To this excellent post of eminent scholar Sri Raj Vedam, i would like to share my 2 cents of speculative reconciliation on the feasibility of time travel accounts provided in the Holy Hindu scriptures.
https://www.facebook.com/raj.vedam.1/posts/10216341973846454
https://www.facebook.com/raj.vedam.1/posts/10216337103484698
IMHO I think it all boils down on what one means by concepts like "Time" and "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 viz. नयाय & वैशेषिक दर्शन (nyāya & vaiśeṣika darśana), योग & सांख्य दर्शन (yoga & sāṁkhya daṛśana), उत्तर /वेदान्त & पूर्व मीमांस दर्शन (uttara / vedānta & pūrva mīmāṁsa darśana). The Buddhists and Jains have their own customized versions as well. Similarly, in the western world there are a variety of schools.
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 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) etc. In a nutshell, the comprehensive timescale roughly spanning from nano-seconds 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 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 मनुष्य / भूलोक काल (manuṣya bhūloka kāla / bhūloka – human /terrestrial spacetime fabric /plane). But this is not the only space-time realm. There are still higher realms of spiritual consciousness viz. देव लोक काल (deva loka kāla – heavenly space-time plane) which has time scale ranges like देव अहोरात्रि (deva ahorātri), देव वर्ष (deva varṣa), देव युग (deva yuga) etc. However, even this is not the end of Hindu time scales. There are still higher degrees of spiritual space-time realms like the ब्रह्म लोक काल (brahma loka kāla) having time scale ranges like ब्रह्म अहोरात्रि (brahma ahorātri), ब्रह्म वर्ष (brahma varṣa), ब्रह्म युग (brahma yuga) etc. and even further extends to विष्णु लोक काल (viṣṇu loka kāla) and शिव लोक काल (śiva loka kāla) each possessing corresponding time-scale ranges like विष्णु अहोरात्रि (viṣṇu ahorātri), विष्णु वर्ष (viṣṇu varṣa), विष्णु युग (viṣṇu yuga) & शिव अहोरात्रि (śiva ahorātri), शिव वर्ष (śiva varṣa), शिव युग (śiva yuga) etc., respectively.
Thus, each realm has a relative frame of reference and of course there is a mathematical mapping relating these realms. Like a मानुष्य वर्ष (mānuṣya varṣa – human year) in the भूलोक (bhūloka – terrestrial plane) corresponds to a देव अहोरात्रि (deva ahorātri – divine daynight) in देव लोक (deva loka – heavenly plane). Similarly, there are corresponding mappings between देव लोक काल (deva loka kāla – heavenly space-time plane), विष्णु लोक काल (viṣṇu loka kāla) & शिव लोक काल (śiva loka kāla).
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.
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.
Now, coming the main crux of your genuinely valid observation/concern raised in the comment. Instead of look at these massive time scales in a unidirectional linear mode which makes it difficult for the feasibility of time travel. However, this difficulty can be theoretically reduced if we begin to consider other alternate space-time geometric models. For example, instead of the linear model we can consider a spirally cyclical model. Such spiral model is also speculated by many physicists including Frank Tipler the eminent mathematician physcist. Again, typically, such spiralized space-time geometry, one can conceive two different paths or trajectories viz.
· क्रमक यात्र (kramaka yātra – gradual travel / pilgrimage): one is traversing along the spiral curve which is the longer path. One can visualize such a spiral channel as a perdurant tube, and any cross-section (arc) in the 3+1D curve is considered as a space-time (block universe) containing both spatial parts and temporal parts.
· सुवेग यात्र (suvega yātra – rapid travel / pilgrimage): In this case instead of the regular trajectory of gradual progress, a spiritual adept takes a short cut viz. a direct vertical line (and that is the perpendicular distance which mathematically is the shortest distance between the source and target points) by making a hole (technically called a worm-hole) through the space-time warp (tunnel).
According to many scriptures महायुग (mahā yuga) cycles can also be shrunk accordingly, as done in the scriptures itself. The कलियुग (kaliyuga – dark/black epoch), द्वापर युग (dvāpara yuga – second epoch), त्रेतायुग (tretāyuga) & कृत्या युग (kṛtyā yuga) is stated to be 4,32,000 years in some scriptures at the same time, another scripture scales same as just 4,320 years and still others provide a similar but slightly different time-scales. 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 of 43,20,000 मनुष्य / भूलोक काल (manuṣya bhūloka kāla / bhūloka – human /terrestrial spacetime fabric /plane) distributed across चतुर् युगकाल (catur yugakāla - four-fold epoch period) in the golden ratio (4:3:2:1) as 17,28,000:12,96,000:8,64000:4,32,000 can be temporally dilated (mapped / reduced) to 12,000 ब्रह्म लोक काल (brahma loka kāla - divine spacetime) distributed in the same ratio as 4,800: 3,600: 2,400: 1,200.
Please remember that as established by Einstein's General relativity ...Time is not an absolute measure but a relative measure based on the frame of reference. The life time of भगवान् श्री रामचन्द्र मूर्ति (bhagavān śrī rāmacandra mūrti) can be considered from both scales...based on your personal belief system or frame of reference.
Moreover, we should understand that time, as testified in many schools of ancient metaphysics as well as modern medieval ontological philosophy and even modern physics, time is not absolute of linear unidirectional tensed flow from past, through present, to the future. It rather is a tense-less enduring continuum (field). Time is a special kind of spatial extension and hence all the three tenses of time along with the spatial dimension persist always. However, as part of our constrained empirical consciousness only three spatial dimensions and one temporal dimension (which is the present tense) is perceivable at any instance. In other words, past and future entities are as real and enduring as the one in the present tense. Just as distant places far away are as real and enduring.
However, ordinary mortals like us whose locus of conscious awareness is typically confined (bundled) to the triple realms of अन्नमय कोश (annamaya kośa – food/body sheath), प्राणमय कोश (prāṅamaya kośa – mind sheath) and the मनोमय कोश (manomaya kośa) and operating within the triple states of जग्रत् अवस्त् (jagrat avasta-wakeful state), स्वप्न अवस्त् (svapna avasta – dream state) & सुशुप्ति अवस्त् (suśupti avasta – sleep state) respectively, can only empirically experience the present instance as a tangible consciousness of an extra-mental spatiotemporal objective reality. This is because, we still bound by the त्रिमल (trimala – triple fetters) viz. आणव/ अणुत्व ( āṅava / añutva – minuteness/atomicity), कर्म (karma - fate) & माया (māyā - delusion) respectively because of which the mind differentiates between the अस्मद् (asmad – I/me) and न अस्मद् (na asmad – not I/me) – in other words the विषयिन् विषय भेद (viṣayin viṣaya bheda – subject-object discrimination). One of the best ways to understand this concept is through the Minkowiski’s famous space-time diagram wherein the present tense (the now-here moment) is an intersection of the past and the future light-cones. the three dimensions of space hypersurface intersects the present-tense of time All spatio-temporal parts falling within the light-like cone boundary within perceptional boundaries while others are not.
So the faster than light limitation is no longer applicable to such adepts. The yogically activated आधार चक्र (ādhāra cakra – base canters) in their सूक्ष्म ज्ञानदेह (sūṢma jñāna deha – subtle gnostic body) acts as the worm-hole through which the time-travel is made feasible.
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. – मन्त्र नाद स्पन्दन (mantra nāda spandana - theosonic vibrations) which is then rematerialized (cloned) as the entangled polarity at the target. In other words, their स्थूल भूत देह (sthūla bhūta deha – gross physical body) made up of the पञ्च महा भूत (pañca mahā bhūta – five physical elements) is spiritualized, through a technique which can be called as विप्रतीप पञ्चिकर्ण (vipratīpa pañcikaraṅa – reverse quintuplication), into ज्ञान देह (jñāna deha- 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 वाक् शक्ति (vāk śakti information-energy) helping in breaking the information-entropy which otherwise constraints the arrow of time.
