On Life and Liberation

Author(s): Mukesh Chhajer
Publisher: Mukesh Chhajer

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On Life and Liberation
experience is different than the time a liberated soul experiences even at this very moment. That means there is more than one kind of time.
Till the beginning of 20th century, in the western culture, time was considered a single, absolute and linear quantity. However, we have already come to accept that the flow of time is not absolute but relative, as described by Einstein's theory of relativity. This, of course, relates to the external time that applies to everyone uniformly and can be measured by external means such as motion of stars and planets or atomic vibrations. The external time can be made to change differently for different persons if they travel with different speeds. Though, at this point, we do not have the technology to achieve such speeds that can make a perceptible difference in human life time, its possibility in future cannot be denied. Modern science has also identified biological and psychological times that are different for different individuals. On the other hand, in Indian thoughts, time has always been considered as relative and nonlinear (e.g., see Yoga Vasistha). A very good example to explain this aspect of time is the dream state. In a dream lasting a few minutes, a person can have a lifetime of experiences. How much time has really passed for him? From the point of view of physical aging, he is only a few minutes older but from the point of view of change in his understanding, he has gained the experience of a lifetime. Furthermore, if we have a particularly painful or joyous experience, we tend to relive it over-and-over. The number of repetitions and their intensities depends upon the intensity of the original experience. Even though the incident that caused the experience physically occurred only once, mentally we revisit it many times and may even experience the physical symptoms of it from time to time before it completely vanishes from our consciousness; i.e., we relive the same time again-and again. For example, those who go through a
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