Time – real or unreal

Some say that time is an illusion.  It is not a reality.  Others hold that it is real.  Time is nothing but calculation or taking note of an event or a series of events or tracking of the same.  For example, a streak of ray of sun shifts from one subatomic particle to the other as the sun moves.  This shift may be considered as one k>a;a (moment), or a blinking of an eyelid may also be considered for measurement of time.  

Imagine a condition wherein there is absolute absence of movement of the sun, there could be no tracking of such an event. Then, could time be monitored?  In other words, can time be followed without the material world and changes therein.

Absence of time:  This can be understood by studying Yogic state of Sam§dhi etc.  Or, imagine there is absolute absence of any notable event, such as in case of Asa/praj_§ta Sam§dhi, a Yogic state of transcendental meditation, wherein there is no generation of a thought at all.  There would be no time.  Each split thought is an event just as movement of sun’s ray and the like, in absence of which, there can be no tracking of time.  This state of deep trance and absence of any change, is called k§l§t$ta -- transcendence of time.  This, contrarywise proves that time can be measured in context of one event being different from the other which may or may not lie in a series.

Tracking of time is nothing but tracking of events or a series of events.  A large aggregate of events and happenings put together is called a day or year or so.  Recording events in history is done in course of time.   

In a time-machine such as a clock too, a repeated and identical movement in a sequence, be it that of quartz or mechanical, is calculated to measure time.  Same goes for the sundial -- an old device to keep note of time by tracking the movement of the sun.

Sequence of events is a special feature in calculation of time.  U>a#-k§la, prado>a-k§la, madhy§hna r§tri-k§la, day, week, month, year etc. are identified only by noting the movement of sun (and also moon) in relation to that of earth and such other celestial bodies.  Same goes for time of a season. 

All dynamism or mobility is of the nature of rajas, as per S§/khya.  In other words, rajas is at the source of all mobility.  Rajas is one of the three constituting gu;as that make Prak&ti (the causeless cause of the material creation, other two being satva and tamas).  Thus, it may not be wrong to conclude that time relates to material world.