History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.44

v6.c82.44

Some of the Purāṇas contain disquisitions on Kāla. The nature of Time is described in the Kūrmapurāna as follows : This adorable⁶⁷¹ Kāla is without beginning and without end, it is ageless and immortal, it is a great Lord because it is all-embracing, it is independent and is the self of all, there may be many Brahmās, Rudras and Nārāyaṇas and other gods. It is declared that the divine Lord is one and is omniscient and is Kāla; they (the gods) are created by Kāla, which again swallows (or makes them disappear), the gods Brahmā, Nārāyaṇa and Īśa (Śiva) are said to undergo *prākṛta* disappearance by the power of Kāla and also spring again therefrom as highest Brahma, the elements, Vāsudeva and Śaṅkara Therefore the whole world has its soul in Kāla He alone is the highest Lord ' The Viṣṇudharmottara⁶⁷² has a similar long disquisition on Kāla the gist of a few verses of which may be set out here ' Kāla is without beginning and without end, it is Rudra that seizes all (or it is Saṅkarṣaṇa); it is called Kāla because it carries off or drives all beings. Kāla is great and the highest Lord, because it is beginningless and endless; it is more subtile than the winking of one's eye, very much more subtile than the subtilest. Its subtileness cannot be understood even by Yogins When a thousand lotus leaves are pierced by a needle ignorant people think that the piercing of all leaves is at the same time, but really the leaves are pierced at separate units of time. This is the subtileness of Kāla. But though Kāla is very very subtile, it is also great and measurement of it can be computed because of the motions of planets' The Vāyu and Kūrma both say 'Time creates beings and again destroys them; all are under the rule of Time, while Time is not under the dominance of any one ' The Viṣṇupurāṇa⁶⁷³ holds that Brahma which is one, unborn, permanent, ageless appears in the form of Kāla, which is without beginning or end The Bhāgavatapurāṇa⁶⁷⁴ also regards Kāla as inferred in regard to its minuteness and its grossness is all-pervading, and holds that it is supposed to have units from the subtlest (atom) to the highest