Astronomical sciences (cosmology, astrophysics) provides classical case studies to understand the मायावाद (māyāvāda – mystery doctrine) - The मायानुभव पौरापर्ये देशकालनिमित्तस्य (māyānubhava paurāparye deśakālanimittasya – mystery-experience in the continuum of space-time-causality) wherein a गतवृत्त (gatavṛtta – past event) which happened तदा-तत्र (tadā-tatra – then-there) is actually experienced in the इदानीम्–अत्र (idānīm- atra – present-now). For example, as indicated in the below picture, we visually experience (through telescopes and sometimes naked eyes) a non-local interstellar event from a distant past in the present.
Similarly, the gravitational wave ripples from the twin neutrino-star collapse triggered from a distant space-time event is being ‘listened to’ and deciphered now using sophisticated instruments at Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) etc.
Similarly, the detection of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) emanated from the earliest tracked event viz. the बृहत्स्फोटविदारण आदिकदेशकालनिमित्तकैवल्यवृतेन (bṛhatsphoṭavidāraṇa ādikadeśakālanimittakaivalyavṛtena – big-bang explosion from the initial space-time-causation singularity).
And very recent epoch making successful launch and deployment of the prestigious James Webb telescope stationed at the उपचयबिन्दु (upacayabindu – vantagepoint) for earnestly listening to गुप्तसंदेशाः (guptasaṃdeśāḥ - cryptic messages) transmitted from the दूरगतवृत्तानि (dūragatavṛttāni – distant past events).
This involves observing the दर्पणप्रतिबिम्ब नीचारक्तज्योतिषः (darpaṇapratibimba nīcāraktajyotiṣaḥ - mirror reflection of infra-red light) containing गुप्तसंदेशाः बृहत्स्फोटविदारणस्य आदिकदेशकालनिमित्तकैवल्यवृतेन (guptasaṃdeśāḥ bṛhatsphoṭavidāraṇasya ādikadeśakālanimittakaivalyavṛtena – cryptic messages of the big-bang explosion from the initial space-time-causation singularity) emanating from the गतवृत्त (gatavṛtta – past event) which is being decoded in the इदानीम्–अत्र (idānīm- atra – present-now) and the learnings will possibly be extrapolated to resolve the मायिकान्तिम्कृतान्तविद्या (māyikāntimkṛtāntavidyā – mysterious eschatological science) about the remote आगामिन्वृत्त (āgāmin vṛtta – future event) which could be one of the possibilities of
- बृहत्प्रव्लयान्तिमदेशकालनिमित्तकैवल्यवृत्त (bṛhatpravlayāntimadeśakālanimittakaivalyavṛtta – final big-crunch space-time-causality singularity event).
- बृहतपिशसन्तिमदेशकालनिमित्तकैवल्यवृत्त (bṛhatapiśasantimadeśakālanimittakaivalyavṛtta – final big-rip space-time-causality singularity event)
- बृहतपिशसन्तिमदेशकालनिमित्तकैवल्यवृत्त (bṛhatstambhayatiantimadeśakālanimittakaivalyavṛtta – final big-freeze space-time-causality singularity event)
And this is one of the main reasons, there is the famous सयनासन श्री गोविन्दराजमूर्तेः (sayanāsana śrī govindarājamūrteḥ - lying-pose of Lord GovindaRaja) consecrated at the famous திரு சித்திரகூடம் (tiru cittirakūṭam) which is the sacred ஸ்ரீ வைணவ திவ்வியதேசம் (srī vaiṇava tivviyatēcam – divine abode of Lord Vishnu) and is located just in front of the sanctum sanctorum of चित्सभा (citsabhā – gnostic hall) wherein the महा आनन्दताण्डव नटराजस्य (mahā ānandatāṇḍava naṭarājasya – supreme frantic bliss-dance of dance-king) occurs at the sacred चिदंबरदेवालयक्षेत्र (cidaṃbaradevālayakṣetra – divinity pervading gnostic -vacuum field).
In spiritual context the बृहत्स्फोटविदारण आदिकदेशकालनिमित्तकैवल्यवृतेन (bṛhatsphoṭavidāraṇa ādikadeśakālanimittakaivalyavṛtena – big-bang explosion from the initial space-time-causation singularity) corresponds to the महासृष्टिकृत्य ब्रह्माण्डस्य (mahāsṛṣṭikṛtya brahmāṇḍasya – grand evolution of the macro-cosmos) while the बृहत्प्रव्लयान्तिमदेशकालनिमित्तकैवल्यवृत्त (bṛhatpravlayāntimadeśakālanimittakaivalyavṛtta – final big-crunch space-time-causality singularity event) corresponds to the महास्सम्हारकृत्य ब्रह्माण्डस्य (mahāssamhārakṛtya brahmāṇḍasya – grand involution of macro-cosmos).
In theological terms, please recollect that these two acts form an integral part of the पञ्चमहाकृत्यानि (pañcamahākṛtyāni – five cosmic acts) performed as part of the महा आनन्दताण्डव नटराजस्य (mahā ānandatāṇḍava naṭarājasya – supreme frantic bliss-dance of dance-king) at the sacred चिदंबरदेवालयक्षेत्र (cidaṃbaradevālayakṣetra – divinity pervading gnostic -vacuum field).
ஆக்கல் / सृष्टि (ākkal/ sṛṣṭi – creation / manifestation),
காத்தல் / स्थिति (kāttal / sthiti - sustenance),
அழித்தல் / संहार (azhittal / saṁhāra –dissolution),
மறைத்தல் / तिरोभाव (maṛaittal / tirobhāva - veiling) &
அருளல் / अनुग्रह (aruḻal / anugraha - grace).
And interestingly, this आनन्दताण्डव (ānandatāṇḍava – frantic bliss dance) is being revealed to श्री पतञ्जलि महऋषि (śrī patañjali mahaṛṣi), as part of the आर्द्रादर्शन (ārdrādarśana – vision of ardra). Yes, in this context the आर्द्रादर्शन (ārdrādarśana – vision of ardra) corresponds to witnessing the आधिशेषज्योति (ādhiśeṣajyoti – primordial residual light) coming from the गतवृत्त (gatavṛtta – past event) relating to the बृहत्स्फोटविदारण आदिकदेशकालनिमित्तकैवल्यवृतेन (bṛhatsphoṭavidāraṇa ādikadeśakālanimittakaivalyavṛtena – big-bang explosion from the initial space-time-causation singularity).
Interestingly, श्री पतञ्जलि महऋषि (śrī patañjali mahaṛṣi) is considered to be अवतार आदिशेषस्य (avatāra ādiśeṣasya – incarnation of primordial residue) according to the महापुराणशास्त्राणि (mahāpurāṇaśāstrāṇi – supreme legend dcriptures) and even more interestingly, the latter is the rest-bed on whom श्री महाविष्णु (śrī mahāviṣṇu), the Lord responsible for स्थिति कृत्य (sthiti kṛtya - sustenance function) in the इदानीम्–अत्र (idānīm- atra – present-now). In philosophical terms, He is the नित्यसाक्षिचैतन्यमहविष्णोः (nityasākṣicaitanya - sākṣicaitanyamahaviṣṇoḥ -eternal witness consciousness of the omnipresence) - the becoming of the being.
Please remember that here, the चिदंबरदेवालयक्षेत्र (cidaṃbaradevālayakṣetra – divinity pervading gnostic -vacuum field) corresponding to the देशकालनिमित्तशास्वताक्षेत्रज्ञ (deśakālanimittaśāsvatākṣetrajña – space-time-causality cognizer continuum), only the इदानीम्संयत्काल (idānīmsaṃyatkāla – present continuous tense) occupies विमात्रयदृष्टदेशस्य (vimātrayadṛṣṭadeśasya – three dimensions of visible space) while गतवृत्त (gatavṛtta – past event) and आगामिन्वृत्त (āgāmin vṛtta – future event) are beyond the area marked in the famous the Henry Minkowisky's Light-cone diagram.
Of course, it is definitely not just mere coincidence that the famous Henry Minkowisky light-cone diagram resembles the sacred डमरु / உடுக்கை (ḍamaru / uḍukkai - drum) held in the hands of श्री नटराज मूर्ति (śrī naṭarāja murti – Lord Nataraja iconography).
The philosophical concept of इदानीम्संयत्काल (idānīmsaṃyatkāla – present continuous tense) underlying the becoming of the being is the most important point emphasized in the महापुराणशास्त्राणि (mahāpurāṇaśāstrāṇi – supreme legend scriptures) relating to the नित्यानन्दताण्डव (nityānandatāṇḍava – eternal frantic bliss dance) and its corresponding नित्यसाक्षिचैतन्यमहविष्णोः (nityasākṣicaitanya - sākṣicaitanyamahaviṣṇoḥ -eternal witness consciousness of the omnipresence) enacted in the form of the आर्द्रादर्शन (ārdrādarśana – vision of ardra). This, in other wordsm आर्द्रादर्शन (ārdrādarśana – vision of ardra) is not a one time event as witnessed only once either by महाविष्णु (mahāviṣṇu), श्री आदिशेष (śrī ādiśeṣa), श्री पतञ्जलि महऋषि (śrī patañjali mahaṛṣi) (or by anyone else, for that matter). It is an eternally ongoing spiritual experience of the पौराणवृत्त (paurāṇavṛtta – legendary event). In fact every, mystical event described in the sacred महापुराणशास्त्राणि (mahāpurāṇaśāstrāṇi – supreme legend scriptures) corresponds to the continuous becoming of an eternal being. In fact, technically the term पुराण (purāṇa – legend) is defined as “पुरपि नवः पुराण (purapi navaḥ purāṇa – ancient yet eternally new)”
ताण्डव कालचक्रस्य (tāṇḍava kālacakrasya – dance of time cycle)
Similarly, the ancient school Tibetan Buddhism, the concept of कालचक्र (kālacakra – time cycle) takes it to a cosmological context (of course both micro-cosmic, and macro-cosmic)
Similarly, the ancient school Tibetan Buddhism, the concept of कालचक्र (kālacakra – time cycle) takes it to a cosmological context (of course both micro-cosmic, and macro-cosmic)
An even more interesting aspect of synergy between modern cosmology and the ancient wisdom of five key stages in the cosmic life cycle of manifested Universe. For example, as already mentioned Alexander Friedmann also refers about the variable type of the universe i.e. the dynamically cyclic model of the universe. I am reproducing his earlier quoted description again for your reference:
“The variable type of Universe represents a great variety of cases; there can be cases of this type when the world's radius of curvature... is constantly increasing in time; cases are also possible when the radius of curvature changes periodically: the Universe contracts into a point (into nothing) and then again increases its radius from a point up to a certain value, then again, diminishing its radius of curvature, transforms itself into a point, etc. This brings to mind what Hindu mythology has to say about cycles of existence”
Interestingly, the last statement highlights the synergy with ancient Hindu cosmological model
The Conformal Cyclic Cosmology proposed by Roger Penrose & Gurzadyan as an alternative to the linear big-bang singularity model based on Einstein’s classical General relativity singularities (originally proposed jointly by Roger Penrose himself along with other experts like Stephen Hawkings and Robert Greoch) is another version of the modern cosmological model hinting a cosmic cycles.
Again, the oscilatory nature of universe proposed by the Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC) school of modern astrophysics which is based on the Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG), which aims to provide an integrated model of the macro-cosmic phenomena like the weak gravitational field with the micro-cosmic phenomena like the quantum fields (QCD) operatying at planck scales.
Interestingly, this closely resembles the Cyclical Cosmology of ancient Hindus. To be more specific, the LQC interprets the महाध्वनि (mahādhvani – big-bang) to actually have followed previously collapsed Universe - महारव (mahārava - big-crunch). Thus, according to this school, cosmology involves periodic cycles of महाध्वनि विकासिता (mahādhvani vikāsitā – big-bang expansion) & महारव प्रव्लय (mahārava pravlaya - big-crunch collapse) and these two events meeting at the महानिष्पेष कैवल्यं (mahāniṣpeṣa kaivalyam - Big Bounce Singularity)
Interestingly, the following verses from the वायवीय संहिता पूर्व भाग (vāyavīya saṁhitā pūrva bhāga) in the शिवमहापुराण (śivamahāpurāṇa) very categorically hints to us about the cyclic cosmology wherein the cosmological events of creation, growth and dissolution keep recurring as the wheel of time rotates.
Moreover, as originally highlighted by renowned astrophysicist Professor Fed Adams in the popular science book - “The Five ages of the Universe”, which was later experimentally verified based on the WMAP satellite expedition findings, modern astrophysics also recognizes five major cosmological eras, while defining the lifecycle of our universe. In the words of Professor Fed Adams,
“We can organize our current understanding of the past and future history of the universe by defining the following distinct eras of time. As the universe passes from one era to the next, the inventory and character of the universe change rather dramatically, and in some ways almost completely. These eras, which are analogous to geological eras, provide a broad outline of the life of the universe.”
The below chart gives a diagrammatic representation of the above phases
The following table further summarizes these five stages. If you think deeply these five stages have striking parallels to the पञ्चमहाकृत्यानि (pañcamahākṛtyāni – fivefold cosmic acts) viz. ஆக்கல் / सृष्टि (ākkal/ sṛṣṭi – creation / manifestation), காத்தல் / स्थिति (kāttal / sthiti - sustenance), அழித்தல் / संहार (aḹttal / saṁhāra –dissolution), மறைத்தல் / तिरोभाव (maṛaittal / tirobhāva - veiling) & அருளல் / अनुग्रह (aruḻal / anugraha - grace)
The प्राकृत / मौल युग (prākṛta / maula yuga - primordial era), for example, represents the function of creation, which is followed by the current era of sustenance viz. आवृतनक्षत्राणियुग (āvṛtanakṣatrāṇiyuga - stelliferous era). Subsequently, the third era viz. अवरूपयुग (avarūpayuga – degenerate era) will follow when whole universe will begin to dissolve.
Stage | Era Name | Duration | Description |
1 | प्राकृत / मौल युग (prākṛta / maula yuga - primordial era) | 10-50 to 10 5 क्षणाः (kṣaṇāḥ - seconds)
| In this phase, the universe started expanding and cooling (The big bang nucleo synthesis) |
2 | आवृतनक्षत्राणियुग (āvṛtanakṣatrāṇiyuga - stelliferous era) | 106 to 10 14 क्षणाः (kṣaṇāḥ - seconds)
| This is the current era of hydrogen rich stars, galaxies and planetary systems |
3 | अवरूपयुग (avarūpayuga – degenerate era) | 1015 to 1039 क्षणाः (kṣaṇāḥ - seconds)
| During this era, the stars will start exhausting its energy (hydrogen, helium burning etc) leading to darkness and collapse of massive stars and galaxies into white dwarfs. |
4 | श्यामल कृष्ण / रन्ध्र युग (śyāmala / kṛṣṇa randhra yuga - black hole era) | 1040 to 10100 क्षणाः (kṣaṇāḥ - seconds)
| This will be era of black holes and the only source of energy outlets will be the thin layers of radiation (slow evaporation of energy – also called as Hawking radiation) |
5 | रामयुग (rāmayuga – dark era) | 10100 क्षणाः (kṣaṇāḥ - seconds) + | This is the final state of the universe when all the sources of energy are completely exhausted leading to what is called as Heat Death |
These first three stages very obviously map to each other as they are purely cosmological in nature. The remaining two stage are more eschatological and may not be that obvious. The fourth stage of तिरोद्भाव (tirodbhāva - veiling) when everything gets hidden by the veil of अविद्या (avidyā – ignorance) just as a श्यामल कृष्ण / रन्ध्र (śyāmala / kṛṣṇa randhra - black hole) physically hides (covers) up everything including light and knowledge. Finally, in the fifth stage, there is complete liberation when all differences vanish by merging into the seed state of हिरण्यगर्भ (hiraṇyagarbha - dark womb). In fact, the latest scientific discoveries hint that “supermassive black holes might be hiding entire universes inside”
Yes, yet again science discovers ageold ancient Puranic wisdom of the evolved universes seeded back to the dark श्यामल कृष्ण / रन्ध्र (śyāmala / kṛṣṇa randhra - black hole era) symbolized as हिरण्यगर्भ (hiraṇyagarbha - golden womb) during the महारव / महाप्रलयकाल (mahārava /mahāpralayakāla - big-crunch / grand dissolution era) before the next मन्वन्तर (manvantara - manu's epoch) begins. This is the period when the भावित तत्त्वानि (bhāvita tattvāni – manifested evolutes) dissolve back into the प्रकृति अवस्था (prakṛti avasthā -primordial state). I am reminded of the following verses of the noble saint சித்தர் சிவவாக்கியர் (sittar siva vākkiyar)
The तमसक / श्यामलता (tamasaka / śyāmalatā - darkness / blackness) - what science calls as the “श्यामल कृष्ण / रन्ध्र (śyāmala / kṛṣṇa randhra - black hole)” is also symbolized निष्कल अवस्था (niṣkala avasthā - undifferentiated / noumenal state) and also conceptualized as the ब्रह्म निमेषण (brahma nimeṣaṇa - closing of God's eye). Please be noted that, while it is true that, modern science has already begun to recogonise the significance of the पञ्च महा कृत्य (pañca mahā kṛtya – five cosmic acts), at least from physical perspective; however, it still has a long way to go, from the point of view of higher realms of consciousness.
On the other hand, such concepts were always integral part of ancient Hindu wisdom as there are numerous case studies in the Hindu पुराण शास्त्र (purāṇa śāstra – mythological literature) esoterically highlighting the doctrine of Eternal recurrence of cosmic cycles. Moreover, the concept of cosmological recurrence has been highlighted through various mythological episodes in the पुराण शास्त्र (purāṇa śāstra – mythological literatures). The story of the “Parade of the Ants’ narrated in the ब्रह्म वैवर्त पुराण (brahma vaivarta purāṇa) for example, highlights the cyclic nature of cosmology, wherein the universe is manifested with the opening of ब्रह्मदेव (brahma deva – supreme god)’s eyes, and is annihilated back when closing His eyes. Heinrich Zimmer summarizes the esoteric message behind the parable thus,
The wonderful story of the Parade of Ants opens before us an unfamiliar spectacle of space and throbs with an alien pulse of time … The astounding story of the re-education of the proud and successful Indra plays with visions of cosmic cycles-eons following each other in the endlessness of time, eons contemporaneous in the infinitudes of space.
This process of opening and closing of God’s eye is technically called as उन्मेश (unmeśa – eye openin and निमेश (nimesha – eye closing) in शैव शास्त्र (śaiva śāstra). In fact, the concept of चतुर् युग (catur yuga – four fold epochs) and the मन्वन्तर (manvantra - patriarchate) also endorse this philosophy. Interestingly, in line with the Hermitic wisdom, “as above, so below”, the theme is not confined to the macro-cosmic scales but extended to the individual’s soul’s life cyle as well. The doctrines of re-incarnation and resurrection for examples also reflect the same philosophy.
The arrow of time plays a critical role in understanding these doctrines and we need to discuss the same. It is obvious that from a day to day common sense perspective, the flow of time always follows an uni-directional linear pattern. It always moves from the past, through the present to the future. Saint Augustine was one of the first advocates to formalise the concept of linear time as a philosophy. Technically, according to modern thermodynamics, as explained initially by Ludwig Boltzmann, the eminent Austrian physcist, the arrow of time is necessitated by entropy as defined in the second law of theromodynamics.
Although to the common man, time looks like a uni-directional flow constituting linear events, yet according to modern science, the linear time is more a psychological construct of the mind and hence it is even called as the psychological time modern physics echoing the ancient concept of कञ्चुक / उपाधि / कोश (kañcuka / upādhi / kośa – cloak / adjucnt / sheath) in Hinduism. At higher realms of consciousness, the underlying curvature behind the apparent linearity revealed. In geometrical term, linearity of time gets curved and becomes more elliptical and cyclical as explained by the Hindu sages thousands of years ago. It is also believed that Time follows the laws of Eternal Return also referred as The Law of Eternal Recurrence. This fact is also endorsed by Einstein’s Relativistic physics, which talks about the space-time curvatures due to Gravitational impact. Modern scientific discoveries thus reveals a cyclical pattern in time in contrast to practical experience of linear. Moreover, in striking variance from our emperical observation that time always flows in a specific sequence of past through present to the future, according to modern science, time like space exhibits perfect symmetry. That is, potentially, time can flow in both the directions – viz. past as well as the future. (We shall discuss, more about this while analysing spatial dimensions.)
In ancient Greek philosophy, the different forms of eternal recurrence doctrine seemed to be prevelant right from pre-Socratian era itself. For example, belief in cyclic patterns of ekpyrosis (anhilation/conflagragation) eventually followed by polyngenesis (rebirth) among the Stoic philosophers (like Zeno of Citium, Cleanthes of Assos & Chrissipus of Soli), was a flavor of eternal recommencement - the unending succession of destruction and recreation of the world at periodic cycles. Etymologically, the term is derived from the roots palin (again) & genesis (beginning / birth). According to them everything created from pneuma primordial sunstance and eventually dissolved back to the same. For example, according to Cleanthes the recyclying pattern of ekpyrosis (anhilation/conflagragation) & polyngenesis (rebirth) was as follows, from fire to air to water to earth and back to water to air to fire.
It is widely believed that the famous Ionian philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus` doctrine of cross recycling between primordial elements (from fire to water to earth and back to water to fire) had influenced the Stoics towards such a belief system. Interestingly, as indicated below Heraclitus was one of the foremost philosophers to have used the term cosmos (world order) which later on became the de facto standard term in philosophy and astrophysics. Moreover, esoterically speaking, according to Heraclitus, fire corresponded to the soul as testified in the following statements :
This world-order (cosmos), the same of all, no god nor man did create, but it ever was and is and will be: ever-living fire, kindling in measures and being quenched in measures. Fire’s turnings: first sea, and of sea the half is earth, the half burner (lightening or fire)…(earth) is dispersed as sea, and is measured so as to form the same proportion as existed before it became earth. All things are an exchange for fire, and fire for all things, as goods for gold and gold for goods… To soul it is death to become water; to water it is death to become earth.. From earth comes water, and from water soul (again)….
- Deils-Kranz (DK) collection of preSocratic resources ( 22B30, 22B36, 22B90)
Of course, Heraclitus was not the only occidental philosopher to advocate eternal cycles of ekpyrosis (conflagragation) & polyngenesis (rebirth).The ancient myths of Phaethon and Decalion reiterated the same and philosophers like Plato leveraged the myths of cyclic cataclysms through natural disasters by fire or floods into their cosmological doctrines. Similarly, Pythogras believed that the history of civilization is cyclical. Again, Empedocles also believed in a cyclical cosmic order. The atomists also believed that the universe manifested from and atoms and eventually will disintegrate and new ones will again arise from the void. Similarly, the ancient Hermitic wisdom belonging to the Greco-Egyptian schools also believed in rhythmic cosmic cycles as testified Principle of Rythm which is the fifth maxim in the sacred Kybalion::
More recently in the beginning of 19th century, eminent thinkers like Friedrich Neitsche were strong advocates of it. His famous declaration echoes:
“Everything becomes and recurs eternally - escape is impossible!”
and, again
“In an infinite period of time, every possible combination would at some time be attained.”
In fact, he reiterated:
“The law of conservation of energy demands eternal recurrence."
However, the focus of his philosophy was more social than cosmological. In fact, from a psychological perspective, looks like, he was not personally very comfortable with the consequences of such recurrence as admitted in his own words,
“What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more' ... Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.”'
The concept of recurrence was also hinted by the eminent philoopher of science and mathematician Jules Henry Poincare, who postulated the famous Poincare recurrance time theorem, which is widely applied in statistical mechanics, dynamic systems and related domains. It states that,
“if a dynamical system has a fixed total energy that restricts its dynamics to bounded subsets of its state space, then the dynamical system will eventually return arbitrarily close to its initial system state infinitely often”.
In simple words, the theorem states that after a sufficiently long (unfathomably long) time, all closed dynamical systems, like the Hamiltom space, will sample any accessible state. Mathematically, the theorem is defined as follows,
Let T : X → X be a measure-preserving transformation of (X, B, µ) and let A ∈ B have µ(A) > 0.
Then for µ-a.e. x ∈ A, the orbit {T nx}∞ n=0 returns to A infinitely often
In his famous work, titled ‘On the three body problem’, the eminent mathematician justfies his doctrine this,
“A theorem, easy to prove, tells us that a bounded world, governed only by the laws of mechanics, will always pass through a state very close to its initial state. On the other hand, according to accepted experimental laws (if one attributes absolute validity to them, and if one is willing to press their consequences to the extreme), the universe tends toward a certain final state, from which it will never depart. In this final state, which will be a kind of death, all bodies will be at rest at the same temperature.
I do not know if it has been remarked that the English kinetic theories can extricate themselves from this contradiction. The world, according to them, tends at first toward a state where it remains for a long time without apparent change; and this is consistent with experience; but it does not remain that way forever, if the theorem cited above is not violated; it merely stays there for an enormously long time, a time which is longer the more numerous are the molecules. This state will not be the final death of the universe, but a sort of slumber, from which it will awake after millions of millions of centuries.
According to this theory, to see heat pass from a cold body to a warm one, it will not be necessary to have the acute vision, the intelligence, and the dexterity of Maxwell's demon; it will suffice to have a little patience.
One would like to be able to stop at this point and hope that some day the telescope will show us a world in the process of waking up, where the laws of thermodynamics are reversed.”
This is obviously not mere theoretical speculation – but is backed by years of experimental analysis. In fact, as already observed, according to recent scientific discoveries in astrophysics the Universe passes through a five phased life cycle namely (originally defined by astrophysicist Professor Fed Adams, in his famous book – The Five Ages of the Universe). Even classical physicist Isaac Newton endorses this by saying that every action as a equal and opposite reaction. In other words, whenever there is a creation there necessarily has to be its reverse action, which is destruction. In the words of Dr. Michio Kaku,
“The WMAP not only gives the most accurate glimpse of the early universe, it also gives the most detailed picture of how the universe will die. Just as a mysterious anti-gravity force pushed the galaxies apart at the beginning of time, this same anti-gravity force is now pushing the universe to its final fate…. If this antigravity continues, the universe will ultimately die in a big freeze.”
Interestingly, these astounding scientific discoveries are but reflections of many ancient religious cultures across the globe, who even without the luxury of sophisticated technological infrastruture avilable to modern day scientist, have been advocating similar doctrines of cycllical pattern in time. There is a huge list of ancient mythological stories, highlighting the cyclical pattern of time. Famous parables such as Parade of the Ants narated in the ब्रह्मविवर्त पुराण (brahmavivarta purāṇa), the Sumerian legend of Inanna’s descent to the nether world, the Egyptian legend of the Horus are other popular references of similar theme.
In Hindu cosmology as described in श्रीमद् भागवतपुराण (śrīma dbhāgavatapurāṇa), विष्णुपुराण (viṣṇupurāṇa) and various other महापुराणानि (mahāpurāṇāni – grand legends) deal with the concept of सृष्टि (sṛṣṭi – creation), स्थिति (sthiti – sustenance) and प्रलय (pralaya - annihilation) of the universe in repetitive time cycles of theयुग (yuga - epoch) & मन्वन्त्र (manvantra – patriarchate) time scales defined in the above table. In fact, a according to these scriptures, the cosmic recycling, technically called as युग प्रलय (yuga pralaya – epoch dissolution), occurs at the end of every युग (yuga - epoch), as indicated by the table below:.
युग (yuga - epoch) Ascending order of evolution | Terrestrial Duration (in human years) | विभव अवतार (vibhava avatāra –glorious incarnation) |
सत्य युग (satya yuga – golden epoch) | 1,728,000 | मत्स्य अवतार (matsya avatāra – fish incarnation) कूर्म अवतार (kūrma avatāra – tortoise incarnation) वराह अवतार (varāha avatāra – boar incarnation) नरसिम्ह अवतार (narasimha avatāra – lion-man incarnation) |
त्रेत युग (treta yuga – silver epoch) | 1,296,000 | परसुराम अवतार (parasurāma avatāra - man with axe incarnation) वामन अवतार (vāmana avatāra – dwarf man incarnation) राम अवतार (rāma avatāra) |
द्वापर युग (dvāpara yuga – bronze epoch) | 864,000 | कृष्ण अवतार (kṛṣṇa avatāra) बलराम (balarāma avatāra) |
कलि युग (kali yuga – iron epoch) | 432,000 | कल्कि अवतार (kalki avatāra) |
महा युग (mahā yuga – mega epoch) | 4,320,000 | |
Before proceeding further, in order to appreciate these concepts better, we need to get some fundamental brushup of the various time scales discussed here. We have already seen that time is generally expresssed in uints of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. While such denominations are sufficient for most of our practical life, it may not be enough for measuring higher realms of time, both in the microcosmic and the macrocosmic aspects. Hence, a more comprehensive scale of measurement is required and thanks to the Hindu sages whose foresight has helped in defining very elaborate and well thought through काल विद्या (kāla vidyā - science of time). The following table lists the various काल परिमा (kāla parimā – time measures) defined by Hindu wisdom, as articulated in various sacred scriptures, including विष्णु पुराण (viṣṇu purāṇa), श्रीमद् भागवत पुराण (śrīmad bhāgavata purāṇa), सूर्य सिद्धान्त (sūrya siddhānta) etc.
Unit of Measure | Details |
1 त्रसरेण (trasareṇu) | The lowest unit of combination of 3 hexatoms |
1 तृटि (tṛṭi) | The time taken to integration of 3 त्रसरेणवः (trasareṇavaḥ) = (approx) 8/13,500th of a क्षणाः (kṣaṇa - second) = 1/6787.5th of a क्षणाः (kṣaṇa - second) |
1 वेधः (vedhaḥ) | 100 तृट्यः (tṛṭyaḥ)s = 8/135th of a क्षणाः (kṣaṇa - second) |
1 लव (lava) | 3 वेधाः (vedhāḥ)s = 8/45th of a क्षणाः (kṣaṇa - second) |
1 निमिष (nimiṣa- moment) | 3 लवाः (lavāḥ)s = 8/15th of a क्षणाः (kṣaṇa - second). Etymologically the term निमिष (nimiṣa) means “blinking of the eye” |
1 विकला (vikalā) | 1 क्षणाः (kṣaṇa - second) |
1 क्षण (kṣaṇa) or 1 परमाणु (paramāṇu) | 3 निमिषाः (nimiṣāḥ - moments) - Average time taken by a human to blink his eyes once. - 8/5 क्षणाः (kṣaṇāḥ - seconds) |
1 मात्र (mātra) | 8 निमिषाः (nimiṣāḥ - moments) |
1 गुरु (guru) | 2 मात्र (mātra) |
1 प्राण (prāṇa- breath) | 10 गुरवः (guravaḥ) = 4 क्षणाः (kṣaṇāḥ - seconds) |
1 काष्टा (kāṣṭā) | 51 क्षणाः (kṣaṇāḥ - seconds) = (approx) 8 क्षणाः (kṣaṇāḥ - seconds) |
1 पल (pala) or विघटि (vighaṭi) or विनाडी (vināḍī)
| 6 प्राणाः (prāṇāḥ - breaths) = 60 विपलानि (vipalāni) = 6 परमाणवः (paramāṇavaḥ - micro particles) =3 काष्ठाः (kāṣṭhāḥ) = (approx) 24 क्षणाः (kṣaṇāḥ - seconds) |
1 निमेष (nimeṣa - minute) | 60 क्षणाः (kṣaṇāḥ - seconds) |
1 लघु (laghu) | 15 काष्ठाः (kāṣṭhāḥ) = approx 2 निमेषौ (nimeṣau = minutes) |
1 घटी / नाडी / ¿¡Æ¢¨¸ / दन्दा (ghaṭī / nāḍī / naazhigai / dandā) | 60 पलानि (palāni) = 15 लघवः (laghavaḥ) = (approx) 24 निमेषाः (nimeṣāḥ - minutes) |
1 कला (kalā) | 2 लघु (laghu) = 30 काष्ठाः (kāṣṭhāḥ) = 60 विकला (vikalā) = 1 निमेष (nimeṣa - minute) |
1 क्शन (kśana) | 30 कला (kalā)s |
1 मुहूर्त (muhūrta) | 2 घटी (ghaṭī) = 12 क्षणाः (kṣaṇāḥ - seconds) s = approx 48 minutes |
1 यमः (yamaḥ) | 6 मुहूर्ताः (muhūrtāḥ) = (approx) 1/4th of a day |
1 करनः (karanaḥ) | 2.5 यमाः (yamāḥ) = 15 मुहूर्ताः (muhūrtāḥ) = ½ तिथि (tithi) |
1 तिथि / मनुष्य अहोरात्र (titi/ manuṣya ahorātra – lunar/sidereal day) | 60 घट्यः (ghaṭyaḥ) = 2 करणौ (karaṇau) = 5 यमाः (yamāḥ) = 30 मुहूर्ताः (muhūrtāḥ) = 24 hours (approx). |
1 वार (vāra - week) | 7 Solar Day of the week |
1 पक्ष (pakṣa - fortnight) | 15 तिथ्यः (tithyaḥ – lunar days) |
1 मास (māsa - month) | 2 पक्षौ (pakṣau) = 30 तिथ्यः (tithyaḥ – lunar days) (approx) lunar month measured in lunar days solar month measured in solar days |
1 ऋतु (ṛtu – season) | 2 मासौ (māsau - months) |
1 आयनम् (āyanam - solistice) | 3 ऋत्वः (ṛtvaḥ -seasons) = 6 मासाः (māsāḥ - months) |
1 मनुष्य वत्सर (manuśya vatsara - human year) | 2 आयनम् (āyanam)s = 12 मासाः (māsāḥ - months) (360 मनुष्य दिनाः (manuṣya dināḥ - human days) approx, 4.5 days rounded of for calculations) |
1 पितृ दिन (pitṛ dina – ancestral day) | 15 मनुष्य दिनाः (manuṣya dināḥ - human days) |
1 पितृ रात्रि (pitṛ rātri – ancestral night) | 15 मनुष्य रात्र्यः (manuṣya rātrayaḥ - 15 human nights) |
1 पितृ अहोरात्र (pita ahorātra – ancestral daynight) | 30 मनुष्य अहोरात्र (manuṣya ahorātra – day + night) = 1 पितृ दिन (pitṛ dina – ancestral day) + 1 पितृ रात्रि (pitṛ rātri – ancestral night) |
1 देव अहोरात्र (deva ahorātra – divine daynight) | 1 मनुष्य वत्सर (manuśya vatsara - human year) = 360 मनुष्य दिनाः (manuṣya dināḥ - human days) |
1 देव वत्सर (deva vatsara – divine year) | 360 देव अहोरात्र्यः (deva ahorātrayaḥ - divine daynights) = 1,29,600 मनुष्य अहोरात्र्यः (manuṣya ahorātrayaḥ - divine daynights) |
1 कलियुग (kali yuga – dark era) | 1200 देव वत्सराः (deva vatsarāḥ – divine years) = 4,32,000 मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years) |
1 द्वापर युग (dvāpara yuga) | 2400 देव वत्सराः (deva vatsarāḥ – divine years) = 8,64,000 मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years) =2 कलियुगे (kaliyuge – dark eras) |
1 त्रेत युग (treta yuga) | 3600 देव वत्सराः (deva vatsarāḥ – divine years) = 1,296,000 मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years) = 3 कलियुगानि (kaliyugāni – dark epochs) |
1 सत्य युग (satya yuga)
| 4800 देव वत्सराः (deva vatsarāḥ – divine years) = 1,728,000 मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years) =4 कलियुगानि (kaliyugāni – dark epochs) |
1 चतुर् युग (catur yuga) or 1 महायुग (mahāyuga) | 12000 देव वत्सराः (deva vatsarāḥ – divine years) = 4,320,000 (4.3 million) मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years) 1 चतुर्युग (caturyuga) = 1 कलियुग (kali yuga – dark era) + 1 द्वापर युग (dvāpara yuga) + 1 त्रेत युग (treta yuga) + 1 सत्य युग (satya yuga) |
1 मन्वन्तर (manvantara - patriarchate) | 71.43 1 महायुगानि (mahāyugāni) = 308,571,428.6 (308.5 million) मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years) |
1 कल्प (kalpa - aeon) | 1000 1 महायुगानि (mahāyugāni) = 4,320,000,000 (4.32 billion) मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years) Or 14 मन्वन्तराणि (manvantarāṇi - patriarchates) |
1 सूर्यकल्प (suryakalpa – solar aeon) | 7 कल्पाः (kalpāḥ - aeons) = 30,240,000,000 (30.24 billion) मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years) |
1 ब्रह्म दिन (brahma dina – brahma day)
| 2 कल्पौ (kalpau - aeons) = 1 ब्रह्म अहोरात्र (brahma ahorātra – divine daynight) = 8,640,000,000 (8.64 billion) मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years) |
1 ब्रह्म वत्सर (brahma vatsara – brahma year) | 360 ब्रह्म दिनाः (brahma dināḥ - divine years) = 3,110,400,000,000 (3.1 trillion) मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years). |
ब्रह्म आयुस् (brahma āyus – brahma’s lifespan) | 100 ब्रह्म वत्सराः (brahma vatsarāḥ – brahma years) = 311,040,000,000,000 (311 trillion) मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years) |
Of course, an important point to remember is that there are slight variations on these time scales across different scriptures which are inturn based on the specific time-cycle model they follow. For example, the revered परमाचार्य श्री अभिनवगुप्त (paramācārya śrī abhinavagupta) in his magnum opus masterpiece श्री तन्त्रालोकः (śrī tantrālokaḥ) summarizes thus on the time-scale with a deeper anthropicentric yogic model, while discussing about the essence of time.
Wow! This is definitely mind boggling, when we begin to realize, the scale of the ब्रह्मन् (brahman – divinity), and I am just reminded of these golden verses of பெரியாழ்வார் (periyāḹvār) in his திருப்பல்லாண்டு (tiruppallāṇḍu), describing God.
Well all this huge numbers may seem very fanciful, but as Madam H.P. Blavatsky explains in her epoch making book Isis Unveiled,
“These ciphers are not fanciful, but founded upon actual astronomical calculations, as has been demonstrated by S. Davis. Many a scientist, Higgins among others, notwithstanding their researches, has been utterly perplexed as to which of these was the secret cycle”.
Honestly, looking at such massive time scales, humbles us - the ordinary mortals, the literally insignificant role we are supposed to be playing, in the entire scheme of things – The BIG picture. Looking at the above time scales, we can very clearly understand that, the Brahman is definitely much beyond the human scope (range) of Time. Both from the temporal and spatial dimensions, we should in all honesty admit that we are less than a speck of dust in the ब्रह्माण्ड (brahmāṇḍa). We are almost NOWHERE!
Well yes, NOWHERE is definitely the right word to be used here as in the one sense it means our role in this whole system is almost no where even significant when talking about the bigger scheme of things, but looking at it the other way round, NOWHERE also means Now Here! Yes, it means every individual soul definitely has a very vital role and potential to play now, here in this world. After all, we are the Heroes of the divine drama. We can discuss more about this later and for now return back to our discussion.
From the table mapping the relationship between युग (yuga - era) & अवतार (avatāra - incarnation) listed earlier, one can easily observe that the चतुर् युग (catur yuga - four eras) are split in the ratio of 4:3:2:1 in the ascending order of evolution, starting with the सत्य युग (satya yuga) (comprising 1,728,000 human years) followed by the remaining three. This golden ratio is also referred by श्री अभिनवगुप्त (śrī abhinavagupta) in his magnum opus तन्त्रलोक (tantraloka) as well as its abridged version the तन्त्रसार (tantrasāra). For example, he acknowledges thus in the following paragraph from the बाह्यविधिः प्रकाशनम् (bāhyavidhiḥ prakāśanam) of तन्त्रसार (tantrasāra).
Moreover, in the same scripture, the four fold ratio mentioned earlier is exoterically expressed as the number of legs of the cow representing धर्म (dharma) which is originally four during the सत्य युग (satya yuga), is broken to 3, 2 and 1 in the त्रेता युग (tretā yuga), while द्वापर युग (dvāpara yuga) and the कलि युग (kali yuga – dark era) respectively.
Please remember that once in every 4,32,000 years there is a विभव अवतार (vibhava avatāra - glorious incarnation) descending from above, to set right anomaly and restore back the धर्म (dharma – order/cosmos). In the सत्य युग (satya yuga) for example, there are four incarnations (as listed in the above table), while it is 3, 2 and 1 (yet to happen) in the respective eras. By the way, please remember that युग प्रलय (yuga pralaya – epoch dissolution) is only special kind of temporal recycling, Hindu wisdom has recognized various frequencies of temporal recycling as listed below
नित्य प्रलय (nitya pralaya - continual dissolution): This is the kind of dissolution continuously occurring in the microcosmic-world as endorsed even by modern quantum physics of the nuclear and the sub-atomic worlds, where there is continuous emission and absorption of particles in what is generally referred to as particle time (measured in very tiny units of time e.g. picoseconds etc.). Please remember that these पञ्च महा कृत्य (pañca mahā kṛtya – fivefold cosmic acts) are not once in a while activity but eternally recurring series of continuous acts making up the phenomenal universe. Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi very clearly explains this as captured in the following verses by close disciple Sri Muruganar,
"Know that according to His will, law and plan, every moment of everyday the five functions of God (creation, sustenance, destruction, veiling and Grace) will be going on perfectly and unceasingly in the universe, which is full of moving and unmoving objects. Every moment (i.e., many millions of times in a second) each atom (in the universe) is destroyed and newly created. Since this is going on unceasingly, it appears as if they (the objects of the universe) are the same (objects) existing continuously.”.
दिन प्रलय (dina pralaya – daily dissolution): This is kind of dissolution is also called as दिनादिन मरनम (dinādina maranam - daily death) when the human soul termporarily dissoves its waking consciousness and goes to sleep.
पौरुश प्रलय (pauruśa pralaya- personal dissolution): This is the kind of dissolution for the जीवात्मन् (jīvātman - individual soul), more commonly known as मृत्यु (mṛtyu - death).
नैमित्तिक/ भौमिक/ अवान्तर प्रलय (naimittika / bhaumika/ avāntara pralaya- occasional/ terrestrial/ minor dissolution):
This is supposed to occur at the end of every कल्प (kalpa - aeon) the first half of a ब्रह्मदिन (brahmadina – divine day) which is approximately equivalent to 1000 महायुगानि (mahāyugāni – mega epochs) i.e 4.32 billion मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years); when all the manifested forms in the ब्रह्माण्ड (brahmāṇḍa – cosmic egg - terrestrial Universe) will be dissolved by fire back to the original state of स्थूल तत्त्व (sthūla tattva - gross elements). Thus, this is not a complete dissolution, as the world is only reduced to the subtler residual satet of elements hence considered to be नैमितिक (naimittika - occasional). Correspondingly, during the following 4.32 billion मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years), in the 2nd कल्प (kalpa - aeon) – ब्रह्मरात्रि (brahmarātri - divine night) the ब्रह्माण्ड (brahmāṇḍa – cosmic egg) is considered to be in a state of hibernation. Each कल्प (kalpa - aeon) is governed by a team of 14 मनवः (manavaḥ - progenitors) and the मन्वन्तर (manvantara - patriarchate) is considered to be around 71महायुगानि (mahāyugāni – mega epochs). Etymologically, the term मन्वन्तर (manvantara - patriarchate) is derived from the words मनु (manu - progintor) & अन्तर (antara – duration). Thus, मन्वन्तर (manvantara - patriarchate) means “the duration between two manus”. The following words from the सूर्य सिद्धान्त (sūrya siddhānta) describes a मन्वन्तर (manvantara - patriarchate) thus,
सौर्य प्रलय (saurya pralaya - solar dissolution):
This is supposed to occur at the end of every सूर्य कल्प (sūrya kalpa - solar aeon), which is around 30.24 billion मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years),.
प्राक्र्त प्रलय / महा प्रलय (prākrta pralaya/ mahā pralaya - total dissolution):
The total dissolution is supposed to be occurring at the end of every ब्रह्म (brahma) life which is calculated to be around 311.04 trillion मनुष्य वत्सराः (manuśya vatsarāḥ - human years)
आत्यन्तिक प्रलय (ātyantika pralaya - absolute dissolution):
While all the above kinds are predominantly at the collective level, this happens when the individual self, on attaining release from bondage attains मोक्श (mokśa - liberation). Etymologically, the term ‘आत्यन्तिक (ātyantika)’ is derived as अति (ati - beyond) + अन्त (anta - end), meaning ‘Beyond End’. This is the state of absolute immortality attained by rare जीवन्मुक्त (jīvanmukta – living liberate) who by their spiritual progress have attained this state of மரணமில்லா பெரு வாழ்வு (maraṇamillā peru vāḹvu - Immortal Life of Bliss), and becomes a चिरञ्जीवा (cirañjīvā – immortal being)
To understand more about this concept, I would like to share my humble learnings on the spiritual glory of Lord श्री चिदम्बरनटराज (śrī cidambaranaṭarāja) and the significance of his worship in the following blog series
# | Topic | Micro Blog URL Link |
1 | वार्षिक उत्सव (vārṣika utsava- annual festival) celebrated as ब्रह्मोत्सव / महोत्सव (brahmotsava / mahotsava – grand festival) | https://chitsabhesayamangalam.blogspot.com/p/varsika-utsava-annual-festival.html |
2 | कल्प विज्ञान चिदंबरस्य (kalpa vijñāna cidaṃbarasya – ritual science of gnostic space) | https://chitsabhesayamangalam.blogspot.com/p/kalpa-vijnana-cidambarasya-ritual.html |
3 | निहित-जाल ताण्डव नटराजस्य (nihitajālatāṇḍava naṭarājasya – nested network dance of dance-king) | https://chitsabhesayamangalam.blogspot.com/p/nihitajalatandava-nested-network-dance.html
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4 | ब्रह्मपिण्डसंसुतिविज्ञान गुर्वर्थत्व (brahmapiṇḍasaṃsutivijñāna gurvarthatva - Macro and Micro Cosmological significance) | https://chitsabhesayamangalam.blogspot.com/p/cosmological-significance.html
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5 | ब्राह्मप्रतिकाविद्यानटराजस्य (brāhmapratikāvidyānaṭarājasya – sacred iconography of dance-king) | https://chitsabhesayamangalam.blogspot.com/p/sacred-iconography-of-paramananda.html
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6 | ब्राह्मप्रतिकाविद्यानटराजस्य (brāhmapratikāvidyānaṭarājasya – sacred iconography of dance-king) | https://chitsabhesayamangalam.blogspot.com/p/sacred-iconography-of-paramananda.html
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7 | ज्योतिष अर्थवत्त्व आर्द्रा दर्शनस्य (jyotiṣa arthavattva ārdrā darśanasya - astronomical significance of Arudra vision) | https://chitsabhesayamangalam.blogspot.com/p/astronomical-significance-of-ardra.html
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8 | ब्राह्मप्रतिकाविद्यानटराजस्य (brāhmapratikāvidyānaṭarājasya – sacred iconography of dance-king) | https://chitsabhesayamangalam.blogspot.com/p/sacred-iconography-of-paramananda.html |
9 | ज्योतिष अर्थवत्त्व आर्द्रा दर्शनस्य (jyotiṣa arthavattva ārdrā darśanasya - astronomical significance of Arudra vision) | https://chitsabhesayamangalam.blogspot.com/p/astronomical-significance-of-ardra.html |
10 | ब्राह्मप्रतिकाविद्यानटराजस्य (brāhmapratikāvidyānaṭarājasya – sacred iconography of dance-king) | https://chitsabhesayamangalam.blogspot.com/p/sacred-iconography-of-paramananda.html |
कालवहति च ब्रह्माण्ड प्रव्लय (kālavahati ca brahmāṇḍa pravlaya - time elapse and macrocosmic collapse)
This fantastically simulated video provides a very very trancefully blissful immersive experience, of voyaging through several trillions of trillions of years of (space-)time travel, as a पक्वमुक्तक साक्षिन् (pakvamuktaka Sākśin - perfectly detached observer/witness) of the संहार /पर्लय (saṁhāra/pralaya - annihilation /involution) of the "phenomenal becoming" aka प्रकृति/शक्ति/शकल(prakṛti/śakti/śakala - primordial matter / energy / fragmented) to the ultimate state of "noumenal being" aka पुरुष/शिव/निषकल(puruṣa/śiva/niśkala - self / shiva / undivided). The philosophic beauty here is that, I, as the passive observer, watching this fabulous drama of the cosmic death, remain the आदिशेष (ādiśeṣa - primordial residue) experiencing the आनन्द निर्वान शून्य । चिदंबरम (ānanda nirvāna śūnya / cidaṁbaram - bliss of naked vacuum consciousness) in the lines of...
In other words of anthropic perspective, each viewer as the spectator/observer of the final involution into the महाविष्णु (MahāViṣṇu - cosmic expanse) is the आदिशेष (ādiśeṣa - primordial residue) holding the locus of the Lord श्रीमन् नारायण (śrīman nārāyaṇa) in अनन्त शयन(ananta śayana- eternal rest) as the अन्तर्यामि ब्रहमन (antaryāmi brahman - indwelling divinity).
Speculations on feasibility of puranic time travel
In my humble opinion, I
think it all boils down on what one means by concepts like “काल (kāla - time)” and “यात्र (yātra - travel)”. These concepts have
been some of the most debated and speculated topics not only in ancient
philosophical traditions across the globe but also medieval philosophies as
well as modern sciences. Particularly, the ontological and epistemological
status of time is one of the most important questions debated across different
schools of philosophies.
Take the Indian scenario
itself, there are considerable differences in between each of these pairs of
schools Hindus, Buddhists and Jains have their own customized versions as well.
Similarly, in the western world there are a variety of schools.
While some schools
consider काल (kāla -
time) as an independent ontological entity – दरव्य (dravya - element), while for others it is
just an epistemological construct.; similarly, for some it is a धर्मि (dharmi – substantial), while for others it
is धर्म (dharma -attributive); again, some schools
believe that time momentary, while others say it is enduring, while still other
believe it is perduring. For some time is linear
(flat space-time), for some it is cyclical, while for still others it is
spiral. Classical physics considers time to be static and absolute, whereas
relativistic physics considers it dynamic and relative. Certain schools of
quantum physics consider time not as a fundamental principle, but as a derived
or emergent one. In a nutshell, there is no single universally accepted
model of time either in religion, philosophy or for that matter even in
physics.
The
next important concept to understand is that not only there are striking
differences in the ontological viewpoints on time across philosophical schools,
but there are also differences in the measurement scales of time i.e. defining
the units and durations of time scales. Before proceeding further, please
remember that both according to ancient Hindu philosophical wisdom, as well as
modern relativistic-quantum physics देश (deśa
- space) & काल (kāla
- time) are not considered as two isolated entities
but as one integrated संप्रवाह (saṁpravāha
- continuum) called the fabric of देश-काल संप्रवाह (deśa-kāla
saṁpravāha – space time contiuum).
For example, according to the श्रीमद् भागवत महापुराण (śrīmad bhāgavata mahāpurāṇa) the denomination of space-time begins from microscopic subatomic scales of परमानु (paramānu), अनु (anu), त्रसरेनु (trasarenu), त्रुति (truti),वेध (vedha) & लव (lava) through मानुष्य काल (mānuṣya kāla – human time) of meso-time scales of निमिष (nimiṣa), क्षण (kṣaṇa), काष्ठा (kāṣṭhā), लघु (laghu), नाडिक (nāḍika), मुहूर्त (muhūrta) दिन (dina - day), सप्ताह (saptāha -week), पक्ष (pakṣa - fortnight), मास (māsa - month), आयन (āyana – half year), वर्ष (varṣa - year), युग (yuga - aeon), महायुग (mahā yuga – grand epoch), मन्वन्तर (manvantara – patriarch era), कल्प (kalpa - aeon) etc.
In a nutshell, the comprehensive timescale
roughly spanning from nanoseconds to more than trillions of years. Many
scholars, scientists and subject matter experts are testifying that these time
scales are astonishingly very close to modern cosmological estimates.
In many scriptures the length of the महायुग (mahāyuga
– grand epoch) is
considered to be 43,20,000 भूलोक स्थानिक देशकाल सन्दर्भक्षेत्रस्य सापेक्षं मानववर्षाः
(bhūloka sthānika dēśakāla sandarbhakṣētrasya sāpēkṣaṁ mānava varṣāḥ - human years relative
to terrestrial-world spacetime frame of reference). This is further split into चतुर्युगकाल (caturyugakāla
– fourfold epoch period) in
in the ब्रःमाण्डीय स्वर्णपातः देश्कालचक्राणाम्
(braḥmāṇḍīya svarṇapātaḥ
deśkālacakrāṇām – macrocosmic golden ratio of spacetime cycles) viz.
|
# |
युग (yuga – epoch) |
ब्रःमाण्डीय स्वर्णपातः देश्कालचक्राणाम् (braḥmāṇḍīya svarṇapātaḥ deśkālacakrāṇām – macrocosmic golden
ratio of spacetime cycles) (4:3:2:1) |
भूलोक स्थानिक देशकाल सन्दर्भक्षेत्रस्य सापेक्षं मानववर्षाः
(bhūloka sthānika dēśakāla
sandarbhakṣētrasya sāpēkṣaṁ mānava varṣāḥ - human years relative to terrestrial-world
spacetime frame of reference) |
ब्रह्मलोक स्थानिक देशकाल सन्दर्भक्षेत्रस्य सापेक्षं
देववर्षाः (brahmaloka sthānika dēśakāla
sandarbhakṣētrasya sāpēkṣaṁ devavarṣāḥ- divine years relative to divine-world spacetime
frame of reference) |
|
1 |
कृत्यायुग (kṛtyā yuga – creation epoch) |
4 |
17,28,000 |
4,800
|
|
2 |
त्रेतायुग (tretāyuga – third epoch) |
3 |
12,96,000 |
3,600 |
|
3 |
द्वापरयुग (dvāpara yuga – second epoch) |
2 |
8,64,000 |
2,400 |
|
4 |
कलियुग (kaliyuga – dark/black epoch) |
1 |
4,32,000 |
1,200 |
|
|
महायुग (mahāyuga
– grand epoch) |
|
43,20,000 |
12,000 |
एकसप्ततिक महायुगाः (ekasaptatika
mahāyugāḥ – seventy one grand epochs) constitute
what is called as a एक मन्वन्तर (eka manvantara – one patriarch-era) and
then चतुर्दश मन्वन्तरः (manvantara – patriarch periods) constitute
a एक कल्प (eka kalpa – one aeon) which
in turn corresponds to चतुर्विंशतिः घण्टाः एक ब्रह्मदिनस्य (caturviṁśatiḥ ghaṇṭāḥ eka brahmadinasya – twenty four hours of one god-day) and
षष्टित्रिशत
ब्रह्मदिनाः (ṣaṣṭitriśata brahmadināḥ – three hundred and sixty
god-days) corresponds to एक ब्रह्मवर्ष (eka
brahmavarṣa – one god-year);
and एकशत ब्रह्मव्र्षाः (ekaśata brahmavrṣāḥ – one hundred god-years) correspond to आयुष्काल ब्रह्मस्य (āyuṣkāla
brahmasya – life-span of god). And more importantly, such scales are cyclical
wherein the events are repetitively recurring.
In fact, the दशमहावोभव अवताराः श्री महाविष्णोः (daśamahāvobhava avatārāḥ śrī mahāviṣṇoḥ - ten
supreme glorious incarnations of Lord Maha Visnu) are also uniformly spread across महायुग (mahāyuga
– grand epoch). That is,
there is one महा विभव अवतार (mahā vibhava avatāra - supreme glorious incarnation) for every 4,32,000 भूलोक स्थानिक देशकाल सन्दर्भक्षेत्रस्य
सापेक्षं मानववर्षाः (bhūloka sthānika dēśakāla
sandarbhakṣētrasya sāpēkṣaṁ mānava varṣāḥ - human years relative to terrestrial-world
spacetime frame of reference).
In other words, the ब्रःमाण्डीय स्वर्णपातः देश्कालचक्राणाम्
(braḥmāṇḍīya svarṇapātaḥ deśkālacakrāṇām – macrocosmic golden
ratio of spacetime cycles) (4:3:2:1) is applicable not only to the युगाः (yugāḥ - epochs) but also to the corresponding विभव अवताराः (vibhava
avatārāḥ - glorious incarnations).
In this context, just as
there are temporal units of measure discussed above, there are spatial measures
as well. For example, the temporal ranges discussed so far belongs to the realm
of human consciousness operating within the spatial range of देशकालक्षेत्र मानुष्यलोकस्य (deśakālakṣetra mānuṣyalokasya– spacetime field of human
realm). But this is not the only space-time
realm. There are still higher realms of spiritual consciousness viz.
|
# |
देशकालक्षेत्र मानुष्यलोकस्य (deśakālakṣetra – spacetime field) |
Example Unit Measure |
|
1 |
देशकालक्षेत्र मानुष्यलोकस्य (deśakālakṣetra mānuṣyalokasya – spacetime field of
human realm) |
मणुष्य दिन (maṇuṣya dina –
human day), मणुष्य वार (maṇuṣya vāra – human week), मणुष्य पक्ष (maṇuṣya pakṣa – human fortnight), मणुष्य मास (maṇuṣya māsa –
human month) & मणुष्य वर्ष (maṇuṣya varṣa – human year) etc. |
|
2 |
देशकालक्षेत्र पितृलोकस्य (deśakālakṣetra pitṛlokasya– spacetime field of manes
realm) |
पितृ दिन (pitṛ dina – ancestor
day), पितृ वार (pitṛ vāra – ancestor week), पितृ पक्ष (pitṛ pakṣa – ancestor fortnight), पितृ मास (pitṛ māsa – ancestor
month) & पितृ वर्ष (pitṛ varṣa – ancestor
year) etc. |
|
3 |
देशकालक्षेत्र देवलोकस्य (deśakālakṣetra devalokasya – spacetime field of deity
realm) |
देव दिन (deva dina – god
day), देव वार (deva vāra – god
week), देव पक्ष (deva pakṣa – god
fortnight), देव मास (deva māsa – god month) & देव वर्ष (deva varṣa – god year) etc. |
|
4 |
देशकालक्षेत्र ब्रह्मालोकस्य (deśakālakṣetra brahmālokasya – spacetime field of
Brahma realm) |
ब्रह्मा दिन (brahmā dina – brahma
day), ब्रह्मा वार (brahmā vāra – brahma
week), ब्रह्मा पक्ष (brahmā pakṣa – brahma
fortnight), ब्रह्मा मास (brahmā māsa – brahma month) & ब्रह्मा वर्ष (brahmā varṣa – brahma year) etc. |
|
5 |
देशकालक्षेत्र विष्णुलोकस्य (deśakālakṣetra viṣṇulokasya – spacetime field of
Vishnu realm) |
विष्णु दिन (viṣṇu dina – vishnu
day), विष्णु वार (viṣṇu vāra – vishnu
week), विष्णु पक्ष (viṣṇu pakṣa – vishnu
fortnight), विष्णु मास (viṣṇu māsa – vishnu month) & विष्णु वर्ष (viṣṇu varṣa – vishnu year) etc. |
|
6 |
देशकालक्षेत्र शिवलोकस्य (deśakālakṣetra śivalokasya– spacetime field of Shiva
realm) |
शिव दिन (śiva dina – shiva
day), शिव वार (śiva vāra – shiva
week), शिव पक्ष (śiva pakṣa – shiva
fortnight), शिव मास (śiva māsa – shiva month) & शिव वर्ष (śiva varṣa – shiva year) etc. |
Thus, each realm has a relative frame of
reference and of course there is a mathematical mapping relating these realms.
Like a मणुष्य वर्ष (maṇuṣyavarṣa
– human year) in
the भूलोक (bhūloka – terrestrial plane) corresponds to a देवदिन (devadina
– god day) in the देवलोक (devaloka
– heavenly plane). Similarly, there are corresponding mappings
between other realms as well.
Based on the account given in the sacred श्रीमद् भागवत महापुराण (śrīmad
bhāgavata mahāpurāṇa), at present (as on 20th January
2024), in the capacity of ordinary mortals are operating currently from भूलोक (bhūloka
– terrestrial plane) in
the 5118th year कलियुगस्य अष्टविशतितमहायुगस्य (kaliyuga
aṣṭaviśatitamahāyugasya – dark epoch of twenty-eighth grand epoch) within
the वैवस्वत मन्वन्त्र (vaivasvata
manvantra) which
is the सप्तम मन्वन्तर (saptama
manvantara – seventh patriarch era) within the श्वेतवराहकल्प एकपञ्चाश ब्रह्मवर्षस्य
(śvetavarāhakalpa ekapañcāśa
brahmavarṣasya – white-boar aeon of the fift-first divine year).
The eminent Indian astronomer श्री वराहमिहिर (śrī
varāhamihira) in
his phenomenal work सूर्य सिद्धान्त (sūrya
siddhānta) very
clearly testifies this model.
However, the next important point to understand is that while referring about the time scales in the Indian scriptural context viz. इतिहास (itihāsa - epic), पुराण (purāña - mythology), ज्योतिषशास्त्र (jyotiṣaśāstra – astrological treatise), there seems to be some discrepancies regarding the durations amongst different scriptures. For example, some eminent astronomers do not subscribe to the above ब्रःमाण्डीय स्वर्णपातः देश्कालचक्राणाम् (braḥmāṇḍīya svarṇapātaḥ deśkālacakrāṇām – macrocosmic golden ratio of spacetime cycles) (4:3:2:1).
श्री आर्यभट्ट (śrī
āryabhaṭṭa) in
his monumental work आर्यभाटीय (āryabhāṭīya) states that the महायुगकाल (mahāyugakāla – grand epoch period) is distributed in equal proportions
across the चतुर्युग (caturyuga – fourfold epochs) viz. 10,80,000 years each.
Similarly, लगध महऋषि (lagadha mahaṛṣi) in his magnum opus masterpiece वेदाङ ज्योतिष (vedāṅga jyotiṣa) which is one of the oldest astrological
(astronomical) treatises, does not talk about such huge time scales. In fact,
instead of the चतुर्युग काल (caturyuga kāla – fourfold epoch period) spanning
to lakhs of solar years, he only refers to a period of five-fold solar years
viz. सांवत्सर (sāṁvatsara), परिवत्सर (parivatsara), इदावत्सर (idāvatsara), अनुवत्सर (anuvatsara) & उद्रवत्सर (udravatsara) respectively (totalling to approximately
12,830 human days) which is again a reflection of the definitions in the
ancient वेदशास्त्र (vedaśāstra
– vedic scripture) like
the तैत्तिरीय ब्राह्मन (taittrīya
brahmana).
Please do not get confused between such vast differences between these
two strikingly different models of युग (yuga - epoch)
system. Although both the models commonly leverage the term “युग (yuga - epoch)” to represent time scales, yet they target
completely different functionalities. The former is used to measure
cosmological phenomena, while the latter serves more for social and ritualistic
calendar purposes. In other words, they are similar but not the same. Once we
understand this, the seeming disparities (inconsistencies) in yuga definitions
will reduce.
With this general background overview on time
scale models, let us get back to the topic of देशकालयात्र (deśakālayātra
– spacetime travel). The
Indian scriptural corpus is pregnant with multiple accounts of such देशकालयात्र (deśakālayātra
– spacetime travel) episodes.
There are ample case studies in the महाभारत (mahābhārata), महापौराणिक शास्त्राणि (mahāpaurāṇika
śāstrāṇi – grand mythological treatises), योगवाषिष्टमहरामायण (yogavāṣiṣṭamaharāmāyaṇa) beautifully demonstrating देशकालयात्र (deśakālayātra
– spacetime travel). For
example, श्री नारद महामुनि (śri nārada mahāmuni), for example, is one of the most popular
देशकालयात्रकाः
(deśakālayātrakāḥ – spacetime travellers) mentioned across almost all the महापौराणिक शास्त्राणि (mahāpaurāṇika
śāstrāṇi – grand mythological treatises).
The stories relating to ककुद्मी (kakudmī) & लीला (līlā) etc.
are other very popular examples. But one may be wondering how such देशकालयात्र (deśakālayātra
– spacetime travel) is physically
possible, particularly, when traveling across prohibitively large astronomical
distances, considering the physical limitations posed by the laws of
relativistic physics?
The conventional view is a common-sense logic according
to linear sequencing of time scales, also referred as ‘mesotime scales’. Such
a linear flow of time is also called ‘psychological
time’ in modern physics. It’s a
great model for all practical purposes and I personally am fine with
it.
But this is not the only model discussed in
ancient religious philosophies as well as in modern science. The temporal
models referred in the महापौराणिक शास्त्राणि (mahāpaurāṇika
śāstrāṇi – grand mythological treatises) are
the आवर्तनमूलक ब्रह्माण्डीय
प्रतिमानानि (āvartanamūlaka brahmāṇḍīya pratimānāni - spirally cyclical cosmological models) spanning great ranges of time
scales.
Now, instead of looking at these massive time scales in a unidirectional linear mode which makes it difficult for the feasibility of देशकालयात्र (deśakālayātra – spacetime travel). However, this difficulty can be theoretically reduced if we begin to consider other alternate प्रतिमानानि देशकालक्षेत्रगणितस्य (pratimānāni deśakālakṣetragaṇitasya – models of spacetime geometry). For example, instead of the linear Euclidian model, we can consider a spirally cyclical model. Such आवर्तनमूलक ब्रह्माण्डीय प्रतिमानानि (āvartanamūlaka brahmāṇḍīya pratimānāni - spirally cyclical cosmological models) is also speculated by many physicists including Frank Tipler the eminent mathematician physicist. Again, typically, such spiralized देशकालक्षेत्रगणित (deśakālakṣetragaṇita - spacetime geometry), one can conceive द्वौ भिन्नौ प्रक्षेपवक्रौ (dvau bhinnau prakṣēpavakrau – two different trajectories) viz.
- क्रमक यात्र (kramaka yātra – gradual travel): one is traversing along the आवर्तणमूलक वक्रता (āvartaṇamūlaka
vakratā– spiral curve) which is a relatively दीर्घतरः प्रक्षेपवक्रः (dīrghataraḥ prakṣēpavakraḥ
- longer trajectory). One can visualize such a आवर्तणमूलक सारणि (āvartaṇamūlaka
sāraṇi – spiral channel) as a क्षोभकारी
नली (kṣōbhakārī nalī - perturbant
tube). And any अनुप्रस्थछेदीय चाप चतुर्वैम देशकाले (anuprasthachedīya
cāpa caturvaima deśakāle – cross-sectional
arc in the four-dimensional spacetime) i.e., a 3+1D curve is considered as a देशकाल अतिपृष्टम् खण्डब्रह्माण्डे (deśakāla
atipṛṣṭam khaṇḍabrahmāṇḍe – spacetime hypersurface in a block-universe) containing both देशभागाः (deśabhāgāḥ - space
parts) as well as कालभागाः (kālabhāgāḥ - time
parts).
- सुवेग यात्र (suvega yātra – rapid travel): In this case, तीविर मुमुक्षु ब्रह्मजिज्ञासायाः (tīvira
mumukṣu brahmajijñāsāyāḥ - intense seeker of spiritual wisdom) instead of the क्रमिकप्रगतेः नियमितप्रक्षेपवक्रता (kramikapragatēḥ niyamitaprakṣēpavakratā - regular
trajectory of gradual progress), takes a short cut which is a प्रत्यक्षं लम्बरेखा (pratyakṣaṁ lambarēkhā - direct vertical line) covering a अधोलंभकदूर (adholaṃbhakadūra
– perpendicular distance), (which, mathematically speaking, is the shortest distance between
the source and target) by making a
देशकालवक्रतायाः माध्यंने छिद्रं भवति (deśakālavakratāyāḥ mādhyaṃne chidraṃ bhavati – hole through the spacetime curvature) which is technically called a “कृमिकुण्डम् (kr̥mikuṇḍam - wormhole)”.
According to many
scriptures महायुग चक्राणि (mahāyuga cakrāṇi - grand epoch cycles) can also be shrunk accordingly, as done in the
scriptures itself. For example, the कलियुग (kaliyuga – dark/black epoch) is stated
to be 4,32,000 वर्षाः (varṣāḥ -
years) in some scriptures at the
same time, another scripture scales same as just 4,320 वर्षाः (varṣāḥ - years) and still others provide a similar but slightly
different timescales. This seeming disparity between them will be cleared
if we understand the laws of relativity viz. relative frames of references used
across different scriptural versions which need to be interpreted from
perspectives viz. Vertical vs spiral etc.
For example, the duration
in terms of vertical scales of 43,20,000 भूलोक स्थानिक देशकाल सन्दर्भक्षेत्रस्य
सापेक्षं मानववर्षाः (bhūloka sthānika dēśakāla sandarbhakṣētrasya sāpēkṣaṁ mānava varṣāḥ - human years relative
to terrestrial-world spacetime frame of reference) distributed across चतुर्युगकाल (caturyugakāla
- four-epoch period) in the ब्रःमाण्डीय स्वर्णपातः देश्कालचक्राणाम्
(braḥmāṇḍīya svarṇapātaḥ
deśkālacakrāṇām – macrocosmic golden ratio of spacetime cycles) (4:3:2:1) viz. 17,28,000:12,96,000:8,64000:4,32,000 can be कालगतरूपेण विस्तारितः (kālagatarūpēṇa vistāritaḥ - temporally dilated) in other words mapped /
reduced to 12,000 ब्रह्मलोक स्थानिक देशकाल सन्दर्भक्षेत्रस्य सापेक्षं देववर्षाः
(brahmaloka sthānika dēśakāla sandarbhakṣētrasya sāpēkṣaṁ devavarṣāḥ- divine years
relative to divine-world spacetime frame of reference) distributed in the same ratio
as 4,800: 3,600: 2,400: 1,200.
Please remember that मनोवैज्ञानिक काल (manovaijñānika kāla – psychological time), as established by Albert Einstein's सापेक्षता का सामान्य सिद्धान्त (sāpēkṣatā kā sāmānya siddhānta – general theory of relativity), is not an absolute measure, but is rather relative to some specific सन्धर्भात्मक खण्ड (sandharbhātmaka khaṇḍa – referential frame). For example, the आयुष्काल श्री रामस्य (āyuṣkāla śrī rāmasya – lifetime of Lor Rama) can be calculated from both scales based on your personal belief system or सोपेक्ष सन्धर्ब खण्डस्य (sopekṣa sandharba khaṇḍasya – relative frame of reference).
Moreover, we should understand as testified in many schools of ancient metaphysics as well as medieval ontological philosophy and even modern physics, निरपेक्षकाल (nirapekṣakāla – absolute time) is not a त्रिकालेषु रेखीयैकदिशाप्रवाहः (trikālēṣu rēkhīyaikadiśāpravāhaḥ - linear unidirectional flow across the three tenses) commencing from the भूतकालः (bhūtakālaḥ - past tense) and traversing through the वर्तमानकालः (vartamānakālaḥ- present tense), towards the भविष्यत्कालः (bhaviṣyatkālaḥ - future tense).
It rather
is the तनावरहित स्थायित्व
निरन्तरता (tanāvarahita sthāyitva nirantaratā – tense-free enduring continuum). In fact, कालपरिमाणम् (kālaparimāṇam – time dimension) is a special kind of extension
to the देशस्य त्रयः
प्रैणामाः (deśasya trayaḥ praiṇāmāḥ - three dimensions of space) always
persisting in चतुर्परिणाम
देशकालः (caturpariṇāma deśakālaḥ - four dimensional spacetime).
However, as
part of our constrained व्यावहारिक सत्त्व लौकिक चैतन्स्यस्य (vyāvahārika
sattva laukika caitansyasya – phenomenal realm of mundane consciousness), the देशस्य त्रयः प्रैणामाः (deśasya
trayaḥ praiṇāmāḥ - three dimensions of space) and only the वर्तमानसमय कालपरिमाणस्य (vartamānasamaya kālaparimāṇasya - present
tense of time-dimension) is subject to उपलभ्य अनुभव (upalabhya anubhava – perceivable experience) at any particular क्षण देशकाल्स्य (kṣaṇa
deśakālsya – instant of spacetime). In other words, भूतकालः (bhūtakālaḥ
- past tense) and भविष्यत्कालः (bhaviṣyatkālaḥ - future
tense) do not seem
to व्यश्नोति देश
(vyaśnoti deśa – occupy space).
Thus, practically, for ordinary mortals like us, whose locus of conscious awareness is typically confined (bundled) to the कोशत्रय (kośatraya – triple sheaths) viz. अन्नमयकोश (annamayakośa – food-based sheath), प्राणमयकोश (prāṅamayakośa – vital-based sheath) & मनोमयकोश (manomayakośa – mind-based sheath) and operating within the अवस्थात्रय (avasthātraya – triple states) viz. जाग्रत अवस्था (jāgrata avasthā – wakeful state), स्वप्न अवस्था (svapna avasta – dream state) & सुषुप्ति अवस्था (suṣupti avasthā – sleep state) respectively, can only tangibly experience the वर्तमान क्षणः (vartamāna kṣaṇaḥ - present instant) as an extra-mental spatiotemporal objective reality. This is because, we still bound by the पाशक त्रिविधमलाः (pāśaka trividhamalāḥ – noose of triple fetters) viz. आणवमल (āṇavamala – finitude fetter), कर्ममल (karma – fatal fetter) & मायामल (māyāmala – delusive fetter) respectively because of which the mind differentiates between the अहम् (aham– me) & न अहम् (na aham– not me), अस्मद् (asmad – self) & न अस्मद् (na asmad – non-self) etc. In other words, one is constrained by the विषयिन्विषयभेद (viṣayinviṣayabheda – subject-object discrimination).
One of the
best ways to understand this concept is through the Henry Minkowiski’s famous देशकाल आरेख (deśakāla
ārekha – spacetime diagram), technically called as the Light-Cone
Diagram. Here, the वर्तमानसमय कालस्य (vartamānasamaya kālasya - present
tense of time) which is
the “इदानीम् अत्र
क्षणम् (idānīm atra kṣaṇam – now here moment)” is an intersection point
between the past
light-cone and the future light-cone. Technically it is an
hypersurface wherein the देशस्य त्रयः प्रैणामाः (deśasya
trayaḥ praiṇāmāḥ - three dimensions of space) intersects with the वर्तमानसमय कालपरिमाणस्य (vartamānasamaya kālaparimāṇasya - present
tense of time-dimension). All those देशकाल घटनाम् (deśakāla ghaṭanām – spacetime events) falling within the light-like cone boundary are typically available for उपलभ्य अनुभव (upalabhya
anubhava – perceivable experience) within the व्यावहारिक सत्त्व लौकिक चैतन्स्यस्य
(vyāvahārika sattva laukika caitansyasya – phenomenal realm
of mundane consciousness).
So, the
faster than light limitation is no longer applicable to such adepts. The
yogically aroused षडाधारचक्राणि कुण्डलिनीशक्त्याः सूक्ष्मज्ञानदेहे (ṣaḍādhāracakrāṇi
kuṇḍalinīśaktyāḥ sūkṣmajñānadehe – six base centres of coiled energy in the subtle
gnostic body) acts
as the “कृमिकुण्डम् (kr̥mikuṇḍam -
wormhole)” through
which the देशकालयात्र
(deśakālayātra – spacetime travel) is made feasible.
Again,
please remember that it is not necessary that these मुक्तात्मानः (muktātmānaḥ
- liberated souls) physically
travel through the विश्वरेखा भूतदेशकालक्षेत्रस्य (viśvarekhā bhūtadeśakālakṣetrasya – world-line of
the physical space-time field) to reach the target destination. Unlike the लौकिक बद्धात्मानः (laukika
baddhātmānaḥ - mundane bound-souls), for them the whole multiverse is an सर्वविषयक निरन्तरता (sarvaviṣayaka
nirantaratā - omnijective continuum) wherein the मुक्तात्मानः (muktātmānaḥ
- liberated souls) is an
endurant force capable of entangling himself even with any non-local entity.
Moreover, in
the case of the spiritually evolved मुक्तात्मानः (muktātmānaḥ
- liberated souls), who having
attained the ब्रह्मज्ञान (brahmajñāna – spiritual enlightenment) are no longer bound by
the अहंभावकनिमेषत्वम्
(ahaṃbhāvakanimeṣatvam – self-arrogating minuteness) in terms of विषयिन्विषयभेद (viṣayinviṣayabheda
– subject-object discrimination). In other words, देशकालनिरन्तरता (deśakālanirantaratā
– space-time continuum) is fully pervaded in their स्वचैतन्यक्षेत्रम् (svacaitanyakṣētram – own consciousness field) and hence their journey
space-time is no longer an बहिर्दामाबसयात्र (bahirdāmābasa
yātra – extra-mental journey) but is an अभ्यन्तरमानस यात्र (abhyantaramānasa
yātra – inner-mental journey), which, again, is a yogic देशकालयात्र (deśakālayātra
– spacetime travel). Through
the योगसाधन प्राणाग्निहोत्रस्य
(yogasādhana prāṇāgnihotrasya – yogic technique of
vital-fire rite), they
perform मानसिकयात्र (mānasikayātra
– mental journey) and as we
know, मनः द्रुततमः
पथिकः अस्ति (manaḥ drutatamaḥ pathikaḥ asti – mind
is the fastest traveller), of course, much faster than light as well. For example, although Sun
light takes अष्ट विणाड्यः (aṣṭa
viṇāḍyaḥ - eight seconds) to reach us, and even millions of light-years for light to reach us from a
distant star or galaxy, we can instantaneously think of the Sun or distant star
through my mind. Hats off to mind – God’s greatest gift to man!
They teleport through what is technically called in Minkowisky’s model as the ‘time-like’ worldline where the impact of gravitational resistance of spatial mass is minimized and the actual teleportation is only de-materialized (spiritualized) as quantum information wave viz. – मन्त्रनादस्पन्दनाः (mantranādaspandanāḥ - theosonic-vibrations) which is then rematerialized (cloned) as the entangled polarity at the target. In other words, their स्थूल भूतदेह (sthūla bhūta deha – gross physical body), made up of the पञ्चमहाभूतानि (pañcamahābhūtāni – five grand materials), is spiritualized, through a technique which can be called as विप्रतीप पञ्चिकर्ण (vipratīpa pañcikaraṅa – reverse quintuplication) into the ज्ञानदेह (jñānadeha - gnostic / information body). Please remember that in accordance with the laws of quantum thermodynamics, the aroused प्राणाग्नि (prāṅagni – vital heat) serves as the medium (channel) for वाक्शक्ति (vākśakti information-energy) helping in breaking the information-entropy which otherwise constraints the कालस्य बाणः (kālasya bāṇaḥ - arrow of time).
