Surrendering to Eternal Time

Time is the one force in the material world that no one can conquer. Kings, scientists, and demigods alike bow down to its influence. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that this eternal time, or kāla, is the impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord, acting as the ultimate controller of the material creation. He states that while it destroys everything in the material sphere, it has no power over the spirit soul who has taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa.

Invincible Controller

Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that every activity in the universe, from the spinning of the planets to the blinking of an eye, is orchestrated by eternal time. He describes it as the "representative" of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. According to Śrīla Prabhupāda, no one can refuse its summons; even the most powerful leaders and intellectuals are forced to surrender their possessions, families, and lives when their time is up. The movement of time is sharp and uninterrupted, driving the activities of the entire world like a machine.

• A great Indian scientist, busy in the planmaking business, was suddenly called by invincible eternal time while going to attend a very important meeting of the planning commission, and he had to surrender his life, wife, children, house, land, wealth etc.
• Eternal time moves very sharply, as if made of razors and thunderbolts. Uninterrupted and fully independent, it drives the activities of the entire world.

Serpent of Time

Time is often personified as a serpent, kāla-sarpa, which devours everything in its path. Śrīla Prabhupāda observes that for the materialist who is attached to temporary pleasures, time is a source of constant fear. He warns that it imperceptibly erodes the duration of life, leading inevitably to death. Just as no one can survive the bite of a cobra, no one can save their material body from the jaws of time. However, for the devotee who seeks shelter of the Lord, this fear is removed.

• Although the serpent of eternal time, which is fearful in force, endlessly chases everyone, ready to swallow him, if one who fears this serpent seeks shelter of the Lord, the Lord gives him protection, for even death runs away in fear of the Lord.
• The only thing possible to be done is to get rid of eternal time, kala, which is compared to kala-sarpa, or the cobra snake, whose bite is always lethal. No one can be saved from the bite of a cobra.
• Not knowing that eternal time is passing away imperceptibly and that their measured duration of life is diminishing every second, without any solution to the big problem, namely repetition of birth and death, disease and old age. This is called illusion.

Agent of Creation and Destruction

Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that kāla is not just a destroyer; it is also the agent of creation. He explains that the interactions of the material elements—earth, water, fire, air, ether—are set in motion by the influence of time. It mixes the material energy with the glance of the Lord to produce the cosmic manifestation. Thus, the visible world appears and disappears repeatedly under the direction of eternal time.

• The creation is effected by eternal time, and it is created and dissolved by external energy. This manifestation of the cosmic world repeatedly becomes visible and invisible.
• From the sky developed the touch sensation, which is a mixture of eternal time, the external energy and the glance of the Personality of Godhead. The touch sensation developed into the air in the sky.
• All learned men say that the five elements, eternal time, fruitive activity, the three modes of material nature, and the varieties produced by these modes are all creations of yogamaya.

Time in Spiritual World

While time is the controlling factor in the material world, Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that it subserves the Lord and His devotees in the spiritual world. There, time exists only in the "present." He highlights that the deteriorating effects of past and future—birth, old age, disease, and death—are conspicuously absent. In the kingdom of God, time does not instill fear but enhances the eternal youthfulness and bliss of the residents.

• The changing effects of eternal time are conspicuously absent in the immortal kingdom of God, which should therefore be understood to have no influence of time and therefore no fear whatsoever.
• They (the inhabitants of Vaikuntha planet) are happy in those planets and are without any kind of misery and they live perpetually in full youthfulness, enjoying life in full bliss and knowledge without fear of birth, death, old age or disease, and without the influence of kala, eternal time.
• Eternal time enters anywhere and everywhere, but it cannot enter the kingdom of god. Nor can the Vedas understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is an indication of the Lord's being omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient.

Conclusion

The intelligent person observes the activities of eternal time, realizing it is the cause of birth and death. Śrīla Prabhupāda advises that as long as one is attached to foolish material work, all plans in the struggle for existence will be cut to pieces by this invincible force. Therefore, instead of struggling against the inevitable, one should offer obeisances and surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who acts as eternal time. By doing so, one transcends the influence of kāla and enters the eternal realm where time serves only to enhance the pleasure of the Lord.

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Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Eternal Time. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.

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