CONCEPT OF TIME IN INDIAN HERITAGE

INTRODUCTION :

The Dictionary of Philosophy defines time thus: “Time is the general medium in which all events take place in succession or appear to take place in succession.” This is a typically western approach to time. Time, in Indian Heritage, goes far beyond this. It is not a mere quantity, a numerical measurement of seconds, minutes, hours and years. It is considered as “an energy of the universe, a river to be navigated, a bosom to find rest”

There is a popular Hindu Mythological story in which sage Narada was asked by Lord Krishna to fetch a cup of water for him, while discussing the concepts of nescience and delusion. Narada while going to fetch water from the river, falls in love with a girl and marries her. So many things successively happen in his life. Finally at the last hour of his family life, he cries aloud at his misfortune. Then he hears the voice of Lord Krishna “why you have taken so long to fetch a cup of water?” Then Narada realizes that while he had relatively experienced a long duration of time, in actuality, it has passed off in a trice. The story recalls William Blake’s assertion that it is possible to experience “the world in a grain of sand and eternity in an hour”. Thus ancient Indian civilization came out with the brilliant idea of "Relative Time and Absolute Time". The story above demonstrates that the relative time is not the measure of activity; or two similar events can have two independent measures of time ! In a simple given experience there is no perception of time, just as there is no concept of distance when there is only one point.

The Idea of Time in Indian Knowledge Systems

In the Indian Heritage, Time is not a linear, single-directional movement, like an arrow speeding from past to future. It is “no more than a convenient delusion of our mechanical world, connecting a living vibrant time with the interior curling details of a fractal.” 1 When we enter into the curvature of eternal time, we experience a fullness of true inner rhythm of life.

The idea of Time itself was quite advanced in Indian Heritage. “This astronomy is surprisingly advanced - the concept in fact can be compared with those of Newtonian times and in some cases even later times ; much of the knowledge, however, was lost. “ 2
The concept of the Mega cycle is mentioned in the Hindu epics. For instance Lord Krishna tells Arjuna in Bhagavat Gita “All worlds from Brahma’s world (universe) are periodic, oh Arjuna !.
Those who know the day and night know that a day of Brahma is thousand yugas long and night is a thousand yugas long.
From the unmanifested, all the manifested things spring forth on the arrival of the day (Brahma) ; on the onset of night, all this sink into what is called the unmanifested.
Partha, this multitude of created things having existed over and over again and helplessly destroyed at the on set of night spring forth on the onset of the day” 3
Very interestingly Sankara in his commentary for the verse 16 says that the word Ahoratra refer to those “who can measure time” i.e. those who have gone beyond the axis of time (Kala : Sankhya vido jana :)
For instance, some of the advanced concepts like the sphericity of Earth and the cause of seasons are clearly mentioned in our ancient texts. The Aitareya Brahmana declares” The sun does never set or rise; when people think the sun is setting, it is not so; for after having arrived at the end of the day, it makes itself produce two opposite effects, making night to what is below and day to what is on the other side. Having reached the end of the night, it makes itself produce two opposite effects, making day to what is below and night to what is on the other side: The sun never sets”. 4
The concept of cyclical nature of time, time as curvature is given in this beautiful statement in the satapata brahmana (1.6.1.3) ”Even while the foremost were still ploughing and sowing, those behind them were already engaged in reaping and threshing.” 5

According to Dr.David Frawley, in the familiar Vedic chant, ‘Apam Pushpam’, the term apa: indicates waves, suggesting vibration. It often refers to space. Later Vedanta speaks about the “ocean of consciousness” in the Astha Vakra Gita. In the Aghamarshana Sukta of Rig Veda (X 190) it speaks of creation as coming from Rit to Satyam, to Tapas, to Ratri and then to the Ocean (Samudra). From the ocean, Time (Samvatsara) is born. Maitrayani Upanishad also mentions of the connection between (prana) life force and Time: prana being the inner sun that get measured by the movement of the outer sun.

The Hindu concept talks of Rhythm or universal order which is manifested as Time. Time Rhythm range from the fast ticking of the atom to the expansion of the entire cosmos - Time unfolding within the geological process of the Earth the change of the season, the life cycle of a fly etc.
“The metaphysical doctrine simply contrasts time as a continuum with the eternity that is not in time, and so cannot properly be called “everlasting”, but coincides with the real present” or “now” of which temporal experience is impossible” (Dr.Ananda K.Coomaraswamy in “Time and Eternity”)
Time itself or Kala is connected to Lord Siva in Indian Heritage. Siva is called Maha Kala – “the great Time”. His consort Kali personifies the energy of Time. According to the Seminal work in Vedic Astronomy, ‘Surya Siddhanta’ “Time is the destroyer of the world ; another Time has for its nature to bring to pass. This latter according as it is gross or minute, is called by two names, real (murta) and unreal (amurta) (verse 10)6 .
As mentioned here, Time is, in a metaphorical sense, the great destroyer of all things; as such, he is identified with Death and with Yama the ruler of the dead. Lord Krishna also declares that “I am Kala”. As seen above, Time, according to Surya Siddhanta, has both its imaginary and practical divisions ; the former is called Murta(embodied), the latter amurta ( virtual or Unembodied) We can see here the forerunner of the modern concept of virtual time. The epithet ‘kalanatmaka’ applied to the actual time in the verse, interprets it as an “object of knowledge.” The Surya Siddhanta delineates that ‘what begins with respirations (pra_na) is called real; that what begins with atoms (truti) is called unreal.
“The Surya Siddhanta with commendable moderation refrains from giving the imaginary sub-divisions of respiration which make up “unreal time”(Rev.Ebenezer Burgess), which are stated in Bhaskara’s Siddhanta Ciromani.

In AV.19.53 and 54, cited above, "Time" - absolutely - is the source of all relative times ; not itself a duration, but rather the Timeless, Eternity, to which all moveable time is ever present. It is in these terms that the Maitri Upanishad distinghishes the "two forms" (dve rupe) of Brahman, i.e. aspects of the two natures (dvaitibhava) of the single essence (tad ekam), as "time and the Timeless (kalas-cakalas-ca): "From one who worships, thinking "Time is Brahma" (katam brahmeti), time(kala, also death) reflows afar. As it has been said:

From Time flow forth all beings,
From Time advance to their full growth,
And in Time, again, win home, -
"Time" is the formed(murti) and formless, both.

There are, indeed, two forms of Brahma; time, and the Timeless. That which is prior to the sun is the Timeless(akala) and partless (akala) ; but that which begins with the sun is the time that has parts (sakala), and its form is that of the year .

Concepts of Time in various Indian Traditions:

Let us start from a metaphysical view of Time. From a metaphysical point of view, “for any conscious functioning in terms of time and space, “now” succeeds “now” without interruption. None of these “nows” has any duration and that as measures, all alike are zeros… It is a matter of relativity. It is we who move, while the ‘now’ is unmoved and only seems to move – much as the sun only seems to rise and set because the earth revolves” 7.

Different systems of philosophy and thought in Indian Heritage have their own concept of Time. A brief presentation is given in the succeeding paragraphs :
In Hinduism – Vedic Concepts:

From a basic point of view, all measures of time from micro divisions to cosmic years are united in the union of the triad of apparent time procession(pravrtti) recession(nivritti) and stasis (sthiti) Time (Kala) unites these three and by these the entire universe is united(samhita) that of the now.
Aitareya Aranyaka quotes Rig Veda 10.55.2 when it says “great is that hidden Name and far extending whereby thou made past and future (bhutam … bhavyam) 8
In the Vedas, Time is equated with the Consciousness Time (Kala) is the source of the divisions of time. It unites procession recession and stasis.
“Kalo gatinivrtti sthiti: samdadhati” (Sankhayana Aranyaka 7.20)

Atvarva Veda Samhita also echos the same idea “Sent forth by Time (Kala) what hath been and shall be stand apart… Time hath engendered what hath been and shall be’. In Katha Upanishad also Yama tells Naciketas “Time is the Lord of what hath been and shall be. He is both today and tomorrow”(KU 4.13)
As mentioned in the Atarva Veda referred to above, Absolute Time is the source of all relative times. It is not a duration but the Eternity on which all moveable times abide. The Absolute Time and Relative Time are clearly delineated in the Maitri Upanishad. It says that the single Brahman (Tadekam) has two facets – time and the timeless (Kalas ca Kalasca). The same idea is expressed in Aitareya Brahmana (3.49) “Day and night are death but they do not affect the divinity Aditya; for they are only the occasions of his rising and setting. But really he never sets”

References in the Upanishad to Kala as Brahman

Chandogya Upanishad (3.2.3) says that, that for a person who has realised the ultimate “It is evermore high noon”. For one who offers worship meditating on Time as Brahman (Kalam Brahmat), there is no death.

The transcendent and immanent Atma is called Kala who devours all that exists as his food (Maitri Upanishad 6.2) Lord of what has been and what shall be He alone is today and tomorrow (Kena Upanishad)(2.14)

The latest one among the major Upanishads, Svetasvatara Upanishad starts with the statement “Time, inherent nature, destiny, chance, the elements, or the individual soul, cannot be the source, because they exist for the Soul. The non-independent soul, bound by joy and sorrow cannot be the source.”

Kala: Swabhavo niyatir yadruccha
Bhutani yoni: purusha iti cintya
Samyoga esham tatvatmabhava
Datapyanisa: sukha du: khe heto ||
Sankaracarya, in his commentary on this verse, says that “time is that which is the cause of transformation of all entities. Time by itself, or in combination with space and causation, cannot be the original source, because they are not independent entities.” 9. Svetasvatara Upanishad describes Atma as one who is partless, the constant among the inconstant, the one of the many, all-creator, omniscient, immortal, omnipresent - He is the creator of time (Kala Karah) (Svet up 6.13-29) At the command of that imperishable atma, the moment hours… and years exist apart. (Brahadaranayakam 3.8.9)
The Yoga Sutra Bhashya 3.52 describes a “moment” (Ksana) as the ultimate minimum of time that cannot be further divided up and the continuous flow of such moments is their course. The whole world passes through a mutation in one moment so all the external qualities of the world are relative to this present moment.

Concepts of Time in other schools of Hindu Thought:

For the Nyaya vaiseshika School, time is a separate entity. Only because time exists as a separate entity, our ideas of succession, simultaneity, quickness tardiness etc. are perceived. As per Nyayakundali “Our perception of things can only occur directly and immediately with reference to objective things alone, and not time, as time is not perceivable. Changes in objects make us infer the existence of time behind such changes, from our motions of old and new of past and present. “Though time is one, due to its association with diverse kind of things it appears as many.” 10 This is very similar to the western idea, especially Kantian philosophy.

Naiyayikas like Jayanta Bhatta say that time is experienced through visual organs as a “fact of experience”. While we see an object, we see that as existing “now” i.e. in addition to the perception of object a parameter of time also enters into it.

According to Prasastapada 11, “Time is the cause of the contrary notions of priority, simultaneity, succession, late, soon, etc. It is the cause or basis of the production, persistence and destruction or cessation of all produced things as all these are spoken of in terms of time. It is also the basis of such conventional usages as ksana… all measures of time, from a fraction of a second to millennia”. Qualities of time according Prasastapada are number, dimension, separateness, conjunction and disfunction.

According to the Sankhya System, infinite time is a non entity. Time is only a creation of the understanding (buddhi nirmana) Time can be divided and subdivided till it can not be divided any further. Its smallest unit is considered to be that which is taken by an atom to move in its own dimension of space. Any change in a substance is ultimately reflected in the atoms (Paramanu) of that substance. The transit of paramanu from one point in space to the next succeeding parent is the absolute unit of time Sankhya also asserts that only the “Now” exits by which universe evolves in that one single moment.

According to Yoga School, Time is the one by which the growth and decay of things are noticed. The movement of the sun activates different kinds of activities during the day and during the night.

According to Ramanuja’s commentary on Brahma Sutras (2.2.31) Time is a particular substance which is the cause of the current distinction of past, present and future.

Concept of Time in Buddhism:

Buddhist texts, both in Thera vada and Mahayana traditions, have dealt with the concept of Time. Buddhist doctrine talks about instant movement “(khana or “kshana” meaning glance)”. Time as period is to be distinguished from Time, the principle. Buddhist doctrine is emphatic about the unreality of being (satta) and the soul (atta) The brevity of life, as graphically explained in the Buddhist texts life, is like a dew drop on the tip of a blade of grass when the sun rises. Such is the lifetime of men (Visuddhi Maaga 231). Further, in the last analysis, “the movement of life (jivita khano) of being is just as over-brief (atiparithi) as the turning of a single thought, like the turning of a chariot wheel which turns by means of just one place on its rim, so is the life of beings, that of a single moment of thought and when that this ends, the being is said to have ended. In the past thought moment, one lived …….. in the future thought moment one will live ……. In the present one is alive.”(Visuddhi Magga)
Buddha perceives the world as in momentary dissolution “In the present lives the world and with the breakup of a thought it dies (paccupannena jivati cittabhanga mat_ loke)” From the unseen come forth born beings and broken-up pass into the unseen, Like a flash of lighting in the akasa, they arrive and pass away12.
This is very similar to the idea expressed in the Upanishads: This world measured by a thought, the conflux ….. just a thought (idam cittamatram uttam eva samsaram) 13
The commentary on Abhidhamma clearly explains the concept of time in Buddhist philosophy. According to philosophers like Buddha Ghosha, it is a mere concept which does not exist in an absolute sense What space is to matter time is to mind. Time is past (atta) present (paccupanna) and future(anagata)

The Abhidhamma Text 14 defines the past “as that which has gone beyond its own state or the moment of genesis, development and cessation (attano sabhavam uppadadikkhanam va atta atikkanta atita).

Present is that which on account of this and that reason enters, goes, exists above the moments of genesis etc (tam tam karanam paticca uppadadikhanam uddham punna, gata, pavatta)

Future is that which has not yet reached both states (tadubhayam pi na agata sampatha)

According to Abhidhamma, each consciousness consists of three phases – uppada(genesis), thiti(developments) and bhanga(dissolution). Each thought- moment is followed by another. Time is thus the sine-qua-non of the succession of mental states. The fundamental unit of time is the duration of thought- moments. The rapidity of these fleeting thought-moments is such that within the brief duration of a flash of lighting, there may be billions of thought moments.

“Past is gone. Future has not come. We live only for one thought moment and that slips into the irrevocable past. In one sense there is only the eternal Now. In another sense the so called present is the transitional stage from the future to the past” (From Naradas’ commentary on the chapter Alambana Sangaho of the Abhidhamma Text)

Buddha Ghosha explains that as Nibbana is eternal, it does not belong to the past, present or future. It is timeless. Similar reply was given by Sri Ramana Maharishi to the question “How long did your awakening through death-experience take?” He said “it could be a fraction of a minute; it is beyond time.”

The awakened one, the Buddha is timeless: akaliko(Anguttara Nikaya 4.359)15 and he transcends the aeons (mega cycles of time - Kappatito Vipamutto (Sutta Nipata 3)-373) They call him the “Awakened One” who discerns the aeons, the flux of things in which they fall and rise one for whom birth is at an end. For him there is no past or future” (ibid 1.141)

According to Visuddhi Magga, a Buddha envisages past or future aeons directly “it is as if they formed a circle, (beginningless and endless cycle) of which he is the center, no further from one than any other point in the circumference” 16

Contrasting to the aeons of practice or the length of the spiritual path, the ‘awakening’ is instantaneous: the aeonic time thus becomes the instantaneous “now”, like the sudden release of arrow. Vasubandhu in Abhisamayalankara says that abhisambodhi, the great awakening, is single-instantaneous (eka-kshana) or timeless. This is also confirmed by the experience of Sri Ramana Maharishi.

Perception of Time:

While there appears to be some agreement among Nyaya-Vaiseshika and to certain extent the Jain schools about the existence of Time, Jainese schools talk of Vartana (continuity of perception) and atomistic existence of moments ; the Buddhists and the Sankhya School deny the objective existence of time. The Vedantins also hold similar but modified views. The perception of time among the various schools is an interesting area of study.

Generally the “Indian philosophers are of the opinion that time is a co-efficient of all consciousness including external perception and internal perception. But they do not recognize the perception as an independent entity. According to them, there is no sense for empty time as an independent entity; succession and duration are the two important constituents of time.” 17 Perception of succession is derived from the perception of changes and the perception of duration is derived from the perception of ”specious present” The perception of specious present is considered as the nucleus of all our time – consciousness. The consciousness of consciousness past and future are brought to the consciousness respectively by memory and expectation.

Kant has a similar doctrine. He considers time as a purely subjective form of our perception. “Conditioned as we are by the properties of our perceiving apparatus, we create time as a convenience for perception of the outside world.” Kant says. “In other words, we perceive reality as though through a narrow slit. What we see through this slit, we call it present. What we saw but see no longer, we call the past and what we do not see at all but expect to see we call the future”

According to Vedantins, time is a co-efficient of all perception. Can a time be an object of visual perception ? Does it have magnitude (mahattva) or sensible colour (udbhutarupavattva) ? As mentioned earlier, Jayanta Bhatta says that time is perceived through the visual organ as a “fact of experience” 18. An unambiguous experience of the existence of an object existing “now”, like “the jar exists now” (idanim ghatam vartate) demonstrates that in addition to the object, an element of time viz. the present time also enters into the perception of the object. “ The present time is perceived as a qualification of every object of perception. Whenever an object, event, or action is perceived, it is not perceived as timeless but as existing or occurring in time, or qualified by the present time (Jadunath Sinha: P111). The perception is not limited to visual perception “. It is perceived by all the sense organs, external or internal as a qualification of their objects. 19
One important point to be considered here is that time is a function of “succession”. It is not possible to cognise it apart from changes that occurs in it, which is indicated by temporal flags like “before”, “after”, “earlier”, “later”, etc. As Jayanta says 18 Time is identical with action or change. Time and action are synonymous. Hence there is no perception of time at all, but only that of actions” (karyamatravalambana).

The fact, however, is that time is a constituent factor, into the perception of action, as a qualifying adjunct (Viseshana) of events or actions. Actions are never perceived without being qualified by time. Time is qualifying adjunct for all actions and objects. Similarly there is no perception of empty time bereft of object or actions. As William James says “We have no sense for empty time. We can no more intuit a duration than we can intuit an extension devoid of all sensible content”. 20

What is the “Present” or “Now”:

In the remarkable words of William James “Let anyone try to attend to the present moment of time. One of the most baffling experience occurs. Where is it, this present ? It has melted in our grasp, fled ere we could touch it, gone in the moment of becoming…. It is only as entering into the living and moving organization of a much wider tract of time that the strict present is apprehended at all. It is in fact an altogether ideal abstraction, not only never realized in sense, but probably never even conceived of by those unaccustomed to philosophic meditation. Reflection leads us to the conclusion that it must exist, but that it does exist can never be a fact of our immediate experience. The only fact of our immediate experience is what Mr.Clay has well called the “specious present” 20

Mr.Ouspensky defines present as “the moment of transition from the future into the past-the moment of a transition of a phenomenon from one non-existence to the another . Only during this brief moment does a phenomenon really exists; before it exists as a potentiality and after as a memory….. We must admit that the past, the present and the future do not differ from one another in any way that the only thing that exists is the present……. the “Eternal Now” of Indian philosophy. But we do not see it because at every given moment, we are only aware of a small fragment of this presence” 21.

However there are also arguments, which are adduced to prove that there is no ‘present’ : A fruit falling from a tree, has only a ‘traversed space’ and ‘space to be traversed’ before it completes its action. There is no third space. Corresponding to these two actions are the two time, patita Kala (the past) and patitavya Kala(the future). There is no present. This is very similar to the statement in Zeno’s paradox that “An arrow in movement is always at rest”. The present is only an imaginary point like the highest limiting point in the curvature of the trajectory of a stone thrown up, where the “going up” curve and “going down” curve meet. Actually there is no break; it is a continuous curve. Similarly in the present, past and future meet. It is not a stopping point. The stone does not hang in the air at the top point.

In contrast to this, Vatsyayana, in Nyaya bhashya clearly explains that the present exists. An action is perceived as occurring in time. Time consciousness is found only in the perception of action. In the case of a fallen fruit (patita Kala) action as already ceased; in the case of fruit going to fall, action has not yet begun (patitasva Kala) when action is going on, it is perceived as “present”. “The consciousness of the present is the nucleus of the consciousness of the past and the present; the past and ‘the future are built on the present. Time is perceived only through an action. The actual happening of an action to perceived as present; and unless an action is perceived as happening or present, it can never be perceived as past or future” 17. The action is lies only in the present.

However as mentioned earlier, the Buddhists do not subscribe to duration as a factor of Time. They recognize only “succession” as the constituent of Time. Perception of succession is considered identical to the perception of changes.

In this sense, the Buddhist view is similar to that of Berkley and Hume, there is no abstract time. Unlike the Naiyayikas who hold Time as a substantial reality, Buddhist Time is a cluster of successive presentations. They deny the concept of continuous impression (dhara vahika jnana). For them, Time is a continuous flux of successive happening, a series of successive discrete moments. The apparent continuity is only illusory like the rapid succession of individual frames giving an apparent continuity through a cinema projector. There is only a linear succession; there is no simultaneity. The present has no time duration. It is only an instant or ‘time point ‘. The present is momentary as it is a function of our impression which are momentary. This is in contrast to Vedantic and Naiyayika concept that sensible time is a tract of time extending over moments – “a specious present” with a certain duration (vartamanaksanadirga:)18

According to some philosophers like Vatsyayana, sometime the present is momentary like while perceiving that a substance exists. Sometimes, the present has continuity with the past and future, like perceiving the continuity of an action like cooking etc.

Finally according to Vedanta a mental impression or psychosis continues in the field of consciousness as long as it is not interrupted or until the mind assumes the form of different objects.

Thus “Time is a continuum”

Divisions of Time in Indian Heritage

So far, we have seen that the Indian thinkers have perceived Time as an abstract entity; Some of the perceptions pointing out to the possibility of Quantum approach. However, this would rather be in the intellectual space of the elite. Practical needs demanded divisions of time in day-to-day life. Indian books on astronomy give a very detailed division of the Time upto the lowest sub division level of respiration, (prana), a time lapse of four seconds.
As commented by Rev.Ebenezer Burgess “these minute sub-divisions …. form a natural counterpart to the immense periods which we shall soon have to consider and are with the later, curiously illustrative of a fundamental trait of Hindu Character, a fantastic imaginativeness……. Thus, having no instrument by which they could measure even second with any tolerable precision they vied with one another in dividing the second down to the farthest conceivable limit of minuteness; thus seeking infinity in the other direction also. They devised and put forth as actual a frame work of Chronology reaching for millions and millions of years back into the past and forward into the future.” 22

[Interestingly, Markandeya Purana (54.12) mentions about the Earth being flat at the poles and bulging at the Equator, which is a tribute to the excellence of the ancient Indian astronomical knowledge] 23

The concept of the universe being cyclically created and destroyed, that is Time as an Eternal cycle, is mentioned in Markandeya Purana (81,57-58) as also in the Mahabharata Santi Parva.
We have seen earlier that the ancient Hindus viewed Time as an Infinity in the Virtual sense and as subject to micro divisions in practical life. The word ‘Kala’ is derived from Kal “to Goad”, as mentioned in Skanda Puranam mentions the 1.1.37-71 (Adan Kala Kalanacca)
Madhavacarya in his “Ganita Sara Sangraha” takes the unit of time measurement as that in which an atom goes beyond another atom and also talks about the pyramid of time like samaya, avali, ucchvasa, lava, ghati, muhurta, etc.

For the Yoga Sutra Bhasya 3.52, a moment (ksana) is the "ultimate minimum of time, and cannot be further divided up ... and the continuous flow of such moments is their "course" (krama) ... Their uninterrupted course is what is called "time" ... The whole world passes through a mutation in any one moment; so all the external qualities of the world are relative to this present moment". The control of the moments and their sequence leads to a discriminative gnosis, of which the final development, "the Deliverer" (taraka) "has all things for its object, and all times, without-regard-to-their-course (akrama) as its object". It will be seen that this is the same procedure that is described in the Buddhist Kalacakratantra.

It is interesting to note that the lowest sub divisions prana (respiration) is the same part of the day as the minute is of the circle, so that a respiration of time is equivalent to a minute of apparent revolution of the heavenly bodies above the earth. The astronomical division of sidereal time are
6 prana = One Vinadi(Pala)
60 Vinadis = One Nadi(24”)
60 Nadis = One day
The Puranic division of the day is somewhat different. According to this, Kala(Time) is born out of Sun. The counting starts from nimesha - twinkling of an eye (Suryayonir nimesha dia:)24. Number is the eye of Kala (Sankyacakshu: sa ucyate) and It is more visible forms are day and night. The duration of Kala is divided into five with corresponding deities:
Vatsara : Rudra
Samvatsara : Agni
Idvatsara : Soma
Anu Vatsara : Vayu
Parivatsara : Sun
Prajapati is said to comprise of all aspects of Kala past, present and future.
Sampratanagatatitakatatma prajapati:
Another set of Time – Division is given in the Siva Purana (V25.38-39) as Kshana, nimesha, muhurta, day, night, paksha, month, ritu, Year, abda, yuga, kalpa and Maha Yuga.
While the Surya Siddhantha refrains from giving sub division to the prana, as it deals only with virtual Time. Bhaskara in his Siddhanta Siromani ( 1 19, 20) states these divisions.
100 atoms(truti) = 1 speck (tatpara)
30 specks = 1 twinkling (nimesha)
18 twinkling = 1 bit(Kashtha)
30 bits = 1 minute(Kala)
30 minutes = 1 half-hour(ghatika)
2 half hour = 1 hour(Kshana)]
30 hour = 1 day.
Truti is referred to as a quarter of the time of falling of an eye lid.
Indian Mythologies and epics posit the large cosmic cycle of 4,320,000 years and even a mega cosmic cycle of 4,320,000,000 years. This cosmic cycle is first mentioned in Satapatha Brahmana whose approximate date is around 2500 BC.25
How this cosmic year is considered ? A lunar month constitute a full day and night for the forefathers(Pitrs) One tropical year is one sidereal day for the gods.
360 divine days = One divine year
12000 divine years = One Maha yuga
(12000x360)years
This Maha yuga of 4,320,000 is divided into four sub-yugas in the ratio 4:3:2:1. “Each age consists of a main period and two twilight periods. Each twilight period is one tenth of the duration of the main period………. An especially interesting point in the system is the inclusion of the two twilight periods, one before and one after, with each equal to one tenth of the main period. This, very strongly resembles the morning and evening twilight … Each real twilight lasts as long as the time during which the Sun is less than 18 degrees below the horizon and 18 degrees is one tenth of 180 degrees, or roughly the path of the sun above the horizon. In fact, the entire sequence leading to the definition of the divine day, that is the North Pole, and the divine year of 360 divine days is reached through astronomical analogy” (B.G.Siddarth “Brahmas’ Day : The great cosmic cycle and the age of the Rig Veda “)
It is interesting to note that our full day of 24 hours also consists of 86,400 seconds i.e. the day and night each consists of 43,200 seconds.
Are these great cosmic ages the results of flight of fancy ? The great French Mathematician, Laplace, did not think so. He wrote “Nevertheless the ancient reputation of the Indians does not permit us to doubt that they have always cultivated astronomy and the remarkable exactness of the mean motions which they assign to the Sun and the Moon reaching beyond very ancient observations. 26
As explained in “The celestial key to the Vedas” by Dr. B.G.Siddharth the numbers indicate the advanced astronomical knowledge of the ancient Hindus. An eclipse pattern repeats itself after roughly 18 years known as “Chaldean Saros”. It was also known that the precessional cycle takes 25800 years. The great age of Divine year (4,32,000 years) is almost exactly divisible by the eclipse cycle of 6585.32 days (The saros): as also the figure of 432000 is also divisible by the precessional cycle of 25867 years corresponding to a precession of 50.1 arc seconds per year which corresponds to the latest scientific figures.
After every 4,320,000 years i.e. at the end of great Age as specifically mentioned in the Vana Parva of Mahabharata 27, a total solar eclipse occurs in the same lunar asterisis when the Sun is at a fixed point in the ecliptic, say, the vernal equinox. Dr.B.G.Siddharth points out that the number 4320,000 has great astronomical significance. It is also interesting to see that 86,400,000 = 11x22x33x44x55.
Beyond the Maha yuga of a greater dimension is the Kalpa Which is equal to 432x107 years. This is called Brahma’s day. A hundred years of Brahmas constitute a Maha kalpa.

It is very interesting to note that the great cycle of Time in the Hindu heritage, corresponds to the modern theory of Oscillating Universe which begins with a big bang, expands further and further, at the end collapsing back to a tiny speck, which could take about 10000 million years.

One of the most enduring riddles in the history of Indian Science is: Could ancient Indians have somehow figured out the velocity of light? As we know, it was measured for the first time (though very approximately) by the Danish astronomer Ole Roemer in 1675, and more precisely in the nineteenth century. But there is an intriguing comment by Sayana on a hymn of the Rig-Veda addressed to Surya. Sayana records a tradition associated with Surya: "Thus it is remembered: [O Surya] you who traverse 2,202 yojana in half a nimesa." In Sayana's time, the yojana was about 14.5 km (as given in the Arthashastra), and a nimesa 16/75th of a second. This takes us to 299,792 km/s, which is a mere 0.15% away from the accepted velocity of light (299,792 km/s)

(As far as the dimensions of the universe are concerned, Aryabhata provides us with a astonishing coincidence. According to him, the precise figure for the "orbit of the sky" is 12,474,720,576,000 yojanas. This works out to a diameter of roughly 5x1013 km, or over 4,000 times the size of our solar system - not by any means a small place. This "orbit of the sky" is actually not the whole universe, but the space illuminated by the Sun. Now, astronomers tell us that the Sun has a magnitude of 4.7 at a distance of 10 parsecs, or about 30x1013 km; this is approximately the smallest magnitude perceivable to the human eye. Amazingly, Aryabhata's value is one-sixth of this distance, and therefore (in astronomical terms) very much of the same order !

Aryabhatta's commentator, Bhaskara I, adds,

"For us, the sky extends to as far as it is illuminated by the rays of the Sun. Beyond that, the sky is immeasurable... The sky is beyond limit; it is impossible to state its measure."

CONCLUSION :-

P.D.Ouspensky states “The Mystery of time permeates everything. It is felt in every stone which may have witnessed the glacial periods and the ichthyosaurus and the mammoth. It is felt in the tomorrow which we do not see but which perhaps sees us and which may prove to be our last day or on the contrary, a day of achievement of which we know nothing today” 28 .

Philosophers of Indian Heritage had a tremendous insight into the concept of abstract Time. The Occident developed the theories of measurable time. While the idea of physical time – even the energy view of modern physics lead to a dead end with the idea of time, thinkers like C.B.Hinton viewed time as the “other limit or boundary of one form of perception and the beginning of the another”.29

When the Indian and Western concepts coalesce, unexplored vistas can be revealed to our thought.
Western civilization with its emphasis on achieving its material objectives “here and now” and significant advancement in economic growth and Indian Civilisation with its emphasis on Absolute Time as a concept and vast time scope for achieving the spiritual goal(spread possibly over several births) are to a large extent two parallel streams. The spiritual advancement of India is extraordinary, so also is the material advancement of west in recent time. It will be a great day when the West picks up the “Eternity” of India and we, the “Practical present” of the west; with resultant symbiotic success for all.
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2. Siddharth, B.G., “The Celestial Key to the Vedas” (Inner traditions, Rochester, Vermont), 1999, p3.
3. Bhagavath Geetha Ch VIII Ver16 – 20: trans: Siddharth, B.G. “Ancient
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Author’s Name & Address :

S.Ram Mohan, IRAS, Resi: No.687, 46th Street,
Financial Adviser, 9th Sector, KK Nagar West,
Integral Coach Factory, Chennai 600 078, India.
Chennai 600 038. E Mail: sethurammohan@yahoo.co.in
India. srammohanfa@rediffmail.com
Abstract of the Presentation on
“The Concept of Time in Indian Heritage”

- S.Ram Mohan

1. Time is not relative or linear entity; it is indivisible and abstract. It is a continuum. Absolute Time is the source for all relative time.
2. All aspects of Time, procession and recession are parts of stasis (Sthithi)
3. God is equated with Time. It is the substratum for the entire universe.
4. Vedanta states that a realized person goes beyond axis of Time.
5. Brahman is considered as of two facets – time and timeless; a Kala and akala
6. Specific time (Vigraha) is the ultimate source for all creations
7. Different schools of thoughts have different perceptions:
a Yoga delineates that continuous flow of indivisible basic unit of time (ksana)
b. Sankhya view says that infinite time is a non-entity and describes the paramanu concept and absolute unit of time.
c. In Nyaya Vaishesika, time is a non-perceivable separate entity. It can be perceived only through inference from change of states in the objects:
d. Madhva philosophy talks of the “Pyramid of Time”
e. Buddhist philosophy, stressing on ephemerality, describes the five fold aggregates in the course of time. Buddhahood is “Timeless awakening”.
f. Jainese texts describe the Vartana (continuity of perception) and atomistic existence of moments.

Apart from these ideas of Time in Indian heritage, different perception of time and its division is also discussed on the paper.