Kamal Jain
Time can be experienced indirectly in changes, brought about through its relationship with human beings and everything else, be it inanimate or animate; visible or invisible; static or in motion. So, time is present, but time in past and future exists in memories. St Augustine said, “What then, is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.” Yes, the nature of time is indeed perplexing.
Jainism considers that the universe comprises six dravya, eternal substances. These are: soul, sentient beings; matter, non-sentient; dharma, medium of motion, adharma, medium of rest; aakash, space; and kala, time. Time is an essential part of existence, and since soul, consciousness, has awareness of time, it exists in the dimension of time. Body, as matter, is three-dimensional and lives in space which has length, breadth and height. The body gains life by having soul, which exists in the fourth dimension called time. Thus, life becomes four-dimensional, causing the occurrence of different phases of it.
Zen master, Dogen Zenji, relates time with space. Zen teacher, Dainin Katagiri, explains that time can be correctly understood if we realise that all life is interconnected. If you ignore this aspect of human life, you can’t live in peace and harmony. So, you have to understand that time is not separate from space or being; time is exactly space.
Different phases of day and night (Time) sound exactly the same as the cycles of life of every being. Life from birth to death is analogous to the day, from dawn to night. These phases in Hinduism represent four ashrams – student, householder, retired, and renunciation.
Birth of the child is like dawn – first appearance of the Sun. A child with the passage of time attains adolescence, and then becomes youth, which is like day rising known as noon – zenith of life. After every peak we are bound, just to get below the horizon. Likewise, the journey of life too starts slowing down and gets to the twilight of life, like dusk comes, end of day.
So, as per Hinduism, from sunset to night is the time one must lead a sanyasin’s life and learn and get prepared to say goodbye gracefully, so a night again can turn into another dawn.
We can comprehend time easily if we consider it as a flowing river, and all activities happening in the river represent changes in life. The river as a baby originates perhaps from the womb of mountains and on reaching valleys and plains, it widens and flows quickly, full of vigor and vitality, like a youth. Then gradually moves and falls to ocean – its destination. During its journey, it experiences lots of ups and downs, changes, barriers, challenges, sudden turns, curves, good or bad seasons, but keeps flowing to ultimately reach its destination, without stopping. Inside the stream we get affected by changes, but outside, we remain the same, as witness and unaffected. But we have no escape from flowing inside the main stream. This is how life and time both flows!
Likewise, if you were to stand outside the universe – outside both space and time – and look at your life, you would see your birth, death, process of ageing, and every moment in-between, laid out, as distinct points. From this angle, time does not flow, but is static and fixed. Thus, time in itself is absolute. It means that you find all such transformations in life only in space and time framework, not outside of these.
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy: Times Of India: Speaking Tree: Feb 07, 2019
Kamal Jain
Time can be experienced indirectly in changes, brought about through its relationship with human beings and everything else, be it inanimate or animate; visible or invisible; static or in motion. So, time is present, but time in past and future exists in memories. St Augustine said, “What then, is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.” Yes, the nature of time is indeed perplexing.
Jainism considers that the universe comprises six dravya, eternal substances. These are: soul, sentient beings; matter, non-sentient; dharma, medium of motion, adharma, medium of rest; aakash, space; and kala, time. Time is an essential part of existence, and since soul, consciousness, has awareness of time, it exists in the dimension of time. Body, as matter, is three-dimensional and lives in space which has length, breadth and height. The body gains life by having soul, which exists in the fourth dimension called time. Thus, life becomes four-dimensional, causing the occurrence of different phases of it.
Zen master, Dogen Zenji, relates time with space. Zen teacher, Dainin Katagiri, explains that time can be correctly understood if we realise that all life is interconnected. If you ignore this aspect of human life, you can’t live in peace and harmony. So, you have to understand that time is not separate from space or being; time is exactly space.
Different phases of day and night (Time) sound exactly the same as the cycles of life of every being. Life from birth to death is analogous to the day, from dawn to night. These phases in Hinduism represent four ashrams – student, householder, retired, and renunciation.
Birth of the child is like dawn – first appearance of the Sun. A child with the passage of time attains adolescence, and then becomes youth, which is like day rising known as noon – zenith of life. After every peak we are bound, just to get below the horizon. Likewise, the journey of life too starts slowing down and gets to the twilight of life, like dusk comes, end of day.
So, as per Hinduism, from sunset to night is the time one must lead a sanyasin’s life and learn and get prepared to say goodbye gracefully, so a night again can turn into another dawn.
We can comprehend time easily if we consider it as a flowing river, and all activities happening in the river represent changes in life. The river as a baby originates perhaps from the womb of mountains and on reaching valleys and plains, it widens and flows quickly, full of vigor and vitality, like a youth. Then gradually moves and falls to ocean – its destination. During its journey, it experiences lots of ups and downs, changes, barriers, challenges, sudden turns, curves, good or bad seasons, but keeps flowing to ultimately reach its destination, without stopping. Inside the stream we get affected by changes, but outside, we remain the same, as witness and unaffected. But we have no escape from flowing inside the main stream. This is how life and time both flows!
Likewise, if you were to stand outside the universe – outside both space and time – and look at your life, you would see your birth, death, process of ageing, and every moment in-between, laid out, as distinct points. From this angle, time does not flow, but is static and fixed. Thus, time in itself is absolute. It means that you find all such transformations in life only in space and time framework, not outside of these.
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy: Times Of India: Speaking Tree: Feb 07, 2019