Opinion Reflections on time and life

In certain respects,our scriptures and ancient philosophies provide a better understanding of time than modern science does. They have better grappled with questions that the probing human mind has always asked. Is time an arrow that moves linearly from the past to the present and the future (as we generally perceive it to be) or is it cyclical (as the great sages of India believed it to be)? Is time divisible or indivisible or both? If time is the great ocean in which all creatures are born and die,who created this ocean? When? How? Maitri Upanishad presents this thought enthrallingly:

Time (that has parts) cooks all things in paramatman (Great Self); he who knows in what Time (that is without parts) is cooked,is the true knower of the Vedas!

My fascination with time started from two disparate sources—Einstein and the Mahabharata epic. Nothing whets the imagination of a student of physics more than the theory of relativity,which states that the measurement of time depends on the relative velocity of the observer. It’s a concept that gives rise to all kinds of paradoxes when the observer’s relative velocity approaches that of light. This theory deals with the realm of scientific time. However,there is also something called “historical time”,in which the drama of human history,full of paradoxes and puzzles of a different kind,unfolds—the rise and fall of kingdoms,the birth and extinction of civilisations,the unceasing battles between good and evil,the collision between kindness and cruelty,the saga of courage and betrayal,the tales of rivalry and reconciliation in families and communities,etc. In the late 1980s,this philosophical portrayal of historical time in the Indian context was presented powerfully in B.R. Chopra’s popular television serial ‘Mahabharat’. Dr Rahi Masoom Reza’s scholarly dialogue for the serial introduced each episode in epic style with the captivating affirmation “Main Samay Hoon” (I Am Time). As almost all the TV-owning homes in India sat to watch it on Doordarshan on Sunday mornings,this opening line was a weekly reminder to Indians that Time itself has stood witness to all the ups and downs and twists and turns in India’s hoary history.

In the vast tapestry woven by the historical time lie the tiny strands that tell the stories of our individual lifetimes. These strands are almost invisible since history has a habit of recording only the lives of the rich,powerful,famous and the infamous. Nevertheless,each human being has a unique engagement with the time that destiny allots to him or her in this world. It has value for the person concerned and for the people around them. But it is also has relevance for the wellbeing of the world as a whole. After all,history of the human species is incomplete without every ‘his-story’ and ‘her-story’,howsoever ordinary he or she may be.

With each passing year,I am increasingly troubled by the question that Atal Bihari Vajpayee asks in one of his profoundly humbling poems—”Kya khoya kya paaya jag mein?” (What’s my gain and loss in this world?) The question begets other questions: What are the parameters of gain and loss? Have I given more to the world than I’ve received from it in my lifetime? Or will I carry the burden of debt that I’ll never be able to repay after my last day? Are my words and actions making a positive difference to the society that sustains me? Or am I wasting this greatest of gifts,called life,which God has bestowed upon me?

Since I share this gift with millions of others who happen to be alive at the same time,all of us together need to reflect on what we are making of this munificence from the Almighty. Are we collectively doing what we are expected to do in our lifetime—namely,to ensure that this world would be a better place when we leave than it was when we entered?

It’s amazing how reflections on time quickly morph into musings on life. But that’s only natural. After all,at the end of each year,we say,“Best wishes for a happy,healthy and prosperous New Year.” That’s what I say to you,dear readers,as we welcome 2010.

sudheenkulkarni@gmail.com