Vedic and Psychological Perspectives of Time

Abstract

The concept of time has engaged the attention of practitioners of scientific thought as well as scholars of Vedic literature with the sole aim of investigating the true nature of time, the associated dynamical paradigms and the interpretation of various time spans in the context of a universal system. We wish to present a cohesive discussion in terms of the modern cosmological framework and juxtapose the same with the deep studies in the realms of Vedic system. Time is thought of simply as one of the geometric coordinates in the overall fabric of the 4-dimensional continuum of spacetime within the framework of Einstein’s formulation of the theory of relativity, whereas time is considered to be the controller of the movements of all heavenly bodies organised by the Supreme Lord- the Brahma. The units of time in the Vedic domain are defined in terms of the day/night, month, year of the sages who have acquired progressively higher echelons of divinity by their meditation, namely, Pitris, Devas (demigods), and the Supreme Brahma. Dividing the span in terms of the four Yugas, namely the Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali, (and translating these durations to the more familiar earth years) helps in comprehending the extent of their largeness. The total time span of the 4 yugas is estimated to be 4320 million earth years and this defines one cycle. The Vedas stipulate that this cycle must keep repeating periodically in the scheme of things of the universe. Such an interpretation is also consistent with the Hindu religious scriptures. However, among the crucial links between the two streams is the concept of time dilation according to which the rate of flow of time is governed by the motion of the object with respect to the observer, the more the relative motion the less is the rate of time propagation. It is, therefore evident that our modest attempt delineated here offers a reasonably cogent and systematic framework which is capable of accounting for the observations in both the domains. Turning to the psychological aspects of time flow we recognise that the time fluidity is indeed an extremely crucial ingredient in studying its profound psychological impact on physical and emotional paradigms in a variety of contextual situations. We make a modest attempt to highlight some of these daunting and perceptible effects in the background of our experiences.