Time stands still when mind stops

HINDU mythology of creation talks about how the universe is created each time the Creator Brahma blinks! Millions of human years, called yuga, pass by between each blink of the Creator.

Sages of ancient India measured time through the concept of kshana. Kshana is not chronological time. It was not measured as the amplitude of a pendulum or the frequency of an electronic chip. Kshana was not generic time, but individual time. Kshana is the time between two thoughts. My kshana and your kshana are different.

In the case of the average person, in whom the mind is constantly active, desires and thoughts pour out without a stop, the time between two thoughts is very small, very very small. In the case of an enlightened being, who is in a no mind state, in whom there are no thoughts, kshana is infinite.

Kshana is the time between two thoughts. It is the space between two thoughts. This is the time and space that Buddha referred to as sunya, and that which Sankara referred to as purna. It is the no-mind zone, the mindful zone, in which you touch base with yourself. It is that present moment in which you come face to face with the divinity within yourself, recognise the cosmic energy that you are part of.

When you are in that kshana, you are truly aware; you are energised and refreshed. Meditation takes you into that awareness.

When you are in front of an enlightened Master who is in a nomind state without thoughts your own thought level comes down, and kshana becomes longer. Without even trying you become calmer, more peaceful, and more aware.

When the mind stops, time too stops; it stands still.

Contrary to what western philosophers say the idle mind is not the devil’s workshop. If it silent, it is God’s workshop! It is the busy mind that is truly the devil’s workshop.

Descartes said, ‘I think, therefore I am’. That is a mere fact; an irrelevant one. You cannot reach the state of awareness of who you are through thinking. You need to transcend the mind, you need to drop the mind to be aware of who you are.

Hindu scriptures say, ‘When you stop thinking, you are.’ This is truth; the cosmic truth.

Be still and you will be God.