Kala – Eternal Time
The Lord declares in Bhagavad-Gita 11.32
Kala-Chakra the wheel of time
"Time I am, and I have come as all-devouring death, the great destroyer of the worlds."
The Supersoul
born, he dies at every moment. Every birthday reduces our fixed life-span by one year and brings us closer to death. Thus death, in the form of time, is devouring every living entity at every moment, but the last stroke is called death itself. That death is non other than the Lord in His impersonal feature as the time factor.
The Srimad-Bhagavatam compares time to the deadly sharp blade of a razor. Because time imperceptibly devours the duration of life of everyone, one must carefully use one's life properly. Who is awake when everything is asleep? – it is time. This time factor is irreversible, unchangeable and limitless, and it works as the agent of the Supreme Lord for the process of material creation [SB 3.10.11].
Kala is the time factor with past, present and future, and represents the supreme Lord in His unmanifested impersonal feature. Eternal time is the primeval cause of material natures manifestation. No one knows where time began and where it ends, and it is time only which can keep a record of the universal creation, maintenance and annihilation. Therefore time has no beginning and no end. Under the influence of eternal time the cosmic manifestation is created, maintained and annihilated at regular intervals.
Since Kala, the time factor, is eternal the process of material creation is not a one-time affair but a repeated process which goes on eternally. This process of repeated creation and annihilation is described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam as follows: "The present cosmic manifestation as it is now, was the same in the past, and it will continue in the same way in the future also" [SB 3.10.13].
The Bhagavad-gita similarly states that this universal manifestation is created and annihilated perpetually. In chapter nine, text eight it is said that the universal manifestation as it is created now and as it will be destroyed later on, so also existed in the past and again will be created, maintained and destroyed in due course of time. Therefore, the systematic activities of the time factor are perpetual and eternal and cannot be stated to be false. The manifestation of material nature is temporary and occasional, but not false as claimed by the mayavadi philosophers. The scheduled creation and annihilation take place in terms of the Supreme will. They are situated as the objective manifestation of the Lord's external energy.
The controlling time has different dimensions in relation to particular physical embodiments. There is a time for atomic dissolution and a time for the universal dissolution. There is a time for the annihilation of the body of the human being, and there is a time for the annihilation of the universal body.
The complete universe is a manifestation of varieties of entities, beginning from the atoms up to the gigantic universe itself, and all is under the control of the Supreme Lord in His form of Kala, or eternal time.
Time passes differently according to one's situation in the cosmos. Lord Brahma lives for one hundred years, but his twelve hours consist of one thousand cycles of four ages (yugas): Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali. A single cycle of Kali, the shortest, yuga, corresponds to 4,320,000 solar years. These four yugas, rotating a thousand times, comprise one day of Brahma, and the same number comprise one night. Brahmä lives one hundred of such "years" and then dies. These "hundred years" by earth calculations total to 311 trillion and 40 billion earth years.
The duration of life is one hundred years in the present age of Kali-yuga; one thousand years in Dvapara-yuga; ten thousand in Treta-yuga; and one hundred thousand years in Satya-yuga. Time is relative to the kind of body one occupies. While Brahma's one hundred years equal 311 trillion of our years, an insect's one hundred years might come to no more than one of our days or less. And on the heavenly planets ruled by Lord Indra, one day equals six of our earthly months.
The material creation seems to be separated from the Lord as external energy due to this time factor which is the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord. This can be understood by the example of a tape recorder. It is something like the tape recorded voice of a person who is now separated from the voice. As the tape recording is situated on the tape, so the whole cosmic manifestation is situated on the Lord's material energy and appears separate by means of kala.
The material manifestation is therefore the objective manifestation of the Supreme Lord and exhibits His impersonal feature which is so much adored by Impersonalists philosophers. Mayavadis say that this manifestation of material nature [prakriti] is false, but according to the Vaisnavas and the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita, this is not so. The manifestation of the world is not accepted as false; it is accepted as real, but temporary. This material manifestation takes place at a certain interval, stays for a while and then disappears.
Material nature [prakriti] is ever existing in its subtle form as the energy of the Lord, but is sometimes manifests this non-existent or temporarily existent nature, the cosmos [SB 3.26.9]. In Bhagavad-gita the Lord refers to this as 'my prakriti'. This prakriti consists of the three modes of material nature: sattva-guna, raja-guna, tama-guna, which stand for equilibrium, motion and inertia. The interaction of material nature takes place when the equilibrium of the three gunas is disturbed by the time factor. Therefore, kala or eternal time is the primeval cause of the interactions of the three modes of material nature. Time creates, time maintains, time destroys, and this time factor is non other than the Lord.
Time controls and subdues all embodied beings. Anyone can easily see and experience that material bodies undergo six changes: birth, growth, maintenance, reproduction, decay and death. Whether we like it or not, every rising and setting of the sun brings us closer to inevitable death. The rise and fall of civilizations follow the same pattern, and their Taj Mahals, Chateaus de Versailles and pyramids stand as pathetic reminders that time and tide wait for no man.
Chanakya Pandit, a great scholar, says that even a slight fraction of time cannot be purchased with millions of gold coins, and therefore even a moment of time lost without reaching the goal of life must be calculated as the greatest loss in life.
Since time represents the Supreme Lord, using time to search for the Absolute Truth is the best practical use of time. Otherwise one's life is uselessly wasted in due course of time.
Srimad Bhagavatam 3. 26. 15 – 18
All these are considered the qualified Brahman. The mixing element, which is known as time, is counted as the twenty-fifth element.
PURPORT
According to the Vedic version there is no existence beyond Brahman. Sarvam khalv idam brahma (Chandogya Upanishad 3.14.1). It is stated also in the Vishnu Purana that whatever we see is parasya brahmanah saktih; everything is an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Absolute Truth, Brahman. When Brahman is mixed with the three qualities goodness, passion and ignorance, there results the material expansion, which is sometimes called saguna Brahman and which consists of these twenty-five elements. In the nirguna Brahman, where there is no material contamination, or in the spiritual world, the three modes—goodness, passion and ignorance—are not present. Where nirguna Brahman is found, simple unalloyed goodness prevails. Saguna Brahman is described by the Sankhya system of philosophy as consisting of twenty-five elements, including the time factor (past, present and future).
SB 3.26.16
TEXT
TRANSLATION
The influence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is felt in the time factor, which causes fear of death due to the false ego of the deluded soul who has contacted material nature.
PURPORT
The living entity's fear of death is due to his false ego of identifying with the body. Everyone is afraid of death. Actually there is no death for the spirit soul, but due to our absorption in the identification of body as self, the fear of death develops. It is also stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.2.37), bhayam dvitiyabhinivesatah syat. Dvitiya refers to matter, which is beyond spirit. Matter is the secondary manifestation of spirit, for matter is produced from spirit. Just as the material elements described are caused by the Supreme Lord, or the Supreme Spirit, the body is also a product of the spirit soul. Therefore, the material body is called dvitiya, or "the second." One who is absorbed in this second element or second exhibition of the spirit is afraid of death. When one is fully convinced that he is not his body, there is no question of fearing death, since the spirit soul does not die.
If the spirit soul engages in the spiritual activities of devotional service, he is completely freed from the platform of birth and death. His next position is complete spiritual freedom from a material body.
The fear of death is the action of the kala, or the time factor, which represents the influence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In other words, time is destructive. Whatever is created is subject to destruction and dissolution, which is the action of time. Time is a representation of the Lord, and it reminds us also that we must surrender unto the Lord. The Lord speaks to every conditioned soul as time. He says in Bhagavad-gita that if someone surrenders unto Him, then there is no longer any problem of birth and death. We should therefore accept the time factor as the Supreme Personality of Godhead standing before us. This is further explained in the following verse.
SB 3.26.17
TEXT 17
TRANSLATION
My dear mother, O daughter of Svayambhuva Manu, the time factor, as I have explained, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, from whom the creation begins as a result of the agitation of the neutral, unmanifested nature.
PURPORT
The unmanifested state of material nature, pradhana, is being explained. The Lord says that when the unmanifested material nature is agitated by the glance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it begins to manifest itself in different ways. Before this agitation, it remains in the neutral state, without interaction by the three modes of material nature. In other words, material nature cannot produce any variety of manifestations without the contact of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is very nicely explained in Bhagavad-gita. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of the products of material nature. Without His contact, material nature cannot produce anything.
In the Caitanya-caritamrita also, a very suitable example is given in this connection. Although the nipples on a goat's neck appear to be breast nipples, they do not give milk. Similarly, material nature appears to the material scientist to act and react in a wonderful manner, but in reality it cannot act without the agitator, time, who is the representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When time agitates the neutral state of material nature, material nature begins to produce varieties of manifestations. Ultimately it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of creation. As a woman cannot produce children unless impregnated by a man, material nature cannot produce or manifest anything unless it is impregnated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the form of the time factor.
SB 3.26.18
TEXT 18
TEXT
TRANSLATION
By exhibiting His potencies, the Supreme Personality of Godhead adjusts all these different elements, keeping Himself within as the Supersoul and without as time.
PURPORT
Here it is stated that within the heart the Supreme Personality of Godhead resides as the Supersoul. This situation is also explained in Bhagavad-gita: the Supersoul rests beside the individual soul and acts as a witness. This is also confirmed elsewhere in the Vedic literature: two birds are sitting on the same tree of the body; one is witnessing, and the other is eating the fruits of the tree. This purusha, or Paramatma, who resides within the body of the individual soul, is described in Bhagavad-gita (13.23) as the upadrashta, witness, and the anumanta, sanctioning authority. The conditioned soul engages in the happiness and distress of the particular body given him by the arrangement of the external energy of the Supreme Lord. But the supreme living being, or the Paramatma, is different from the conditioned soul. He is described in Bhagavad-gita as mahesvara, or the Supreme Lord. He is Paramatma, not jivatma. Paramatma means the Supersoul, who is sitting by the side of the conditioned soul just to sanction his activities. The conditioned soul comes to this material world in order to lord it over material nature. Since one cannot do anything without the sanction of the Supreme Lord, He lives with the jiva soul as witness and sanction-giver. He is also bhokta; He gives maintenance and sustenance to the conditioned soul.
Since the living entity is constitutionally part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord is very affectionate to the living entities. Unfortunately, when the living entity is bewildered or illusioned by the external energy, he becomes forgetful of his eternal relationship with the Lord, but as soon as he becomes aware of his constitutional position, he is liberated. The minute independence of the conditioned soul is exhibited by his marginal position. If he likes, he can forget the Supreme Personality of Godhead and come into the material existence with a false ego to lord it over material nature, but if he likes he can turn his face to the service of the Lord. The individual living entity is given that independence. His conditional life is ended and his life becomes successful as soon as he turns his face to the Lord, but by misusing his independence he enters into material existence. Yet the Lord is so kind that, as Supersoul, He always remains with the conditioned soul. The concern of the Lord is neither to enjoy nor to suffer from the material body. He remains with the jiva simply as sanction-giver and witness so that the living entity can receive the results of his activities, good or bad.
Outside the body of the conditioned soul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead remains as the time factor. According to the Sankhya system of philosophy, there are twenty-five elements. The twenty-four elements already described plus the time factor make twenty-five. According to some learned philosophers, the Supersoul is included to make a total of twenty-six elements.
Further references
Isvara (the Supreme Lord), jiva (the living entity), prakriti (nature), kala (eternal time) and karma (activity) are all explained in the Bhagavad-gita. Out of these five, the Lord, the living entities, material nature and time are eternal. The manifestation of prakriti may be temporary, but it is not false. Some philosophers say that the manifestation of material nature is false, but according to the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita or according to the philosophy of the Vaishnavas, this is not so. The manifestation of the world is not accepted as false; it is accepted as real, but temporary. It is likened unto a cloud which moves across the sky, or the coming of the rainy season, which nourishes grains. As soon as the rainy season is over and as soon as the cloud goes away, all the crops which were nourished by the rain dry up. Similarly, this material manifestation takes place at a certain interval, stays for a while and then disappears. Such are the workings of prakriti. But this cycle is working eternally. Therefore prakriti is eternal; it is not false. The Lord refers to this as "My prakriti." This material nature is the separated energy of the Supreme Lord, and similarly the living entities are also the energy of the Supreme Lord, although they are not separated but eternally related. So the Lord, the living entity, material nature and time are all interrelated and are all eternal. However, the other item, karma, is not eternal. The effects of karma may be very old indeed. We are suffering or enjoying the results of our activities from time immemorial, but we can change the results of our karma, or our activity, and this change depends on the perfection of our knowledge. We are engaged in various activities. Undoubtedly we do not know what sort of activities we should adopt to gain relief from the actions and reactions of all these activities, but this is also explained in the Bhagavad-gita.
Bhagavad Gita As It Is. Introduction.
Srila A.C Bhaktivedandta Swami Prabhupada.
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O best of the Bharatas, I shall now explain to you the different times at which, passing away from this world, the yogi does or does not come back.
PURPORT
The unalloyed devotees of the Supreme Lord, who are totally surrendered souls, do not care when they leave their bodies or by what method. They leave everything in Krishna's hands and so easily and happily return to Godhead. But those who are not unalloyed devotees and who depend instead on such methods of spiritual realization as karma-yoga, jnana-yoga and hatha-yoga must leave the body at a suitable time and thereby be assured whether or not they will return to the world of birth and death.
If the yogi is perfect he can select the time and situation for leaving this material world. But if he is not so expert his success depends on his accidentally passing away at a certain suitable time. The suitable times at which one passes away and does not come back are explained by the Lord in the next verse. According to Acarya Baladeva Vidyabhushana, the Sanskrit word kala used herein refers to the presiding deity of time.
Bhagavad Gita As It Is 8.23
Srila A.C Bhaktivedandta Swami Prabhupada.
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Kuntidevi knew that Krishna was neither her nephew nor an ordinary family member of her paternal house. She knew perfectly well that Krishna is the primeval Lord who lives in everyone's heart as the Supersoul, Paramatma. Another name of the Paramatma feature of the Lord is kala, or eternal time. Eternal time is the witness of all our actions, good and bad, and thus resultant reactions are destined by Him. It is no use saying that we do not know why and for what we are suffering. We may forget the misdeed for which we may suffer at this present moment, but we must remember that Paramatma is our constant companion, and therefore He knows everything, past, present and future. And because the Paramatma feature of Lord Krishna destines all actions and reactions, He is the supreme controller also. Without His sanction not a blade of grass can move. The living beings are given as much freedom as they deserve, and misuse of that freedom is the cause of suffering. The devotees of the Lord do not misuse their freedom, and therefore they are the good sons of the Lord. Others, who misuse freedom, are put into miseries destined by the eternal kala. The kala offers the conditioned souls both happiness and miseries. It is all predestined by eternal time. As we have miseries uncalled-for, so we may have happiness also without being asked, for they are all predestined by kala. No one is therefore either an enemy or friend of the Lord. Everyone is suffering and enjoying the result of his own destiny. This destiny is made by the living beings in course of social intercourse. Everyone here wants to lord it over the material nature, and thus everyone creates his own destiny under the supervision of the Supreme Lord. He is all-pervading and therefore He can see everyone's activities. And because the Lord has no beginning or end, He is known also as the eternal time, kala.
The Teachings of Queen Kunti.
Srila A.C Bhaktivedandta Swami Prabhupada.
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The devotees of the Lord do not misuse their freedom, and therefore they are the good sons of the Lord. Others, who misuse freedom, are put into miseries destined by the eternal kala. The kala offers the conditioned souls both happiness and miseries. It is all predestined by eternal time. As we have miseries uncalled-for, so we may have happiness also without being asked, for they are all predestined by kala. No one is therefore either an enemy or friend of the Lord. Everyone is suffering and enjoying the result of his own destiny. This destiny is made by the living beings in course of social intercourse. Everyone here wants to lord it over the material nature, and thus everyone creates his own destiny under the supervision of the Supreme Lord. He is all-pervading and therefore He can see everyone's activities. And because the Lord has no beginning or end, He is known also as the eternal time, kala.
SB 1.8.28
Srila A.C Bhaktivedandta Swami Prabhupada.
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There is control by time all over the space within the universe, as there is control by time all over the planets. All the big gigantic planets, including the sun, are being controlled by the force of air, as the clouds are carried by the force of air. Similarly, the inevitable kala, or time, controls even the action of the air and other elements. Everything, therefore, is controlled by the supreme kala, a forceful representative of the Lord within the material world. Thus Yudhishthira should not be sorry for the inconceivable action of time. Everyone has to bear the actions and reactions of time as long as one is within the conditions of the material world. Yudhishthira should not think that he had committed sins in his previous birth and is suffering the consequence. Even the most pious has to suffer the condition of material nature. But a pious man is faithful to the Lord, for he is guided by the bona fide brahmana and Vaishnava following the religious principles. These three guiding principles should be the aim of life. One should not be disturbed by the tricks of eternal time. Even the great controller of the universe, Brahmaji, is also under the control of that time; therefore, one should not grudge being thus controlled by time despite being a true follower of religious principles.
SB 1.19.14
Srila A.C Bhaktivedandta Swami Prabhupada.
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the symbol of religion, and above all of them the Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, was personally concerned with their affairs as the well-wisher. And yet there were so many reverses on the side of the Pandavas. Despite the power of pious acts, the power of personalities, the power of expert management and the power of weapons under the direct supervision of Lord Krishna, the Pandavas suffered so many practical reverses, which can only be explained as due to the influence of kala, inevitable time. Kala is identical with the Lord Himself, and therefore the influence of kala indicates the inexplicable wish of the Lord Himself. There is nothing to be lamented when a matter is beyond the control of any human being.
SB 1.9.15
Srila A.C Bhaktivedandta Swami Prabhupada.
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After the incarnation of the first purusha [Karanarnavasayi Vishnu], the mahat-tattva, or the principles of material creation, take place, and then time is manifested, and in course of time the three qualities appear. Nature means the three qualitative appearances. They transform into activities.
PURPORT
By the omnipotency of the Supreme Lord, the whole material creation evolves by the process of transformation and reactions one after another, and by the same omnipotency, they are wound up again one after another and conserved in the body of the Supreme. Kala, or time, is the synonym of nature and is the transformed manifestation of the principles of material creation. As such, kala may be taken as the first cause of all creation, and by transformation of nature different activities of the material world become visible. These activities may be taken up as the natural instinct of each and every living being, or even of the inert objects, and after the manifestation of activities there are varieties of products and by-products of the same nature. Originally these are all due to the Supreme Lord. The Vedanta-sutras and the Bhagavatam thus begin with the Absolute Truth as the beginning of all creations.
Srila A.C Bhaktivedandta Swami Prabhupada.
SB 2.5.22
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Vidura inquired from Maitreya: O my lord, O greatly learned sage, kindly describe eternal time, which is another form of the Supreme Lord, the wonderful actor. What are the symptoms of that eternal time? Please describe them to us in detail.
PURPORT
The complete universe is a manifestation of varieties of entities, beginning from the atoms up to the gigantic universe itself, and all is under the control of the Supreme Lord in His form of kala, or eternal time. The controlling time has different dimensions in relation to particular physical embodiments. There is a time for atomic dissolution and a time for the universal dissolution. There is a time for the annihilation of the body of the human being, and there is a time for the annihilation of the universal body. Also, growth, development and resultant actions all depend on the time factor. Vidura wanted to know in detail the different physical manifestations and their times of annihilation.
SB 3.10.10
Srila A.C Bhaktivedandta Swami Prabhupada.
From here on eternal material time is described in detail.
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Maitreya said: Eternal time is the primeval source of the interactions of the three modes of material nature. It is unchangeable and limitless, and it works as the instrument of the Supreme Personality of Godhead for His pastimes in the material creation.
PURPORT
The impersonal time factor is the background of the material manifestation as the instrument of the Supreme Lord. It is the ingredient of assistance offered to material nature. No one knows where time began and where it ends, and it is time only which can keep a record of the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material manifestation. This time factor is the material cause of creation and is therefore a self expansion of the Personality of Godhead. Time is considered the impersonal feature of the Lord.
The time factor is also explained by modern men in various ways. Some accept it almost as it is explained in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. For example, in Hebrew literature time is accepted, in the same spirit, as a representation of God. It is stated therein: "God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets…." Metaphysically, time is distinguished as absolute and real. Absolute time is continuous and is unaffected by the speed or slowness of material things. Time is astronomically and mathematically calculated in relation to the speed, change and life of a particular object. Factually, however, time has nothing to do with the relativities of things; rather, everything is shaped and calculated in terms of the facility offered by time. Time is the basic measurement of the activity of our senses, by which we calculate past, present and future; but in factual calculation, time has no beginning and no end. Canakya Pandita says that even a slight fraction of time cannot be purchased with millions of dollars, and therefore even a moment of time lost without profit must be calculated as the greatest loss in life. Time is not subject to any form of psychology, nor are the moments objective realities in themselves, but they are dependent on particular experiences.
Therefore, Srila Jiva Gosvami concludes that the time factor is intermixed with the activities—actions and reactions—of the external energy of the Lord. The external energy, or material nature, works under the superintendence of the time factor as the Lord Himself, and that is why material nature appears to have produced so many wonderful things in the cosmic manifestation. Bhagavad-gita (9.10) confirms this conclusion as follows:
mayadhyakshena prakritih
suyate sa-caracaram
hetunanena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate
SB 3.10.11
Srila A.C Bhaktivedandta Swami Prabhupada.
"Eternal time is the primeval source of the interactions of the three modes of material nature. It is unchangeable and limitless.."
"Time is the basic measurement of the activity of our senses, by which we calculate past, present and future; but in factual calculation, time has no beginning and no end."
" Time is not subject to any form of psychology, nor are the moments objective realities in themselves, but they are dependent on particular experiences."
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The devotees of the Lord do not misuse their freedom, and therefore they are the good sons of the Lord. Others, who misuse freedom, are put into miseries destined by the eternal kala. The kala offers the conditioned souls both happiness and miseries. It is all predestined by eternal time. As we have miseries uncalled for, so we may have happiness also without being asked, for they are all predestined by kala. No one is therefore either an enemy or friend of the Lord. Everyone is suffering and enjoying the result of his own destiny. This destiny is made by the living beings in course of social intercourse. Everyone here wants to lord it over the material nature, and thus everyone creates his own destiny under the supervision of the Supreme Lord. He is all-pervading and therefore He can see everyone's activities. And because the Lord has no beginning or end, He is known also as the eternal time, kala.
Teachings of Queen Kunti. Chapt 11
Srila A.C Bhaktivedandta Swami Prabhupada.
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