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Mahabharata Santi Parva (Mokshadharma Parva) Chapter 224:4
The fortnights and months are his body. That body is invested with days and nights as its robes. The seasons are his senses. The year is his mouth. Some people, in consequence of their superior intelligence, say that all this (the entire universe) should be conceived as Brahma. The Vedas, however, teach, that the five sheaths that invest the Soul should be regarded as Brahma. Brahma is deep and inaccessible like a vast ocean of waters. It hath been said that it hath neither beginning nor end, and that it is both indestructible and destructible.[1]Though it is without attributes by itself, yet it enters all existent objects and as such assumes attributes.
Those persons that are conversant with truth regard Brahma as eternal. Through the action of Ignorance, Brahma causes the attributes of materiality to invest the Chit or Soul which is immaterial spirit (having knowledge only for its attribute). That materiality, however, is not the essential attribute of the Soul, for upon the appearance of a knowledge of the true cause of everything, that materiality ceases to invest the Soul.[2] Brahma in the form of Time is the refuge of all creatures. Where wouldst thou go transcending that Time? Time or Brahma, indeed, cannot be avoided by running nor by staying still. All the five senses are incapable of perceiving Brahma. Some have said that Brahma is Fire; some that he is Prajapati; some that he is the Seasons; some that he is the Month; some that he is the Fortnight; some that he is the Days; some that he is the Hours; some that he is the Morning; some that he is the Noon; some that he is the Evening; and some that he is the Moment.
Thus diverse people speak diversely of him who is single. Know that he is Eternity, under whose sway are all things. Many thousands of Indras have passed away, O Vasava, each of whom was possessed of great strength and prowess. Thou also, O lord of Sachi, shalt have to pass away after the same manner. Thee, too, O Sakra, that art possessed of swelling might and that art the chief of the deities, when thy hour comes, all-powerful Time will extinguish! Time sweeps away all things. For this reason, O Indra, do not brag. Time is incapable of being quieted by either thee or me or by those gone before us. This regal prosperity that thou hast attained and that thou thinkest to be beyond comparison, had formerly been possessed by me. It is unsubstantial and unreal. She does not dwell long in one place. Indeed, she had dwelt in thousands of Indras before thee, all of whom, again, were very much superior to thee. Unstable as she is, deserting me she hath now approached thee, O chief of the deities! Do not, O Sakra, indulge in such brag again. It behoveth thee to become tranquil. Knowing thee to be full of vanity, she will very soon desert thee.'
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