VIII: 17

Chapter 8, Verse 17

"If you know that one single day
Or one single night of Brahmaa
Lasts more than a thousand eons,
Then you understand day and night."

Swami Shivananda:

"A single day of Brahmaa refers to the projection or evolution of the Universe.  A single night of Brahmaa refers to the cosmic dissolution or involution of the Universe.

During cosmic dissolution, the world gets absorbed into the unmanifest, or Mulaprakriti.  Just as a tree exists in a latent state in a seed, so also this whole universe remains in a latent state in seed form in Mulaprakriti.  This is the night of Brahmaa.  Then follows the cosmic dawn.  The eternal rhythm of cosmic day and night is maintained in the macrocosm.

Even when the body and the world undergo dissolution, the Self is not destroyed.  Waves rise and subside, but the ocean is unaffected.  So also, worlds appear and disappear, but the Self, the Source of everything, ever remains unaffected.

Just as ornaments made out of gold are converted into gold again when they are melted, so also the worlds coming out of the Self return to It."

Mahatma Gandhi:

"Our day and night of around a dozen hours each are less than an infinitesimal fraction of a moment in this vast cycle of time.  Pleasures pursued during these incalculably tiny mini-moments are as ephemeral as a mirage.  Rather than waste these mini-moments, let us devote them to serving God through service to our brothers and sisters."