By Kesava Krsna Dasa
If Time were to stop right now, think of what might happen. There would be no more deaths, no more further karma to incur, or work off, and we would probably throw away our watches. What about people who are suffering invalid old age? It seems that they will remain that way for as long as time stops, which would be unfortunate. Most people might experience mental breakdowns in trying to adjust to a timeless existence. This does not sound like a Vaikuntha situation.
The above scenario is certainly reasonable for many scientific minds and creative thinkers. If there was no such thing a karma, perhaps so. And karma, even though not an eternal aspect of existence, requires eternal time in order to work. And time, being the energy of the Supreme Lord, would not just stop if it meant drastically disrupting the lives of people, for it has a forward motion. Some people however, can apply brakes to the wheel of time.
Scientists and physicists really love trying to tackle the ravages of time. Vivid imaginations wonder what might be if they can go back into the past, or go forward into the future. They eagerly wait to see if the Hadron colliderâs sub-atomic collisions can reveal such possibilities. Meanwhile, there is no dearth of theories and ideas on how time can be manipulated. Recent discoveries on Black Holes have fired them and the prize of detecting and developing time evading Wormholes is a part of this quest.
The famed Time Machine is now a serious inevitability, according to many. One scientist says that he wants to go back to the past to see his deceased father and possibly help him with present-day medicine. Others reason that if we can go into the future, we can bring back to the present any advances in medicine we lack now, and to warn of changing world political directions or imminent environmental disasters, to avert future human tragedies.
Such deeds and ambition will continue so long as science proceeds along the three dimensional path plus time â space-time, as they know it at present. Scientists and physicists are well aware that extra space/time dimensions may exist and are also not ignorant of religious origins of time. For some, the Biblical Genesis sudden appearance of the cosmos is not too far removed from the Big Bang theory, while the eternality of time as expressed in some eastern texts comply at least, with an enormous time expanse. They are also aware that time is experienced differently in relative situations, and so is not uniform as once thought.
There is a general acceptance among scientists and physicists that, although time can be manipulated and that it exerts its influence differently, it is moving in a forward motion named The Arrow Of Time. Even so, this is largely based upon how we as humans observe the flow of time. If we think of the trajectory of an arrow, we know it has to land somewhere after being released. This certainly denotes a beginning and an end. Whether time itself has an end is unknown to scientists and physicists, although some postulate that the numerous Black Holes pervading our cosmos signify an end to time, eventually.
The beginning and end significance of the Arrow Of Time differs with that of The Wheel Of Time often referred to by followers of the Vedic tradition. A circular motion denotes continuity and Bhagavad-gita affirms that time is eternal and a destroyer of all things material. If time is eternal and perpetually moving in a forward motion, can the descriptions of what might happen if time ever stops really ensue, as the opening paragraph ponders?
If Krishna says that He is Time and is the destroyer of all things, including our karma, then what type of power or technology can oppose this? Going back into the past means to undo karma and to undo history. Of course, there are always exceptions to the general rule. Certain spiritually powerful individuals might be able to make some alterations, but these usually occur in harmony with the forward motion of time.
The excitement about Black Holes among scientists and physicists lead them to offer different interpretations on astronomical findings. There is a general acceptance that Black Holes are dying stars or suns. As they die they implode, sucking in everything around them including time, light and gravity, finally shrinking into a singularity. In a few yearsâ time we shall probably see revisions to such present-day calculations.
If Black Holes are fascinating for some without the need for any Supreme conscious observer, a description of the Universal Form in the eleventh chapter of Bhagavad-gita As It Is offers surprising similarities – deathly links with Black Holes. Arjuna sees his enemy soldiers and âall peopleâ rushing into flaming, gaping mouths of this form, to their deaths. This is not to say that those gaping mouths are Black Holes, but the intriguing âwarpingâ of time is observed. At the same time those enemy soldiers were still alive on the battlefield waiting to begin the epic battle at Kuruksetra.
Arjuna had a glimpse into the future. That future yet to be is explained as, âThey (The Kurus and their allies) are already put to death by My arrangement, and you, O SavyasÄcÄ«, can be but an instrument in the fightâ (BG 11.33). Time had yet to manifest that reality although it is already a reality. What is this reality? It is the present. Arjuna saw a future event from the present.
Since scientists and physicists are convinced that our cosmos is still expanding, the same Universal Form is visvatah-mukham â all-pervading and all-expanding (BG 11.11). Furthermore, all of this expanse was contained within the ever-present form of Lord Krishna standing in front of Arjuna like a human being:
âAt that time Arjuna could see in the universal form of the Lord the unlimited expansions of the universe situated in one place although divided into many, many thousandsâ (BG 11.13)
Such a phenomena as an unlimited expanse being localised within a human-like form is fascinating, but not fascinating or believable enough for scientists and physicists who assume that an entire universe came from an infinitely dense nothingness or singularity. There seem to be some parallels with the Universal form and space-time observations, but one is theistic and the other is atheistic.
Another example to illustrate how events have already happened but is awaiting materialisation, can be seen with Srila Prabhupada and all those who participate in Lord Chaitanyaâs sankirtana mission.. One day, on a park bench, Srila Prabhupada described to an elderly man sitting next to him a vision of many temples and devotees â time had yet to manifest them.
This vision originated with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu more than five hundred years earlier with a proclamation that His holy names would spread to every town and village. Acaryas like Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur had glimpses of the same vision. Although living years apart, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur and Srila Prabhupada were attuned to the present â the proclamation of Lord Chaitanya.
For the rest of us, any new expansions of Lord Chaitanyaâs sankirtana mission involving births of new temples and devotees are already there, but we think in terms of the future. In reality the past and future are present. Someone with tri-kala-jna observes both past and future from the present. Because we are under the influence of the time factor of the Lord, we cannot help but think and plan for the future, and to learn from the past.
Studies have shown that students who focus more on the present than on things past or worrying about the future, tend to do better at learning. The past and the future are both causes of misery and fear. The present can also be miserable and fearful. When we speak of timeless Vedic wisdom and are striving to go Back to Godhead which is an ever-present existence, we are getting attuned to the present, which helps to increase happiness and contentment.
When we chant japa we are uttering the names of ever-presence. Depending on our taste for chanting or a lack of it, the influence of time will be less or more respectively. A pure devotee whose heart is in Vrndavana is living in the present, but he or she has to adapt to past and future in order to function and be understood.
By engaging in ever-present spiritual activities and being sincere, the devotees have the power to cause insurmountable time to manifest Lord Chaitanyaâs vision â this is literally doing the impossible. Doing the impossible and being able to manipulate time naturally, which the scientists and physicists are trying to do artificially, holds much more excitement and fascination. Being able to apply brakes to the wheel of time by stopping birth and death, is a reason why Srila Prabhupada would often say, âparam vijayate Sri Krishna sankirtanamâŠâ
Ys Kesava Krsna Dasa â GRS.
Kesava Krishna Prabhu,
This is an interesting mediation on Krishna in the form of Time.
You mention,”scientists and physicists who assume that an entire universe came from an infinitely dense nothingness or singularity”
It seems this also describes the theoretical state called,” absolute zero”( by physicists) where matter has no movement and is thus minutely compacted and undifferentiated. This always sounded to me like the pradhana- the material energy before the jivas are injected into it. Do you know if there is any scriptural reference or intelligent justification for my speculation?
Ys, Sita Rama das
Part One:
Sita Rama Prabhu,
Thank you. The idea of Pradhana being the origin of our universe sounds reasonable when trying to get as close to a super dense Absolute Zero or Singularity, as assumed by scientists and physicists. What they think is quite similar to this:
“In the unmanifest stage of material nature, called pradhana, there is no expression of words, no mind and no manifestation of the subtle elements beginning from the mahat, nor are there the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. There is no life air or intelligence, nor any senses or demigods. There is no definite arrangement of planetary systems, nor are there present the different stages of consciousness – sleep, wakefulness and deep sleep. There is no ether, water, earth, air, fire or sun. The situation is just like that of complete sleep, or of voidness. Indeed, it is indescribable. Authorities in spiritual science explain, however, that since pradhana is the original substance, it is the actual basis of material creation.” (SB 12.4.20-21)
Just as the computers of scientists and physicists cannot describe what existed before the supposed universal detonation, because it has no mathematical description, the above Pradhana is also âindescribableâ.
However, Pradhana is not the immediate cause of our universe. From Pradhana comes the Mahat-tattva, and this is where all universes come from:
âWhen the three modes of nature are agitated, the resultant transformation appears as the element false ego in three phases â goodness, passion and ignorance. Generated from the mahat-tattva, which is itself produced from the unmanifest pradhana, this false ego becomes the cause of all material illusion and dualityâ. (SB 11.22.33)
Ys Kesava Krsna Dasa.
Part Two:
Here is further evidence that our cosmos comes from the Mahat-tattva and not directly from Pradhana, although Pradhana supplies all the ingredients for it:
Thus, after manifesting variegatedness, the effulgent mahat-tattva, which contains all the universes within itself, which is the root of all cosmic manifestations and which is not destroyed at the time of annihilation, swallows the darkness that covered the effulgence at the time of dissolutionâ. (SB 3.26.20)
The appearance of our universe from a ready-made egg-shaped globe sounds a lot more orderly than an assumed detonation from nothing or something indescribable. This appears to be more difficult trying to correlate with the big-bang theory.
If we see how Space-time (Three dimensions plus time) is the full spectrum of scientific observation at present, this will not include us living entities as conscious observers, what to speak of a Supremely conscious observer. Since these observers are undetected by Space-time calculations and that the Supreme observer sets in motion universal creation with Lord Brahma who is also undetected because he is made of intelligence, we are still talking about what is for scientists and physicists, something indescribable.
Such a description as this might not go down well with scientists at all. But to possibly help them get some correlation between theirs and the Vedic version of origins of our cosmos, we can refer to the Pradhana, which by the way, is what some say is the destination for voidists and sunyavadis, i.e.; Buddhists. If this can foster an understanding and help to bridge wide disparities, then it will be useful.
I hope this is useful.
Ys Kesava Krsna Dasa.
Time is eternal. Creation and destruction only take place in the conditioned mind. No where else. Wordly scientists are blind gamblers only. They just want to lord it over the material nature and therefore get blinded by it. Immediately.