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Now, the species of the Non-Conscient (Acit), viz., Time, will be treated. Time is (an) inert (substance) devoid of the triad of gunas. It is eternal and infinite. It is triply divisible as Past, Future and Present. It is the time (element) indicated by such terms as Simul- taneous, Immediate, Gradual etc; and is that which constitutes what is in vogue (as time- measures), viz., Nimesha, Kashṭhā, Tatparā, Vinādi, Kalā, Ghațikā, Muhurta,’ Day, Half- month, Month, Season, Solstice, Year etc. month by human measure is a day for the Pitrs, whose midday is the New-Moon day The period of a Manu covers seventy one 156 I.e., Satva, Rajas and Tamas. See note 162, p. 66, and (my) Bhagavad Gitā, p. 67.
187
48 minutes=1 Muhurta.
24 minutes=I Ghafikā.
Kala varies from 8 to 60 seconds. Käshṭhā=’/30 Kala-say 2 seconds. Nimesha Twinkling of the eye. Vinādi 24 seconds.
=
One
Tatparā=Used in Jyotisha for 1/30 part of a
Nimesha.
V.]
TIME
87
(Amāvāsya). One year by human measure is a day for the Devas, whose (half) day is the North-summer) solstice, and night the South- (winter) solstice. Measured thus by the Devas’ standard, twelve thousand years is called the Four Yugas. Four thousand of these consti- tutes Krta-Yuga, when Virtue (Dharma) is of its full measure. Three thousand of them with three parts of Virtue constitutes the Treta- Yuga. Two thousand with two parts of Vir- tue constitutes the Dvapara. One thousand with one part of Virtue is the Kali-Yuga. Two thousand make up the interim periods (between
168
the Yugas). The period which makes a day of Brahma is a thousand of these Four-Yugas; and a night (is) of equal duration. A day of Brahma covers (the period of) fourteen Manus, likewise of the Indras and the Seven Ṛshis.
188 Distributed thus:-
800 years between Kyta and Trda. 600 years between Treta and Dvāpara. 400 years between Dväpara and Kali. 200 years between Kali, and Kyla next.
2000
See note I p. 275, (my) Bhagavad-Gită.
88
YATINDRA-MATA-DIPIKA
[Advent
Four-Yugas. Thus, measured by the standard of Brahma, one hundred years is his life-length. All this is subject to Time. Likewise is subject to Time the various Dissolutions (Pralayas): Nitya (frequent), Naimittika (occasional), Prā- kṛta (material), etc. For time as Effect, Time itself is the Cause. Infinite time is eternal; finite times are non-eternal. Time so delineat- ed constitutes an ingredient for God’s (cosmic) Sport (i.e. Display). In the Lila-Vibhuti,TM God (1śvara) works, subject to Time. Although Time exists in the Nitya-Vibhuti," it is so by His will. Some say that time non-exists, others
- Nitya-Pralaya Sleep or Death.
180
-
Naimittika-Pralaya Disintegration at every Brahma’s day,
-
Präkṛta-Pralaya Disintegration Brahma’s age.
at every
- Atyantika-Pralaya = Final Deliverance or Escape from all material trammels=Moksha Salva- tion=Spiritual Goal Eternal. [Read Vishnu Purāṇa, VI. 3. 1 and 2: Sarveshām etc.]
10 Means: Temporal Manifested Universe, the Sport wherein consists of the three acts of Creation, Sustenance and Destruction.
This is the Eternal or Spiritual Universe of Ineffable Glory (= Vibhuti).
V1]
TIME
89
aver that Tamasa-Mahān (a category of Matter) is time. But both these positions are contrary to Word (Agama, i.e. Scriptures) and Percep- tion (Pratyaksha). The Acaryas "" affirm that Time is a cognition by the Six Senses (i.e. Mind and the Five Senses of Knowledge); that it is an object of Inference is therefore rejected.
Thus has Time been treated.
Thus ends Advent V, The Treatment of Time (Kala)
in the
Light of the School of Rāmānuja “.
Spiritual Preceptors, in a generic sense; the expositors and exegetists who came into prominence in South India, in a specific sense.
12
106