[Advaita-l] Time

[Michael Shepherd]

I offer this tentative resolution of this apparent difference of viewpoint :
that atma in its very nature has command of all 'time' and all 'space' for
its fulfilment.

That for me is a happy and fruitful way of looking at the matter, and saves
fruitless personal considerations of 'my' rebirth etc. !

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org]On Behalf Of Jaldhar
H. Vyas
Sent: 29 March 2009 09:10
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Time



On Wed, 25 Mar 2009, Mahesh Ursekar wrote:

> Pranams!
>
> Can anyone tell me how 'Time' is conceived of in Advaita Vedanta? There is
> talk of space (AkAsh) as one of the pacha-mAhAbhutas but no mention of
Time
> anywhere that I know of.
>

AkAsha is one of those hard to translate words.  Specifically it is the
medium of transmission of sound (and is therefore translated as aether in
English sometimes.)  Or it can mean space.  In Gujarati for instance, it
merely means sky.

In vaisheshika darshan, dishA (direction) is one of the 24 gunas posited
by that school.  It is more equivalent to the modern understanding of
space then akasha imo because direction has the property of extending
indefinitely along every point.  kAla or time is another.  After the 14th
century, nyAya-vaisheshika became obsolete and was replaced by the "navya"
nyAya of Gangesh Upadhyayas Tattva Chintamani and its commentaries.  In
navya nyAya the old scheme is simplified.  According to the kArikAvali
(26a)

kAlakhAtmadishAM sarvagatatvaM paramaM mahat |

"kAla (time), khA (a synonym of AkAsha), Atma(soul), and dishA (direction)
are
omnipresent and infinite in dimension"

Advaita Vedanta would not agree with that as of the four only Atma is
real and therefore omnipresent infinite etc.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
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