Acharya Prashant explains the concept of time being cyclical or linear using the analogy of a circle. He asks one to imagine taking a circle and cutting a small arc from it. If a quarter of the circle is cut, it appears crescent-shaped. If an even smaller segment is taken, and then an even smaller one, eventually a very small part of the circle's circumference will appear to be a straight, linear line. This illustrates how a limited perspective can mistake a curve for a straight line. This analogy is related to human perception. Those whose vision is far-reaching, who can understand that whatever seems to depart eventually returns and that nothing is ever truly lost, perceive time as cyclical. They understand that what appears to be going away will come back. These individuals, who could see the larger picture, have indicated time in the form of a circle. They grasp that what is ahead is also what is behind, a property that only a circle possesses. Conversely, those with a limited or small vision perceive time as linear. They see a past that is behind, a present that is here, and a future that is ahead, all moving in a straight line, like a flowing stream. They have not grasped the fact that what lies ahead is merely a form of what has been behind. Those who understood duality recognized time as cyclical. Those who did not understand it, and whose vision was confined to a small segment, conceived of time as linear, as it appeared to them like a straight line.