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NATURE OF TIME
it. These different times are mere representations produced by one single object only. They, being mere representations, are unable to give rise to a general concept.33 From all this it becomes clear that this system considers Time as all-embracing receptacle containing the entire universe. It is interesting to note Raghunātha Siromani's view. According to him the essential nature of time is Divinity and nothing distinct from Divinity (Isvara).-4
Mimāṁsā View : The Bhattas mainly follow the Vaiseșikas in this connection. The Bhāttas too consider Time as a substance, allpervasive, eternal and deviod of physical qualities like colour etc.35 But as against the Vaiseșikas they believe that Time is perceptible by all the six sense-organs. 36 One would ask as to how that which is devoid of physical qualities could be perceived by all the six senses. Šāstradīpikā solves the difficulty in the following manner. Time is not perceived independently by the senses; but along with the perception of various objects Time is also perceived as their qualification by all the senses.37 On the authority of Rāmānujācārya we can say that the Prābhākaras accept the Vaiseșika view of Time in toto 38
Advaita Vedānta View : According to this system Time is nothing but nescience (avidyā).39
Buddhist View : At a very early stage of Buddhism - when even the Pitakas were not compiled – a view that there is one unitary immutable Time along with the conditioned empirical time was prevalent, writes Ac. Narendradeva, among the Buddhists. He bases his inference on the fact that those early Buddhists accepted matter (rūpa) only as impermanent and all other subtle elements like citta and vijñāna as immutable. He further states that the conception of time as the cause of the production of impermanent things finds support in the early Buddhist literature. 40 ' Mahāvibhāsā refers to a view that regards time as immutable and samskrta dharmas as impermanent. Moreover, according to this view time is a receptacle with three divisions - future, present and past - organically continuous; saṁskrta dharmas move in this receptacle; they having come out of the future enter the present and having come out of the present enter the past. Later on the one immutable time seems to have been removed and there remained merely the three transitions' (adhvā). The Vaibhāşikas think that all the three transitions - future, past and present - exist. The distinction
