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1038
GĪTĀ-RAHASYA OR KARMA-YOGA
$$ सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तमहर्यद् ब्रह्मणो विदुः ।
रात्रिं युगसहस्रान्तां तेऽहोरात्रविदो जनाः ॥१७॥ अव्यक्ताद्वयक्तयः सर्वाः प्रभवन्त्यहरागमे ।
राज्यागमे प्रलीयन्ते तत्रैवाव्यक्तसंज्ञके ॥१८॥ of the Brahman has ceased to exist; therefore, all these states are of a lower order; and as there is no re-birth after the Realisation of the Parameśvara, that state is the highest : such is the import of the 16th stanza ( See GI. 9. 20, 21). In support of the statement that even the sphere of the Brahman is non-permanent, the Blessed Lord now explains how the entire cosmos, including the sphere of the Brahman, is created and destroyed over and over again
(17) Those persons, who (essentially) understand what is meant by day and night', realise that the day of Brahmadeva is made up of a thousand (mahā-) Yugas (each mahāyuga being made up of the four Yuga periods called Kệta, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali respectively), and that one thousand (similar) Yugas make one night (of his).
[This stanza has appeared in the Gītā without there being a previous explanation of the calculation of a Yuga; and it has to be understood by reference to such a table, which is to be found elsewhere. This table, as also this stanza from the Gītā, are to be found in the Bharata (Šān. 231. 31), and in the Manu-Smrti (Manu. 1. 73); and the same description has been given in the Nirukta of Yāska (Nirukta, 14. 9). The day of Brahmadeva is also known as a 'kalpa'. The word 'avyakta', used in the next stanza, means the avyakta (that is, imperceptible) Prakrti of Sāmkhya philosophy, and not the Parabrahman; because, it is clearly stated later on in the 20th stanza, that the Imperceptible in the form of the Brahman, is something beyond the 'avyakta' described in this stanza. How the Perceptible (vyakta) universe springs from the Imperceptible, as also the method showing how the ‘kalpa' has to be computed, has been given at p. 264 in Chapter VIII of the Gita
Rahasya, to which the reader is referred.] (18) When this day (of Brahmadeva) starts, all perceptible
