3
●
Cause does not change into effect (i.e. the present moment does notbecome the next moment) instantaneously, but takes time. Seed does not sproutinstantaneously into a seedling, even if the conditions are right. There appears to bean interval between cause and its immediate effect as represented in Fig 1. We mayview the cause-effect relation thus:
cause + interval of time = effect
We refer to this interval as one unit of “cosmic time”, or simply as time. In the mysticview, this is the interval between beats of Shiva’s cosmic drum, with each beatsignaling some change in the cosmos affecting gross things and the subtle mind ofbeings
1
.
●
Rate, or speed, of change is constant: i.e. the length of the interval betweentwo consecutive moments (that is any cause and its immediate effect) is the same,namely one unit of cosmic time. In other words, the present progresses to the futureat a constant rate. We need not specify how long the interval is; in fact it could beconsidered to be arbitrarily small so that the cause-effect chain is seen as acontinuous stream of changes.
●
To a being
(jeeva)
experiencing the cause-effect changes in the O-E-T, theinterval between one experience and the next is one unit of “experienced (i.e.subjective) time”. By definition, there is nothing to be experienced between twoconsecutive moments (i.e. during the transition from cause to effect). Thisrepresentation is similar to the metaphor of
raasa leela
often used by GurudevSwami Chinmayananda to explain the concept of time: each
gopi
represents a“thought”, and the interval between two consecutive thoughts is time. Between eachtwo consecutive thoughts is the silent mind or (unobservable)
Paramaatman
orKrishna.The paradigm suggests that time is born of changes. Time is not anindependent variable against which all changes are measured; rather it is thechanges that give rise to
time
2
.
In
Advaita
, the Changeless
Brahman
is alsoconsidered Timeless. In particular, experienced time is proportionate to the numberof changes experienced.
●
Vasanas
(which include all natural laws known to scientists affectingbehavior of matter and mind) are the causal forces behind the changes in O-E-Tfrom one moment to next. However,
vasanas
do not completely determine the futurecourse of the world. There is some uncertainty about the future state of the worldeven if we can know everything about its current state and all the forces that areacting on it at this moment. This is due to uncertainty inherent in
Prakriti
(nature.)
1
Physical clocks are devices that count the number of changes in some physical process subject toregular, periodic changes: for example, the pendulum clock counts the number of swings of thependulum. Since they are based on a specific physical process, clocks do not register all changes inthe cosmos, but only a periodic subset of these changes. On the other hand, the “cosmic clock” drivenby Shiva’s
damaru
captures all the changes in the cosmos. Hence its “clock speed” can be inferred tobe several orders of magnitude higher than that of any physical clock
.
2
Says Sri Ramana: “What is
time
? It posits a state, one’s recognition of it, and also the changes thataffect it. The interval between two states is called
time
.” (Page 454, Ref. 5
)
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