What exactly is time, according to the Vedas? (aka. In a time before the start of time)

Everything is temporary, created, and destroyed at a certain date. This happens because we are under the influence of time. Our history, however, starts before that, in a time before the start of time

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What exactly is time, according to the Vedas? (aka. In a time before the start of time)

Everything that exists in this material world was created at a certain date as a permutation of the material energy, and everything will be destroyed at a certain date. Even our current material identities, composed of ego and mind, have a beginning, and the material consciousness that covers the original consciousness of the soul was created at a certain stage. Everything here is temporary. This happens because we are under the influence of material time.

On SB 3.26.15, time is counted as one of the material elements, just as earth, water, fire, etc. Time is described as a “mixing element” or as an “agitating element” because it puts the universe in motion, activating the innumerable transformations that lead to the creation and destruction of everything that exists inside the universe, including the universe itself. Because of the influence of time, everything that is material has a beginning and an end.

This is further corroborated in SB 7.1.11, where it’s described: “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.”

All conditioned souls are put under the influence of time from the moment they take part in the material creation. Time is the ticking clock that forces us to move from one temporary position to another. The Lord, however, remains outside of it, in His transcendental position. He may appear to act under the influence of time when He comes in His different incarnations, appearing inside the material universes and executing His pastimes here, but He is never under time’s control. As Śrila Prabhupāda mentions in the purport of the same verse: “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.”

As he further explains in his purport to SB 3.26.17: “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.”

This time that puts matter into motion is a representative of the power of God, as Prabhupāda mentions in his purport to SB 3.26.16: “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 beginning and end of time can’t be calculated from the material perspective, because everything (material) that exists exists inside the boundaries of time. From the material perspective, thus, time is eternal. Prabhupāda refers to the material time as “eternal time” in a few purports, using the expression as a translation of the Sanskrit word “Kāla”. However, there is another reality that is outside, the spiritual reality.

Just like there are two separate natures (the material nature and spiritual nature), apart from the material time (this force that puts the material creation into motion and reminds us of its temporary nature), there is another time that exists outside this material time, which is eternal. This is the eternal time that governs the spiritual planets. There, time does not exist as an oppressive force. Everything is eternal, and there is no past or future. Everyone and everything is eternal, and all inhabitants live in eternal happiness, immersed in their relationships with Krsna.

Śrila Prabhupāda explains this concept on CC Adi 4.43: “This material world is only a perverted reflection of the spiritual world, where everything is manifested without inebriety. There everything is in its original existence, free from the domination of time. Time cannot deteriorate or interfere with the conditions in the spiritual world, where different manifestations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are the recipients of the worship of different living entities in their constitutional spiritual positions.”

How can something be without a beginning or an end? Krsna explains this concept in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.16) when He mentions “nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ”. In the context of the Bhagavad-gītā, this verse is taken as meaning that the body is temporary and the soul is eternal, but in a broader context, it means that everything that is real (spiritual) is eternal and for it there is no change, while for everything that is illusory (material) there is no endurance, since it passes through many changes that inevitably leads to its dissolution. Everything that is spiritual is under the effect of the eternal time, in which there is no change, while everything that is material is under material time, and thus passes through the stages of creation, change, and dissolution.

This eternal spiritual world, which is not subject to change or decay, is immersed in the light of the impersonal brahmajyoti. In one of the corners of the unlimited sky, there is a cloud-like manifestation that includes all the souls who desire to enjoy the material manifestation.

To give a chance to these souls to realize their eternal relationship with Him, the Lord expands Himself as Mahā-Viṣnu and lies down in the causal ocean, immersed in His pastime of creating and destroying the material universes. It’s explained that Lord Mahā-Viṣnu looks in the direction of the material energy, and this glance (Lord Sadāśiva) carries all the souls who desire to participate in the material creation. However, in the Brahma Samhita 5.7, it’s revealed that this glance carries something more: “tyakta-kālam - by casting His glance in the shape of sending His time energy”.

Alongside the innumerable souls, the glance of Lord Mahā-Viṣnu carries also Kāla, the time energy, that puts the material energy in motion. The look of Lord Mahā-Viṣnu marks thus the beginning of material time. The material time, as an energy, is eternal, but its effect on the material creation has a beginning.

Every time Lord Mahā-Viṣnu exhales, millions of complete material universes emanate from the pores of His body, and every time he inhales, all these universes are destroyed, and the souls who took part in them have to wait inside the body of Mahā-Viṣnu until the next creation.

The creation of each and every universe follows a sequence that is described in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Under the influence of material time, each cycle of creation results in a timeline that goes from the creation all the way to the dissolution of the cosmic manifestation. All the events that happen inside this timeline can be organized in chronological order, and we may be able to calculate the precise time each event happened. However, events that happen outside of this timeline, or in other words, outside of the material creation, are free from the influence of material time. That’s why in the spiritual world, there is no defined past or future. Thus, our history starts in a time outside of time. Coming from this eternal reality, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam describes all the stages of the process of creation, including time itself!

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