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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00100 Feb 2003

 
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Dear friends in Kuwait,

One more anxious week begins for all of us here in Kuwait with no
sign that the War on Iraq is any less imminent now than a week ago.
We continue to remain tense and fearful. Mr.Bush says "the game is
over" and "Time running out" for Mr.Hussein. There were fiery
speeches and diplomatic theatrics at the UN Security Council meeting
last week which all helped finally only to delay not avoid what seems
to be inevitable: War. 

What now will happen in the weeks ahead, well... only Time or "kAla"
can tell..

*****************************

Let us take up for discussion the word "kAla:" which is Sanskrit for
Time.

One more of the wonderful "nAmA-s" of God that Sri
Vishnu-Sahasranamam reveals to us is: "kAla:". It is found in the
44th stanza and it says that Time is Vishnu and Vishnu is Time:

"rituh sudarshanah kAla: paramEshti parigrahah
ugrah samvatsarah dakshah visrAmah viswadakshinah:" 
(stanza 44)

When I was a young man my elders were never tired of reminding me of
the inestimable value and nature of Time. They were never tired of
repeating ad-infinitum, sometimes ad-nauseum, age-old proverbs such
as: "Time and Tide wait for none", "Time is Money", "Never put off
till tomorrow what you can do today" and so on and so forth. They
were all intent on driving home the truth into me that of all the
gifts God gave to Man, the most precious is Time. He has given us
each a life-span that is a lifetime of endless opportunities. The
best and noblest things that a human being can achieve in this world
can all be ours if only we knew how to put Time to wise use. Equally
so, we could all too easily also fritter away the opportunity if we
allow Time to slip through our hands and pass away forever... 

Time, symbolized by those awesome fingers of the unceasing clock,
keeps ticking away... Time does not wait for anyone. It is no
respecter of persons, either high or low, rich or poor. If you are
late for an interview you don't get the job. If you don't reach the
station on time, the train leaves. If you don't pass the examination
at the right age, you don't enter University. If you were not ready
to get married at the right time, all the beautiful girls of the
neighbourhood were already taken by the time you became eligible...
Those great ticking hands of "kAla:", just keep ruthlessly moving on.
Time waits for none; it gives no 'second chances', not to anyone, and
not for any reason:

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: not all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it

-- Omar Khayyam

Now, if Time is what it really is -- inexorable, severe and merciless
-- and if Time is also God's gift, then we are tempted to feel that
God must be a very hard-hearted person indeed to have given us a gift
that, in the manner of a double-edged knife, turns out cuts both
ways. If Time is such a severe gift of life, can the donor be any
less severe?

***********************************

Before we seek an answer for the above question let us first ask: Why
the Sahasranamam hails Vishnu as "kAla".

I looked in the religious writer, Sri. Eknath Eswaran's delightful
little book, "Thousand Names of Vishnu", but surprisingly found no 
commentary upon this particular 'nAma' of "kAla". So I returned to
the good old commentary of Sri. Parashara Bhattar -- that all-time
classic called "bhagavath-guna-darpana" written in the 11th century
CE and, sure enough, I found the "nAma" of "kAla:" very neatly
explained and amply illumined. 

We all know Time, "kAla", best by its 3 basic dimensions viz. Past,
Present and Future. We know the past and the present through actual
experience. The Future, on the other hand, is like God: It is unknown
and unknowable. The Future is much like God's avatar: The fact is
never in doubt, but the advent is never certain. 

The avatar of God on earth in either a near or distant future is
fact; but the advent of an avatar is uncertain. While no one can say
when an avatar will exactly take place, scriptural authority, like
the 'sruti' or 'smriti', tells us with certainty that an avatar will
take definitely take place sometime in the future. 

The God of the Future is known as 'kalki', the avatara that is yet to
advent upon earth and "samvatsarah" is the name the Sahasranama
gives it in the above stanza. Awaiting the arrival of the right
moment to descend upon earth to make His appearance as Kalki, our
Lord Vishnu is said to be patiently reclining upon the eternal Coil
of Time called "anantha" -- symbolized as Vishnu's Serpent-bed
("anantha-sayanArudham"). Bhattar also points us to the significance
of the immediately succeeding 'nAmA' i.e. "daksha", which in fact is
alias for Kalki, the avatar of the Future. 

**************************************

We know Time by various units of its measurement also -- such as
seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades,
centuries, millennia. The word "samvatsara" in Sanskrit generally
means "year" but in a much larger, Upanishadic sense it refers to all
conceivable but indeterminate units of time
("samvatsarO'sAvA'dityO..."). Units of time-measurement used in
scientific or digital disciplines, like "nanoseconds" or
"light-years", while they are clearly conceivable are
indeterminable. "Samvatsara:" or "kAla" both denote Time in its vast,
indeterminable form -- the concept of Infinity, for example,
Eternity, Agelessness or Continuum. Since God Almighty Vishnu is also
similarly conceivable but indeterminable, He is said to be "kAla" or
"samvatsarah".

Another reason why God, according to the Sahasranamam stanza above,
is "kAla":

The most common index of Time we know is the calendar Year
("samvatsara:") the period in which planet earth revolves once around
the Sun in 365 days. The calendar-year is identified with the sun
because changes brought about in Nature in the form of the 4 seasons 
are through the influence of the sun. This is why God is referred to
(in the Sahasranamam stanza above) as "rituh", meaning that Vishnu
manifests Himself as the 4 ageless seasonal time-zones of the year. 

The 4 seasons, if one reflects upon it, are measures of Time too.
They are not, however, quantitative measures in the same way as
"hours", "days" or "minutes" are. The seasons are rather measures of
Time that are "qualitative" in nature. It is the 4 seasons of the
year which tell us that Time possesses "quality" as much as
"quantity". Through the experience of the 4 seasons we are able to
realize that Time is not altogether a vast, cold, completely neutral,
immeasureable and impersonal entity. 

In olden days villagers in India used to refer to their age not in
number of years but in terms of the number of summers they had
witnessed in life. There was a reason for it. You could hear a
villager say, for example, "Raman is twenty summers older than I. He
has reaped 20 more harvests and he must hence surely be 20 times
wealthier, indeed." Such a statement conveyed a sense of Time far
beyond its measureable dimension. It was meant to convey, more
profoundly, the experience of Time and its "quality" aspects. 

Similarly, while the "nAma" of God such as "samvatsara:" or "kAla"
give us a measure of the sheer Timelessness of God, the "namA" of
"rituh" give us a sense of the quality of the same Timeless Almighty
("kalyAna-guNa-vibhava"). "vasanta-rituh", for example, is Spring,
"shisira-rituh" is Winter and God is "rituh" Himself because He
possesses some rare and wonderful qualities associated with the
seasons. The Lord is pleasanter than the Spring breeze, more
bountiful than a summer harvest; He is as mellow as the fall and as
invigorating as the tropical winter.

*******************************

Although the Time of allotted life-span ("kAla") gifted to each
individual by God is indeed severely limited in years i.e. in units
of "samvatsarah", there is however plenty of time in it to fill a
lifetime with the rich qualities of "rituh". Our whole life can be
indeed like the 4 rolling seasons -- pleasant, bountiful, varied and
zestful.

When we look at the lives of great souls like Vyasa, Sankara, Buddha,
Ramanuja, Desika or Ramakrishna Paramahamsa... we realize why our
Time in this world ("kAla") is not to be measured in terms of
quantity or in terms of "samvatsarah:" alone. It must be weighed,
more importantly, on the basis of its quality or "rituh".

"Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime;
And departing leave behind us
Footprints across the sands of Time."

(H.W.Longfellow)

**********************

Very Important Persons (VIPs), we see around us in life, are
extremely conscious of personal Time. Presidents, Kings, Generals and
CEOs -- the most powerful persons of the world -- lead such hectic
lives they cannot afford to spare much time for ordinary folks like
us. VIPs are business-like, very frugal in giving their Time. (Like
George Bush last week, they are quick to make grave statements such
as "Time is up; game is over", and really mean it too.) Such great
ones of the world have really not much Time for anyone who does not
fall in line with their own purpose, thinking or work. VIPs cannot
wait... They give you no 'second chances'...

God in the form of "kAla", the greatest VIP of them all, is on the
other hand extremely generous with Time. The Lord is utterly unlike
the most 'powerful' VIP of the world. He is ever willing to ladle out
any amount of Time Man needs. The Lord is willing to wait endlessly
-- not one lifetime but any number of lifetimes -- for Man to redeem
himself, perfect himself and finally come around to Him and ascend
the Kingdom of God. We might say, "I live a kind of life that really
gives me no Time for God or godly matters" but the Lord does not
return that sentiment. He does not say, "Sorry friend, if you have no
time for me, neither do I. So when Time's up for you, it's game over
too!". 

Our Vishnu is ever willing to give us as many 'second chances', a
third and then a fourth even --- as many lifetimes, in fact, as it
takes, and as many as our respective 'karma' dictates.

It is because God is so lavishly generous with Time -- "kAla" -- that
Vishnu in the Sahasranamam is hailed as "paramEshti parigraha:". 

**********************************

The most telling and poignant example of God's generosity with His
"kAla" is in the story of the Ramayana, in the "yuddha-kAnda".

In the great battle with Ravana, Rama smashes the 'rakshAsa' king's
chariot, armoury, weapons, coat-of-mail, flagstaff and crown. A hush
of silence descends on the battlefield. Ravana stands utterly beaten,
humiliated and defenseless. Everyone watches and waits with bated
breath to see what Rama will do next. Only a single arrow from Rama's
bow is needed to finish off Ravana once and for all, and rid the
world of Evil, for all times to come.

What does Rama do then ?

Eyes blazing, the Prince of Ayodhya looks down the shaft of a deadly
arrow aimed straight at Ravana's heart. And Rama says:

"gacchAnu-jAnAmi raNArdi-tastvam 
pravishya rAtrImchara-rAja lankAm I
aashvAsya niryAhi rathI cha dhanvi tadA 
balam drakshyasi mE rathasthah:" II

(Valmiki Ramayanam VI.59.143) 

"I can finish you now, Ravana! But I forbear to send down
another arrow. You have done well today but not well enough. You need
a new chariot, new arms, plenty of rest and refreshment. Go now and
return tomorrow with renewed vigour. I will then show you who I am!".

It is one of the most poignantly gripping scenes of the
'yuddha-kAnda'!

Even in the midst of a raging War the Lord is gracious and
compassionate enough to grant Time. He tells the beaten Ravana to go
away from battle and return in better shape the following day. It was
the 'second chance', the opportunity of "kAla" the Almighty gives
Ravana. It is not so much an opportunity for Ravana to go back and
return with a new chariot or new weapons. The Time granted was really
for Ravana to introspect and reflect upon the folly of his ways. Even
in the heat of pitched battle, the Lord made sure to allow the
'rAkshasa' benefit of Time, of "kAla", so that it might work its
magic of a probable change-of-heart, of genuine repentance... of a
spiritual course-correction and turn around.

Not for nothing therefore does the Sahasranamam hail the Lord as
"kAla"
-- the Gracious Giver of Time.

Regards,

dAsan,
Sudarshan




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