Maya (Illusion)

Is time an illusion (Maya)?

      

In Hinduism time is considered a facet of creation. It exists only so long as we are bound to the things of this world through our senses. Time may be a mental concept created by the movement of our senses, the celestial objects and our perceptions. It is a part of the illusion during which we live and which we deem real. In God's consciousness, there are no divisions of time. There is only this moment, one continuous, indivisible and indistinguishable state of existence.

Time is additionally considered a facet of Prakriti or Nature. It is one among the 36 tattvas or principles of creation . Prakriti subjects the boundless individual souls of pure consciousness to the restrictions of your time (Kala), space (Nyathi), knowledge (vidya), passion (raga) and power (Kala) and binds them to the cycle of births and rebirths. When beings transcend these five limitations through the grace of The divine soul, they regain their pure consciousness (chit) and become free.

 To understand this we have to go through the story of Narada “The Deva rishi”.

The Story of Narada

  He is one of the many Manash (born out of mind) Putra (son) of Lord Brahma. He was not interested in the material world so he refused to marry. He preferred in the realm of Vishnu, where time and space does not exist, where Maya casts no spells. He encouraged Brahma’s other sons to stay celibate like him. He did not understand the purpose of the creation of the universe and see no point of engaging with Prakriti.

Some other son's of the Brahma also agreed with Narada, and they refuse to marry. This happened several times until an enraged Brahma cursed Narada, ‘you will stay trapped within the material world until you appreciate the worth of Maya.’

Narada visited Vishnu and asked him the meaning of Maya. Vishnu said, ‘i will explain after you quench my thirst. Go fetch me some water.’Narada went to a river to fetch water. But as he was collecting the water, he saw a beautiful girl. He was so drawn to her that he followed her to her village and asked her father for her hand in marriage. The father agreed and the two got married. Before long, Narada was a father then grandfather than a great grandparent. Narada felt content. Suddenly one day, it rained. And the rains refused to stop. The river swelled and broke its

banks. Water rushed into Narada’s house, and to his horror, caught in a frenzy his wife, his children, his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren. He screamed and shouted for help as the water dragged him under. Suddenly he was pulled up and found himself in Vaikuntha (Vishnu’s abode) before Vishnu.

‘Narada,’ said Vishnu, ‘where is my water? I am still thirsty.’ Narada did not understand. Where was his family, his wife’s village, the river?

‘Where do this pain and suffering come from, Narada?’ asked Vishnu with a smile. ‘I thought you had full knowledge of Maya before you began to fetch water on behalf of me .’

Narada bowed his head in realization. He knew Maya but had never experienced Maya. Brahma was encouraging his sons to marry in order that they experience Maya. Knowledge of Maya is not the experience of Maya. Unless one experiences Maya, one won't be ready to empathize with those that are trapped in it.

Said Vishnu, ‘you knew all about measuring scales and subjective realities, Yet you forgot all about them as soon as you experienced the fabric world – home, family, children, and village. Your understanding of Maya and Brahmanda could have helped you in the turmoil of pleasure and pain, but it did not. Such is the spell of Maya. Now that you have experienced Maya, I want you to go and meet people and realize them that the only way out of Maya is seeking answers out of material reality. I want you to teach them into following the spiritual path.

The Parbrahma or Supreme soul is true, the material world is an illusion. The world exists for those who recognize the existence and does not exist for those who ignore its existence. For example- As long as the dreamer is going through the experience of Dream, the dream is a reality for him. All of his experience will be real. If he is hungry, eating relieves him of hunger, and if he is thirsty, he will drink water and thereby quenches his thirst. This experience in the dream will be as real as when we do it physically. This experience or state of mind will be the same when we do the activity with our physical body ( real-world) or without it in a dream ( illusion). So which is real , our physical world or dream world? In some sense  both, maybe real or illusion, Or one may be real and other illusion by his/her opinion. For us when we are in our material body, the dream is an Illusion and the material world is real but when we leave our body and left only with the soul, we realize that the material world is an illusion and that world is real. As Soul has no physical limitation like our body, it can see the real truth. The spiritually elevated person who knows the real truth i.e. these supreme being (Spiritually elevated person) considered the material world as Maya or illusion when he is present in physical body also. That person knows the purpose of body and material world, they do their duty ( Karma) but not attached to it. Like I know the purpose of the pen is to write no matter how much expensive or beautiful it is. I used to write with this pen, I am not attached to his beautifulness or expensiveness. I am not preserving it. All material world is under the spell of Maya even Lord Brahma is not excluded. Even Narada forgets all his wisdom and knowledge when under the spell of Maya, so how can we human being know the real truth when under the spell of Maya?

  All material world exists in the dream of Vishnu when he awakes, this material world vanishes, like a dream. For us the material world (time) is real but for Vishnu, it is illusion or dream. But for Brahma and us, the material world is real, so is time.

Beginning of universe and Concept of God -The Division Earth Time

Division of Earth time-

Name of the division	Duration in Human year	Remarks
Truti	One twinkle of an eye
Tatpara	100 trutis
Nimesha	30 tatpara
Kastha	30 nimeshas
Kala	30 kasthas
Muhurata	30 kalas	Approx 45-50 minutes
Ahoratra	30 muhurtas	Day and night
Masa	30 days	One lunar month
Paksha	15 days	One half of lunar month
Ayan	Six months or half year	Uttaryana is the day of Demigods and Daskhinayana their night
Divine year	360 years	One year of Demigods
Charna or one chatur yuga	432,000 years	Duration of earth. Length of the feet of time (kala)

            The Indian calendar are based on both sun and moon; it uses a solar year but divides it into 12 lunar months . In this calendar, season follows Sun, months follow Moon , and days follow both. To help the lunar months coincide with the solar year the practice of inserting an extra month called the Adhik Maas, arose which is inserted every 30 months ,since 60 months =62 months. They are calculated using the difference of the longitudinal angle between the position of sun and moon. Because of this, the Tithi may or may not have changed by the time the day has changed and this is why sometimes it Tithi is omitted ,and at others , two consecutive days share the same.

 This 24 hours period is also divided into an overlapping division call the” Praher”. Each 12 hour period has four Praher, each there by dividing one rotation of earth into 08 equal parts. 15 unit of Divas- Ratri forms a fortnight or a “Pakash”. The bright waxing Moon fortnight is called Shukla Paksh and the dark waning moon fortnight is known as Krishna Pakash. 

In one of the higher planets called Pitralok, one fortnight of humans corresponds two one day and a similar time period counts as their night. Therefore , the bright fortnights from the day of the Pitras and the dark ones from the night.

Two units (02) of Pakasha combine to form a month or ‘Masa’. 

Six (06) units of Masa jointly are referred as an Ayan.

The six months when sun is in the Northern hemisphere are called the Uttarayan and the corresponding six in the lower hemisphere from the Dakshinayan. This bright Northern journey of sun forms one day of Devas (demigod) and the six human months ,southern journey from their night. Thus, for the demigods, one human year is equal to one day and night period . So on the day of Makar Sankranti, the age of Devtas will change by one day and a normal human being will change by one year.

Nakshatras or Daily Stars-

           

According to Hindu mythology, there are 27 stars or nakshatras who are the daughters of either Daksha or Kashyapa, but wives of Chandra, the moon god. The moon god spends each night with one particular star, with whom he appears within the sky. According to Hindu astronomy, the sky is split into 27 divisions. During its monthly cycle, the moon passes through each division roughly one per day. According to another tradition the 27 nakshatras are related to the nine planets or navagrahas, with each planetary deity ruling over three particular stars. During the 27 day lunar cycle, the planetary gods enter into their respective star mansions and spend nine days with each of their three stars.Each nakshatra is further divided into four equal sectors called padas or steps. Multiply 4 by 27 and it equals 108. These 108 units mark the 108 steps that the earth takes through space. The names of the 27 stars along side their controlling planets are mentioned below.

60 Year Cycles- Hindus also follow a 60-year cycle during which each year is given a selected name which repeats after every 60 years.