CONCEPT OF TIME IN VARIOUS MAJOR RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD.

By Aditya Salvi

CONCEPT OF TIME IN VARIOUS MAJOR RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD

--Aditya Salvi (Ushakiran) It is said that science and religion cannot go together. The reason is simple. Religion depends on faith and trust. While science requires proofs and is logical. Thus both these aspects of human life have always contradicted with each other and confused the human mind. This essay strives to bring both science and religion together and thus pave the path for the speedy development of mankind. There are no antireligious feelings behind this essay. It intends to bring into light the fact that the religious scriptures, which we follow, are more than what we think of them. They are the precious treasures of science. These scriptures were prepared by experts, who couldn't boldly put forth their ideas (scientific concepts) and views. That is why they wrote these scriptures, so that the next generation would decode their hidden messages / ideas and implement them. They tried to communicate with us through these books. There are many scientific concepts from present world which were thought of in various religious scriptures in ancient times and which I don't think need any special reference. Time is one of such concepts. It is one of the most sought after concept now days. Various theories have come up, which try to define time through different ways. In almost all the major religions of the world we can find some or the other reference of time. In some religious scriptures the reference is direct and explicit while in some it is indirect and implicit. Thus it becomes extremely necessary for us to study time through different perspectives of different religions of the world. In this essay we shall deal with the concept of time few major religions/beliefs. I) Concept of Time in Polytheism: Before the rise of monotheism it was polytheism that dominated different spears human life all over the world. Still today polytheism exists especially in Asia and Africa. Moreover some polytheist religions of the world are considered as one of the major religions or beliefs in the world even today. These religions are one of the most ancient religions of the world. They explain the concept of time which pre-dominates the very existence of the whole world. In general it is found that the polytheists believe in the theory of birth and rebirth. According to them the soul never dies. It only changes the body like we change our clothes. A soul goes on taking births unless and until it gets free from the cycle of birth and rebirth. It becomes free or unites with the God Almighty, when the weight of its good deeds is more than it bad deeds. Thus according to this philosophy the soul moves in a time loop. It is caught in a time loop. In all the civilizations of the world there is science called "Astrology. This science deals with/studies the past, present and future life of an individual. According to this science when a child takes birth, the sequence or the position of the planets and the other near by celestial bodies in the universes at the time of his birth have a great influence on that child. It governs the behaviour and all other personality traits of that child. Now the question rises, "where is the concept of Time here?" Let us assume that the whole of universe is circular/cyclic in shape and nature. The above statement can be verified with the help of following examples. 1) Comets return after a specific period. E.g. Halley's Comet comes after every 75 years. While the Hell Bob comet comes after 100 years. 2) All the planets and satellites are circular in shape and they revolve around the sun in circular motion. 3) All the galaxies are almost circular in shape. 4) There are various cycles in our nature which circulate various elements of nature.

Just now I mentioned that planets revolve around the sun. During their motion around the sun many a times what happens is that all the planets acquire/secure the same position at constant intervals i.e. after a span of few years. People who take birth on these identical/similar positions of planets in a solar system tend to have same traits. They might have same behavioral or physical traits. Suppose at a particular sequence of planets a child is born. Now suppose that an identical sequence or some what similar sequence is repeated, say after 120 years. Then the child who takes birth at this point of time i.e. after 120 years will be more or less similar to the child, who had taken birth at the same sequence or position of planets 120 years ago. But both these individuals will not be identical. Because every time the sequence repeats there will be some or the other minute change in it. For instance a comet might be there in the solar system or there might be any other celestial body out there in the space. All these things will naturally differentiate the new born from the old one. The concept of salvation in polytheism states that the pure souls will unite with God Almighty and attain salvation. These souls will go to heaven and will never take birth on the earth. This can be understood as follows. It means that all these good and pure souls are the people, who were born on the specific/unique sequence or position (which will never repeat again) of the planets and the celestial bodies which will never repeat again. While the impure souls are those individuals, who are born on the repetitive sequences of the planets and the other celestial bodies in and near our solar system. Thus the pure souls or the people born on unique sequences or positions of the planets will never take birth on the earth. (This concept is inversely applicable to Monotheism) This is what is called as the cycle of birth and rebirth. The old scriptures tend to transmit this message. The morality based theory of good and bad deeds is attached to this concept of birth and rebirth in order to maintain and regulate good behaviour of the citizens, which in turn will help in smooth working of the society. II) Concept of Time in Monotheism: Now after the discussion about the concept of time in polytheism it time for us to have a look at the concept of time in monotheism. The major monotheist religions of the world tend to follow the same principle. These religions do not believe in the theory of birth and rebirth as the major polytheist religions of Asia and Africa believe. But what they believe in is the theory of "Resurrection" i.e. waking up of the dead (souls) on the "Judgment Day". On the Judgment day God himself will come to Earth and all the dead (souls), who had done good deeds, will rise from their eternal slumber. Then God Almighty will take all these good souls (leaving behind the impure souls) to the heaven. In fact what monotheists believe in is that the Earth will be destroyed and God will create a new Earth and then all the good souls will be placed on this "New Born Earth" while the bad souls will be sent to hell and they will never come back to the new earth. This belief can be scientifically explained as follows. Monotheists believe that only the good souls will be taken to heaven while the impure ones will be sent to hell i.e. they will never take birth again on the new Earth. It means that all these bad and impure souls are the people, who were born on the specific/unique sequence or position (which will never repeat again) of the planets or the celestial bodies, which will never repeat. While the good souls are those individuals, who are born on the repetitive sequences of the planets and the other celestial bodies in/near our solar system. (This concept is inversely applicable to Polytheism) These religions also believe that our planet Earth will be destroyed and God will again create a new Earth and all the good souls will be placed on this new planet, which is referred to as a new Earth. Everything that takes birth has to die. Same is the case with our planet Earth. Scientifically speaking our planet is 4 billion

years old and its remaining life span is 5 billion years. So it for sure that our planet will die after say 5 billion years or may be before it. As there are many other threats to its existence. But a planet similar to Earth will take birth in this vast universe. We cannot deny this situation/possibility. There is every possibility that a planet like Earth will be formed in some part of the universe. The new planet will have natural elements similar to that of the Earth. Moreover the creatures that will exist on this new planet will be some what similar to those, which we have on our Earth because the climate and the natural environment will be some what similar to Earth. So here we speak of the formation of new planet exactly similar to that of earth which is a probable truth in present age of advanced science and technology. The creatures on the new planet will have similar traits like that of the creatures on the planet Earth. Life is universal and it has been scientifically proven. Moreover many of the ancient polytheist religions of Asia too support the argument. According to these religions, "Life is universal and there are millions of earths in this universe." Now after so much of arguments you might say, "Why am I taking help of old religious scriptures to study the concept of time?" The answer to the question is every religious scripture in this world is a piece of literature, scientific literature. And every piece of literature is a probable truth as stated by the Greek scholar Aristotle. To some readers this article might seem to be a hopeless piece of work but the point behind writing this essay is to urge the modem scientists and researchers to study the old religious scriptures for they are the endless treasures of the future scientific discoveries and inventions. Now it's really time for us to return to religion to move forth and shape the future of human race. - Aditya Chandrasen Salvi ***********************************************************************