VNN Editorial - Time Days Of The Future Past

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EDITORIALNovember 22, 2002 VNN7644 Time: Days Of The Future Past?BY DHARMAPAD

DASEDITORIAL, Nov 22 (VNN) — In the Bhagavad Gita, Shree Krishna explains that "

Time I am, the great destroyer of the worlds " ( Kalo 'smi Loka Kshaya Krit

Pravriddho ) He speaks of Time in the first person. In relation to his other

agencies and energies, Shree Krishna does not speak in the same voice. For

example, He refers to the material nature in the ninth chapter of Gita by using

the possessive case: mayadyakshena prakriti, this material nature of mine. But

He refers to Time in the first person, indicating that He is non-different from

Time.Time's role as a beginning and end is generally well understood, but there

is another, less understood aspect of Time which has been pointed out in the

eleventh chapter of Gita (Texts 33 and 34): " Conquer your enemies and enjoy a

flourishing kingdom. They are already put to death by My arrangement, Oh

Savyasachi, and you can be but an instrument in the fight. Drona, Bhishma,

Jayadratha, Karna and the other great warriors have already been destroyed by

me."By this explanation Shree Krishna touches on an intrinsic aspect of Time

and practically points out how Time functions. How could it be that something

yet to occur has already happened? This is not just a cute or poetical way of

indicating that a certain result is guaranteed, a sure thing. By means of His

comments on Time, Shree Krishna has actually introduced a concept which Western

philosophy has not been able to figure out during the long run of its existence

Some poetical musicians of the1960s, though, The Moody Blues -who themselves

were much influenced by oriental thought- touched on it when they sang of Days

of the Future Past. In order to better understand this concept, we can consider

the example of a young lady who dreams of her father. Let's say that she dreams

that her father is in the hospital with a heart attack and is connected to

various machines by tubes and wires, and that the doctors and nurses are all

tryng to save his life. Suddenly, she wakes up and thinks Well, that couldn't

be true because my father is in good health. Two weeks later her father has a

heart attack and winds up in the hospital. She goes there and witnesses an

exact replica of the same scene which she had dreamed of two weeks before. What

did the lady actually experience? In her dream she accessed the subtler ethereal

and astral realms and experienced the event before it had actually occrred in

the physical world. In his book The Ultimate Reality, Joseph H. Cater gives the

hows and whys to this understanding:Since particles of matter in higher realms

are far more active than those in lower realms, it follows that events in

realms of higher frequency matter take place more rapidly. This means that

smaller units of time must be employed in the higher realms. The consciousness

automatically adjusts to these changes, so that the inhabitants in these worlds

are not aware of any differences. Accounts received from entities residing in an

astral realm who have recently lost their physical bodies confirm this. A

notable case which the author encountered involves a person who seemingly had

spent many months in an astral realm since his demise. At this time, he was

informed to his amazement that some guides were going to take him down to the

physical realm so he could view his own funeral. This funeral took place only

three days alter his departure, yet he thought several months had passed.

Occult lore is steeped with cases of this type, yet the obvious reason for the

time anomalies always escaped those who researched the subject. It is to be

expected that the wrong interpretations concerning the properties of time are

always placed on such incidents. One of the most popular explanations is the

erroneous conclusion that time doesn't exist in the astral realms! Many events

which happen in the intermediate realms between the physical and first astral

realm are patterned after those which will occur later in the physical realm,

according to plan. This is similar to a rehearsal prior to the real production

and follows the 2nd Hermetic Axiom. ... Therefore, some events which are

destined to take place in the physical have already occurred in a higher realm.

This and certain cosmic computers are responsible for the accurate visions of

future events, which prophets have received throughout history. Some

individuals may have been temporarily transported to these realms to obtain

glimpses of certain conditions on the Earth, as they are supposed to be

sometime in the future. These experiences have supposedly included

conversations with some of the inhabitants at times. The person in each case

thought he was a time traveler or passed through a ' time warp ' into future

time. Thanks to Joseph H. Cater we now have an explanation, a justification,

for our ground breaking, days-of-the-future-past concept of time. Somehow or

other, a dreamer becomes free of the polarities which confine the astral body

to the physical one, and the rapidity with which events in realms of

higher-frequency matter occur indicates that the particles which compose the

matter of that realm are free from the inertia and gravity which so

characterize the physical world. This is obvious by the sheer velocity at which

dreams take place. Here we find the reason why we only experience our dreams

piecemeal- our physical brains are simply unable to accompany the speed of

events in the astral realm. Thus time involves the occurrence of events on the

higher, subtler astral planes which then trickle down to the physical realm of

which we are aware through our exterior consciousness. The origin of the events

depicted in our horoscopes must be in the super-fast, etheral strata; strata in

which the principal events of our lives take place before our physical birth.

This is suggested by the stark contrast with the astral planes of our dreams

where events are experienced only weeks or even days before their physical

manifestation. The astral planes of our dreams, although fast and subtle

compared to our physical world, are sluggish and gross compared to the ethereal

strata where the principal events of our lives occurred before we even take

birth. It is this understanding which leads us into a definition of the karmas

of our horoscopes. They are the prarabdha karmas, which are

currently-manifesting karmas, even though they have not yet trickled down to

the world of our physical bodies. These karmas are absolute in that they will

unfold in our physical world, in due course of time, because they have already

come to pass in subtler realms. These trickle-down karmas, which are the karmas

depicted in our horoscopes, provide the parameters within which our free will

operates. So absolute are the horoscopic indicators, in fact, that they are

even indicative of the lives of liberated souls, pure devotees and avatars.

This is confirmed by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Prabhupada, in the purport to

the twelfth text, twlefth chapter, first canto of the Bhagavat Purana: A man's

destiny is therefore ascertained by the birthtime constellation of stars, and a

factual horoscope is made by a learned astrologer. It is a great science, and

misuse of a science does not make it useless. Maharaja Pariksit or even the

Personality of Godhead appear in certain constellations of good stars, and thus

the influence is exerted upon the body thus born at an auspicious moment. The

most auspicious constellation of stars takes place during the appearance of the

Lord in this material world, and it is specifically called jayanti, a word not

to be abused for any other purposes. Maharaja Pariksit was not only a great

ksatriya emperor, but also a great devotee of the Lord. Thus he cannot take his

birth at any inauspicious moment. As a proper place and time is selected to

receive a respectable personage, so also to receive such a personality as

Maharaja Pariksit, who was especially cared for by the Supreme Lord, a suitable

moment is chosen when all good stars assembled together to exert their influence

upon the King. Thus he took his birth just to be known as the great hero of

Srimad Bhagavatam. There is no contradiction in that the earthly pastimes of

even avatars correspond to horoscopic indications insofar as Shree Krishna

explains that He Himself is Time. The point to keep in mind is that the will of

Vishnu\Krishna is indicated by astrological phenomena which should not, then, be

considered as some kind of separate power from the will of God. The idea is not

similar to the Christian concept of God and the Devil. According to the

Christians, the Devil exists as some kind of separate power outside of the

framework of the Lord. Astrology should not be seen in that way. As far as the

living entities who are not liberated souls are concerned, the disciples of

Swami Bhaktivedanta give an appropriate analogy to describe how the living

entity bargains away his free will and becomes karmically bound, in their

commentary to the twelfth canto of Shrimad Bhagavatam. It is similar to

boarding an airplane, they write. When an individual boards an airplane, that

person is bound by such action. One cannot capriciously decide to change one's

fate and walk out the door. The person becomes bound by his or her former

decision and must remain aloft for a while.Furthermore, they explain that this

decision opens up a whole new array of choices. For example, one may choose

coach fare and then decide to upgrade to first class. Or one may decide to view

a film or not to do so. The point is that the exercise of free will is never

negated, but still karmic environments and specific reactions will manifest.

There is choice, but not as much as we might think. The prarabdha karmas stand

absolute for worldly souls and must be experienced. The karmas which are lying

in a seed-like form, and which may be floated, so to speak, from one life to

the next, are the anurabda karmas. These karmas are not absolute in the sense

that they have not yet begun to manifest on the higher planes and their

occurrence is not absolute. It is possible that they may be mitigated before

their successive, trickle-down manifestations begins; possibly through prayer

or other modes of worship. In this way, we can conclude that free will is

limited, although Time is absolute in that it represents the will of the Lord.

Also, we can conclude that karmas indicated by a study of Time -astrology- will

come to pass because they have already begin to manifest on successive planes of

existence. By Dean Dominic De Lucia, aka Dharmapad DasDharmapad's Astro Vedica

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