This material world is simply an embarrassment and is composed of tribulations presented as happiness, distress, attachment, enmity and envy. On the whole it is simply full of tribulation and misery. When a person loses his intelligence due to attachment to wife and sex, his entire consciousness becomes polluted. He thus only thinks of the association of women. The time factor, which is like a serpent, takes away everyone's life, including that of Lord Brahmā and the insignificant ant. Sometimes the conditioned soul tries to save himself from inexorable time and thus takes shelter of some bogus savior. Unfortunately, the bogus savior cannot even save himself. How, then, can he protect others? The bogus saviors do not care for bona fide knowledge received from qualified brāhmaṇas and Vedic sources. Their only business is indulging in sex and recommending sexual freedom even for widows. Thus they are like monkeys in the forest. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī thus explains the material forest and its difficult path to Mahārāja Parīkṣit.
Time factor
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 3
The complete universe is a manifestation of varieties of entities, beginning from the atoms up to the gigantic universe itself, and all is under the control of the Supreme Lord in His form of kāla, or eternal time. The controlling time has different dimensions in relation to particular physical embodiments. There is a time for atomic dissolution and a time for the universal dissolution. There is a time for the annihilation of the body of the human being, and there is a time for the annihilation of the universal body. Also, growth, development and resultant actions all depend on the time factor. Vidura wanted to know in detail the different physical manifestations and their times of annihilation.
The impersonal time factor is the background of the material manifestation as the instrument of the Supreme Lord. It is the ingredient of assistance offered to material nature. No one knows where time began and where it ends, and it is time only which can keep a record of the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material manifestation. This time factor is the material cause of creation and is therefore a self expansion of the Personality of Godhead. Time is considered the impersonal feature of the Lord.
The time factor is also explained by modern men in various ways. Some accept it almost as it is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. For example, in Hebrew literature time is accepted, in the same spirit, as a representation of God. It is stated therein: "God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets...." Metaphysically, time is distinguished as absolute and real. Absolute time is continuous and is unaffected by the speed or slowness of material things.
Therefore, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī concludes that the time factor is intermixed with the activities—actions and reactions—of the external energy of the Lord. The external energy, or material nature, works under the superintendence of the time factor as the Lord Himself, and that is why material nature appears to have produced so many wonderful things in the cosmic manifestation. Bhagavad-gītā (9.10) confirms this conclusion as follows:
- mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
- sūyate sa-carācaram
- hetunānena kaunteya
- jagad viparivartate
There is a systematic schedule for the perpetual manifestation, maintenance and annihilation of the material world, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā (9.8): bhūta-grāmam imaṁ kṛtsnam avaśaṁ prakṛter vaśāt. As it is created now and as it will be destroyed later on, so also it existed in the past and again will be created, maintained and destroyed in due course of time. Therefore, the systematic activities of the time factor are perpetual and eternal and cannot be stated to be false. The manifestation is temporary and occasional, but it is not false as claimed by the Māyāvādī philosophers.
The time factor cannot affect the span of life of the devotees. In Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that a little execution of devotional service saves one from the greatest danger. The greatest danger is transmigration of the soul from one body to another, and only devotional service to the Lord can stop this process. It is stated in the Vedic literatures, hariṁ vinā na mṛtim taranti: without the mercy of the Lord, one cannot stop the cycle of birth and death. In Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that only by understanding the transcendental nature of the Lord and His activities, His appearance and disappearance, can one stop the cycle of death and go back to Him. The time factor is divided into many fractions of moments, hours, months, years, periods, seasons, etc. All the divisions in this verse are determined according to the astronomical calculations of Vedic literature. There are six seasons, called ṛtus, and there is the period of four months called cāturmāsya. Three periods of four months complete one year. According to Vedic astronomical calculations, there are thirteen months. The thirteenth month is called adhi-māsa or mala-māsa and is added every third year. The time factor, however, cannot touch the lifespan of the devotees. In another verse it is stated that when the sun rises and sets it takes away the life of all living entities, but it cannot take away the life of those who are engaged in devotional service. Time is compared here to a big wheel which has 360 joints, six rims in the shape of seasons, and numberless leaves in the shape of moments. It rotates on the eternal existence, Brahman.
In due course of time, a particular type of knowledge may be lost or may be covered for the time being; that is the nature of this material world. A similar statement was made by Lord Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā. Sa kāleneha mahatā yogo naṣṭaḥ: "In course of time the yoga system as stated in Bhagavad-gītā was lost." It was coming in paramparā, in disciplic succession, but due to the passage of time it was lost. The time factor is so pressing that in the course of time everything within this material world is spoiled or lost. The yoga system of Bhagavad-gītā was lost before the meeting of Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. Therefore Kṛṣṇa again enunciated the same ancient yoga system to Arjuna, who could actually understand Bhagavad-gītā. Similarly, Kapila also said that the system of Sāṅkhya philosophy was not exactly being introduced by Him; it was already current, but in course of time it was mysteriously lost, and therefore He appeared to reintroduce it. That is the purpose of the incarnation of Godhead. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). Dharma means the real occupation of the living entity. When there is a discrepancy in the eternal occupation of the living entity, the Lord comes and introduces the real occupation of life. Any so-called religious system that is not in the line of devotional service is called adharma-saṁsthāpana. When people forget their eternal relationship with God and engage in something other than devotional service, their engagement is called irreligion. How one can get out of the miserable condition of material life is stated in Sāṅkhya philosophy, and the Lord Himself is explaining this sublime system.
According to the Vedic version there is no existence beyond Brahman. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14.1). It is stated also in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa that whatever we see is parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ; everything is an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Absolute Truth, Brahman. When Brahman is mixed with the three qualities goodness, passion and ignorance, there results the material expansion, which is sometimes called saguṇa Brahman and which consists of these twenty-five elements. In the nirguṇa Brahman, where there is no material contamination, or in the spiritual world, the three modes—goodness, passion and ignorance—are not present. Where nirguṇa Brahman is found, simple unalloyed goodness prevails. Saguṇa Brahman is described by the Sāṅkhya system of philosophy as consisting of twenty-five elements, including the time factor (past, present and future).
The influence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is felt in the time factor, which causes fear of death due to the false ego of the deluded soul who has contacted material nature.
If the spirit soul engages in the spiritual activities of devotional service, he is completely freed from the platform of birth and death. His next position is complete spiritual freedom from a material body. The fear of death is the action of the kāla, or the time factor, which represents the influence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In other words, time is destructive. Whatever is created is subject to destruction and dissolution, which is the action of time. Time is a representation of the Lord, and it reminds us also that we must surrender unto the Lord. The Lord speaks to every conditioned soul as time. He says in Bhagavad-gītā that if someone surrenders unto Him, then there is no longer any problem of birth and death. We should therefore accept the time factor as the Supreme Personality of Godhead standing before us. This is further explained in the following verse.
My dear mother, O daughter of Svāyambhuva Manu, the time factor, as I have explained, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, from whom the creation begins as a result of the agitation of the neutral, unmanifested nature.
In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta also, a very suitable example is given in this connection. Although the nipples on a goat's neck appear to be breast nipples, they do not give milk. Similarly, material nature appears to the material scientist to act and react in a wonderful manner, but in reality it cannot act without the agitator, time, who is the representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When time agitates the neutral state of material nature, material nature begins to produce varieties of manifestations. Ultimately it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of creation. As a woman cannot produce children unless impregnated by a man, material nature cannot produce or manifest anything unless it is impregnated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the form of the time factor.
Outside the body of the conditioned soul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead remains as the time factor. According to the Sāṅkhya system of philosophy, there are twenty-five elements. The twenty-four elements already described plus the time factor make twenty-five. According to some learned philosophers, the Supersoul is included to make a total of twenty-six elements.
Everyone is conscious of the last stage of life, when he will meet the cruel hands of death, but some consider their age and circumstances, concern themselves with the influence of time and thus engage in pious activities so that in the future they will not be put into a low family or an animal species. Generally, people are attached to sense enjoyment and so aspire for life on the heavenly planets. Therefore, they engage themselves in charitable or other pious activities, but actually, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā, one cannot get relief from the chain of birth and death even if he goes to the highest planet, Brahmaloka, because the influence of time is present everywhere within this material world. In the spiritual world, however, the time factor has no influence.
The time factor, who causes the transformation of the various material manifestations, is another feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Anyone who does not know that time is the same Supreme Personality is afraid of the time factor.
Everyone is afraid of the activities of time, but a devotee who knows that the time factor is another representation or manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to fear from the influence of time. The phrase rūpa-bhedāspadam is very significant. By the influence of time, so many forms are changing. For example, when a child is born his form is small, but in the course of time that form changes into a larger form, the body of a boy, and then the body of a young man. Similarly, everything is changed and transformed by the time factor, or by the indirect control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Usually, we do not see any difference between the body of a child and the body of a boy or young man because we know that these changes are due to the action of the time factor. There is cause for fear for a person who does not know how time acts.
Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the enjoyer of all sacrifices, is the time factor and the master of all masters. He enters everyone's heart, He is the support of everyone, and He causes every being to be annihilated by another.
The eternal time factor has no beginning and no end. It is the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the maker of the criminal world. It brings about the end of the phenomenal world, it carries on the work of creation by bringing one individual into existence from another, and likewise it dissolves the universe by destroying even the lord of death, Yamarāja.
The Personality of Godhead said: As a mass of clouds does not know the powerful influence of the wind, a person engaged in material consciousness does not know the powerful strength of the time factor, by which he is being carried.
The great politician-paṇḍita named Cāṇakya said that even one moment of time cannot be returned even if one is prepared to pay millions of dollars. One cannot calculate the amount of loss there is in wasting valuable time. Either materially or spiritually, one should be very alert in utilizing the time which he has at his disposal. A conditioned soul lives in a particular body for a fixed measurement of time, and it is recommended in the scriptures that within that small measurement of time one has to finish Kṛṣṇa consciousness and thus gain release from the influence of the time factor. But, unfortunately, those who are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are carried away by the strong power of time without their knowledge, as clouds are carried by the wind.
Whatever is produced by the materialist with great pain and labor for so-called happiness, the Supreme Personality, as the time factor, destroys, and for this reason the conditioned soul laments.
The main function of the time factor, which is a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is to destroy everything. The materialists, in material consciousness, are engaged in producing so many things in the name of economic development. They think that by advancing in satisfying the material needs of man they will be happy, but they forget that everything they have produced will be destroyed in due course of time. From history we can see that there were many powerful empires on the surface of the globe that were constructed with great pain and great perseverance, but in due course of time they have all been destroyed. Still the foolish materialists cannot understand that they are simply wasting time in producing material necessities, which are destined to be vanquished in due course of time. This waste of energy is due to the ignorance of the mass of people, who do not know that they are eternal and that they have an eternal engagement also. They do not know that this span of life in a particular type of body is but a flash in the eternal journey. Not knowing this fact, they take the small flash of life to be everything, and they waste time in improving economic conditions.
For formality's sake, when a man is lying on his deathbed, his relatives come to him, and sometimes they cry very loudly, addressing the dying man: "Oh, my father!" "Oh, my friend!" or "Oh, my husband!" In that pitiable condition the dying man wants to speak with them and instruct them of his desires, but because he is fully under the control of the time factor, death, he cannot express himself, and that causes him inconceivable pain. He is already in a painful condition because of disease, and his glands and throat are choked up with mucus. He is already in a very difficult position, and when he is addressed by his relatives in that way, his grief increases.
My dear mother, someone may worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead with a special self-interest, but even demigods such as Lord Brahmā, great sages such as Sanat-kumāra and great munis such as Marīci have to come back to the material world again at the time of creation. When the interaction of the three modes of material nature begins, Brahmā, who is the creator of this cosmic manifestation and who is full of Vedic knowledge, and the great sages, who are the authors of the spiritual path and the yoga system, come back under the influence of the time factor. They are liberated by their nonfruitive activities and they attain the first incarnation of the puruṣa, but at the time of creation they come back in exactly the same forms and positions as they had previously.
SB Canto 4
The days have been compared to the soldiers of Caṇḍavega. Night is generally a time for sex enjoyment. Days are considered to be white, and nights are considered to be black, or, from another point of view, there are two kinds of nights—black nights and white nights. All these days and nights combine to pass away our span of life and everything we manufacture for sense gratification. Material activity means manufacturing things for sense gratification. Scientists are conducting research to find out how we can satisfy our senses more and more elaborately. In this Kali-yuga, the demoniac mentality is employed in manufacturing various machines to facilitate the process of sense gratification. There are so many machines for ordinary household activities. There are machines for washing dishes, cleansing the floor, shaving, clipping hair—today everything is done by machine. All these facilities for sense gratification are described in this verse as sarva-kāma-vinirmitām. The time factor, however, is so strong that not only is our span of life being expended, but all the machines and facilities for sense gratification are deteriorating. Therefore in this verse the word vilumpanti ("plundering") is used. Everything is being plundered from the very beginning of our lives.
Here is an allegory in which the King is advised to find a deer that is always in a dangerous position. Although threatened from all sides, the deer simply eats grass in a nice flower garden, unaware of the danger all around him. All living entities, especially human beings, think themselves very happy in the midst of families. As if living in a flower garden and hearing the sweet humming of bumblebees, everyone is centered around his wife, who is the beauty of family life. The bumblebees' humming may be compared to the talk of children. The human being, just like the deer, enjoys his family without knowing that before him is the factor of time, which is represented by the tiger. The fruitive activities of a living entity simply create another dangerous position and oblige him to accept different types of bodies. For a deer to run after a mirage of water in the desert is not unusual. The deer is also very fond of sex. The conclusion is that one who lives like a deer will be killed in due course of time. Vedic literatures therefore advise that we should understand our constitutional position and take to devotional service before death comes.
SB Canto 5
"I have brought medicine to awaken every living being from perpetual sleep. Please receive the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, and awaken." The Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.3.14) also says, uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata: "O living entity, you are sleeping in this material world. Please get up and take advantage of your human form of life." The sleeping condition means loss of all knowledge. In Bhagavad-gītā (2.69) it is also said, yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī: "What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled." Even in the higher planets, everyone is under the spell of the illusory energy. No one is really interested in the real values of life. The sleeping condition, called kāla-sarpa (the time factor), keeps the conditioned soul in a state of ignorance, and therefore pure consciousness is lost. In the forest there are many blind wells, and if one falls down in one there is no chance of being rescued. In a state of sleep, one remains perpetually bitten by some animals, especially snakes.
The personal weapon used by Lord Kṛṣṇa, the disc, is called hari-cakra, the disc of Hari. This cakra is the wheel of time. It expands from the beginning of the atoms up to the time of Brahmā's death, and it controls all activities. It is always revolving and spending the lives of the living entities, from Lord Brahmā down to an insignificant blade of grass. Thus one changes from infancy, to childhood, to youth and maturity, and thus one approaches the end of life. It is impossible to check this wheel of time. This wheel is very exacting because it is the personal weapon of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sometimes the conditioned soul, fearing the approach of death, wants to worship someone who can save him from imminent danger. Yet he does not care for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose weapon is the indefatigable time factor. The conditioned soul instead takes shelter of a man-made god described in unauthorized scriptures. Such gods are like buzzards, vultures, herons and crows. Vedic scriptures do not refer to them. Imminent death is like the attack of a lion, and neither vultures, buzzards, crows nor herons can save one from such an attack. One who takes shelter of unauthorized man-made gods cannot be saved from the clutches of death.
Established by the supreme will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the polestar, which is the planet of Mahārāja Dhruva, constantly shines as the central pivot for all the stars and planets. The unsleeping, invisible, most powerful time factor causes these luminaries to revolve around the polestar without cessation.
It is distinctly stated herein that all the luminaries, the planets and stars, revolve by the influence of the supreme time factor. The time factor is another feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Everyone is under the influence of the time factor, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead is so kind and loves His devotee Mahārāja Dhruva so much that He has placed all the luminaries under the control of Dhruva's planet and has arranged for the time factor to work under him or with his cooperation. Everything is actually done according to the will and direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but to make His devotee Dhruva the most important individual within the universe, the Lord has placed the activities of the time factor under his control.
Below Rāhu by another 1,000,000 yojanas are the planets of the Siddhas, Cāraṇas and Vidyādharas, and below these are planets such as Yakṣaloka and Rakṣaloka. Below these planets is the earth, and 70,000 yojanas below the earth are the lower planetary systems-Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talātala, Mahātala, Rasātala and Pātāla. Demons and Rakṣasas live in these lower planetary systems with their wives and children, always engaged in sense gratification and not fearing their next births. The sunshine does not reach these planets, but they are illuminated by jewels fixed upon the hoods of snakes. Because of these shining gems there is practically no darkness. Those living in these planets do not become old or diseased, and they are not afraid of death from any cause but the time factor, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
SB Canto 6
My dear servants, please do not approach such devotees, for they have fully surrendered to the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They are equal to everyone, and their narrations are sung by the demigods and the inhabitants of Siddhaloka. Please do not even go near them. They are always protected by the club of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore Lord Brahmā and I and even the time factor are not competent to chastise them.
The demigods said: The three worlds are created by the five elements—namely ether, air, fire, water and earth—which are controlled by various demigods, beginning from Lord Brahmā. Being very much afraid that the time factor will end our existence, we offer presentations unto time by performing our work as time dictates. The time factor himself, however, is afraid of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore let us now worship that Supreme Lord, who alone can give us full protection.
When one is afraid of being killed, one must take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is worshiped by all the demigods, beginning from Brahmā, although they are in charge of the various elements of this material world. The words bibheti yasmāt indicate that all the demons, regardless of how great and powerful, fear the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The demigods, being afraid of death, took shelter of the Lord and offered Him these prayers. Although the time factor is fearful to everyone, fear personified is afraid of the Supreme Lord, who is therefore known as abhaya, fearless. Taking shelter of the Supreme Lord brings actual fearlessness, and therefore the demigods decided to take shelter of the Lord.
The demigods said: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, You are competent to give the results of sacrifice, and You are also the time factor that destroys all such results in due course. You are the one who releases the cakra to kill the demons. O Lord, who possess many varieties of names, we offer our respectful obeisances unto You.
SB Canto 7
O great King, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the controller of the material and spiritual energies, who is certainly the creator of the entire cosmos, creates the time factor to allow the material energy and the living entity to act within the limits of time. Thus the Supreme Personality is never under the time factor nor under the material energy.
One should not think that the Lord is dependent on the time factor. He actually creates the situation by which material nature acts and by which the conditioned soul is placed under material nature. Both the conditioned soul and the material nature act within the time factor, but the Lord is not subject to the actions and reactions of time, for time has been created by Him. To be more clear, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that creation, maintenance and annihilation are all under the supreme will of the Lord.
O King, this time factor enhances the sattva-guṇa. Thus although the Supreme Lord is the controller, He favors the demigods, who are mostly situated in sattva-guṇa. Then the demons, who are influenced by tamo-guṇa, are annihilated. The Supreme Lord induces the time factor to act in different ways, but He is never partial. Rather, His activities are glorious, and therefore He is called Uruśravā.
The Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (9.29), samo'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ: "I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all." The Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot be partial; He is always equal to everyone. Therefore when the demigods are favored and the demons killed, this is not His partiality but the influence of the time factor. A good example in this regard is that an electrician connects both a heater and a cooler to the same electrical energy. The cause of the heating and cooling is the electrician's manipulation of the electrical energy according to his desire, but factually the electrician has nothing to do with causing heat or cold, nor with the enjoyment or suffering that results.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the supreme controller and time factor, is the power of the senses, the power of the mind, the power of the body, and the vital force of the senses. His influence is unlimited. He is the best of all living entities, the controller of the three modes of material nature. By His own power, He creates this cosmic manifestation, maintains it and annihilates it also.
The example given in this regard—vasukālavad aṣṭi-tarvoḥ—is very easy to understand. Everything exists in time, yet there are different phases of the time factor—present, past and future. Present, past and future are one. Every day we can experience the time factor as morning, noon and evening, and although morning is different from noon, which is different from evening, all of them taken together are one. The time factor is the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the Lord is separate from the time factor. Everything is created, maintained and annihilated by time, but the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, has no beginning and no end. He is nityaḥ śāśvataḥ—eternal, permanent. Everything passes through time's phases of present, past and future, yet the Lord is always the same. Thus there is undoubtedly a difference between the Lord and the cosmic manifestation, but actually they are not different. Accepting them to be different is called avidyā, ignorance.
We may conclude, therefore, that there is no difference between one thing and another, yet in varieties there are differences. In this regard, Madhvācārya gives an example concerning a tree and a tree in fire. Both trees are the same, but they look different because of the time factor. The time factor is under the control of the Supreme Lord, and therefore the Supreme Lord is different from time. An advanced devotee consequently does not distinguish between happiness and distress. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.8):
- tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo
- bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam
When a devotee is in a condition of so-called distress, he considers it a gift or blessing from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When a devotee is always thus situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness in any condition of life, he is described as mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk, a perfect candidate for returning home, back to Godhead. The word dāya-bhāk means "inheritance." A son inherits the property of his father. Similarly, when the devotee is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, undisturbed by dualities, he is sure that he will return home, back to Godhead, just as one inherits his father's property.
My dear Prahlāda, while you are in this material world you will exhaust all the reactions of pious activity by feeling happiness, and by acting piously you will neutralize impious activity. Because of the powerful time factor, you will give up your body, but the glories of your activities will be sung in the upper planetary systems, and being fully freed from all bondage, you will return home, back to Godhead.
Since the material body is sure to be vanquished and the duration of one's life is not fixed, neither death nor life is to be praised. Rather, one should observe the eternal time factor, in which the living entity manifests himself and disappears.
The living entities in the material world, not only at the present but also in the past, have been involved in trying to solve the problem of birth and death. Some stress death and point to the illusory existence of everything material, whereas others stress life, trying to preserve it perpetually and enjoy it to the best of their ability. Both of them are fools and rascals. It is advised that one observe the eternal time factor, which is the cause of the material body's appearance and disappearance, and that one observe the living entity's entanglement in this time factor.
One should observe the activities of eternal time, which is the cause of birth and death. Before the creation of the present millennium, the living entities were under the influence of the time factor, and within the time factor the material world comes into existence and is again annihilated. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Being under the control of the time factor, the living entities appear and die, life after life. This time factor is the impersonal representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who gives the living entities conditioned by material nature a chance to emerge from this nature by surrendering to Him.
Those who are considered materially powerful and rich are always full of anxieties because of governmental laws, thieves and rogues, enemies, family members, animals, birds, persons seeking charity, the inevitable time factor and even their own selves. Thus they are invariably afraid.
SB Canto 8
O my Lord, You are the beginning, the manifestation and the ultimate dissolution of the three worlds, and You are celebrated in the Vedas as the reservoir of unlimited potencies, the Supreme Person. O my Lord, as waves attract branches and leaves that have fallen into deep water, You, the supreme eternal time factor, attract everything in this universe.
The time factor is sometimes described as kāla-strota, waves of time. Everything in this material world is within the time factor and is being carried away by waves of attraction, which represent the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The supreme time factor, which represents the Supreme Person, was previously in our favor and not in favor of the demigods, but now that same time factor is against us.
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
"The sun is the king of all planetary systems and has unlimited potency in heat and light. I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, under whose control even the sun, which is considered to be the eye of the Lord, rotates within the fixed orbit of eternal time." Although we see the cosmic manifestation as gigantic and wonderful, it is within the limitations of kāla, the time factor. This time factor is also controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10)). Prakṛti, the cosmic manifestation, is under the control of time. Indeed, everything is under the control of time, and time is controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore the Supreme Lord has no fear of the onslaughts of time. Time is estimated according to the movements of the sun (savitā). Every minute, every second, every day, every night, every month and every year of time can be calculated according to the sun's movements. But the sun is not independent, for it is under time's control. Bhramati saṁbhṛta-kāla-cakraḥ: the sun moves within the kāla-cakra, the orbit of time. The sun is under the control of time, and time is controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore the Lord has no fear of time.
Kaṁsa immediately got up from bed, thinking, "Here is Kāla, the supreme time factor, which has taken birth to kill me!" Thus overwhelmed, Kaṁsa, his hair scattered on his head, at once approached the place where the child had been born.
In Bhagavad-gītā (10.12), Kṛṣṇa is described as the Supreme Brahman (paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma). The word brahma means "the greatest." Kṛṣṇa is greater than the greatest, being unlimited and all-pervading. How can it be possible for the all-pervading to be measured or bound? Then again, Kṛṣṇa is the time factor. Therefore, He is all-pervading not only in space but also in time. We have measurements of time, but although we are limited by past, present and future, for Kṛṣṇa these do not exist. Every individual person can be measured, but Kṛṣṇa has already shown that although He also is an individual, the entire cosmic manifestation is within His mouth. All these points considered, Kṛṣṇa cannot be measured. How then did Yaśodā want to measure Him and bind Him? We must conclude that this took place simply on the platform of pure transcendental love. This was the only cause.
You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the controller of everything. The body, life, ego and senses of every living entity are Your own self. You are the Supreme Person, Viṣṇu, the imperishable controller. You are the time factor, the immediate cause, and You are material nature, consisting of the three modes passion, goodness and ignorance. You are the original cause of this material manifestation. You are the Supersoul, and therefore You know everything within the core of the heart of every living entity.
Then Lord Brahmā saw that kāla (the time factor), svabhāva (one's own nature by association), saṁskāra (reformation), kāma (desire), karma (fruitive activity) and the guṇas (the three modes of material nature), their own independence being completely subordinate to the potency of the Lord, had all taken forms and were also worshiping those viṣṇu-mūrtis.
Kāla, or the time factor, has many assistants, such as svabhāva, saṁskāra, kāma, karma and guṇa. Svabhāva, or one's own nature, is formed according to the association of the material qualities. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-yoni janmasu (BG 13.22). Sat and asat-svabhāva—one's higher or lower nature—is formed by association with the different qualities, namely sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa. We should gradually come to the sattva-guṇa, so that we may avoid the two lower guṇas. This can be done if we regularly discuss Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and hear about Kṛṣṇa's activities. Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā (SB 1.2.18). All the activities of Kṛṣṇa described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, beginning even with the pastimes concerning Pūtanā, are transcendental. Therefore, by hearing and discussing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa are subdued, so that only sattva-guṇa remains. Then rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa cannot do us any harm.
Śrī Vīrarāghava Ācārya comments that each of the items mentioned in the first half of this verse is a cause for material entanglement. Kāla, or the time factor, agitates the modes of material nature, and svabhāva is the result of association with these modes. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, bhakta-sane vāsa. If one associates with bhaktas, then one's svabhāva, or nature, will change. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant to give people good association so that this change may take place, and we actually see that by this method people all over the world are gradually becoming devotees.
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the transcendental entity who is superior to both material nature and the enjoyer of nature. May Your lotus feet bestow transcendental pleasure upon us. All of the great demigods, beginning with Brahmā, are embodied living entities. Struggling painfully with one another under the strict control of Your time factor, they are just like bulls dragged by ropes tied through their pierced noses.
Real spiritual knowledge is based on the discrimination of spirit from matter, and it is cultivated by scriptural evidence, austerity, direct perception, reception of the Purāṇas' historical narrations, and logical inference. The Absolute Truth, which alone was present before the creation of the universe and which alone will remain after its destruction, is also the time factor and the ultimate cause. Even in the middle stage of this creation's existence, the Absolute Truth alone is the actual reality.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Madhya-lila
The living entity is the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. Being part and parcel of the Lord, he is constitutionally pure, but due to his contact with material energy, he identifies himself with either the gross or the subtle material body. Such identification is certainly false and constitutes the genuine platform of the theory of illusion. The living entity is eternal: he can never be subjected to the limits of time, as are his gross and subtle bodies. The cosmic manifestation is never false, but it is subject to change by the influence of the time factor. For a living entity to accept this cosmic manifestation as the field for his sense enjoyment is certainly illusory. This material world is the manifestation of the material energy of the Lord.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
“Yet in spite of our being so absorbed in material thought, inevitable time, which is only a form of Yourself, is always careful about its duty, and as soon as the allotted time is over, Your Lordship immediately ends all the activities of our material dreams. As the time factor, You end all our activities, as a hungry black snake swiftly swallows up a small rat without leniency. Due to the action of cruel time, the royal body which was always decorated with golden ornaments during life and which moved on a chariot drawn by beautiful horses or on the back of an elephant nicely decorated with golden ornaments, and which was advertised as the king of human society—that same royal body decomposes under the influence of inevitable time and becomes fit for being eaten by worms and insects or being turned into ashes or the stool of an animal. This beautiful body may be recognized as a royal body while in the living condition, but after death the body of even a king is eaten by an animal and therefore turned into stool or is cremated in a crematorium and turned into ashes or is put into an earthly grave, where different kinds of worms and insects are produced of it.
Jāmbavān continued: “My dear Lord, the time factor, which combines all the physical elements, is also Your representative. You are the supreme time factor, in which all creation takes place, is maintained and is finally annihilated. And beyond the physical elements and the time factor, the persons who manipulate the ingredients and advantages of creation are part and parcel of You. The living entity is not, therefore, an independent creator. By studying all factors in the right perspective, one can see that You are the supreme controller and Lord of everything. My dear Lord, I can therefore understand that You are the same Supreme Personality of Godhead whom I worship as Lord Rāmacandra. My Lord Rāmacandra wanted to construct a bridge over the ocean, and I saw personally how the ocean became agitated simply by my Lord's glancing over it. And when the whole ocean became agitated, the living entities like whales, alligators and timiṅgila fish all became perturbed. (The timiṅgila fish in the ocean can swallow big aquatics like whales in one gulp.) In this way the ocean was forced to give way and allow Rāmacandra to cross to the island known as Laṅkā. (This island is now said to be Ceylon. Lord Rāmacandra's construction of a bridge over the ocean from Cape Comorin to Ceylon is still well known to everyone.) After the construction of the bridge, a fire was set all over the kingdom of Rāvaṇa. During the fighting with Rāvaṇa, every part of his limbs was slashed to pieces by Your sharp arrows, and his heads fell to the face of the earth. Now I can understand that You are none other than my Lord Rāmacandra. No one else has such immeasurable strength; no one else could defeat me in this way.”
“You have said that You are penniless, and that is correct, for You distribute Yourself completely to these great souls and devotees. Knowing this fact perfectly well, I rejected even such great personalities as Lord Brahmā and King Indra. My Lord, the great time factor acts under Your direction only. The time factor is so great and powerful that within moments it can effect devastation anywhere within the creation. Considering all these factors, I thought Jarāsandha, Śiśupāla and similar princes who wanted to marry me to be no more important than ordinary insects.
The Śiva-jvara continued: “Therefore, my Lord, Your body is completely peaceful, completely blissful and devoid of material contamination. In the material body there are actions and reactions of the three modes of material nature. The time factor is the most important element, above all others, because the material manifestation is effected by the agitation of time. Thus natural phenomena come into existence, and as soon as phenomena appear, fruitive activities are visible. As the result of these fruitive activities, a living entity takes his form. He acquires a particular nature packed up in a subtle body and gross body formed by the life air, the ego, the ten sense organs, the mind and the five gross elements. These then create the type of body which later becomes the root cause of various other bodies, which are acquired one after another by means of the transmigration of the soul. All these phenomenal manifestations are the combined actions of Your material energy. You, however, are the cause of this external energy, and thus You remain unaffected by the action and reaction of the different elements. And because You are transcendental to such compulsions of material energy, You are the supreme tranquillity. You are the last word in freedom from material contamination. I therefore take shelter at Your lotus feet, giving up all other shelter.
“Actually, You create and destroy the entire cosmic manifestation; Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva are only the superficially visible causes. Creation and destruction are actually performed by the invisible time factor, which is Your impersonal representation. Everything is under the control of this time factor. If Your invisible time factor can perform such wonderful acts through Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, will not Your personal presence help Bhīmasena conquer Jarāsandha? My dear Lord, when Jarāsandha is killed, the queens of all the imprisoned kings will be so joyful at their husbands' being released by Your mercy that they will all sing Your glories, being as pleased as the gopīs were when released from the hands of Śaṅkhacūḍa. All the great sages; the King of the elephants, Gajendra; the goddess of fortune, Sītā; and even Your father and mother were all delivered by Your causeless mercy. We also have been thus delivered, and we always sing the transcendental glories of Your activities.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Therefore this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very important. To educate people. Because foolishly they are claiming God's property his property. Nothing belongs to us. Even this body does not belong to us. As soon as the time factor is finished, my body's finished... So I have got this body, say, for seventy-six years, age, and, say, after ten years, or five years, it will be finished. So before my body was created, the world was there, and when my body will be finished, the world will remain there. Then how can I claim that this world belongs to me? This is called illusion. This is called ignorance. Mūḍha. Mūḍha means one does not know to whom the property belongs, but foolishly he's claiming that "It is my property." This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, in other words, it is spiritual communism. The material communism, which is going on, that is defective, because this Communist movement is centered around the state. But when there will be perfect communism—īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1), the center will be God, Kṛṣṇa—that will be perfect. When everyone will understand that Kṛṣṇa is the central point, Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor, Kṛṣṇa is the enjoyer, when perfectly we come to that Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there will be peace and prosperity.
The Sanskrit word is vibhu. Vibhu means the great. God is great. Asamaurdhva. Nobody can be equal to God; nobody can be greater than God. That means everyone is subordinate to God.
Simply these understandings will make you liberated. Janma karma (ca) me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā deham (BG 4.9). This liberation means after quitting this body, you are no more going to accept any material body. You are immediately transferred to the spiritual world, and you get your spiritual body. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). These things are already explained. So try to understand what is God and what you are, what is this material nature, what is your relationship with material nature, with God, with others, what is this time factor, what is work. Then you are in full knowledge and you become liberated. All right.
But what Kṛṣṇa says, you can test even with your experimental knowledge. That is Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge, it is not dogma. The, the statement is there after sufficient experiment. So we, if we accept Vedic knowledge, we save so much time. We may go on experimenting with our limited power of senses, but that will always remain doubtful, that it is perfect. Asaṁśayaṁ samagram. This samagram, this word, is very significant. Samagram means "complete." To understand Kṛṣṇa means to understand the whole cosmic manifestation, God, the material nature, the time factor, the living entities, their respective relationship, everything. That is called samagram. Not that a Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not know about the creation of the material manifestation. He knows, by his reason. That will be explained in this chapter, Seventh Chapter, how this material creation is going on. The modern scientists, they put up creation, that "There was a chunk, and it was burnt into pieces. Then the planetary systems came into existence." But if we inquire, "Wherefrom this chunk comes?" that they cannot answer. Therefore the so-called scientific knowledge always remains in doubt. Darwin's theory... There are so many passages: "It may be, perhaps."
So if you try to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then we get some benefit. Not some benefit: the ultimate benefit. What is the purpose of Bhagavad-gītā? Kṛṣṇa has come. Kṛṣṇa's instructing Arjuna. Aiming at Arjuna, He's instructing the whole world. What is the position of the living entities, what is our constitutional position? We are all living entities, and Kṛṣṇa is God. What is Kṛṣṇa's position? What is our position? What is this material nature? What is the time factor? What is our activities? These things are very nicely explained. Prakṛti, puruṣa, jīva, and time, and karma. These five things are very nicely described. So prakṛti is also eternal. Prakṛti means the energy, energy of the Supreme.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So such thing happens because this material world is such that even if you make very nice arrangement, it will deteriorate. The time factor. So sometimes, when it happens so that the administrators, nṛpān, the kings, were neglectful in their proper duty, so it was so much aggravated, at that time Jamadagni, Bhṛgupati, he took the matter, took his sword. He was a brāhmaṇa, but to chastise these irresponsible kings, He killed them, killed them seven into three times, twenty-one times. And from history it appears that many of the kṣatriyas, they left India and they came to this part of the world. And so far my guess is concerned, you Europeans, Americans, you belong to that kṣatriya family descendant. But because you were separated directly from the Vedic culture, now you have become different. Now again that Vedic culture has come to your service. Take advantage of it. You see?
This kalinā... We are reading kalinādharmeṇa. Kalinā adharma. The two are mixed together becomes one, a sandhi. Kalinādharmeṇa. So kali. Kali means quarrel, unnecessarily quarrel. Kali... Kalinā, "by the age of Kali." This is the age of Kali. There are four ages-Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, Kali-degrading, gradual degrading. This nature's way is to degrade. That is the nature's way, time factor. Just like you construct a very nice house today, good looking, fresh, but by ages it will become old. Your body, my body, in youthhood it is very beautiful, and in due course of time it will be ugly like me. So this is the work of the time. Similarly, nature's way, there are four ages: Satya-yuga, Tretā-yuga, Dvāpara-yuga, Kali-yuga. Seasonal changes.
Nitāi: "The influence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is felt in the time factor, which causes fear of death due to the false ego of the deluded soul who has contacted material nature."
Prabhupāda:
- prabhāvaṁ pauruṣaṁ prāhuḥ
- kālam eke yato bhayam
- ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhasya
- kartuḥ prakṛtim īyuṣaḥ
- (SB 3.26.16)
So the time factor is the representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gītā, when Kṛṣṇa manifested His viśva-rūpa, Arjuna became very afraid of and inquired, "Who are You?" So at that time Kṛṣṇa said, "I am kāla. I have appeared to destroy." So kāla is representation, time. We have discussed twenty-five elements. The five mahā-bhūta and five sūkṣma-bhūta, ten senses, twenty-four internal senses, these twenty-four elements, and above that, the kāla, time factor. That's all. So kāla is destructive factor.
We may, however, defy the existence of God. Atheist class of men, demons, they always defy, "Who is God? I am God." But everyone is under the control of time factor. The time factor, in due course, will bring him death. So at that time, how one can deny the existence of God? Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). Kṛṣṇa says that "I am death, and My business is to take away everything." Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham. So time factor will take away everything, what we create with these twenty-four elements. So time is very strong, kāla. However we may defy the existence of God, the time factor is there. We have to accept it. And it is said, kālam eke yato bhayam. And because we are under the control of the time at the present moment in material existence, therefore there is bhayam. Bhayam means ultimately death. Bhayam. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād īśād apetasya viparyayo 'smṛtiḥ.
So this kāla, past, present, and future, tri-kāla... Kāla is exhibited in three features: past, present, and future. That is in the material existence. And if one becomes above the three kālas, in the eternal time... Time is eternal, but in the material existence there is past, present, and future. In the spiritual existence there is no past, no future, only present. Only present. Everything are fresh, present, nitya-navayamāna, only feelings, new, new. That is spiritual existence, ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam, only present—no future, no past. That we cannot realize now, but we can get the knowledge from Vedic literature. The time factor... In the material world there is past, present, and future. Otherwise, time factor is eternal.
So prabhāvaṁ pauruṣaṁ prāhuḥ kālam. So we have to feel the influence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in this time factor. We cannot deny it. Because in due course of time, according to the time factor, everything will be finished. Everything will be finished. The present existence will be finished, and then we will have to accept another existence. This is all due to the time. Time is over; then one body is changed into another. So this is the influence of time. Nature is working under the influence of time, and that time factor is enforcing the influence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore it is called prabhāvaṁ pauruṣaṁ prāhuḥ kālam. This is the influence. You have to abide by the influence of time. That means influence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However you deny... Just like crazy fellow. They think that "I have nothing to do with government laws." But the influence of government must be felt when he is arrested and put into the jail. Similarly, by time factor we may do something now without any fear, but time factor will place me in the fearful condition without any fail.
So ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhasya. We are now vimūḍha. Now when you say that "These mūḍhas," they become angry. But actually, this is the verdict of the śāstra. So long you are within the time factor, within the material nature, you are vimūḍha. We are all vimūḍha. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhasya. And the same thing is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). Nobody is kartā. Here the prakṛti is kartā. Just like when you are under the influence of some contaminated disease, at that time, that disease infection is kartā. You are not kartā. That is our practical experience. When you are in high fever, then your so-called mastership is gone. You are under the mastership of the feverish condition. Similarly, we spirit soul, although we are better in quality than the material element... That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām, jīva-bhūtām: "The jīva, living entities, they are better quality than the material elements." But still, on account of his viparyayo 'smṛtiḥ, forgetting God—we are leading a different type of civilization or different type of life—therefore we have been subjected to the influence of time. This is Kṛṣṇa's, or God's, influence.
So the spiritual life is very delicate. We have to conduct the spiritual life very cautiously. Little deviation may create great havoc. Great havoc means again material life. And material life means suffering, bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ, always in fearfulness. So long we are in this material life, there must be fearfulness. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt. That is described here. Kālam eke yato bhayam. So long you are wrapped up within these twenty-four elements, under the influence of time factor, then you will have to feel fearfulness, although actually by constitutional position, you have no fear. Every one of us, we know... Not everyone. At least, those who are little advanced in understanding Bhagavad-gītā, the A-B-C-D of spiritual knowledge, at least theoretically, one knows that he is not this body. But still, when the body is in danger, we become fearful because we are existing in this material environment. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt. So in order to get out of this fearful situation of life... That is material life. If we take shelter of the lotus feet of abhaya-caraṇāravinda re, Kṛṣṇa, then this bhayam element, fearfulness element, will be completely nil.
Nitāi: "O My dear mother, O daughter of Svāyambhuva Manu, the time factor, as I have explained, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, from whom the creation begins as a result of the agitation of the neutral, unmanifested nature."
Prabhupāda:
- prakṛter guṇa-sāmyasya
- nirviśeṣasya mānavi
- ceṣṭā yataḥ sa bhagavān
- kāla ity upalakṣitaḥ
- (SB 3.26.17)
Now Bhagavān Kapiladeva is describing what is the kāla, time factor. Time factor is another manifestation or feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kāla... The beginning of creation, that is the beginning of kāla. So that beginning is started by the Supreme Personality of Godhead: sa aikṣata. These are the Vedic information. "The Lord glanced over the mahat-tattva." Sa asṛjata. "And in this way creation began."
The Supreme Personality of Godhead does not come directly in touch with this prakṛti, but the form by which He touches this prakṛti, that is Lord Śiva. Therefore Lord Śiva is not different from the Supreme Personality of Godhead; at the same time, he is not the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the conclusion. So that ceṣṭā... Ceṣṭā yataḥ sa bhagavān. Therefore Lord Śiva's another name is Kāla-bhairava. Kāla-bhairava. And he is the master of the annihilation. When this whole material creation will be required to be destroyed, it will be done by Lord Śiva. It is created by Lord Brahmā, it is maintained by Lord Viṣṇu, and when it will be destroyed, it will be done by Lord Śiva. Therefore there are three original demigods. So Kāla-bhairava, ceṣṭā yataḥ sa bhagavān kāla ity upalakṣitaḥ. So kāla, time factor, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is above these twenty-four ingredients of material elements. It is in between the spiritual element and the material element, via media, that kāla. This is the description of kāla.
So his living condition was cheating and stealing and forcing others to snatch away some money. This was his living condition. So he was thinking, "I am very happy. I am begetting children..." Lālayānasya tat-sutān. Every year, one children, and getting money by cheating others, and living very peacefully. But the time factor was waiting, according to one's duration of life. So when aṣṭāśīti, eighty-eight years reached, his death was imminent. Kāla. Kāla means death. So he did not know that time and tide waits for no man. When time will come, death, then all this my paraphernalia will be taken away. I am very proud of my wealth, prestigious position, family, society. Everything is all right. But what about your death? Do you think that any day death will come and it will take everything, what you possess?
So Yamarāja says, naiṣāṁ vayaṁ na ca vayaḥ prabhavāma daṇḍe. Atas tān nopasīdata samipan api na gacchat.(?) Śrīdhara Svāmī says, "Do not try to go their vicinity even, what to speak of going directly before them. Where they are sitting, don't go hundreds of thousands years away's time." Vayaḥ kālo 'pi na prabhavati. Then the Yamadūtas can say that "We may not go, but the time factor will act on them." So that is also, "No. There is no question of time factor for them." Such are the facilities. Now, Yamarāja is a mahājana. We have to take his statement, how devotees are stated. Kṛṣṇa says summarily that "I'll give you protection." And how they are protected you have to learn from the mahājana. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). Then next question will be: "Then what is our business? Where to go? Suppose they're all devotee?" Sometimes a rascal question is there, that "If everyone becomes devotee, how this world will go on?" That is their concern. If everyone becomes honest, how the prison house will go on? What is the use of prison house? If it is closed, that is good. Similarly, if the whole world becomes devotee and the business of the material world is closed for good, that is very good. But that will not happen. That is not possible.
Sa tvaṁ hi nitya-vijitātma-guṇaḥ sva-dhāmnā kālo vaśī-kṛta. Kāla, the time factor. We are under the kāla, we conditioned souls, past, present future. Kāla. Kāla, time. Time has got three factors: past, present, future. So what is past, present, future for me, that may not be past, present, future for Brahmā, or that may not be past, present, future for the ant. Every... This world is relative world. My past, present future is relative to me. My limited span of life, say a hundred years. So before hundred years, it is past. And after hundred years, it is future. And the present hundred years is present. But so far Brahmā is concerned, his past, present, future is different. Our forty-three lakhs of years multiplied by one thousand—his present day. That is his present day. Just like we have got this present day, beginning from six-thirty to five-thirty, that. So Brahmā hasn't got such day. This six-thirty to five-thirty, say eleven hours, and Brahma, this eleven hours means our forty-three lakhs of years multiplied by one thousand.
So before hundred years, it is past. And after hundred years, it is future. And the present hundred years is present. But so far Brahmā is concerned, his past, present, future is different. Our forty-three lakhs of years multiplied by one thousand—his present day. That is his present day. Just like we have got this present day, beginning from six-thirty to five-thirty, that. So Brahmā hasn't got such day. This six-thirty to five-thirty, say eleven hours, and Brahma, this eleven hours means our forty-three lakhs of years multiplied by one thousand. Sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17). So in this way, relatively... Similarly, one ant, his one hundred years, he cannot imagine that so long period of man is one day. So everything is relative in our condition. But for Kṛṣṇa, He's eternal. There is no such thing as past, present and future. Nityaḥ śāśvataḥ. We are also of the same quality, nityaḥ śāśvataḥ, but under the condition of material nature we are controlled, and this is going on by the time factor. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja is regretting, niṣpīḍyamānam: "I am being crushed by this time factor." But we are thinking, "It is all right." This is called ignorance. We are being crushed under this time factor, the wheel, time wheel, with sixteen spokes, senses. Manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūta (BG 15.7). "These living entities," Kṛṣṇa said, "they are My part and parcel." So they should remain with Him just like the fire and the spark. Unfortunately we have fallen down. And the result is niṣpīḍyamāna, being crushed.
So if one is serious to be saved from this crushing process of time factor, then they should learn from Prahlāda Mahārāja. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). That... What is that? Niṣpīḍyamāna upakarṣa: "Kindly pick me up." Vibho: "You are vibhu, most powerful, the great omnipotent." "Yes, I am, all right. But why shall I pick it up?" Now, prapannam: "Now I surrender. I rebelled against You, and I was put into this wheel of time, and suffering one after another life. Now I have realized that I am in a precarious condition of life." So niṣpīḍyamānam. This is called human life, when one understands... The animal life, they do not understand what is suffering. The cats and dogs, they are thinking they're living very happily. But in the human life they should come to the understanding that "Actually we are not living happily. We are being crushed by the wheel of time in so many ways." Niṣpīḍyamānam. When this sense comes, then he is a human being. Otherwise he's animal. If he's thinking that he's all right... That is... Ninety-nine point nine percent people think that "I am all right." Even in the most abominable condition of life, just like the hog and dog, still, he is thinking, "I am all right." So long this ignorance will continue, he is simply animal. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma-ijya-dhīḥ (SB 10.84.13). This is going on.
Here it is said that God is He who... Kālo vaśī-kṛta-visṛjya-visarga-śaktiḥ: "He keeps control over the time factor and the creative energy." That is God. God is not so cheap that you'll find here and there. God is everywhere. That's a fact. But that is partial manifestation of His material energy. This is... Ekāṁśena sthito jagat.
- athavā bahunaitena
- kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna
- vistabhya aham...
- ekāṁśena sthito jagat
- (BG 10.42)
He's there. Aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. He is within the atom. So when the same God, sa tvam, He comes, the foolish persons, they think that "Kṛṣṇa is like one of us." No. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā. One who thinks like that, that "Kṛṣṇa is one of us. He is like a human being, like me or you," he is mūḍha. Paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto (BG 9.11). He does not know what are the activities of God, what He can do, what He can undo.
General Lectures
Certainly. Otherwise, why you are laboring so hard? To know yourself, know the Absolute. Three, five things. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to know perfectly well five things. What are those? God, living entity, and this material nature, the time factor, and the activities. God, the supreme controller. However you may declare there is no God, there is a supreme controller. That we have to admit. There are so many things that which does not depend on our so-called scientific advancement of knowledge. It depends completely something else. Supreme controller. So that is God. They may call it nature, but they do not know nature, what is nature. So God, and we are living entities. We are godly. We have got the same activity. As God is the creator of the whole universe, we are also creator of some skyscraper building or a city like Montreal or New York. We may do that. But in comparison to the God's creation and my creation, there is no comparison. It is very insignificant. If you go high up on the sky, you will see this globe is just like a point.
What is this material nature? The material nature is exactly like your body. This body is working so nicely because you, the soul, is present within this body. That is a fact. You do not know how your hairs are growing, how your nails are growing. You are claiming, "It is my hair; it is my nail," but can you explain how it is growing? No. Similarly, the nature's work is going on wonderfully. Just like my... That is... So many things are going on wonderfully due to the presence of the spirit soul. Similarly, all this nature's work is going on so wonderfully due to the presence of God, the Supersoul. This is understanding of the material nature. Then God, living entity, material nature, and then time. Time is eternal. There is no past, present, and future. It is my calculation, according to... That is relativity. That is the modern scientific proposition by Professor Einstein. Your time and my time, he has also stated that the time factor in the higher planets are different. In the higher planet the time factor—our six months makes their one day. Just like our so many yugas makes twelve hours of Brahmā. So time is according to the different object. But time is eternal. Actually, there is no past, present, future, or limitation. This is understanding of time. So God, living entity, material nature, time, and the activities. What are these activities? The activities are not eternal; they are temporary. You have got this temporary American body. You are thinking American. You are busy twenty-four hours as American.
Then the child gets consciousness, and he feels very much inconvenience. Therefore moves this side, that side. Then, if he is fortunate, he prays to God, "My Lord, please save me from this inconvenience, this position." Just imagine, airtight packed. In this way he comes up and cries, and again grows. But after coming out, he does not..., he forgets in what position he was. But mother, father takes care. He forgets, again grows. So this evolution is going on. In the material stage of our life, we have got birth, growth, sustenance, by-product, then dwindling, then this body vanishes, again accepting another body. This is called cycle of birth and death. But in this human form of life one can understand what he is, what is this world, who is controlling, what is God, what is his relationship with God, what is this time factor, what are his activities. These things are to be learned, not that simply like animals, cats and dogs and hogs, whole day working for getting food. You see? And satisfied only by some sense gratification, business finished. No. That is animal life. Simply people are engaged for eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. That is the modern trend of civilization. Everyone is busy how to eat and how to sleep nicely in big palatial building, nice apartment, very good room, sleeping, the business of sleeping. And economic condition, developing the business of economic condition, means the business of eating. And defending—either you defend with atomic energy or with your nails and claws, the process is defending. That is in the animal life also. And mating, sex intercourse or sense gratification.
Even a small ant which requires a grain of sugar, he has to work also very hard. And the elephant who eats hundred pounds at a time, he has also to work. Even a rich man, he has also to work, and a very poor man, he has also to work. Therefore this material energy is called avidyā-karma-samjña anya. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy is that we have to work, but we should work for the best bargain. That is our philosophy. And that is taught in Bhagavad-gītā. There are, according to Vedānta philosophy, there are five kinds of interest, or arthas, pañcārtha. What is that? God, first of all to know what is God. Next, to understand what is jīva, or the living entity. Then, what is this material nature, or what is that spiritual nature. Īśvara, jīva, prakṛti. And then time—what is the time factor, past, present, and future. And then there is karma, activities. These five things, primary principles of philosophical speculation or philosophical understanding, are very clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: īśvara, jīva, prakṛti, kāla, and activities. So out of these five, īśvara, the Lord, the jīva, the living entities, the nature, prakṛti, and the time factor, as well as the..., they are eternal. They are not temporary. But the material energy is temporary. Actually, what is the difference between material energy and spiritual energy? The difference is material energy, the consciousness is different, and in the spiritual energy, the consciousness is Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference. Just like the sky.
So how to come to the point of surrendering to the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is taught in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. So I shall... I have given you some introduction to the Bhagavad-gītā, that this Bhagavad-gītā contains subject matter relating to God, to the living entity—īśvara, jīva—and prakṛti, and the time factor, and karma. Now, in the beginning, the six chapters in the Bhagavad-gītā are simply devoted to understand what is the constitutional position of the jīva. The living entities are eternal. That is stated in the Second Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā: dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ... (BG 2.13). (break)... dvau bhūta-sargau loke 'smin daiva āsura (BG 16.6). Asmin loke, in this world, there are two kinds of living entities, not only in human society but also in animal society, in trees, in plants, in... There are 8,400,000 species of life—aquatic, plants, trees, reptiles, insects, birds, beasts, then human beings, civilized human beings, noncivilized human beings. And altogether, there are 8,400,000 species of life, and they are divided into...(break)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Pañca-draviḍa: What about two people born in the same circumstance? Each has equal education and equal background, but one becomes rich and one remains poor. That's chance.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the fate. Fate is the cause, destiny. Otherwise, so many people are working hard. Why not everyone is becoming rich by chance? Kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā. This is the instruction in the Bhāgavatam. Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham. There are two things—happiness and distress—and they are being controlled by the time. You have infected some disease. In time, it will come out, manifested, and the doctor say, "Oh, you infected this disease. Take this injection." The time factor. It.... You have to wait to see the result. It is not chance. As soon as you do something, immediately the reaction begins. But you do not see the result immediately, but wait and you'll find. Yes.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Second point was they intend to...
Prabhupāda: But this time factor is answered. You are waiting. You cannot do that. You are waiting for this favorable situation.
Rūpānuga: They say wait..., "In the future, after I die..."
Prabhupāda: That's all right, but why shall I wait if I can get immediately? That is intelligence.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, they are cheating.
Prabhupāda: Cheating. That's all. Which can be done in few days, why shall I wait for millions of years?
Hari-śauri: That verse, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa? Yes.
Prabhupāda: Ah, that verse.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa:
- na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ
- na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ
- na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ
- sarve vayam ataḥ param
Translation, "Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings, nor in the future shall any of us cease to be."
Prabhupāda: Yes, that means in the past we existed, at present we are existing, and in future we shall continue to exist, individually. And that is our experience. I existed in the past as a child. So I existed as a person. I existed as a young man, so I existed as a person. I am an old man now, now I am existing as a person. Naturally, the conclusion is when I shall change this body, I shall remain as a person. How we can change this conclusion? I am continuing to exist as a person. I am still existing as a person. And here is the authority, He says in the future also you remain a person. So there is time factor, past, present and future, and in all these time factors I live as a person. Not only I, but also Kṛṣṇa. He says "I also remain as person. You Arjuna, you also person, I am also person, and all these soldiers and kings who have assembled, they are also persons." So our personality continues, past, present and future.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: After all, they are human being.
Girirāja: Yes. Actually most people are. They see the book distribution, the construction, and the time factor, that we are still pushing on. We're not going away. Many factors. They see the leaders are also appreciating our activities. Actually our movement is very all-encompassing. Our movement is all-encompassing. I mean I've really seen from Svarūpa Dāmodara that... Your same teachings we can dress up in different garbs and present to anyone, and they will be convinced, unless they are very envious.
Prabhupāda: Iron-clad demons, they will be made remain.
Girirāja: But innocent people, they can be convinced. One thing I was concerned about for the pandal is that many of these leading personalities, they want to meet Your Divine Grace. But at the same time it might be very strenuous for you to come from Juhu every day.
Prabhupāda: Not every day.
Girirāja: Just selected days. The other alternative would be to arrange a place closer to the pandal, but then it would have to be with some member like Kārttikeya or someone.
Prabhupāda: That is near pandal, Kārttikeya's house?
Girirāja: Well, it's about a fifteen or twenty minute drive.
Prabhupāda: That is also good.
Prabhupāda: So it is not working.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not sufficiently, no. How can it work? How can an artificial kidney be expected to work like a real kidney? I mean, they want to hold back time.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They think that they can defeat the time...
Prabhupāda: Nature. Nature's way.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. Time factor. They cannot defeat the time factor. They want to make an old man a young man, without spiritual qualities. Only Kṛṣṇa can do that. What a rascal! I saw on the front page... There was one Muslim leader. He died. But he's being lauded as a great humanitarian welfare worker. And he gave one statement. He ended, "I have been an atheist, and I will die an atheist." He said, "Burn my body. Do not let it be at any ceremony. No plaque, nothing." He was against the Muslim making the women keep their heads covered, and it said he was a great worker for humanitarian rights. (Prabhupāda chuckles) Just like they praised that Dr. Ambhetkar for burning the Manu-smṛti. Manu-saṁhitā was burned, and he's praised, "A great man." It is coming to the time now when if a man is God conscious, he's considered the enemy of the people, and if he's an atheist, then he's praised for being humanitarian. Therefore they don't recognize you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. They should be giving you all awards and praise. But actually they don't. Of course, we don't care for their awards. And the real intelligentsia, the professors, they're giving all praise. But anyway, there's no doubt they should be giving you Nobel Prize. So many prizes should be coming. But because they're demons, they don't give these awards, purposely. (end)
| Page Title: | Time factor |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Mayapur |
| Created: | 23 of Feb, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=56, CC=1, OB=5, Lec=25, Con=5, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 92 |