Past, Present and Future - an essential subject

Time is unlimited, nitya. The past, present and future are due to this body. But the soul is ever existing; it has no past, preset or future. Just like the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, who is the only one that remembers our past lives, knows the results of our present activities as well as our future.

Srila Prabhupada's books, lectures, conversations and letters offer a comprehensive presentation of this essential subject as seen in the Vaniquotes Past, Present and Future category. An introduction from his books is given below in the following 15 quotes.

Quotes from Srila Prabhupada's books


vanipedia.org 		If Kṛṣṇa, the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, were māyā, material, as the impersonalists consider Him to be, then like the living entity He would change His body and forget everything about His past life. Anyone with a material body cannot remember his past life, nor can he foretell his future life, nor can he predict the outcome of his present life; therefore he cannot know what is happening in past, present and future. Unless one is liberated from material contamination, he cannot know past, present and future. (Bhagavad-gītā 7.26)



vanipedia.org 		Everything happening within time, which consists of past, present and future, is merely a dream. That is the secret understanding in all Vedic literature. Factually all of material existence is only a dream. Thus there is no question of past, present or future. Persons who are addicted to karma-kāṇḍa-vicāra, which means "working for future happiness through fruitive activities," are also dreaming. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.29.2)



vanipedia.org 		The living entity has to be situated in the transcendental position where there is no more influence of time nor of the material energy. In conditioned life the living entity is subjected to the influence of time in the dream of past, present and future. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.3)



vanipedia.org 		Kṛṣṇa is the time factor. Therefore, He is all-pervading not only in space but also in time. We have measurements of time, but although we are limited by past, present and future, for Kṛṣṇa these do not exist. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.9.13-14)



vanipedia.org 		We never see a picture of Kṛṣṇa in old age because He never grows old like us, although He is the oldest person in the whole creation—past, present, and future. Neither His body nor His intelligence ever deteriorates or changes. Therefore, it is clear that in spite of His being in the material world, He is the same unborn, eternal form of bliss and knowledge, changeless in His transcendental body and intelligence. (Bhagavad-gītā 4.6)



vanipedia.org 		Unlike the ordinary human being, Lord Kṛṣṇa clearly says that He completely knows what happened in the past, what is happening in the present, and what will happen in the future. In the Fourth Chapter we have seen that Lord Kṛṣṇa remembers instructing Vivasvān, the sun-god, millions of years ago. Kṛṣṇa knows every living entity because He is situated in every living being's heart as the Supersoul. (Bhagavad-gītā 7.26)



vanipedia.org 		Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth. Relative truth is not truth in all the three phases of eternal time. Time is divided into past, present and future. Kṛṣṇa is Truth always, past, present and future. In the material world, everything is being controlled by supreme time, in the course of past, present and future. But before the creation, Kṛṣṇa was existing, and when there is creation, everything is resting in Kṛṣṇa, and when this creation is finished, Kṛṣṇa will remain. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.2.26)



vanipedia.org 		Eternal time is the witness of all our actions, good and bad, and thus resultant reactions are destined by Him. It is no use saying that we do not know why and for what we are suffering. We may forget the misdeed for which we may suffer at this present moment, but we must remember that Paramātmā is our constant companion, and therefore He knows everything, past, present and future. And because the Paramātmā feature of Lord Kṛṣṇa destines all actions and reactions, He is the supreme controller also. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.28)



vanipedia.org 		Anything which has birth also has death. And because the soul has no birth, he therefore has no past, present or future. He is eternal, ever-existing, and primeval—that is, there is no trace in history of his coming into being. (Bhagavad-gītā 2.20)



vanipedia.org 		The living entities, as distinguished from incognizant matter, may be qualitatively equal to the Lord in cognizance, but the living entity can never be equal to the Lord in full knowledge of past, present and future. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.6.21)



vanipedia.org 		The influence of time, which manifests as past, present and future, cannot touch higher personalities like Brahmā and other demigods. Sometimes demigods and great sages who have attained such perfection are called tri-kāla jña. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.15.3)



vanipedia.org 		Lord Śiva is not an ordinary living entity, nor is he in the category of Viṣṇu, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is far more powerful than any living entity up to the standard of Brahmā, yet he is not on an equal level with Viṣṇu. Since he is almost like Lord Viṣṇu, Śiva can see past, present and future. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.14.25)



vanipedia.org 		Devastating time, which controls even the celestial demigods by its manifestations of past, present and future, does not act on the transcendental plane. The influence of time is exhibited by the symptoms of birth, death, old age and disease, and these four principles of material conditions are present everywhere in any part of the material cosmos up to the planet Brahmaloka, where the duration of life of the inhabitants appears to us to be fabulous. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.2.17)



vanipedia.org 		In the material world everything is created, and everything is annihilated, and the duration of life between the creation and annihilation is temporary. In the transcendental realm there is no creation and no destruction, and thus the duration of life is eternal unlimitedly. In other words, everything in the transcendental world is everlasting, full of knowledge and bliss without deterioration. Since there is no deterioration, there is no past, present and future in the estimation of time. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.10)



vanipedia.org 		In Vṛndāvana, spiritual cows are always supplying spiritual milk. Not a single moment is wasted there—in other words, there is no past, present or future. Not a single particle of time is wasted. (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 8.138)


Past, Present and Future - explore more within this category.

Vanipedia has now over 903 introductory articles compiled from Srila Prabhupada's books under the series titled Essential Subjects. All these articles can be seen in the Table of Content on the right side of this article and also here in this Umbrella Category. Browse through them to relish the breadth and depth of Srila Prabhupada's teachings - There is a subject for everyone.


   
 

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