The concept of time has always been one of the main subjects of religious, philosophical and scientific studies. Issues related to the true nature of time has attracted the attention of many thinkers, both philosophers and scientists. Aristotle, Augustine, Kant, Hegel, Newton, and Einstein are just some of them, who were dealing with the question of the essence of time.
There are various explanations to the question of what time is depending on the concept of how it is perceived. Usually, talking about time refers to the time, which we measure in everyday life. Measuring the passage of time gives us information about the chronological order of events, when the event happened and how long it lasted. Our everyday comprehension of time is based on a linear concept. Within this concept, time passes only in one forward direction, and everything has a beginning, a middle and an end. Everything that happened before the given moment is called the past. What will happen after the given moment is called the future, and what happens at this moment is called the present.
Each of us perceives time in a subjective way. A same time interval for someone may seem very long whilst for others it may seem quite short. This leads us to the conclusion that time is something very relative and related to the one who is watching. The fact that time is passing, and that it is passing only forward is our subjective feeling. All this points to the fact that time is nothing absolute, and that it is one form of perception. In order to align our perceptions of time with everyday life, various systems of time measurement such as clocks and calendars are designed. Since time is a perception and since it is related to someone who perceives, it is a relative term.
In contrast to our everyday understanding of time, time in Yoga is understood in a different way. Time, the Sanskrit “Kālá”, represents the manifestation of God, i.e. the essence. Permanence or eternity is the main feature of time in yoga. Time has no beginning and no end. Past, present, and future exist simultaneously at every moment of existence.
In yoga, it is considered that the nature of time is cyclical. There are cycles of time, so-called Kalachakra-s, which represent the cycles of creation. Life and death are just one of many cycles of creation and dissolution. Understanding of life and death as something final is just one big illusion. Only after the feeling of limitation by time are overcome, can immortality be achieved according to the teachings of yoga. In this concept of time, death is not the end but the door to the next cycle and the new birth. Because the process of creation and dissolution is eternal, i.e. it never ends, everything begins at the end and ends at the beginning.
Although the ancient yogis did not know the theory of relativity, they knew that time is not something absolute and linear. As it is recorded in the ancient Vedic scriptures, time represents a cyclical repetition of non-manifested field of possibilities to the manifested reality. According to the Vedas, the cosmic time is divided into cycles of four Yugas, Satya Yuga or the golden age, Treta Yuga or silver age, Dvapara Yuga or copper age,
and Kali Yuga or iron age. These cycles are repeated forever. Speaking from the scope of human life, time seems to be limited, but essentially it is eternal, without the beginning and without the end.
The cyclical nature of time or repetition ( Rta in sanskrit) also represents the cosmic pulsation. Pulsation is one of the main aspects of the essence. It is present in every aspect of existence, in both the Universe and our bodies, and in every aspect of our lives. Under the influence of eternal time, cosmic manifestations of creation (srishti),
maintenance (sthithi) and degradation (laya) are cyclically repeated. These time cycles start with creation, last for a while and then a cycle of degradation starts. After a short break the cycle begins anew. These three aspects of time are connected as principles with the gods: Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Brahma is responsible for creation,
Vishnu for the existence and Siva for the decomposition.
Time in yoga also represents the aspect of existence (Prakriti) i.e. the reality which consists of pure consciousness, but also of limited elements of the material world (Tattvas) such as time (Kaala), space (Niyathi), knowledge (Vidya), feelings (Raga) and power (Kala). These five elements limit our being and only when an
individual overcomes them can full liberation be achieved. A state of pure consciousness (Chit), in which time does not exist. The travel of the awareness through these five elements towards the pure consciousness is the movement of time. Speaking in the spiritual sense, time exists when we are in a state of duality. It ceases to exist
only when we are in a state of unity (Samdhi).
In yoga, Kālá, besides the meaning of time, has another meaning, and it is the death. Death is a limiting factor of the human life, which gives us a feeling of limitation. This creates a sense that for each individual time on the Earth begins at the moment of its birth and ends at the moment of its death. But in Yoga it is not the end, but a new beginning. The soul of each individual lives forever. Our essential “I” does not know time, it is timeless, without the beginning and without the end. This understanding represents the essential nature of time in the Yoga.
In practical terms, yoga funnels us to the present moment, i.e. to live in the fullness of the present moment. All that is happening right now is what should occupy our attention. If we succeed to focus our mind, i.e. to concentrate on the present moment, then the term of time loses its meaning. The more one’s attention is present and focused, the greater the depth of experience achieved. The past should not occupy our attention,
because at this the moment of our existence it does not exist anymore, we cannot change it, but we can learn from it. The future does not exist, but we can plan it and build it right now. This leads to a conclusion that all our past and future are reflected in our present.
Living in the present moment means to live where life is going on. Past and future are only illusions; they do not exist. According to yoga, living in the present means to live in acceptance, i.e. to accept life as it is now, and not as we would like it to be. When we live in acceptance, then we realize that everything is exactly as it should
be. If there is anything that we would like to change in our life, the best time to do it is now. Living in the past and worry about the future makes no sense because it will not change the image of our current reality. The only place where we can change our reality and thus create our future is the present.
Yoga teaches us how to overcome this linear concept of time i.e. how to experience an infinite, timeless, dynamic and eternal NOW. In yoga, time is just one aspect of the illusory world in which we live. Our senses are those which limit us and give us the illusion of limited time. Overcoming these constraints and achieving the state of pure awareness leads to an experience in which no division of time to past, present and future exists. In the eternal NOW is contained all the past and future. And everything that exists now will exist in the future. There is only the present moment, continuous and eternal state of existence, in which there is only the consciousness of “I AM”.
International Scientific Yoga Journal: SENSE, 2011, Vol. 1 (1), 172-178 The Concept of Time in Yoga Brankica Šurlan, Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Ondřejov, Czech Republic
