); 1000 mahā-yugas form a kalpa, Brahmā's daytime. The Purāṇic system makes Brahmā's lifespan 100 of his years (~311 trillion human years). Awesome as the figure is, the rhetorical point is the opposite: even that is finite. Cf. Manu 1.71-74, Viṣṇu-purāṇa 1.3.
Prose order (अन्वय · Anvaya)
ये जनाः ब्रह्मणः अहः सहस्र-युग-पर्यन्तम् [इति] विदुः, रात्रिम् [च] युग-सहस्र-अन्ताम् [विदुः], ते अहः-रात्र-विदः।
ye janāḥ brahmaṇaḥ ahaḥ sahasra-yuga-paryantam [iti] viduḥ, rātrim [ca] yuga-sahasra-antām [viduḥ], te ahaḥ-rātra-vidaḥ|
Those who know Brahmā's day to last a thousand ages, and his night to end with a thousand ages — they are the knowers of [his] day and night.
Word split (पदच्छेद · Padaccheda)
सहस्र-युग-पर्यन्तम् अहः यत् ब्रह्मणः विदुः । रात्रिम् युग-सहस्र-अन्ताम् ते अहः-रात्र-विदः जनाः ॥
sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahaḥ yat brahmaṇaḥ viduḥ | rātrim yuga-sahasra-antām te ahaḥ-rātra-vidaḥ janāḥ ||
Grammar (व्याकरण · Vyākaraṇa)
SanskritIASTGrammarMeaning
सहस्र-युग-पर्यन्तम् sahasra-yuga-paryantam सहस्र (num.) + युग (n.) + पर्यन्त (adj.) acc.sg. (accusative singular)n., bahuvrīhi cpd. (compound) 'whose limit is a thousand yugas' extending to a thousand yugas
अहः ahaḥ अहन् (n.) nom.sg. (nominative singular) day
यत् yat यद् rel. pron. (pronoun) acc.sg. (accusative singular)n. which
ब्रह्मणः brahmaṇaḥ ब्रह्मन् (m., Brahmā) gen.sg. (genitive singular) of Brahmā
विदुः viduḥ √विद् perf. (perfect) 3pl.par. (with present sense) they know
रात्रिम् rātrim रात्रि (f.) acc.sg. (accusative singular) night
युग-सहस्र-अन्ताम् yuga-sahasra-antām युग (n.) + सहस्र (num.) + अन्त (adj./m.) acc.sg. (accusative singular)f., bahuvrīhi cpd. (compound) ending with a thousand yugas
ते te तद् dem. (demonstrative) pron. (pronoun) nom.pl. (nominative plural)m. they
अहः-रात्र-विदः ahaḥ-rātra-vidaḥ अहन् + रात्र + विद् (agent-noun) nom.pl. (nominative plural)m., tatpuruṣa cpd. (compound) knowers of day and night
जनाः janāḥ जन (m.) nom.pl. (nominative plural) people
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.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
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.
Commentary

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.

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
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.
Commentary

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.

Study Notes — Gauranga Priya Dāsa
Gauranga Priya Dāsa Study
Bhakti-śāstrī Notes, ISKCON Chowpatty (2009)
Theme

COMMON THEME: In comparison to spiritual world, Material world is a place of repeated creation and

destruction

Material world is
Miserable and
Temporary
Because, here everyone must suffer –
Birth, Old age, disease, death (8.16)
Constant creation and annihilation (8.17 – 8.19) – ‘Bhutva Bhutva praliyate’

Focus of Learning

(a) Duration of material universe is limited

1 kalpa = 1 day of Brahma = 12 hours of Brahma = 1 night of Brahma
1 kalpa = 1,000 yuga cycles. Each cycle has the following four yugas in this order and duration:
Satya-yuga = 1,728,000 years
Treta-yuga = 1,296,000 years
Dvapara-yuga = 8,64,000 years
Kali-yuga = 4,32,000 years
One lifespan of Brahma = 100 years of Brahma = 311 trillion and 40 billion earth years
Analogy:
Brahma’s lifespan as compared to eternity is like lightning flash
Causal ocean has innumerable Brahmas like bubbles in Atlantic

(b) Brahmaloka if compared to material planets – not free from birth, disease, old-age and death

(c) Who goes to Brahmaloka – Elevated sannyasis

(d) Fate of Brahma – Because of service to the Lord, gets liberation

(e) Bhutva Bhutva praliyate – Repeated creation and destruction because of being captivated by

illusory energy – Explained as follows

Annihilation at Brahma’s night – all living entities remain compact in body of Vishnu.
Again manifest at arrival of day.
End of Brahma’s life all living entities remain unmanifest for millions of years, again to be manifest in another millennium

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF SECTION V

The only refuge from ocean of birth and death is Lord’s Supreme abode
This abode is only attainable by one who makes himself qualified to associate with the Lord
This qualification is Pure Devotional Service

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 8.19 & TEXTS 8.20:

Krishna compares material world with spiritual nature in Texts 8.17 – 8.22

Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
8.17 Viduh, they know; that ahah, day; brahmanah, of Brahma, of Prajapati, of Virat; yat, which; sahasra-yuga-paryantam, ends in a thousand yugas; and also the ratirm, night; yuga-sahasra-antam, which ends in a thousand yugas, having the same duration as the day. Who knows (these)? In reply the Lord says: Te, they; janah, poeple; ahoratra-vidah, who are the knowers of what day and night are, i.e. the people who know the measurement of time. Since the worlds are thus delimited by time, therefore they are subject to return. What happens during the day and the night of Prajapati is being stated:
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
8.17 These men who know the order of the day and night as established by My will in regard to all beings, beginning with man and ending with Brahma - they understand that what forms Brahma's day is a unit comprising in it a thousand periods of four Yugas (Catur-yugas) and anight is a unit of eal duration.
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
8.17 See Comment under 8.19
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
8.17 Those people who know the day of Brahma which is of a duration of a thousand Yugas (ages) and the night which is also of a thousand Yugas duration, they know day and night.
Commentary

8.17 सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तम् ending in a thousand Yugas (ages)? अहः day? यत् which? ब्रह्मणः of Brahma? विदुः know? रात्रिम् the night? युगसहस्रान्ताम् ending in a thousand Yugas (ages)? ते they? अहोरात्रविदः knowers of day and night? जनाः people.Commentary Day means evolution or projection or manifestation of the universe. Night means involution of the universe or Pralaya. The worlds are limited or conditioned in time. Therefore they return again. The world of Brahma (Brahmaloka or Sattyaloka) is also transient? although it lasts for a thousand ages. When the four great Yugas have gone round a thousan times? it make a daytime of Brahma and when an eal number of Yugas pass again it makes a night. Those who can see and live through the day and night of Brahma can really know what is a day and what is a night.The Suryasiddhanta speaks of the same division of time.According to it YearsKaliyuga (with its Sandhya andSandhyamsa) consists of 432?000Dvapara Yuga (do) 864?000Tretayuga (do) 1?296?000Kritayuga (do) 1?728?000Thus a Mahayuga consisting ofthese four Yugas comprises 4?320?00071 such Mahayugas with an additionalSandhya? at the close of 1?728?000years make one Manvantara of 308?448?00014 such Manvantaras with anotherSandhya? at the close of 1?728?000years constitute one Kalpa of 4?320?000?000Two Kalpas make a day and nightof Brahma of 8?640?000?000360 such days and nights make oneyear of Brahma consisting of 3?110?400?000?000100 such years constituteHis lifetime of 311?040?000?000?000The world is absorbed in the Avyakta or the Unmanifested or Mulaprakriti during the cosmic Pralaya (involution of the world). Just as the tree remains in a latent state in the seed? so also this whole universe remains in a latent state in a seedform in the Mulaprakriti during Pralaya. This is the night of Brahma. This is the cosmic night. Again the world is projected at the beginning of the Mahakalpa (evolution). There comes the cosmic dawn or cosmic day. This eternal rhythm of cosmic day and night (evolution and involution) is kept up in the macrocosm.Nothing that comes under this everrevolving wheel of cosmic day and night lasts for ever. That is the reason why the seers of the Upanishads? the sages of yore? lived in the transcendental Supreme being? the imperishable Self? the indestructible Purusha? the supreme goal of life? the highest end of man? which is beyond the cosmic day and night. Just as the seeds that are fried can hardly germinate? so also those who have attained to the imperishable Brahman? the Absolute? the Eternal? cannot return to this world of sorrow? pain and misery. They know neither day nor night. They are one with Existence Absolute.The manifested and the unmanifested dwell in Brahman. Brahman is beyond the manifested and the unmanifested. When the world and the body are destroyed Brahman is not destroyed. The waves come out and subside? but the ocean remains unaffected. So also the worlds come and subside? but Brahman the source of everything? the source of Mulaprakriti? ever remains unaffected. Just as ornaments come out of gold and then go back to gold when they are melted? so also all the worlds come out of Brahman and go back to Brahman. Gold is in no way affected by the various forms such as earning? bracelets? anklets? etc.? that have been made of it. Even so Brahman is not in the least affected by the projection and destruction (dissolution) of the worlds and the bodies of beings. It remains always as It is.

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
8.17 Those poeple who are knowers of 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 an eal period. See M.S. and V.S.A.], and His night which ends in a thousand yugas.
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
8.17 Those who understand the cosmic day and cosmic night know that one day of creation is a thousand cycles, and that the night is of equal length.
Related values & verses
Related values
Prema (Divine Love)Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Shraddha (Faith / Reverence)Svadhyaya (Self-study & Scripture Study)Guru Bhakti (Reverence for Teacher)Maitri (Friendship / Goodwill)
Related verses
BG 9.7 BG 9.8 BG 8.18 SB 3.11.19 SB 3.11.22 SB 12.4.2 CC Madhya 20.282 CC Madhya 21.7 CC Ādi 5.71 Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.3Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 2
Study Q&A referencing this verse
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
By human calculation, a thousand ages comprise a day of Brahmā — and another thousand his night.
Practical Applications
  • Hold the cosmic time-scale as humbling perspective.
  • Don't take your own life-span as the measure of all things.
  • Use this scale during periods of cosmic anxiety.
Reflection Questions
  • Where am I taking my brief span as the measure?
  • What does cosmic time-scale offer?
Analogy

Brahmā's day is like trying to count the grains of sand on a beach by emptying the ocean teaspoon by teaspoon. The mind that hears a thousand ages = one day staggers, and that staggering is the point. The verse is a deliberately humbling instrument — held against it, the lifetime that felt large goes back to its actual size.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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