146. Riding a Photon

It is said that every morning we are born again which is a rebirth from a ‘time’ point of view. In this regard, Krishna says that Brahma (Creator) too has a day and night but of a different time scale (8.17). At the dawn of the day, all manifested (creation) appear and dissolve back at the dusk of the night of Brahma (8.18). This is invariably a cyclic process (8.19). Anything under the influence of time is cyclic.

Krishna says that there exists higher than the unmanifested, yet another unmanifested, eternal, the absolute, which remains untouched by the cycle of cosmic dissolution (8.20). A seed is the best example to understand this verse. Inside a seed an unmanifested tree is hidden and the cycle of seed-tree-seed continues. But there is a creative force beyond both which makes this cycle possible, and Krishna is hinting at this creative force that is beyond time.

Understanding something beyond time is a difficult task for our mind. Scientifically, the theory of relativity comes closest to helping us understand this intricate issue. It postulates that time stops if we can ride on a photon travelling at the speed of light. While time is ticking for us on the Earth, a clock on a travelling photon would never start ticking. A photon that begins its journey from the Sun would experience reaching the Earth instantaneously, whereas we observe it as taking about eight minutes to arrive. In fact, the photon’s reality doesn’t have any element of time.

Krishna says that the Supreme Being, in whom all beings dwell and by whom all this is pervaded, is attained by unswerving devotion (8.22) and His supreme Abode is the ultimate goal, from which there is no return (8.21). No return (moksha) indicates that one is out of the cycle of time (birth-death-rebirth). This is attained through devotion to the Supreme Being which is unconditional love to all.