Introduction
Below is a short essay I wrote as a forum post for a class in Sanskrit as part of the Masters of Vedic Science program at Maharishi University of Management. The intended readers were graduate students and faculty familiar with the terminology used in the essay. For the reader new to Vedic terminology here is a brief definition of some of the terms, in the order in which they appear.
The Veda is the cognitions of the laws that structure creation. The Vedic texts contain the knowledge of the source, course, and goal of creation.

Smriti means memory. In this essay, it refers to cosmic memory which is the memory of everything that is, was, and will be.

Atma is the personal experience of the field of consciousness that underlies all of creation. Although there is one field of consciousness that is the source of creation, when we experience it as “my consciousness” it is referred to as Atma. In the bigger picture, it turns out that “my consciousness” or Atma is the same as your consciousness or your Atma.

Shruti means “what is heard”. In the context of the Veda, Shruti means hearing the sounds of the Veda which are the sounds of the impulses that structure creation. These sounds are originally perceived within the consciousness of the Rishi’s (seers of reality). The Veda in this primal state is a virtual fluctuation within consciousness. Rishi’s perceived these sounds within themselves, within their consciousness (Atma), and later they spoke them out. These sounds formed the Sanskrit language, and the cognitions became known as the Veda.

Being is a synonym for pure consciousness. Being is the silent, unmoving source of creation that is eternal. Being is the source of time, space, and all that is. Atma is the experience of Being as your own awareness. As you read this essay, it is Atma or Being that is perceiving what you read.

The perception of Time and the Role of Smriti
By Chris Dennen, November 2017

There is a natural difficulty in discussing the nature of time. I think this is because our language has developed around our waking state experience of the world which takes place sequentially. I’d like to share some observations I have about time, but bear with me as the English language is not up to the task. There are two points of view that come together to create time and space. I’ll present them separately although they are really one experience.

When people think of time, they often speak of a flow of moments. This moment is replaced by the next moment and so on. The past is seen as an ever-larger accumulation of these moments. The future is seen as moments yet to come. In my opinion, this is fundamentally incorrect and an assumption that obscures the true nature of time.

There is only one moment. The moment you are experiencing now has existed from the start of creation. All change takes place in this singular moment. If you put your attention on this moment, you’ll experience that it seems to persist for some time. However, this perception is an illusion. The current moment has no time value; it is instantaneous. It seems to persist because of memory. Your memory gives the perception that time continuously flows. This is one reason why I’m interested in the nature of Smriti (cosmic memory).

Here is something that may help you experience this reality. (Do this sitting down). Bring your attention to the present and see if you can experience the width (in time) of the current moment. When does it begin, when does it end? How long does it last?

I would like to present two reflections before proceeding, which may help in setting the stage for more insight. Here are two ideas to contemplate.

The moment that I’m writing this forum post, and the moment you are reading it is the same moment. I call your moment the future, and you call my moment the past, and yet there is only one timeless moment. This is because I do not have the memory of what has yet to happen, and you have the memory of what happened between when I wrote this and when you read it. In this way Smriti facilitates the experience of time.

If you go to a movie and become fully involved in it, when the movie is over isn’t it fair to say that nothing happened? It seemed real at the time, but afterward, you see that that the movie had no reality. Now, who is it that experienced the movie? The experiencer is your Self. The Self is the eternal Atma, beyond time. From the perspective of the Self, a story was told, but nothing happened, and there was no time.

This brings us to the second perspective on time (and creation). As Maharishi has been quoted in the forum over the last few weeks, between each impulse of the Veda, there is the transcendent, the gap. Creation collapses into the absolute, then emerges again based on the previous creative impulse. Here is the four-fold nature of the gap as given by Maharishi.

Pradhvaṃsābhāva (collapse, silencing dynamism). The collapse is Infinity collapsing into a point.
Atyantābhāva (absolute abstraction, silent Wholeness). This is nothingness.
Anyonyābhāva (potential dynamism, all possibilities, total memory). Within nothingness are all memories.
Prāgabhāva (emergence of a new creation, specific quality.) A value of Smriti emerges, and this is experienced as Shruti.

This is the process that is taking place within the one moment.

A “process” signifies time, and yet the four-fold nature of the gap is not taking place in time. The current moment has no time value, yet creation collapses and emerges again and again. How is the magic done? The reality is that this is all happening within eternal Being. It is a virtual (Self-referral) fluctuation in eternal consciousness. While it’s happening, it seems real, and Smriti (memory) gives the experience of sequence and persistence. When it’s over no time has passed, and nothing happened.

Perhaps two metaphors will help clarify the abstraction of time.

The first metaphor is that the experience of the repeated collapse and reemergence of creation can be compared to a movie where the sequence of each static frame gives rise to the illusion of events happening in time. Each frame contains no movement and occurs (almost) instantaneously. However, the perception of them in sequence (the memory of one frame becoming the next), gives rise to the experience of the unfolding story.

The second metaphor, which I prefer more, is the movement of waves on the ocean. As you watch waves flowing on the ocean, it looks like the ocean is moving in a direction, and yet the water doesn’t pile up in the direction of the flow. This is because the wave is just a temporary fluctuation in the vast ocean. A wave is real in that it can capsize a boat, or you can surf on it, and yet it has no permanent existence. A wave is just the ocean moving up and down (infinity to point) in one place. This up and down movement is repeated in sequence, and the wave is born. Water is not flowing in a sidewise direction; it just seems that way. After a while, the up and down movement will stop, and the wave will cease to exist.

Let us again consider the role of Smriti. Quoting from above:

1. Pradhvaṃsābhāva (collapse, silencing dynamism). The collapse is Infinity collapsing into a point.
2. Atyantābhāva (absolute abstraction, silent Wholeness). This is nothingness.
3. Anyonyābhāva (potential dynamism, all possibilities, total memory). Within nothingness are all memories.
4. Prāgabhāva (emergence of a new creation, specific quality.) A value of Smriti emerges, and this is experienced as Shruti.

It is Smriti that directs the flow of creation as given in steps 3 and 4 (within nothingness are all memories). When creation collapses to its point value, as described in steps 1 and 2, the memories that existed, including yours and mine, disappear (step 2, this is nothingness). When creation emerges, the memories come out with it (step 4, a value of Smriti emerges, and this is experienced as Shruti). The vast history of the universe and your personal memories are determined by Smriti in this moment. I believe this is one important meaning of Maharishi’s phrase, “all the memories are there.” “All the memories” includes yours and mine too, what you see as “your” memories are the memories that Smriti endows you with, in this moment.

It seems easier to envision space and matter as made of consciousness than it is to grasp the nature of time., which is also the projection of consciousness. Seeing how Smriti is expressed not only as cosmic memory, but as our own memory as well, may help in grasping how all reality; past, present, and future, is contained in one moment, this moment.

I hope I was able to express my thoughts in an understandable way. It doesn’t seem that the English language has the capability to express the reality of time without violating the rules of waking state logic. Although abstract reality cannot be clearly expressed, it can be experienced. Perhaps this writing helped to facilitate such an experience.