Kala

Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 23 Jul 2011 15:40 and updated at 23 Jul 2011 15:40

VISHNU PURANA NOUN

vp.1.2	Who can describe him who is not to be apprehended by the senses: who is the best of all things; the supreme soul, self existent: who is devoid of all the distinguishing characteristics of complexion, caste, or the like; and is exempt front birth, vicissitude, death, or decay: who is always, and alone: who exists every where, and in whom all things here exist; and who is thence named Vasudeva 10? He is Brahma 11, supreme, lord, eternal, unborn, imperishable, undecaying; of one essence; ever pure as free from defects. He, that Brahma, was all things; comprehending in his own nature the indiscrete and discrete. He then existed in the forms of Purusha and of Kala. Purusha (spirit) is the first form, of the supreme; next proceeded two other forms, the discrete and indiscrete; and Kala (time) was the last. These four Pradhana (primary or crude matter), Purusha (spirit), Vyakta (visible substance), and Kala (time) the wise consider to be the pure and supreme condition of Vishnu 12. These four forms, in their due proportions, are the causes of
vp.1.2	passages as the following as intending the production of the chief principle Pradhana(). "There was neither day nor night, nor sky nor earth, nor darkness nor light, nor any other thing, save only One, unapprehensible by intellect, or That which is Brahma and Puman (spirit) and Pradhana (matter) 16." The two forms which are other than the essence of unmodified Vishnu, are Pradhana (matter) and Purusha (spirit); and his other form, by which those two are connected or separated, is called Kala (time) 17. When discrete substance is aggregated in crude nature, as in a foregone dissolution, that dissolution is termed elemental Prakrita(). The deity as Time is without beginning, and his end is not known; and from him the revolutions of creation, continuance, and dissolution unintermittingly succeed: for when, in the latter season, the equilibrium of the qualities Pradhana() exists, and spirit Puman() is detached from matter, then the form of Vishnu which is Time abides 18. Then the
vp.1.3	Oh best of sages, fifteen twinklings of the eye make a Kashtha; thirty Kashthas, one Kala; and thirty Kalas, one Muhurtta 3. Thirty Muhurttas
vp.1.6	nature. The beings who were created by Brahma, of these four castes, were at first endowed with righteousness and perfect faith; they abode wherever they pleased, unchecked by any impediment; their hearts were free from guile; they were pure, made free from soil, by observance of sacred institutes. In their sanctified minds Hari dwelt; and they were filled with perfect wisdom, by which they contemplated the glory of Vishnu 4. After a while (after the Treta age had continued for some period), that portion of Hari which has been described as one with Kala (time) infused into created beings sin, as yet feeble though formidable, or passion and the like: the impediment of soul s liberation, the seed of iniquity, sprung from darkness and desire. The innate perfectness of human nature was then no more evolved: the eight kinds of perfection, Rasollasa and the rest, were impaired 5; and these being enfeebled, and sin gaining strength, mortals were afflicted with pain, arising from susceptibility to contrasts, as heat and cold, and the like. They therefore constructed places of refuge, protected by trees, by mountains, or by water; surrounded them by a ditch or a wall, and formed villages and cities; and in them erected appropriate dwellings, as defences against the sun and the cold 6. Having thus provided security against
vp.1.6	use: but there are fourteen kinds which may be offered in sacrifice; they are, rice, barley, Masha, wheat, millet, and sesamum; Priyangu is the seventh, and kulattha, pulse, the eighth: the others are, Syamaka, a sort of panic; Nivara, uncultivated rice; Jarttila, wild sesamum; Gaveduka (coix); Markata, wild panic; and (a plant called) the seed or barley of the Bambu Venu( yava). These, cultivated or wild, are the fourteen grains that were produced for purposes of offering in sacrifice; and sacrifice (the cause of rain) is their origin also: they again, with sacrifice, are the great cause of the perpetuation of the human race, as those understand who can discriminate cause and effect. Thence sacrifices were offered daily; the performance of which, oh best of Munis, is of essential service to mankind, and expiates the offences of those by whom they are observed. Those, however, in whose hearts the dross of sin derived from Time Kala() was still more developed, assented not to sacrifices, but reviled both them and all that resulted from them, the gods, and the followers of the Vedas. Those abusers of the Vedas, of evil disposition and conduct, and seceders from the path of enjoined duties, were plunged in wickedness 8.
vp.1.8	ery where. Govinda is the ocean; Lakshmi its shore. Lakshmi is the consort of Indra Indrani(); Madhusudana is Devendra. The holder of the discus Vishnu() is Yama (the regent of Tartarus); the lotus throned goddess is his dusky spouse Dhumorna(). sri is wealth; sridhara Vishnu() is himself the god of riches Kuvera(). Lakshmi, illustrious Brahman, is Gauri; and Kesava, is the deity of ocean Varuna(). sri is the host of heaven Devasena(); the deity of war, her lord, is Hari. The wielder of the mace is resistance; the power to oppose is sri. Lakshmi is the Kashtha and the Kala; Hari the Nimesha and the Muhurtta. Lakshmi is the light; and Hari, who is all, and lord of all, the lamp. She, the mother of the world, is the creeping vine; and Vishnu the tree round which she clings. She is the night; the god who is armed with the mace and discus is the day. He, the bestower of blessings, is the bridegroom; the lotus throned goddess is the bride.
vp.1.15	progeny. The sons of Viswa were the Viswadevas 13; and the Sadhyas 14, those of Sadhya. The Maruts, or winds, were the children of Marutwati; the Vasus, of Vasu. The Bhanus (or suns) of Bhanu; and the deities presiding over moments, of Muhurtta. Ghosha was the son of Lamba (an arc of the heavens); Nagavithi (the milky way), the daughter of Yami (night). The divisions of the earth were born of Arundhati; and Sankalpa (pious purpose), the soul of all, was the son of Sankalpa. The deities called Vasus, because, preceded by fire, they abound in splendour and might 15, are severally named apa, Dhruva, Soma, Dhava (fire), Anila (wind), Anala (fire), Pratyusha (day break), and Prabhasa (light). The four sons of apa were Vaitandya, srama (weariness), Sranta (fatigue), and Dhur (burthen). Kala (time), the cherisher of the world, was the son of Dhruva. The son of Soma was Varchas (light), who was the father of Varchaswi (radiance). Dhava had, by his wife Manohara (loveliness), Dravina, Hutahavyavaha, sisira, Prana, and Ramana. The two sons of Anila (wind), by his wife siva, were Manojava (swift as thought) and Avijnatagati (untraceable motion). The son of Agni (fire), Kumara, was born in a clump of sara reeds: his sons were Sakha, Visakha, Naigameya, and Prishthaja. The offspring of the Krittikas was named Kartikeya. The son of Pratyusha was the Rishi named Devala, who had two philosophic and intelligent sons 16. The sister of Vachaspati, lovely and virtuous, Yogasiddha, who pervades
vp.2.8	Fifteen twinklings of the eye Nimeshas() make a Kashtha; thirty Kashthas, a Kala; thirty Kalas, a Muhurtta (forty eight minutes); and thirty Muhurttas, a day and night: the portions of the day are longer or shorter, as has been explained; but the Sandhya is always the same in increase or decrease, being only one Muhurtta 15. From the period that a line may be drawn across the sun (or that half his orb is visible) to the expiration of three Muhurttas (two hours and twenty four minutes), that interval is called Pratar (morning), forming a fifth portion of the day. The next portion, or three Muhurttas from morning, is termed Sangava (forenoon): the three next Muhurttas constitute mid day: the afternoon comprises the next three Muhurttas: the three Muhurttas following are considered as the evening: and the fifteen Muhurttas of the day are thus classed in five portions of three each. But the day consists of fifteen Muhurttas only at the equinoxes, increasing or diminishing in number in the northern and southern declinations of the sun, when the day encroaches on the night, or the night upon the day. The equinoxes occur in the seasons of spring and autumn, when the sun enters the signs of Aries and Libra. When the sun enters Capricorn (the winter solstice), his northern progress commences; and his southern when he enters Cancer (the summer solstice).
vp.2.12	Parasara. The chariot of the moon has three wheels, and is drawn by ten horses, of the whiteness of the Jasmine, five on the right half (of the yoke), five on the left. It moves along the asterisms, divided into ranges, as before described; and, in like manner as the sun, is upheld by Dhruva; the cords that fasten it being tightened or relaxed in the same way, as it proceeds on its course. The horses of the moon, sprung from the bosom of the waters 1, drag the car for a whole Kalpa, as do the coursers of the sun. The radiant sun supplies the moon, when reduced by the draughts of the gods to a single Kala, with a single ray; and in the same proportion as the ruler of the night was exhausted by the celestials, it is replenished by the sun, the plunderer of the waters: for the gods, Maitreya, drink the nectar and ambrosia accumulated in the moon during half the month, and from this being their food they are immortal. Thirty six thousand three hundred and thirty three divinities drink the lunar ambrosia. When two digits remain, the moon enters the orbit of the sun, and abides in the ray called Ama; whence the period is termed Amavasya. In that orbit the moon is immersed for a day and night in the water; thence it enters the branches and shoots of the trees; and thence goes to the sun. Consequently any one who cuts off a branch, or casts down a leaf, when the moon is in the trees (the day of its rising invisible), is guilty of Brahmanicide. When the remaining portion of the
vp.5.27	Observing these marks of passionate affection, the son of Krishna said to the lotus eyed Mayadevi, "Why do you indulge in feelings so unbecoming the character of a mother?" To which she replied, "Thou art not a son of mine; thou art the son of Vishnu, whom Kala Sambara carried away, and threw into the sea: thou vast swallowed by a fish, but wast rescued by me from its belly. Thy fond mother, O beloved, is still weeping for thee." When the valiant Pradyumna heard this, he was filled with wrath, and defied Sambara to battle. In the conflict that ensued, the son of Madhava slew the whole host of Sambara. Seven times he foiled the delusions of the enchanter, and making himself master of the eighth, turned it against Sambara, and killed him. By the same faculty he ascended into the air, and proceeded to his father s house, where he alighted, along with Mayavati, in the inner apartments. When the women beheld Pradyumna, they thought it was Krishna himself. Rukmini, her eyes dimmed with tears, spoke tenderly to him, and said, "Happy is she who has a son like this, in the bloom of youth. Such would be the age of my son Pradyumna, if he was alive. Who is the fortunate mother adorned by thee? and yet from thy appearance, and from the affection I feel for thee, thou art assuredly the son of Hari."
vp.6.3	occurs, when all the discrete products of nature are withdrawn into their indiscrete source. The shortest period of time is a Matra, which is equal to the twinkling of the human eye. Fifteen Matras make a Kashtha; thirty Kashthas, one Kala; fifteen Kalas, one Nadika. A Nadika is ascertained by a measure of water, with a vessel made of twelve Palas and a half of copper, in the bottom of which there is to be a hole made with a tube of gold, of the weight of four Mashas, and four inches long 4. According to the Magadha measure, the vessel should hold a Prastha (or sixteen Palas) of water. Two of these Nadis make one Muhurtta; thirty of which are one day and night. Thirty such periods form a month; twelve months make a year, or a day and night of the gods; and three hundred and sixty such days constitute a year of the celestials. An aggregate of four ages contains twelve thousand divine years; and a thousand periods of four ages complete a day of Brahma. That period is also termed a Kalpa, during which fourteen Manus preside; and at the end of it occurs the incidental or Brahma dissolution. The nature of this dissolution is very fearful: hear me describe it, as well as that which takes place at the elemental dissolution, which I will also relate to you.

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