By Himanshu Bhatt and Krishna Maheshwari
Kālākāsh samsthān or Time-Space framework is the phrase in Sanatan shastras for the continuum of this universe.
Sanatan Dharm is the first religion to discuss this structure.
In the context of this nature, the terms nidarshan (illustrative framework) and mātṛkā (literally matrix) have also been used. Ābandha (connective tie) and samasthi (system) may also be used.
Background[edit]
Time and space never actually meet—they are perpendicular to each other. This is because whereas time is only scalar (have measurement), space is vector (has both measurement and direction.) Theoretically then, the intersection of both would be a vortex.
Noteworthy is that Parmatma or God is confined neither by time or space—It was the same prior to the present, and are so in the future. Souls of other beings are also infinite like Parmatma, but undergo samsara wherein they are trapped by bandhan into mortal bodies that are impacted by both time and space (i.e., the bodies age and are not omnipresent.)
Textual references to system[edit]
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (c. 700 BCE):
This text contains one of the oldest recorded scientific and philosophical debates in human history. The maharishika Gargi Vachaknavi challenges the maharishi Yajnavalkya, asking him what the universe is woven across. Yajnavalkya directly replies that everything existing in the past, present, and future is "woven, warp and weft, across akasha (space)." When pushed further on what space itself is woven across, he points to the Immutable (Akshara)—the timeless, spaceless origin of the continuum.
The Concept of Ota-Prota:
The early Upanishads used the textile metaphor Ota-Prota (the vertical and horizontal threads of a fabric) to describe how space (akasha) and time (kala) are structurally cross-threaded to create the material universe.
Pereived measurements in texts[edit]
Kala - Kala or time is defined in many ways. Kala helps us to perceive change of state in an object. Taking the time to blink the eyelid is one unit (nimisha). The following table describes the time or Kala:
18 nimesas = 1 Kastha
30 kashthas = 1 Kala
30 Kalas = 1 Kshna
12 Kshanas = 1 Muhurta
30 Muhurtas = 1 Ahoratra (1 day + 1 night)
30 Ahoratras = 1 Masa (month)
12 Masas = 1 Samvatsara (year)
Kala has been considered as a Dravya, a fundamental substance of the universe, by some philosophies like that of Jainism.
The Sankhya Karika (50) considers Kala as a form of Tusti (contentment), the satisfaction that comes as a result of thinking that in course of time, mukti or liberation will definitely come.