Concept of Time in Nityavibhūti

Kāla is a Nitya Tattva, Śrīpāda Baladeva quotes the following quotation of bhāllaveya śruti by Śrī Madhva "atha ha vāva nityāni puruṣaḥ prakṛtir ātmā kālaḥ ity evaṃ bhāllaveya-śruteḥ" "The Lord, Prakṛti, Jīvas and Time are eternal". The Bhāgavata agrees that there exists time independent of prakṛti as Śrīpāda Baladeva points out the word "apaśyat" from the verse describing the Trans of Śrī Vyāsa "bhakti-yogena manasi samyak praṇihite 'male apaśyat puruṣaṁ pūrṇaṁ māyāṁ ca tad-apāśrayam", Śrīla Baladeva notes "apaśyat ity anena kālo'py ānītaḥ". Also from the Muṇḍaka and the Ṛgveda we see तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं स्वाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अभिचाकशीति ॥, both the krīyāpadas have laṭ lakār indicating the presence of time, also the Taittirīya upaniṣad "असद्वा इदमग्र आसीत् । ततो वै सदजायत ।" and "तद्विष्णोः परमं पदं सदा पश्यन्ति सूरयः" gives a sense of time. This Kāla is used By Bhagavāna in Creation, Maintenance and Destruction as said in the Viṣṇupurāṇa "अनादिर् भगवान् कालो नान्तोऽस्य द्विज विद्यते अव्युच्छिन्नास् ततस् त्व् एते सर्गस्थित्यन्तसंयमाः" also in the Bhāgavata "पुरैव पुंसावधृतो धराज्वरोभवद्भ‍िरंशैर्यदुषूपजन्यताम् । स यावदुर्व्या भरमीश्वरेश्वर:स्वकालशक्त्या क्षपयंश्चरेद् भुवि ॥".  Thus we understand that time is eternal but the question remains if it is existing in Paravyoma.  We will find out the answer subsequently here.

In the Vedānta Śyāmantaka—

kālacakraṃ jagaccakramityādi śrutiḥ smṛtiśca, nityo-vibhuścaṃṣaḥ sadeva saumyedamagra āsīdityādiṣu sargāt prāgapi tasya satvāvagamāt, sarvvatra kāryyopalambhācca yaduktaṃ, na soʼsti pratyayo loke yatra kālo na bhāsata iti. Sarva niyāmakoʼpyayaṃ paramātmanā niyabhyo bhavati, jñaḥ kāla iti avaṇāt tasya ceṣṭātvasmaraṇādca, ata stannityavibhūtau nāsya prabhāvaḥ, na yatra kālo jagatāṃ paraḥ prabhuḥ, kutoʼnu devā jagatā ca īśire ityādi smṛteḥ||

This time is eternal and omnipotent, it is written in the śruti: O Gentle one! "Before this world was created there was but one Sat," This gives the being of time even before creation; All actions have the existence of time, as it is written, "There is no perception in the world that I believe in time" This time is the regulator of all, and is regulated by the Supreme Being, as stated earlier, He is the knower, the Time is time, time is his endeavour. Therefore, there is no influence of this time in the Supreme Abode [Nitya-vibhuti] of the Lord. It is written in the Smṛti: The best regulative time of the world is not there in its potency.

By the verdict of Bhāllaveya Śruti we know—There are five tattvas viz. Īśvara[The Lord], jīva[The living being], Prakṛti[Aggregate Māyā], Kāla[Time], Karma[Activities], The first four are eternal[atha ha vāva nityāni puruṣaḥ prakṛtir ātmā kālaḥ ity evaṁ bhāllaveya-śruteḥ ]. Thus there is no difference of time frame in the name of cit and acit, this is substantiated by the bhāgavatam verse 2.9.10—pravartate yatra rajas tamas tayoḥ sattvaṁ ca miśraṁ na ca kāla-vikramaḥ, it doesn’t say that Vaikuṇṭha doesn’t have time rather it says that in Vaikuṇṭha, time is bereft of it’s prowess thus Śrī Jīva comments—tatra hetuḥ—na ca kāla-vikrama iti, kāla-vikrameṇa hi prakṛti-kṣobhāt sattvādayaḥ pṛthak kriyante, tasmāt yatrāsau ṣaḍ-bhāva-vikāra-hetuḥ kāla-vikrama eva na pravartate, tatra teṣām abhāvaḥ sutarām eveti bhāvaḥ, this is substantiated by śrī viṣṇupurāṇa “कलामुहूर्तादिमयश् च कालो न यद्विभूतेः परिणामहेतुः” and also the Mahābhārata “कालः संपच्यते तत्र कालस्तत्र न वै प्रभुः। स कालस्य प्रभू राजन्सर्वस्यापि तथेश्वरः।।”. Thus it is clear that there is no such difference of time as the cit and acit frame as the viṣṇupurāṇa mentions "अनादिर् भगवान् कालो नान्तोऽस्य" here Kāla and Bhagavān are called anādi simultaneously would the pakṣa accept the origin of Bhagavān in Cit kāla ?

Even If one Says that the beginning of karma is in cit time [let’s accept this for the sake of argument] thus it is called anādi because there exists no point in material time from where karma had started thus it is designated as anādi in material time frame. But this logic contradicts 15th chapter of Jaiva Dharma this is flawed because in cit frame there is only one tense that is “present” and if at any such point of time in the “present” frame, the material time came into being then also it is eternally existing because it is the “present” tense of the cit time. We can’t say that material time came “after” cit time because there is no time frame other than these two [cit & māyika], Thus the phrases like “jaḍa-kāla originated at a certain point in the cit-kāla” are rendered illogical because their can’t be a definition of a “point” in the cit-kāla as there is no past or future tenses in it [as per their pakṣa]. Thus a point can’t be referred upon the cit-kāla; anything originating in reference to it is eternal because it is eternally in the present-tense frame. Thus it is defined both in jaḍa and cit kālas that Karma is as old as Lord. As the vācaspatyam directly refers to the Lord’s beginning lessness to the term anādi, " karmāvibhāgāditi cennānāditvāt " here someone try to put their intelligence and say that Karma does have beginning in spiritual time but not in material time but it violates the very definition of anādi "नास्ति आदिः कारणं यस्य सः " or "आदिः कारणम् पूर्व्वकालो वा स नास्ति " [vācaspatyam], " आदिरहितः । उत्पत्तिशून्यः । स्वयम्भूः" [śabdakalpadrūma], "आदिशून्ये" [Trikāṇḍa], thus no origin can be ascribed to it in any scale of time.

If someone says that the Karma is coming prior to material time, then also he is wrong because by convention prior to material time there existed no material creation, thus the statement made by the questioner is suggesting that Karma began in the spiritual sky. But this is impossible because the root of karma is desire and the root of desire is avidyā, which only exists in the material sky as the material sky is not in existence; this directly renders avidyā inexistant  by default. According to Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya the root of karma is ultimately avidyā, thus there can’t be existence of karma prior to the origination of material time. The conclusion is that karma is as eternal as the lord but it is liable to destruction and it doesn’t exist in the spiritual world because its root is absent there also such bond is dispelled during mukti "तदा विद्वान्पुण्यपापे विधूय".

One may say we hear about the creation of time in Manusmṛiti how then is it eternal ? It is eternal for the creation is of divisions of time not of time itself, as said  कालं कालविभक्तीश्च, when its said that kāla is created one should understand it to be Kālavibhakti. Kālavibhakti is done with respect to Brahmā. We should understand by the following verse “निमेषार्धाख्यो वा व्रजति न हि यत्रापि समयः” “Where even time does not move forward a niṁeṣārdha”, one may think time doesn’t flow in vaikuṇṭha or some other wholly different scale of time is prevalent there but the previous pada “स यत्र क्षीराब्धिः स्रवति सुरभीभ्यश् च सुमहान्” “where numberless milk cows always emit transcendental oceans of milk”, here “स्रवति ” clears that there is flow of time but there is no material division of time, as time in this material world is divided using material atoms “स काल: परमाणुर्वै यो भुङ्क्ते परमाणुताम् ।” which are absent in the spiritual world,  also its said in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka śruti “आसीत्स संवत्सरोऽभवत् । न ह पुरा ततः संवत्सर आस” “What was the seed there became the Year (Virāj). Before him there had been no year [in the current creation circle].” we find in the concerned section of Brahma saṁhitā “विदन्तस् ते सन्तः क्षितिविरलचाराः कतिपये” we need to remember this praise is prior to creation, so this must be of previous creation which validates the eternal cycle of creation.Thus we understand that there exists no material division of time in goloka but we actually hear that kṛṣṇa does aṣṭkāliya līlā how does it happen ?  the answer is given by Śrīla Rupa Gosvāmī “प्राक्र्तेभ्यो ग्रहेभ्योऽन्ये चन्द्रसूर्यादयस् तु ते लीलास्थैर् अनुभूयन्ते तथापि प्राकृता इव इति धामत्रये कृष्ण विहरत्य् एव सर्वदा ||” “The moon, sun and other celestial bodies are different from the material planets, but they appear to be material by the devotees situated in the Lord’s manifested pastimes.  Kṛṣṇa performs pastimes eternally in these three abodes.”, does the time measured there is in respect to these, Nityalila is not a stage of dolls standing, for the muktas are seen to sing “एतत् सामगायन्नास्ते” also they heard to worship “कृष्णो मुक्यैरिज्यते वीतमोहैः”, “स्वपार्षदाग्रै: परिसेवितं विभुम् ” there can't be singing without flow in time though all of these are eternally happening still there is flow of time in Paravyoma if there was not then there would be no communion between two.

Śrī Rādhākṛṣṇabhyāṁ Namaḥ