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INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
[3] The next aphorism is -
pūrveșām api guruḥ kālenānavacchedāt / I. 26 He (=Isvara) is the spiritual teacher of even the elderly
persons because he is not limited by time. I. 26. (a) Here the role of Isvara as upadestā is suggested by the term
. 'guru'. (b) The phrase 'pūrveşām api guruh reminds us of that-well known
verse from the Dakşiņāmūrtistotra attributed to Ac. Sankara, viz. 'citraṁ vatataror mūle vȚddhaḥ śisyo gurur yuvā' etc. This idea
is very common in Brahmanic, Buddhist and Jaina religions. (c) What is it that qualifies him to be a spiritual teacher of even the
elderly persons ? The answer to this question is provided in the remaining part of the aphorism viz. ‘kālenānavacchedāt which being in the fifth case-ending gives the reason for Isyara's being the spiritual teacher of even the elderly person.
Let us try to understand the idea suggested by the term 'kālenānavaccheda' on the basis of another aphorism. Patañjali states that for that person whose klesas and karmas are destroyed on the attainment of Dharmamegha samādhi and as a result of this whose jñana has attained its infinity, gunas come to an end of the sequence of change." That is, gunas stop evolving citta, indriya, Sarira, etc. for that person. The series of round of rebịrth ends for him. For him the cycle of birth and death ceases. He rises above time. Now he is not limited by time. He becomes kālānavacchinna. Thus we equate ‘kālenānavaccheda' with ‘guņānām pariņāmakrama-samāptiḥ (IV. 32).13
Now what this aphorism means is this - 'As he (=Isvara) (having destroyed klešas and karmas] has risen above the cycle of birth and death, he is the spiritual teacher of even the elderly persons (who are caught up in the cycle).'
The equation given above suggests that for Patañjali kāla is nothing but pariņāmakrama. Hence one who is untouched by pariņāmakarama is untouched by kāla or is not limited by kāla.
Kālānavaccheda or parināmakrama-samāpti is the result of klesarāhitya or vītarāgatā. Kleśarāhitya is nothing but supreme spirituality. So one who has attained supreme spirituality can be the spiritual teacher of even the elderly persons. It is this supreme
