FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.26.15

एतावानेव सङ्ख्यातो ब्रह्मण: सगुणस्य ह । सन्निवेशो मया प्रोक्तो य: काल: पञ्चविंशक: ॥ १५ ॥
etāvān eva saṅkhyāto
[etaavaan eva sankhyaato]
brahmaṇaḥ sa-guṇasya ha
[brahmanah sa-gunasya ha]
sanniveśo mayā prokto
[sannivesho mayaa prokto]
yaḥ kālaḥ pañca-viṁśakaḥ
[yah kaalah pancha-vimshakah]
etāvān — so much eva — just saṅkhyātaḥ — enumerated brahmaṇaḥ — of Brahman sa-guṇasya — with material qualities ha — indeed sanniveśaḥ — arrangement mayā — by Me proktaḥ — spoken yaḥ — which kālaḥ — time pañca-viṁśakaḥ — the twenty-fifth.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
etāvān eva saṅkhyāto
etāvān
so much
eva
just
saṅkhyātaḥ
enumerated
brahmaṇaḥ sa-guṇasya ha
brahmaṇaḥ
of Brahman
sa-guṇasya
with material qualities
ha
indeed
sanniveśo mayā prokto
sanniveśaḥ
arrangement
mayā
by Me
proktaḥ
spoken
yaḥ kālaḥ pañca-viṁśakaḥ
yaḥ
which
kālaḥ
time
pañca-viṁśakaḥ
the twenty-fifth.
All these are considered the qualified Brahman. The mixing element, which is known as time, is counted as the twenty-fifth element.

According to the Vedic version there is no existence beyond Brahman. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma ( Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14.1). It is stated also in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa that whatever we see is parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ; everything is an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Absolute Truth, Brahman. When Brahman is mixed with the three qualities goodness, passion and ignorance, there results the material expansion, which is sometimes called saguṇa Brahman and which consists of these twenty-five elements. In the nirguṇa Brahman, where there is no material contamination, or in the spiritual world, the three modes — goodness, passion and ignorance — are not present. Where nirguṇa Brahman is found, simple unalloyed goodness prevails. Saguṇa Brahman is described by the Sāṅkhya system of philosophy as consisting of twenty-five elements, including the time factor (past, present and future).

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
What I have described as the situation of the Brahman as the material world, of which time is the twenty-fifth element, has thus been enumerated. Sa-guṇasya means “of the material world starting with mahat-tattva.” Time is described in two ways. It is the twenty-fifth element, a particular condition of prakṛti.
Knowledge here is not information — it is corrected vision. The verse implies that collecting more facts will not deliver the change; what is needed is a willingness to be seen and corrected.
Reflection Questions
  • What truth do you already 'know' that has not yet changed how you live?
  • Where could service do the teaching that more study cannot?
📝 My note

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