[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930) › v6.c82.37 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.37 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.37 - **Language:** English ### [v6.c82.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82.37) In the Yogasūtrabhāṣya on III. 51 there is a brief but very interesting and abstruse disquisition on Kāla The sūtra runs667a 'by constraint (\*saṃyama\*) upon moments (\*kṣaṇa\*) and their sequence (or succession) (arises) knowledge due to discrimination'. The bhāṣya explains. just as an atom is substance or matter (\*dravya\*) reaching the limit of minuteness, so a \*kṣaṇa\* (moment) is time that reaches the highest limit of minuteness, or a kṣaṇa (moment) is time taken by an atom in leaving the position in space it occupies or the time taken in reaching the next point in space; \*krama\* (sequence) is the non-cessation of the flow of moments; moments and their succession do not form a collection (or combination) of actual (or perceptible) things. Muhūrta (30th part of day and night), day and night and others are combinations made by the mind (or by mental conceptions). This time, though devoid of being a real thing by itself, is indeed only a creation of mental conceptions and results from knowledge derived from words (alone) and appears as if it were an actual object to ordinary people whose doctrines are divergent (or confused) But kṣaṇa (moment) falling among (i e. being mixed up with) real perceptible things appears (to the human mind) as dependent on or constituting sequence (or succession). \*Krama\* (sequence) is of the nature of uninterrupted succession. This sequence is called Kāla by Yogins who know (the real nature of) time. For, two kṣaṇas cannot exist together (simultaneously) It is impossible that there should be a sequence of two moments that exist simultaneously. When a later moment comes after an earlier one without interruption, that is called \*krama\* In the present there is only one moment and there are no earlier and later moments in the present Therefore there can be no combination of two moments (in reality). -But those moments that have passed away and those that are yet to come are to be interpreted or described as connected with the (constant) flux of changes (in the world). Therefore the whole world experiences change in each single moment So all these (external) aspects of the world are dependent on one moment (in the present). - [Previous: v6.c82.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82.36) - [Next: v6.c82.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82.38) - [Up: v6.c82](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c82.37) · Pramāṇa