Time and its measurements

The importance of time (‘Kaalam‘  in Tamil) is so high in the ancient tradition that they ensured that the accuracy, continuity of time and the easy measurability of it is maintained for who knows how many years. Time creates, sustains and destroys everything and this is very nicely captured in these 2 lines by Mamuni Mayan in Aintiram…

காலேம எைவக்கும் மூலம், காலேம மூல ஆற்றல்
காலேம ேகாலத் ேதாற்றம், காலேம ஞாலத் ேதாற்றம்

It is only because of Time or frequency (movement of consciousness within itself) that Space or Brahmam manifests itself into material form. Time is in effect, simply Space or God itself moving – vibrating. Mayan says that it is Time that functions in every living being as in – breath and out – breath. Time is the dance and Space is the dancer. They are one and the same. Thus, we have the concept of Time God.

Similarly a quote from Swami Chinmayananda states that “Time is the periodicity between 2 thoughts”. Nothing captures the concept of time more wisely.

Einstein’s view on time and its relativity is very realistically captured in this quote “When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red‐hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.” More than relativity I found that the root cause of relativity is the pulsation of mind as time. Einstein on a serious note proved that our view of time is not absolute, it is relative and it is a continuum with space. We will see later how time and space are the same or Time = Space.

Aintiram states that there are 5 things that vibrates which have a common root and are not under our control. They are Space, Earth (vibration of earth is gravity), Eye lids, Thoughts and Musical notes and very nicely put in Tamil as விண் (Vin), மண் (Man), கண் (Kan), எண் (Yen), பண் (Pan).

When we correlate this with the first line of Patanjali Yoga Sutra which says “Yoga Chitta Vrtti Nirodah”, means Yoga is one which stops the vibration of mind / pulsation of mind and hence nullifies thoughts. The meditation techniques of keeping your eyes opened without battling the eyelids is another way of overcoming this pulsation instinct that is primordial and inherent in our nature.

Let’s look how intricate our measurements time are in ancient India.

• The smallest unit of time is approximately 2 micro second.
• The largest unit is about 155 trillion years….
• Brahma’s linear age is 50 years and in currently in his 51st year which makes the universe to be 155+ trillion years. Brahma’s life time is 100 years which means it would be 300 trillion+ years of universal life which follows a cycle.
• After 100 years of pulsation cycles Brahma stays as dormant energy for the same period and then pulsates again for the next life of 100 years.
• A Brahma’s life is also known as a Para. Each half Param is referred to as a parardham. This second half is termed as ‘dviteeya paraardhe’ (the second half of Brahma’s term) is stated in all vedic rituals.
• After every Chatur yuga, the world recycles. After every 2000 years / a Brahma day the world dissolves and reemerges. The important point to note is that there is no concept of creation. It evolves and dissolves as per the science of pulsation. We also note that this pulsation expands and contracts. This cyclical nature of time refers to time as ‘anaadi’ or that without a beginning.

While doing vedic ritual the time and space coordinate is invoked to say that you are doing this ritual at this place in the universe and at this time – with reference to Brahma’s age to the time and star of the day. This tradition is unbroken and the Indian Almanac can predict the position of astronomical objects without any error for thousands of years without any sophisticated instruments and space ships.

Reference

1. Time = Space by Raguram Gopalan, http://ragsgopalan.blogspot.com
2. Fabric of The Universe: The Origins, Implications, and Applications of Vastu Science By Jessie J. Mercay