What exactly is time – from yesterday to today what has changed?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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So, what exactly is time? Say for example, from yesterday to today, what exactly has changed? Or is it that because time is Krishna, we can never understand it, and to understand it, we don’t even need to understand it. Okay.
So, we can look at it three ways. Time as a functional reality, time as a philosophical reality, and time as a devotional reality. Time as a functional object or functional reality means, time is something which we need to know so that we can function in this way.
Okay, I have to do this at this time, I have to do this at this time. So, most of us approach time functionally. Okay, I have to do this at this time, I have to do this at this time, I have to get here at this time.
Now, that is a functional or operational way. And for most people, that itself may be enough. Now, beyond that, for those who are philosophically minded, we see that, okay, time is, I am approaching time functionally, but what is time actually, philosophically? So, when we talk about it philosophically, we see, Bhagavad Gita tells us that, time is Krishna.
So, God is depicted in the Vedic literature as having many manifestations. So, God manifests as Krishna, He manifests as Ram, He manifests as the Paramatma in the heart, He manifests also as the all-pervading Brahman effulgence. So, similarly, one manifestation of God is as time.
Kunti Maharani says, mannetam kalam nishanam anadnidham dhivam samam charantam sarvatra bhutanam ya nitham karunam In 1.8.28 in the Bhagavatam she says, that I consider you to be time. Which is beginningless and endless. So, now, what does this mean when you say that Krishna is time? It simply means that, actually, that we generally conceive of God as supreme.
God is supreme, He is all-powerful. Nobody can fight against God and me. So, we will see in this world, time is supreme.
That nobody can fight against God and me. Nobody can fight against time and me. Now, when time is always in control, even the person who becomes the most powerful person in the world, the person becomes the emperor of the world, when the time is over, the person also has to die.
That person will also fall to time. So, we can say that time in this world manifests God’s supremacy. So, time is God as is manifested in this world in the sense of His supremacy is seen through time.
Now, at another level when we talk about time, time is the agency through which God brings about change in this world. So, the ultimate change of things in this world is that they are destroyed. So, our body it is destroyed.
But time is the agency through which change happens. So, there is creation, there is maintenance, there is destruction. These are changes that happen.
So, all these changes happen through time. So, time in that sense is the energy or the manifestation of God through which changes happen in this world. So, time is God but in a special manifestation which brings about change and destruction.
So, that is the manifestation of supremacy of God. Now, from the devotional perspective, this is from the philosophical perspective, understand. Time is a special manifestation of God.
From a devotional perspective, we see time as, firstly, we see time as a resource for serving God. We don’t just say, we don’t just see time functionally. What is I have to get here at this time, I have to get there at that time.
We see time as an invaluable resource for serving Krishna. Every moment is an opportunity to serve Krishna. That is initially, if you value time like that, that is a very positive way of looking at time.
Value time as a resource for serving Krishna. And eventually, if we keep practicing bhakti, we start realizing that we have been given a lifespan by Krishna. We have a particular lifespan in which we can serve Krishna.
And the time which we have in this life, that is also actually Krishna. So, Krishna as Kaala will help us to go to Krishna as Shyama Sundara. If we use Krishna as Kaala properly, then that use of time properly will help us to go to Krishna as the Shyama Sundara.
So, we see life in that sense, in the bhakti sense, devotional sense as Krishna manifesting his time to help us to go towards Krishna, manifesting in his self-existential form as the bluish black lord. So, that way we can have a very devotional conception of time. Does it answer your question? Hare Krishna.
Any other question?