Time and its role in Life.

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Dear friends and devotees,

Bhakti is eternal.

There is an article about the time and its role in human life connected with

practical, spiritual and Vedanta methods and also the elucidations of venerable

spiritual leaders. Though it is lengthy, its productive significance has touched

and induced me to share with you all.

Challenge of Time

The Holy Gita talks about living life in equanimity. What does that mean?

Simply put it means being unaffected by the ups and downs in life that are

functions of Time.

 

" Time as a concept has engaged the attention of thinkers for a long time.

Every waking second in our life is an encounter with time. For both the person

of accomplishments and an average person, the day consists of just twenty-four

hours. There is nothing more and nothing less. But most people have a feeling

of time breathing down their neck. Everyone experiences time according to his or

her own mental disposition. Just as people regret their past, they also fear

their future. The stream of life carries everyone to the one certainty amid all

uncertainties: death-though people hardly think about it.

 

There is an interesting incident in the Aranyaparva of Mahabharata. During

their stay in the forest, Yudhishtira and his four brothers were once seized

with thirst and were on the lookout for water. Yudhishtira asked his brother

Nakula to climb a tree and look for any water source. He located a beautiful

pool of water surrounded by rich vegetation. When he went there and was about to

quench his thirst with his palms full of water, he heard a voice without a form

“Yaksha”: This pool belongs to me. If you need water from this pool, you have to

answer my questions first'. Nakula did not heed those words, drank the water,

and drooped down dead. Concerned about his brother, Yudhishthira sent Sahadeva

next. He set out, discovered the pool and was sorry to see Nakula's condition.

Nonetheless, not responding to Yaksha's warning, he too met with the same fate

as Nakulas'. Arjuna and Bhima followed him one after the other. They rebuked the

voice challenging its owner to reveal

himself to be taught a lesson. But they too lost their lives in trying to drink

the water from the pool, disregarding the warning. Deeply anxious, Yudhishtira

went in search of his brothers. He was beside himself with grief on seeing his

beloved brothers’ unconscious on the bank of the pool. His throat fully parched,

he approached the pool to quench his thirst. It was Yaksha again: This pool

belongs to me. If you want its water, you should first answer my question. Else,

your fate will not be different from that of your brothers.

 

A man of discrimination that he was, Yudhishtira told Yaksha: 'Well said.

Since you own this pool, I don't have a right to drink this water without your

permission. Kindly ask your questions. Yudhishtira's brilliant answers to Yaksha

constitute the important portion of the Mahabharata called 'Yakhsa

Prasna'(Question or query). The story goes that, pleased with Yudhishtira's

answers, Yaksha finally revived all his brothers. The Yaksha was nothing but

Lord Yamadharmaraja the God of death.

 

Two important questions and their answers relate to our theme here. The first:

What is the news? Yudhishtira's answer: The news is: Time is cooking all created

beings in a huge cauldron of great delusion with the sun as the fire, day and

night as fuel, and with months and seasons as the ladle to stir the brew.

 

The other question illustrates the inevitability of death and people's

attitude to it. Yaksha asked Yudhishtira: What is wonderful? He replied: Every

day people go to the abode of Yama (they die). Still the rest of the world

desires to live forever. What could be more wonderful than that?'

 

Can we escape being cooked by time? Can we defy death? Vedanata (Vedic method

of self realisation) says it is possible. Before we discuss that, we need to

analyze the three states of consciousness we pass through daily.

 

Waking

 

We have five windows in our human system to experience the external world in

the waking state. These are the five sense organs: ears, skin eyes, tongue and

nose. These organs are ever ready to come into contact with their respective

sense objects. We gain perceptual experience, in turn, leave impressions in our

mind.

 

The effects of time on the external world are too obvious for explanation:

months change; seasons change; what was a body of water once is a mountain

today; what was a famous edifice once is submerged in water later. In short, the

evanescence of the external world brings out vividly the hand of time. At the

individual level, a glimpse at our photographs taken at different

times-childhood, boyhood, adulthood and later-impresses upon us the changes time

has wrought on the body over the years. But interestingly the 'I' that has

responded to the calls from our near ones over the years has remained the same.

 

The mind is also active in our waking experiences. Our thinking, feeling and

willing influence our actions and determine the direction of our life. We

experience the passage of time in accordance with the state of our mind. Time

hangs heavily on those who do not have anything worthwhile to do. The same holds

good when we slavishly do something unpleasant, not in tune with our nature. On

the contrary, when we do something we like-in accordance with our aptitude-time

flies, as they say. Similarly, happy experiences make us wonder whether a day

consists of more than twenty-four hours!

 

Again times slips away from us when we allow the mind to drift. Suppose we sit

and brood, say at 8 am some day on what to do: have breakfast? Watch the TV?

Read the newspaper? Have a bath? And so on. After some thirty minutes we find

that we had done nothing worthwhile during that time. The mind has taken us for

a ride, making us idle during those thirty minutes. If only we had managed out

time well with a daily routine, having something specific to do at 8 am, the

mind would not have had a chance to examine different options, hood winking us

in the process

 

Dream

 

According to Vedanta, dreams are caused by impressions accumulated in the mind

not only in this life but also in earlier lives. These impressions are evidently

accumulated during the waking state. Dream thoughts and actions do not leave new

impressions in the mind. Reactions to them in the waking state, however, will.

The notion of time-and space-we have in the dream state is different from that

in the waking state. We cover unbelievable distances, traverse years into the

past and future, in a dream that lasts maybe for a few minutes according to our

waking reckoning. But there is something interesting: the 'I' that has dream

experiences is the same 'I' that has waking experiences.

 

Deep Sleep

 

The body and the mind are both inactive in deep sleep, and evidently the world

does not exist for the person who sleeps. In the absence of any object to

experience, his 'I' also is apparently non-existent. When a person gets up from

sleep, he describes his sleep experience as 'I slept happily; I did not know

anything’. Being detached from our body and mind in deep sleep, we escape the

miseries arising out of them: physical pain, stress, tension to name a few.

Evidently time does not exist in deep sleep. On waking up however we remember

our identities and go about our daily activities. That raises an important

question: is there any continuity at all from the time one goes to sleep to the

time one awakes?

 

The Spiritual Dimension

 

Vedanta says there is a third dimension to the human personality behind the

body and the mind. It is called the Atman the eternally pure, ever-conscious and

ever-free spiritual dimension in us. This spiritual Reality is the basis and

substratum of all the three states of consciousness waking, dream and deep

sleep. It is this Reality that provides continuity during deep sleep.

 

The famous Vedantic equation (mahavakya) says that the spiritual Reality

behind the body and the mind, called Atman, is same as the spiritual Reality

behind the universe, called Brahman. This Reality transcends time space and

causation the three attributes of life in the world. All forms of God that we

worship are manifestations of this ultimate Reality called Brahman. The

Upanishads emphatically say that by realizing this truth in one's heart-purified

of all desires and cleared of all doubts-one transcends death and becomes

immortal. Not that the body continues to exist forever. Being born it has to

die. But a knower of Brahman-being one with Brahman-is not affected by the fall

of the body

 

Sri Ramakrishna's life demonstrates that God exist and He can be realised and

that God-realization is the goal of human life. Jagatguru Sri Adi Sankara makes

it clear in his celebrated work Vivekacudamani that he who does not strive to

realize the Atman despite having had a human birth verily commits suicide, since

he kills himself by clinging to things unreal.

 

Delusion the Cause of All Trouble

 

Yudhishtira's answer to what is the news? It is a thought-provoking one. All

created beings are cooked by time in a cauldron of great delusion. As long as we

are in delusion we are in the domain of time and keep getting cooked by it. What

is this delusion? What is its source?

 

The mother of all delusion is to believe that we are the body. This basic

belief makes the external world and its enjoyments the absolute reality for us.

How do we who are essentially spiritual believe that we are the body? Sri Adi

Sankara attributes this to maya the power of concealment of Reality and of

distortion (Reality). The power of avaranasakti (concealment) conceals the

spiritual Reality from us. Sri Ramakrishna would hold a towel in front of his

face and ask whether those before him could see him. Similarly he would say we

are not able to see God because of the veil of Maya. The power of viksepasakti

(distortion) distorts the Reality for us. It makes the real appear as the unreal

and the unreal as the Real. It makes Brahman the Reality appears as the world

with its varied creations.

 

Hence it is clear that, essentially, the 'I am the body’ idea is the root

cause of all trouble. The feeling of ‘mine’ regarding things in the world

diminish the stem from this main idea. Sri Adi Sankara in his illuminating

commentary on the Kathopanishad says: Also how unfathomable, inscrutable and

variegated is this Maya! Every creature thought in reality identical with the

supreme Reality and is instructed as such does not grasp the fact that " I am the

supreme Self. " On the contrary even without being told, he accepts as his Self

the non-selves-the aggregate of the body and senses under the idea " I am the son

of such a one " though the latter are objects of perception (and hence not the

Self).

 

Delusion again forms part of a graded series beautifully outlined in the

Bhagavad-Gita. Brooding over sense objects, one develops attachment to them.

Attachment gives rise to desire (to possess the objects). Desire results in

anger (towards obstacles to its fulfillment). Anger results in moha (delusion).

From delusion follows loss of memory (of one's spiritual nature). This results

in loss of buddhi (discrimination), which leads to spiritual death. In short it

was the mind's luxury to brood over sense objects that triggered the systematic

downfall ending in spiritual death.

 

Seeking the Spiritual Reality Within

 

Time's cooking essentially pertains to the body, which is characterized by six

modifications: It comes into jayate (being), continues to exist as an Asti

(object), vardhate (grows), undergoes viparinamate (transformation)-like

childhood, youth and old apaksiyate (age-decays) and nasyati (dies). These

changes, however, do not exist in the Atman since it is birth less, deathless,

eternal, and is not killed even when the body is killed.

 

As long as one lives a body-centered life pampering it, abusing it with

indulgence, driven by desires-time's cooking will not cease. So a new

orientation to life is called for. But things do not appear to be easy. Though a

person understands what is good for him, he continues with his old ways in spite

of himself, as if forced by someone. What is that force? Arjuna posed the same

question to Sri Krishna. The Lord replied: 'It is desire and anger that are

responsible for his predicament. Both are born of rajas. They are great

devourers and sinners. Know them to be your enemies’. He continues: ‘The manasa

(mind) is superior to the sense organs. The buddhi (wisdom) is superior to the

mind. The Atman is superior to the buddhi. Understanding thus and completely

establishing the mind in the Atman vanquishes the enemy in the form of desire,

an enemy very difficult to subdue.'

 

So it is clear that one needs to seek the spiritual Reality within to free

oneself from the effects of time. The first step in this seeking is to awaken

the buddhi, the discriminative faculty in us.

 

Need to Awaken the Buddhi

 

Buddhi is an important faculty in human personality having a significant role

in character development and mind control. It is essentially a function of the

mind. Technically, the mind is called manasa when it is busy examining different

options set before it, yet to arrive at a decision. It is the deliberative

faculty in us. When a decision has been arrived at, it is called buddhi. Buddhi

is also the seat of discrimination.

 

The Kathopanishad brilliantly describes the role of the buddhi with the help

of an allegory. The body is compared to a chariot, and the 'I' in us

experiencing the vagaries of the body and mind, compared to the master of the

chariot. The buddhi is equated to the charioteer; the manasa is compared to the

reins and the five sense organs, to the horses. Sense objects are compared to

the road.

 

If the horses are not broken and if the driver is not awake, and the chariot

is in motion, that would be a dangerous situation indeed! The reins the driver

and the master-all this will be taken for a ride by the horses! Similarly, if a

person's senses are not subdued, his mind, buddhi and he himself will follow the

pull of the senses. The course of such a human journey is determined by the

sense organs.

 

On the contrary if the horses are broken and the driver wide-awake and

intelligent, the chariot will reach its destination-the place where the master

wants to go-without any trouble. With the sensory system under control and the

mind disciplined with the help of an awakened buddhi, life's journey will reach

its destination, which is God-realization.

 

The above allegory helps us get a better grasp of the human system. The

untrained mind (lured by the sense) does not cooperate with us but keeps acting

against our interest as an enemy. When disciplined the same mind acts as our

friend. The challenge lies, therefore in making a friend of our mind with the

help of the buddhi. The training necessary to convert the enemy mind into a

friendly mind is achieved by spiritual discipline.

 

Aids to Mind Training

 

Swami Vivekananda describes four yogas as paths God-realization: Karma yoga

(selfless work), Bhakti yoga (devotion), Raja yoga (meditation) and

discrimination and philosophic Jnana yoga (reasoning). A discussion on these

yogas is beyond the scope of this essay. However, we try to outline some mind

training techniques based on them.

 

Time management

 

A strict daily routine is a great help in disciplining the mind and reducing

its gyrations. A spiritual aspirant tries to live an ordered life with time

allocations for all his daily activities. The enemy mind is sure to rebel at

every point protesting that its freedom is infringed. But a patient adherence to

the routine, ignoring the mind's protests will help awaken and strengthen the

buddhi, the vital factor in mind control.

 

Cultivating a proper attitude towards work, Guru Sri Ramakrishna advocated

living in the world and performing one's duties like a maidservant in a rich

man's house and analyzed as “She performs all the household duties, but her

thoughts are fixed on her own home in her native village. She brings up her

master's children as if they were her own. She even speaks of them as ‘my Rama’

or ‘my Hari’. But in her own mind she knows very well that they do not belong to

her at all. Do all your duties in the world, but keep your mind on God”.

 

Doing all work with a worshipful attitude-with one's whole mind on the work-as

an offering to God is a potent means for mind control. Swami Vivekananda says

that every duty is holy and devotion to duty is the highest form of worship of

God. Doing one's work with one's whole mind strengthens the capacity to watch

the vagaries of the mind. This 'watching' the mind in turn strengthens the

buddhi, the importance of which was discussed earlier.

 

Cultivating devotion to God: The earlier one takes to devotional practices,

the better are the chances of one's success in the struggle against the mind. In

his famous Bhajagovindam Sri Adi Sankara admonishes an old man indulging in

intricacies of Sanskrit grammar: When the end of life is near, grammar rules

will be of no avail. Worship the Lord! Lord Sri Krishna advocates devotion to

God in this transient and miserable world.

 

A sincere spiritual aspirant is conscious of the evanescence of life, and

reminds himself of the admonition of the Hitopadesa: “practise dharma as if the

locks of your hair are held by death”. He prays to God and seeks His refuge and

protection even now: “One's lifespan keeps reducing every day, and youth decays.

Gone are days spent, never to return. Time is the great devourer of this world.

Prosperity is as fleeting and fickle as the waves on the ocean; life itself is

as momentary as Lightning. Therefore, O Giver of refuge, grant me protection

even now; I have taken refuge in You!”

 

To sum up, all created beings are subjected to time's ravages driving them to

the one certainty: death. Seeking and discovering the latent spiritual dimension

in us alone can make us impervious to time's cooking. This is possible by

training the mind and the sensory system, following spiritual disciplines and

realizing the spiritual Reality within, for it is only the body that is cooked

by time, not the eternal Atman.

 

With love and regards,

 

Sastry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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