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The timeless Truth is in all time - past, present and future || Acharya Prashant, at NIT-J (2020)
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5 years ago
Timelessness
Shri Krishna
Gita
Truth
Yoga Vasishtha
Guru Vashishtha
Jivatma and Paramatma
Eternity
Description

Acharya Prashant addresses a question regarding how Guru Vashishtha, in the Yoga Vasishtha, could have known about the future conversation between Shri Krishna and Arjun. The speaker explains that the answer is contained within the Gita itself. Shri Krishna tells Arjun that there has never been a time or place where either of them did not exist, implying they are always present. Shri Krishna states that he exists even before the beginning of time and that the knowledge he imparts is eternal, having been passed down through a sequence of sages. This establishes that the dialogue is not a mere event in time but an eternal reality. The speaker clarifies that Shri Krishna and Arjun are not to be seen as little figures confined within their respective lifetimes. Their conversation is never a future event. Just as for Guru Vashishtha, Shri Krishna was not in the future, for us today, Shri Krishna and Arjun are not in the past. Their existence represents a continuity, an eternity. Both are symbols of something far deeper and more eternal than normal human figures. The words 'past' and 'future' do not apply to them. Acharya Prashant defines Shri Krishna as the timeless Truth, the very source of time, which cannot be confined to a particular point in time. In the language of the Gita, Shri Krishna is the timeless Supreme Soul (Paramatma). Arjun, on the other hand, represents the fundamental ego-tendency, the indestructible individual soul (Jivatma). He is not just a person but a symbol of the fundamental 'I' and the inherent ignorance that seeks liberation and knowledge, essentially seeking a Krishna. As long as the world exists, the 'Arjun spirit' is present, and even if the world ceases to exist, Krishna remains. Consequently, while unpredictable events cannot be foretold, the Truth is entirely predictable because it is eternal and not an uncertainty. The speaker uses an analogy: predicting the sky will be there tomorrow is not surprising because the sky is not truly a function of time. The Truth is even more indestructible and certain. Therefore, it is no surprise that one can speak of it across time. The conversation between Krishna and Arjun is an eternal dialogue between the individual soul and the Supreme Soul, which is why it can be known beyond the confines of linear time.