Katha Upanishad
Representation. Transcendence. The cinematography of Ashish Avikunthak.
Amrit Gangar Upanishads and the Artist Schopehauer had read the Latin transla- Dvaita. Advaita. Purusha. He also talked about dvaita ( , dual) tion of the Upanishads and mentions Prakriti. and the advaita ( , non-dual). them in his main work The World as Will Strange as it might seem, whenever I and Representation (1819), as well as in “We all play around within the dvaita; we paint within the idea of dvaita. You think of the Upanishads, I think of the his Parerga and Paralipomena (1851). He Generally regarded as one of the oldest live within dvaita, too. We have to be in painter Akbar Padamsee. In a long con- found his own philosophy in accord philosophical systems in India, the dvaita. But all our ambitions are towards versation with him in 2004 at his with the Upanishads. Interestingly, the Sāmkhya regards the universe as con- advaita. In other words, you have to put Prabhādevi (Mumbai) house, Akbar founder of the Analytical Psychology, sisting of two realities: Purusha your one foot in the dvaita, while talked about the Upanishads ( ) Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) uses the (consciousness) and Prakriti (phenom- another in advaita. If you enter the very profoundly; their in uence on his term ‘Self’ in his book Psychological enal realm of matter). Connecting this advaita completely, you will be dis- worldview and also on his artistic prac- Types (1921); the self is our life’s goal, he view with the broader Upanishadic solved. You will lose your material ( ) tice, and their interpretation by the phi- said. Later Jung himself said that he had views could lead to a very complex web existence. You won’t even need food to losopher Arthur Schopenhauer. The rst chosen the term ‘Self’ keeping in mind of discussion around the mysteries of survive,” said Akbar. And then Akbar question Akbar asked me was about the the Upanishads in particular, in the existence - of life and death. As Akbar talked very interestingly about nature of my approach to interview him sense of ‘Self’ or ātman becoming a uni- Padamsee talked further he, in a way, Rāmkrishna Paramhamsa and Ramana and when I said it was much about the fying force, which is beyond time and suggested such complexity: the Upani- Maharishi and his own artistic engage- Upanishads and his art, his elegant individuality. Etymologically, as the 19th shads recognized the phenomenon of ment and practice. He always keeps the smile suggested that he was pleased century Monier-Williams’ Sanskrit- our sensual ability to grasp a represen- Upanishad books with him. In a context, with my answer. The entire conversation English lexicon explains the term Upani- tation of the world and this representa- he quotes a stanza from the Bhagwad was in Gujarati, peppered with his San- shad as ‘setting to rest ignorance by tion holds itself like a veil between the Gita , skrit. Deconstructing the word Upani- revealing the knowledge of the subject and the hidden world of time- , which in nutshell, would suggest that shad (or Upanisad), Akbar broadly supreme spirit; the mystery which less reality, and it is this veil our mystics you should not run after the results of explained its meaning to me: underlies or rests underneath the exter- called māyā. Before the advent of San- your actions, just follow your svabhāva, Up(pronounced as ōōp) means near, ni nal system of things.” Attached to the kara in the 8th century AD, there was a your own state. means to move forward and shad Brahmanas, the Upanishads, as this lexi- long tradition of philosophical delibera- means to sit down, which cumulatively con notes, are a class of philosophical tions in India. Sankara’s interpretation of would mean that you should have the writings (more than a hundred in the transcendent-self as Brahman or company of such people (rishis and number) and they aim at the exposition atman-brahman is re ected in the cul- savants) who could take you deep into of the secret meaning of the Vedas, and mination of the Upanishadic philoso- the understanding of life. About Ishopa- they are regarded as the source of the phy of the identity of atman and Brah- nishad (Isopanishad), Mahatma Gandhi Vedānta and Sāmkhya philosophies. man, along with its logical corollary, the once said, “Even if all our scriptures were Sāmkhya ( ) is one of the six schools doctrine of māyā. to perish, one mantra of the Ishopani- of classical Indian philosophy. Said to “It was through Schopenhauer that I shad is enough to declare the essence of have been founded by the sage Kapila, rst knew about the Upanishads and Hinduism, but even that one verse will the Sāmkhya school is dualistic and when I read him for the rst time, my be of no avail if there is no one to live it.” atheistic. God!” Akbar told me.
1 2 Svabhāva and Ashish Avikun- word, Kathopanishad) precursor to his diculties but since then I have been lm Et cetera shot between 1995 and thak 102-minute single-shot lm Rati Ch- reading such texts of the Vedantic and and 1998), this ‘morbidity of death’ gets Jnanayogic traditions. akravyuha (2013) nearing completion. transformed into a kind of ‘profundity of death’ in Katha Upanishad, from the They are not so easy to grapple with but It is precisely this svabhāva aspect that In a certain sense, Avikunthak does look earthily sacri cial to the transcenden- I always wanted to make a lm on one of attracts me to Ashish Avikunthak’s artis- at lmmaking as ‘sculpting in time’ as tally conceptual. But the basic ‘enquiry’ the Upanishads, which could have been tic engagement over the years, of which Andrei Tarkovsky puts it. His foray into still moves on from the visceral of Vakra- Kena or Katha or any other. In fact, all of I am largely familiar with. I personally lmmaking was directly an attempt at tunda Svāhā to the vivid.In his forth- them had a teacher-disciple or guru- believe that svabhāva plays a playing with time – all the four lms in Et coming lm Rati Chakravyuha, all the six shishya dialogue and that interested key-role in the cetera (1998) are directly an attempt at newly wedded couples invite the self- me. Upanishads were always on my process of any artistic creation. , sva engaging with real time, the fact that sacri cial death towards the end– as if mind and so was lming in long takes, as a pronoun would mean one’s own, they are single shot, unedited lms. Why the so-called ‘morbidity’ was inescap- preferably the entire lm in a single belonging to oneself. It has the quality did he choose to grapple with Katha able. Or perhaps the idea of death take. Earlier on, I was impressed by the of being. It often serves as a re exive Upanishad (Kathopanishad) so reso- wanted to acquire a newer meaning. Hungarian master Miklos Jansco and pronoun; svabhāva would mean one’s lutely? Avikunthak’s cinema is essentially the later the Russian Alexander Sokurov,” own state, an essential or inherent prop- The story goes back to his younger days cinema of interiority, though it seems says Avikunthak. And as he grew up, erty, natural constitution or innate dis- at the Kolkata-based Jesuit school, verbose at times, but gradually the Karl Marx also entered his conscious- position. which had a multi-religious leadership ‘words’ get into their solitary grooves, to ness along with activism with Narmadā training programme, including social their frightening but regenerative voids. Bachao Andolan (Save Narmadā Move- I would like to include it within , work. At this time, he had volunteered ment), against building of big dams on intuition. is being or existing, It also to work for about two years at Nirmal the river Narmadā, and consequent signi es a sense of contemplation. The Hridaya, the home for the dying run by human displacements. More signi - word , sātatya has a sense of con- Mother Teresa’s ‘Missionaries of Charity’. cantly, the Tantra, traits which are evi- tinuity or continuum. samaya sug- Very close to Kālighāt, this institution dent in most of his lms, more particu- gests time in general; it would also was transformed from a dharmashālā, a larly in Kalighāt Fetish(1999) that con- mean ‘coming together’. I believe that sort of caravansary. It was given to templates the ideas of transgression both svabhāva and samaya ow in con- Mother Teresa to run her home for the and morbidity connected by the act of tinuum and that samaya also has its dying, the rst institution with which transformation leading to death. As he sva-bhāva, its own state and pra-bhāva, ‘Missionaries of Charity’ was formed. It told me, Kalighāt Fetish was an outcome impression or impact. was here that Avikunthak had encoun- tered death very closely, when he saw of his own interaction with the memory of death and dying. The ‘brutality’ of For Avikunthak, cinematography is a inmates dying before his eyes. animal sacri ce was for him a medita- temporal art, more than the visual, tion on the morbidity of death. which signi cantly is evident in his It was at this time that Avikunthak had oeuvre, sharpening up in Katho Upani- read several di erent editions of the Over a decade of an essential time(and shad (Katho follows Bengali phonetics; it Upanishads.“I was in class 10 or 11, and space) since 1999 (in fact from his rst is Katha Upanishad and as a compound that’s when I read the texts. I had a lot of
3 4 Kathopanishad, the Text and abode Yama, the Lord of Death.When the Intellectual Inquiry Nachiketa reaches there he nds Yama absent and he waits there for three days and three nights.
Let me brie y introduce Kath / Katha On his return, Yama wanted to atone for Upanishad (Kathopanishad) and see Nachiketa’s long wait and grants him how Avikunthak transforms the text three boons. Nachiketa asks for the into his cinematography. Structurally, following: (1) He should be allowed to the text consists of two chapters or return to his father alive and that his adhyāyas ( ) and each is divided father should greet him without any into three cycles / sections or vallis ( ), anger, (2) He should be instructed as to containing between 15 and 29 stanzas / the proper performance of re-sacri ce verses or slokas ( ). The rst valli in in order to gain immortality, and (3) The the rst chapter of Kathopanishad secrets about life after death be informs us that the Great Sage Arun, revealed to him. Yama was reluctant to (Vajasravaka, ) of the Gautam clan grant the last boon as it had been even had organized a Viswajeet yagya cer- a mystery to the gods.He asked Nach- emony ( ) , which demanded iketa to ask for some other boon and renouncing all worldly possessions in o ered many material gains. To Nach- charity. Vajasravaka had a son named iketa, no other boon would do. Yama Nachiketa, ( , also called Nachike- was secretly pleased with Nachiketa’s tas) ‘that which is unperceived.’ The commitment and gradually kept elabo- Suvrat Joshi as Nachiketa in Katho Upanishad Kathopanishad text describes Nachiketa rating upon the nature of true Self that Production stills from the feature lm as a young boy, a . While perform- 82 minutes persists beyond death. The key of the 4k digital cinema ing the great ritual, the sage gives away realization was that this Self was insepa- 2011 all his worldly possessions, mainly cows. rable from Brahman, the supreme spirit, Accordingly to Nachiketa, those cows and the vital force in the universe. had already outlived their productivity Towards the end Yama tells Nachiketa and had been rendered useless by age, how life-force moves after death, which and they were not worthy to be o ered in nutshell means: There are one hun- as donation or gift. He protested to his dred and one arteries in the heart, one father, saying ‘to whom will you give of which pierces the crown of the head. me?’ assuming that he had some worth. Going upward by it, a man at death This he repeated thrice, when his father attains immortality. But when his in anger said, “To Yama ( ), I give you.” prāna(cosmic energy) passes out by the This accounts for Nachiketa going to the arteries, going in di erent directions,
5 6 Intellectual inquiry and questioning has logician-psychologist. May He protect both of us. May He of self-analysis, to go beyond the sur- always a place in Indian thought – but it nourish both of us. May we both acquire face orders of things (to immortality). can never supersede the direct inspira- Seeing Nachiketa’s reluctance to accept the capacity (to study and understand One who develops meditative insight tional transcendent experiential pro- things pleasurable, Yama understood the scriptures). May our study be bril- can experience ‘that in which sound is cess, which, is also the very basis of all the core of Nachiketa’s mind, and his liant. May we not argue with each other. not, nor touch, nor shape, nor diminu- intellectual process and possibility. In determination to know the ultimate Generally at the beginning of a class, tion, nor taste, nor smell, that which is the Kathopanishad, as A.K. Sarkar main- truth which is a process towards a con- the teacher and students recite this eternal, and it is without end and begin- tains, such experiential process was quest of death. The speciality of Yama peace invocation together. Both seek ning... that having seen, from the mouth developed by Yama, and communi- lies in developing a novel yogic method, the Almighty’s blessings for study that is of death there is deliverance. This pro- cated to Nachiketa.In describing the the rm holding back of the senses, free of obstacles, such as poor memory, cess as indicated in Kathopanishad is a transcendent reality further, Kathopa- then, one becomes undistracted, and or the inability to concentrate or poor practical development of the transcen- nisad develops a unique notion, for the becomes directly conscious of one’s health. They also seek blessings for a dent process of other Upanishads. The transcendent experience is like a great transcendent Self, the order of the conducive relationship, without which story of Nachiketas brings home the Aswattha-tree with root above and imperishable, that He is. In that exalted communication of any subject matter is fact that one can achieve higher orders branches below. This symbolic repre- experience, which is deeply psychologi- di cult. of experiential process if one chooses sentation of the transcendent experi- cal, his real nature manifests itself, when the worthy (or the disciplined ways) ence as the primal order, descending to one becomes liberated from one’s The core philosophy of Kathopanishad instead of the pleasures of life (the undis- the apparent orders of experiential pro- desires for apparent perishing objects, is that the real Self is to be found within ciplined process). cesses, was utilized later in Bhagavad and thus becomes the immortal Brah- oneself, where Atman resides, and so Gita to indicate the expressions of man. does the notion of immortality. The In this sense, Yama refers to two orders Māyāor detatched activity-processes. journey to the discovery of the real Self of people and their prospects. Those This bright and subtle transcendent At the end of the second valli, the origi- is the goal or the purpose of life. One who follow the path of pleasure, are One, Nachiketa could discern by the nal text has Shāntipāth, which is neither who has realized one’s own real Self can bound by the cyclic processes of life, practice of Yoga, and he is said to have an epilogue nor an additional chapter, then realize the cosmic Self, who death and rebirth, but those who follow attained the ultimate condition of but a prayer to invoke peace: encompasses the entire universe. For its the yogic way of disciplined life and immortality, ‘void of stain and void of wisdom, the Kathopanishad also choose only the worthy, merge into the death.’ But Yama ends by saying that this becomes relevant to our times, for all transcendent Purusa (the immortality Yogic possibility is open to all. The Kath- times, for that matter. Although it has a process). This bright and subtle tran- opanisad, therefore, prescribes a psy- mystic attitude of a death-less condi- scendent One, Nachiketa could discern chic science of Yoga to be cultivated by tion, the process to this transcendent by the practice of Yoga, and he is said to all. It is neither an abstract philosophy experience of the unmanifest Purusa is have attained the ultimate condition of nor an abstract dogmatic theology. It is the path towards immortality; it is of a immortality, ‘void of stain and void of a psychological science, in a compre- disciplined yogic path. As Sarkar says, death’. But Yama ends by saying that this hensive practical sense. people take the easy way, they choose Yogic possibility is open to all. The Kath- the ‘preya’, talking about their pet theo- opanishad therefore, prescribes a psy- During the course of penetrating dia- ries rather than choosing the ‘sreya’, chic science of Yoga to be cultivated by logue, Yama comes out as a master which involves discipline or even a kind all. It is neither an abstract philosophy
7 8 nor an abstract dogmatic theology. It is Katho Upanishad, the Film and a psychological science, in a compre- hensive practical sense – a develop- the Rhythm ment beyond the existentialist phe- nomenology of Heidegger and others. Some scholars believed that there were Interestingly, the verses in Upanishads, two di erent texts of this Upanishad – particularly the Brihadaranyka (‘the one consisting of three chapters, which great forest of knowledge’) Upanishad, was the original one and the other had contain several statements that could three additional chapters. For his lm, be related to psychology. Avikunthak has taken the rst three chapters and structures the same thus:
Thirde
This is interesting as it has a certain mu- sicality, a loose raga structure, particu- larly in terms of laya, speed or tempo i.e. the speed at which the camera had captured the enunciations. However, unlike the usual raga structure, Avikun- thak puts ,Vilambit laya (slow Ram Kumar Bajaj as Yama and Suvrat Joshi as Nachiketa in Katho Upanishad Production stills from the feature lm pace or tempo, 24 frames per second, in 82 minutes the middle section) ,Madhya laya 4k digital cinema (medium speed, 32 frames per second; 2011 in the rst section, i.e. extreme left sec- tion); while appropriately, ,Drut laya at the end (72 seconds , in the extreme right section; ‘u’ pronounced as in ‘put’) Madhya laya roughly corre- sponds to speeds ranging from Mod- erato (or Andande) to about Allegretto or even Allegro non troppo. Drut ranges
9 10 from Allegro to Prestissimo and beyond. which is uttered by Yama as he tries to Temporality / Simultaneity ever occur...” In ancient musicological treatises, musi- wake up the young man in slumber cal time ( ) was measured with under a tree. And then gradually the Between its three sections as viewed in reference to certain non-musical stan- dialogues get negotiated through the the gallery, Katho Upanishad, has a cer- dards such as the average speed of the lush green forest, turning into a yellow- What I nd interesting is the way this tain centripetal power, a unifying one. normal blinking of the eye or the aver- golden hue in the second section, o er- temporality turns into an implicit state age speed of the normal cawing of the ing us a perceptional sense of the pas- of simultaneity, by which I mean the crow. sage of time. way the side layas pull themselves into the centre, into the , madhya. Alle- As I have observed, by the time Avikun- What is also interesting to see is the way gorically, I also look at the three sections thak reaches Katha Upanishad during Avikunthak shifts from the Tantrik Onto- as , the temporal trinity, becoming his creative journey, I nd his cinema- logical, e.g. in Kalighat Fetish (1999) or unifying one, the , atmabrahma. tography acquiring a certain laya (deep Vakratunda Swāhā (2010) to Vedantic It would perhaps be inadequate to concentration) of its own, a certain mu- Epistemological in Katho Upanishad describe the Katho Upanishad presenta- sicality, manifesting in the way he pans (2011). tion at Chatterjee & Lal as a video instal- his camera (there is no question of lation, in its conventional meaning. ‘cuts’), its bhangimā (gestures). The lm’s middle section is designed by the Direc- In this context, I nd it interesting the tor of Photography, Basab Mullick, while way C.G. Jung explains his idea of syn- the rst and the last parts by Setu; the chronicity in his book The Secret of the steadycam operator was Nitin Rao. Golden Flower. He says, “It seems, Though editing the lm requires very indeed, as though time, far from being minimal intervention, Pankaj Rishi an abstraction, is a concrete continuum Kumar very subtly follows the basic laya which contains qualities or basic condi- of the lm, the laya that well-crafted tions that manifest themselves simulta- Hindi dialogues penned by Moloy neously in di erent places through par- Mukherjee and Ram Gopal Bajaj are in allelisms that cannot be explained caus- tune with, accompanied by the entire ally, as, for example, in cases of the tonal universe of the lm invoked by simultaneous occurrence of identical Dipankar Chaki and Anirban Sengupta’s thoughts, symbols, or psychic states.” audiography. During the rst almost half an hour of the lm we don’t see any For Jung, synchronicity was no more one speak except the birds and the ba ing or mysterious than the disconti- rustle of the leaves – all very muted but nuities of physics. “It is only the elevating like the inaugural vilambit ingrained belief in the sovereign power layaālāp in a Hindustani raga. The rst of causality that creates intellectual spoken word we hear is ‘Nachiketa’, di culties and makes it appear unthink-
11 12 The Yama Image esh and blood, very austere and curi- ous. So was location, which could be any forest, ‘any place whatsoever’ as Gilles Deleuze would say. As far as I know, there are no visual refer- ence points about the illustrative images of the characters of Nachiketa and Yama to rely on.
In one of Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings, Markandeya, we see dark Yama from back, riding a bu alo. This image of Yama is generally imitated in popular lms, such as Satyavān Savitri, whose several versions we nd in di erent Indian languages, including a 1914 silent lm of the same name by Dadasa- heb Phalke.
In words, the oldest known version of the story of Savitri and Satyavan is found in the Book of the Forest in the Mahabharata, in which Makrandeya tells this layered narrative. When Yudhishthira asks Makrandeya whether there had ever been a woman whose Ram Kumar Bajaj as Yama and Suvrat Joshi as Nachiketa in Katho Upanishad Production stills from feature lm devotion matched Draupadi’s. In his 82 minutes reply, Markandeya related the story of 4k digital cinema Satyavan and Savitri. Besides, Satyavan 2011 Savitri there could be other lms visu- ally imagining or stereotyping Yama, the God of Death.
While picking up the Kathopanishad text, Avikunthak takes o from such inviting blankness. And he imagines his two characters as we see in the lm,
13 14 The Location and the Actors looking for actors. There is a relation- The Third Chapter with that movement is that the minute ship between Yama and Kuber, the god you penetrate time it signi es enlight- of Wealth, they are yaksha gures. enment.” Instead of following the conventional The lm was shot in Karjat / Neral, not imagery, Avikunthak chose an old frail As we saw in the original Kathopanishad Because the moment you bend space very far from the city of Bombay / man as Yama. “I searched for that man text there was no third chapter, instead and time, the beginning is not the Mumbai. With this forest place Avikun- for six months because the one big chal- there was a (Shantipāth), the lm beginning and the end is not the end. thak was very much familiar as he was lenge was that the old man had to seems to replace that with a short (two Everything collapses. That experience is active in the Narmada Bachao Andolan memorize the long dialogues. I met minutes) third section placing it in our also beyond representation. What I do around 1992-1993. He calls this place ‘a Ram Gopal Bajaj, very well-known in the time, on a city road. It evokes an idea with that shot in this lm is just capture cooperative forest’. About twenty activ- theatre circles, who had headed the about a Nachiketa of our times reaching a glimpse of that possibility. The crucial ists got together and bought about Delhi-based National School of Drama a stage of (who has attained his thing about enlightenment is that you sixty acres of land in the tribal area and (NSD) in the 1990s. When I met him it desired goal), now being able to pen- can escape time. That’s when Nachiketa let it grow as a green forest. Each of turned out that as a young student he etrate Time in opposition direction – as says, ‘teach me how to go beyond life them had around two acres. The idea had read Kathopanishad and he we see in the reverse movements of his and death’ because life is beginning and behind buying the land was that the remembered many of its phrases by walk towards the camera and the trac death is end, which are fundamentally local people could do a little farming heart. Then I looked for a young stu- on both lanes moving backwards. The temporal constructs. So the last chapter and let the forest grow. It was called dent. Nachiketa in the original text is third or the extreme right section is the is crucial because cinematically I can vanwādi, a sort of forest garden.The shown as much younger but I wanted shortest (2 minutes) and it was shot on only represent that.” lm’s middle section was shot rst in someone older and I found an alumnus 16mm celluloid. winter / autumn, and the second sec- of the NSD, Suvrat Joshi in Pune. Though Obviously, for Avikunthak, Katho Upani- tion in monsoon while the third on the the selection and rehearsal process Temporally, this is how Avikunthak shad was not just a narrative text; he Bhandup yover on the Eastern Express went on for six long months, I did on- explains, “The moment you penetrate wanted us to experience time, present Highway. Avikunthak rehearsed the location rehearsal for only two days and time you are endowed with a certain becoming present, time acquiring a cer- actors (Ram Gopal Bajaj as Yama and then shot the lm immediately thereaf- power of reversing your very existence tain spontaneity, a certain experiential Suvrat Joshi as Nachiketa) for two days ter.” What is also interesting is the way you have. You can go back to your previ- feel. According to him, the rst section on location after many months of Avikunthak de-dramatizes the dia- ous life. That is what Buddha does – he of the lm is about the quest to know, rehearsal o -site. Finally, the lm was logues to great extent – they have talks about himself as an animal. The the second about knowing (and hence shot on Red digital camera, and thanks di erent intonations as against the ability to go back is a very powerful abil- epistemological) and the third about to the digital technology, it is now pos- normal Indian lmic conventions. ity and an ability experienced only by experience (and hence ontological). It is sible to shoot as much as ve-hour long the enlightened. What enlightenment also to suggest that the Upanishadic single shot lm. The last two minute- does is allows time to collapse. And text is not a dead thing, it still breathes part of Katho Upanishad was shot on once you realize that existence does not in and out. And this becomes evident in Super 16 and was processed in a lab in begin with birth or end with death, the gallery space where the Katho Upa- Mumbai. which is a linear trajectory, once that nishad, the lm rst overwhelms you collapses, your understanding of every- with its epical triptych width, slowly Once he got the script ready, he was thing changes. What I am trying to show absorbing you into it with a sense of
15 16 contemplation, as your eyes and mind Ashish Avikunthak’s Ongoing anchor in the middle section where the dialogue between Yama and Nachiketa Filmsophical ‘Dialogue’ with takes place, and pan across silently right Death and left and reverse into , the three tenses, merging into a sense of simulta- neity as already referred to, in persis- tence of vision, and in the spirit of I personally believe that Ashish Cinema of Prayoga, in their cosmicity. Avikunthak’s lmosophical practice falls And here we experience time – through within this thought-environment. His the monsoon lush green of tree leaves enquiry into the phenomenon of ‘death’ on the left turning into aged brownish (and hence life itself) is ontological- in the middle and the urban mortar of epistemological enquiry, which he em- the present. barks upon his technological tools, while aware of their intrinsic capacities and contradictions, and yet anchoring rmly his lmosophy on the ‘temporal’ which, in the process, becomes narra- tive itself, the so-called ‘story’ if you like – in its randomness. This randomness could be nestling in a tree, or in an unde ned space (whatsoever) or just in our mind; it is the narrative that keeps defying closures and absolutes, as death is not an end ( ), it is also a Suvrat Joshi as Nachiketa in Katho Upanishad beginning( ). Interestingly, his dis- Production stills from feature lm 82 minutes course, Avikunthak brings in Buddhist 4k digital cinema and Jaina philosophies ( ). The philo- 2011 sophical speculation around the idea of darshana would lead us to explore the cognitive functions and abilities of sense-organs other than the eye.
The Upanishads maintain that ‘the eye truly is truth’ and that ‘the eye is truly the root-principle’. Here, visual cognition is accorded a higher status in comparison
17 18 to the other sense-born cognitive facul- artist friend Girish Dahiwale. With Girish Ashish Avikunthak. The Mosaic of the destructive power of time. Thus ties. Nevertheless, the process of reach- and other student-artists such as Riyas of Thoughts around Time kāla also refers to death. The idea of ing the stage of darshana is a complex Komu and Justin Ponmany from time as the Supreme Principle or Lord, one: rst, in relation to the principle Mumbai’s J.J. School of Arts, Avikunthak found in the Atharva Veda and in Vishnu whose darshana is being sought after, had planned a collaborative manifesto. Purana, can also be found in the Bhaga- knowledge has to be gathered at the A collective manifesto about new ways I am referring to all these di erent vadgita. In the Jaina idea of time, the feet of experienced persons. This consti- of doing art and critiquing its rampant strands of thoughts and views formu- most minute division is called a samaya tutes the rst stage, that of ‘listening’ commercialization was also on cards, lated over centuries in India, rather and it is so minute that there are innu- ( sravana , ). Then what has been over one and a half decades back. Riyas super cially, but to indicate the kind of merable samayas which occur just in heard and what has been understood Komu and Justin Ponmany are well- mosaic they create. Just about time, the time taken to wink an eye. This par- must be pondered over, grasped on the established artists now. Talking about there are so many di erent views, e.g. ticle of time is called avail. Sixteen mil- basis of argumentation, logic and rea- his body of work including Vakratunda the Atharva Veda contains hymns dedi- lion, seven hundred and seventy-seven soning. This constitutes the second Swāhā and now Katho Upanishad, Avi- cated to time (this essay towards its end avails make 48 minutes, or one muhurta. stage, that of meditation ( , man- kunthak had always to struggle with quotes one such hymn). Some lines Thirty muhurtas make one divārātra – a ana). After that, with a sense of concen- himself, with what he had been trying describe time to be the cause of the day and a night. Fifteen days make one tration and with a mind rid of all a ic- to understand of the world, and that origin, maintenance and destruction of fortnight while two fortnight (30 days) tions, the seeker must try to enter into takes him to the texts such as the Upani- the universe – in a very triptytch sense of make one māsa (month). Two months the heart of the matter concerned. This shad, “which still ba e me and the only Avikunthak’s Katho Upanishad being make one rtu or season. (Though this constitutes the third stage, that of way to understand it is by making a lm, shown at the Gallery Chatterjee & Lal in suggests a calibration of linear time, it determined e ort ( , nidid- or dealing with Girish’s death by making Mumbai. And this is what I had also shows the micro-manner in which the hyasana). The stage of darshana or a lm. I am still dealing with what I had meant by the idea of simultaneity. concept of time is explored.) direct realisation can never be reached dealt with my lm Et cetera. For me Niyogi Balslev provides a few more unless these three stages have been those lms are still to come back. I am interesting examples: I think this is how Avikunthak let us per- properly worked out. The triple- going back to that form in Katho Upani- ceive the presence (and hence absence) sectioned viewing of Avikunthak’s lm shad and trying to deal with time,” says The idea of time as power of the Abso- of time – in simultaneity – through Kathopanishad may not demand such Avikunthak, while continuing his lmo- lute is ancient and can be seen worked three big screens on the gallery wall, the hierarchical process but I would risk a sophical encounter with the notion out in the integral philosophy of Kash- , the , united form of Brahma, Vishnu presumption that it does presume a cer- (time) and motion(movement) of death. mir Saivism. and Mahesh, the Hindu triad – creation, tain viewing-thinking-meditational pro- “I am continuing my conversation with preservation and destruction – going cess from the rasika, the appreciator of death that runs through all my lms; It should be appropriate to understand simultaneously in life (and hence excellence or beauty, even within a gal- particularly in Vakratunda, in a visceral the meaning of the word kāla, which in death). lery ambience. way because it deals with the death of a Sanskrit stands for time. Etymologically, real person. I am aware of the fact that I the term would mean ‘to count’ (cf. Latin The Katho Upanishad triptych de es the Katho Upanishad’s engagement with am moving from Girish’s death to this calculo). Thus according to some the conventional idea of the video- death immediately reminds us of which in a certain way is connected word kāla signi es that which can count installation as it provides us a deeper Avikunthak’s lm Vakratunda Swāhā because I have to eventually speak with up the age of all. Its root also signi es ‘to cinematographic experience. Hazily, for (2009), which was about the suicidal Yama.” devour’, which leads to the ascription its sheer size, it might transport you
19 20 back into the history of the moving pic- to cinematography, which nowadays is ture – into the dioramas and the pan- getting increasingly dominated by oramas of yore, and here the distinction visual theatricality and super uous between the black box and the white slickness. In one of his re ective Notes, box get blurred, providing an inviting Mani Kaul had mentioned: “Time as space for a contemplated viewing. attention. Attention as rhythm. The invisible shape of the lm.” And now let me end with a hymn to Time, the : Avikunthak, as we know,has freed him- self from the shackles of the ‘capital’, of sponsored ‘money’ as he works as a teacher, saves money and invests it into the production of his lms and he has not deviated from this practice since his rst lm Etcetera (shot on 16mm) during 1995-1998.
What is important for us is the way Avi- Time created the earth; kunthak (along with other thinker- by Time the sun burns; lmmakers such as Kabir Mohanty, Amit through Time all beings (exist); Dutta, Vipin Vijay and Arghya Basu) through Time the eye sees. brings back the discourse on cinema Mind, breath, name, are embraced in around our own philosophies and Time. thoughts, and I think, he is the only one All these creatures rejoice when Time to do so after Mani Kaul, who along with arrives. Kumar Shahani, rst brought in a deep In Time rigorous abstraction, in Time the sense of aesthetic environment within highest, Indian cinematographic , mi- In Time divine knowledge, is compre- māmsā, if there was any. They brought hended. in philosophical re ections into Indian Katho Upanishad Time is lord of all things, he who was the cinematographic discourse, which oth- Gallery installation stills from three –channel video 60 minutes , looped father of Prajāpati. erwise had remained journalistic, socio- 4k digital cinema transfer to HD video logical, political or hagiographic. 2012 Atharvaveda, Tr. Muir XIX 53.6-8.
It is basically Avikunthak’s temporal Amrit Gangar is a Mumbai-based lm engagement that o ers a certain grace theorist, curator and historian.
21 22 ANNEXE A special way.(iv) The Aitareya Upanishad, ANNEXE B -tion. By the late twentieth century, like the Prasna Upanishad, raises the issues such as birth and death no longer question of the creation of the universe, command our attention after they have Ashish Avikunthak. Other Upa- but with more details. As in the Prasna Technology. Ontology. Episte- been physically explained.” How would nishads. A Comparative Look Upanishad, the creative process is a mology. questioning the ‘why’ help us? They will self-creative process. (v) The Isa Upani- lead us into the subjective personal shad always draws attention to an inte- domain of emotions and feelings. And gral consciousness – of a transcendent the ‘how’? They speak of mechanisms For the sake of broad and simple under- overall consciousness as involved in the Ontology is a branch of metaphysics and structures, Viola believed. Accord- standing of the broad Upanishadic presentational orders of consciousness, that studies the nature of being, exis- ing to him, questions of ‘how’ at the sweep, let me summarize (from Sarkar) so that the transcendent experiential tence or reality. It deals with questions close of the twentieth century, were not the core views that some of the princi- process can never be construed sepa- concerning what entities exist or can be enough to carry us forward through the pal Upanishads (besides Kath and Briha- rately from the presented orders of said to exist. Some of the principal onto- millennium. Obviously, it was the inner daranyka) present us. (i) The Taittriya experiential processes. (vi) The Kena logical questions are, “What can be said crisis of the industrialized world that Upanishad places emphasis on the tran- Upanishad draws attention to the ‘tran- to exist? What are the meanings of Viola seemed to be concerned with. The scendent existentiality (Brahman) as scendent integral process’ as a continu- being? What are the di erent modes crisis emerged from the narrow focus subtly operative and controlling the ous inspiring basis and possibility of the and categories of being of entities? On on the individual and on the ‘confusing apparent orders from materiality to apparent instruments of knowledge – the other hand, epistemology is a mix of signals and messages swirling orders beyond mentality; (ii) The Prasna the mind, the vital process and the branch of philosophy that investigates around us that do not address a human Upanishad raises several questions sense-organs. (vii) The Chandogya Upa- the origin, nature, methods,and limits of being’s fundamental need to know and (prasna) about the transcendent experi- nishad illustrates that truth lies in the human knowledge. In this context, I nd live the ‘why’ of life. ence which is also a controlled condi- inspirational suggestions. the way the leading American video tion in contrast to the apparent mani- artist-philosopeeher Bill Viola epistemo- What Viola promises to us was a possi- fest orders of experience. The questions As one of India’s most in uential schol- logically contextualizes technology bility of integrating new technologies were raised by several disciples, one ars of comparative religion and philoso- within an art practice and how that into a new vision. He made us aware of after the other, to the sage Pippalāda, phy, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan com- could be integrated into a new aesthetic their immense philosophical potential. who did not give any answer to the dis- ments in his general view, the Upani- vision.(Later in this essay, I would try “The new technologies of image- ciples till they lived a disciplined life shads are the concluding portions of the and see how di erent branches of making are by necessity bringing us with him at his house for a year.(iii) The Vedas and the basis for the Vedanta phi- Indian philosophy look at the phenom- back to fundamental questions, Mundaka Upanishad by its very name, e, losophy, a system in which human enon of time.) whether we want to face them or not. signi es the shaven head, which symb- speculation seems to have reached its The development of schemes for the olises the life of an ascetic. An ascetic is very acme. The Upanishads have domi- Viola places the ‘why’ aspect very cen- creation of images with computers is an one who is shaven of ignorance, the nated Indian philosophy, religion and trally to life itself; and therefore, death, investigation into the structure and restrictedness of any sort, as seen in the life for nearly three thousand years. too. With mere ‘how’, he said, “we have fabric of the world we observe the par- apparent orders. This Upanishad is Though remote in time from us, the the basis of the illusion that we have ticipate in.” He said that questions of somewhat eclectic, but repeats the core Upanishads are not remote in thought. understood something simply by ratio- form, visual appearance, and the ‘how’ of the di erent Upanishads, in its nally describing and analysing its opera- of image-making drop away once
23 24 an artist is faced with the content of the philosophy is Daniel Reeves. His video A ANNEXE C perception; anumāna, logical inference direct images and sounds of life in his Mosaic for the KaliYuga (1986), for and sabda, the verbal testimony; while daily practice. “Spend time with a video example, depicts technological society Nyāya school would accept the follow- camera and you will confront some of going somewhat berserk, while suc- Epistemology ing means or pramāna for obtaining the primary issues: What is this eeting cinctly realizing in its epilogue, the knowledge, perception called pratyak- image called life? Why are we here shar- Vishnu Purana’s prophecy of the con- sha occupies the foremost position in ing the living moment, a moment that is temporary confusion of inner and outer the Nyāya epistemology, perception is past yet present? And why are the realms. The title refers to a state of exis- Indian branches of philosophy have of two types, one, ordinary or , essential elements of life change, move- tence devoid of true spirituality, in several di erent ways of logically laukika or , sādhārana, which, in ment, and transformation, but not sta- which all values are attached to prop- approaching or obtaining knowledge. turn, is of six types, viz. visual – by eyes, bility, immobility, and constancy?” Per- erty and wealth. Advaita Vedānta, for instance, accepts olfactory – by nose, auditory – by ears, haps we need to imbue new technolo- the following , prāmana or the tactile – by skin, gustatory – by tongue gies to this philosophical dimension so means to reach the stage, viz. pratya- and mental – by mind; extraordinary or that their ruthless commercial teeth -ksha, , the knowledge gained by , , alaukika or asā- don’t chew us up completely. And means of the senses; , anumāna, dhārana, which, in turn, is of three maybe we need to blend why and how the knowledge gained by means of types, viz. . , ,sāmānyalaksana into a new ‘scienti c’ vision that our inference; , , ,upamāna, knowledge i.e. perceiving generality from a particu- time-in-transition requires. In this con- gained by means of analogy; lar object; , jnānalaksana, when text, it should perhaps be interesting to arthapatti, knowledge gained one sense organ can also perceive quali- see how ancient India had perceived by superimposing the known knowl- ties not attributable to it, as when the elemental world. Unlike Aristotle edge on an appearing knowledge that seeing a chilli, we know that it would be who considered “rest” to be the natural does not concur with the known knowl- spicy; and yogaja, when certain human state of things on earth and that every- edge; , anupalandhi, non appre- beings from the power of , Yoga, can thing was made of some mixture of hension and scepticism in the face of perceive past, present and future and what he called ‘the elements’ – earth, non-apprehension and agama, the have supernatural abilities, either com- water, air and re, the Indian philoso- knowledge gained by means of texts plete or some. Also there are two modes phers and visionaries had seen ākāsh such as Vedas, also known as sabda or steps in perception, viz. , (space) as an additional element, i.e. the pramāna, . According to the nirvikalpa, when one just perceives an panchamahabhuta ( ). As a Sāmkhya school, knowledge is possible object without being able to know its continuous enquiry, the words how and through three pramāna, viz. pratyaksha, features, and ,esavikalpa, when why are, nevertheless, extremely crucial direct sense perception; anumāna, logi- one is able to clearly know an object. for our times. cal inference and sabda, the verbal testi- There is yet another stage called mony; while Nyāya school would accept pratyabijnāna , when one is the following means or pramāna for able to re-recognize something on the Another American artist whose work obtaining knowledge, perception called basis of memory. constitutes an important elaboration of pratyaksha occupies the foremost posi- Inference or anumāna is one of the most video poetics that resonates with Indian tion in the Nyāya epistemology, important contributions of Nyāya. It can
25 26 of two types, inference for oneself, i.e. , ANNEXE D perspective, which emerged in the his- deals with metaphysical questions, svārthanumāna, where one does not tory of Indian philosophical thought whereas Nyaya concentrates mostly on need any formal procedure, except per- with the rise of Buddhism. I am refer- logic and epistemology. ”The haps the last three of the ve steps enu- Re ections on Time: Jaina, Bud- ring to these philosophies of time very Nyāya-Vaisesika philosophers maintain merated above; and inference for dhist and other views broadly and simply just to indicate the time is inferred as the basis of such others, i.e. , parāthānumāna, complexities that Avikunthak’s body of notions as priority (paratva), posterior- which requires a systematic methodol- lmosophical work could lead us into, as ity (aparatva), of simultaneity ogy of ve steps. Inference can also be How does Jainism view time? According also to indicate how cinematography (yaugapadya) and succession classi ed into three types , purv- to Jainism, the universe is the product of could (I am using this term in a Bresso- (ayaugapadya), of quickness (ksipratva) āvat, i.e. inferring an unprecedented anantakāla( ) , time which has no nian sense, and not as work of a camera- and slowness (ciratva). In other words, e ect from a perceived cause; , beginning and no end. It is conceived as man) deepen itself under the skin of its the above are the grounds (linga) for the sesāvat, inferring an unperceived cause an incessant ow. Under the in uence visual surface, evoking a certain tran- inference of the existence of time.With from a perceived e ect and of an independent element of time, a scendental temporal sense.While dis- reference to Avikunthak’s Kathopani- sāmānyatodrsta, when inference is not thing undergoes change. Time is the cussing his lms, Avikunthak often shad triptytch the key-word for me is based on causation but on uniformity of name of that order of momentary refers to Indian ontology and episte- ‘simultaneity’ though slightly in a di er- co-existence.Comparison,loosely changes, which a thing undergoes by its mology. Besides Buddhist and Jaina ent context, about which I will talk a meaning upamāna, is the knowledge of very nature. No change in matter involv- views, he also talks about the Nyāya and little later. the relationship between a word and ing aggregation or disintegration is Vaisesika and other branches of philo- The conceptual frameworks of the athe- the object denoted by the word. It is conceivable without time. Times, sophical dispositions. A study of the ist Sānkhya and the theist Yoga schools produced by the knowledge of resem- according to Jainism, are not a collec- problem of time in Indian philosophy is have many essential features in blance or similarity, given some pre- tion of indivisible, inseparable parts as of special interest in connection with common. Although these schools oper- description of the new object before- are the other substances. In a real sense, the Nyāya and Vaisesika schools of ate within a basic ontological structure, hand. Word or sabda are also accepted it is the prayāya or modi cation of a thought.As Anandita Niyogi Balslev the common point of agreement as pramāna. It can also be of two types, substance. Or one may say it is the dura- says, “It is here that one comes across a between them is their denial of the vādika (Vedic), which are the words of tion of the states of substances or dra- bold realistic view of time. These Nyāya-Vaisesika view of a unitary time the four sacred Vedas, or can be more vyas. schools, advocating a pluralistic meta- as an absolute and objective existence, broadly interpreted as knowledge from physics, focus on the reality of time as as one among the ultimate real entities sources acknowledged as authoritative, And Buddhism? The Buddhist claims vital to their entire conceptual frame- constituting a metaphysical pluralism. and laukika, or words and writings of that an entity perishes and is replaced work. Their philosophical stand regard- Advaita Vedanta, considered as repre- trustworthy human beings. Epistemo- by another at every instant. The idea of ing the problem of time is distinctly senting the culmination of the Brah- logically, the Vaisesika school accepts time as instant and its inseparability di erent from that of other schools, not manical tradition, rejects the pluralistic perception (pratyaksha) and inference from being – as instantaneous – is the only outside of the pale of Brahmanical metaphysics of Nyāya-Vaisesika as well (anumāna) as valid sources of knowl- key to the Buddhist conceptual struc- tradition but also within it.” as the dualism of Sānkhya-Yoga. As the edge. ture. The Buddhist doctrine of universal very term advaita signi es, a systematic momentariness ( ) is of vital The main di erence between the Nyāya e ort is made to construct a metaphysi- importance for an appraisal and under- and the Vaisesika schools lies in their cal structure on the basis of the idea standing of this novel philosophical orientation and emphasis. The Vaisesika that the real is non-dual. This under-
27 28 -standing which the Advaita Vedānta End Notes desires of di erentiation and unison. The cosmic energy Ibid. is thought to integrate in the microcosm various sensa- maintains to be the nal goal of all the tions including sound, smell and sight and in the macro- Concepts of TIME: Ancient and Modern; Ed. Kapila cosm integrate the individual and the universe. Vatsyayan, New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for teachings of the revealed texts of the The Mahatma Defends Faith Against Bigotry, Amrit the Arts, Sterling Publishers, 1996. Gangar, The Speaking Tree, The Times of India, 3 March Developed (and being theorized) by this author, Cinema Upanishads,has led to a rigorous formu- of Prayoga or Cinema Prayoga is a term that attempts to The Director Re ects in Cinema in India, Mumbai: NFDC, 1999. The Isha Upanishad ( , Ishopanishad) is one 1991 lation of the conception of the non-dual of the shortest of the Upanishads, consisting of 17 or 18 deepen the spirit of prayoga, the so-called experimenta- tion, wherever it occurs. While it seeks out our own Indian Ibid. Italics in the original. Dr S. Radhakrishnan (1888- real Brahman – as timeless, which verses in all, but is historically one of the principal ( ) 1975) was the rst Vice President of India during 1952- Upanishads.. It is considered revealed scripture (Sruti) by roots, it is also a bid to enlarge the historical scope of the reduces on the other hand all duality i.e. Western sense of Experimental and to make it more 1962 and then President of India between 1962 and diverse tradition within Hinduism. It is signi cant for its 1967. di erence to a problem of ‘appearance’. description of the nature of the supreme being (Ish). inclusive of prayoga cinematographic practices connected to, but historically outside it. In general terms, Apple and Video in Aid of Ontology, Amrit Gangar, The Seeking to De ne an Elusive Maya, Amrit Gangar, Speaking Tree, The Times of India, 30 August 1999. Avikunthak’s Kathopanishad triptytch The Speaking Tree, The Times of India, 12 May 2000. Cinema Prayoga has the quality of being intuitive and congenial, capable of achieving a certain unity of emo- Permanence & Change: Jaina View of Times, Amrit Gangar, draws us into this debate as far as the Free translation from Gujarati by this author. The Speaking Tree, The Times of India, 15 May 1999. Amrit Gangar in conversation with Akbar Padamsee, tions that is profound, both formally and metaphysically. issue of time and overall philosophy of As the loosely equivalent Sanskrit word for the English A Study of Time in Indian Philosophy, Anindita Niyogi Navneet Samarpan, Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Balslev, Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden: 1983. life (and death) is concerned. November-December 2004. ‘experiment’, prayoga has several di erent connotations, including design, device, plan; application, employment Ibid. Bhāvas are either , primary, or , subordinate. Ibid. The former are eight or nine, according as the Rasas are (esp. of drugs and magic); use, exhibition (of dance), The six principal schools that developed representation (of drama), recitation. I would argue that Ibid. taken to be; each rasa having its own , stayibhāva. in the Brahmanical tradition are I would like to embed ‘intuition’ within the overall bhāva prayoga is a practice of lmic interrogation and a quest toward a continuing process of time (and space). Ashish Sānkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaisesika, of sva. Svabhava Flowing Into Streams: In Continuum – Interrogating Avant-garde and the Wave; Amrit Gangar, Avikunthak is one of the most signi cant prayoga artists. Purva-Mimāmsā and Uttara-Mimāmsā. paper presented at the Yale University (USA) seminar, CinemaPrayoga is not an exclusive or East versus West “Remaining faithful to the basic intu- 2010. proposition based on producing cultural binaries or on The Katha Upanishad (Katho follows Bengali phonetics) geographic segregation; its main thrust is on certain ition of the Upanishads – the reality of is one of the principal Upanishads, guring as number 3 intrinsic qualities that cinematography should carry in the immutable Ātman – they venture to in the canon of 108 Upanishads. It is likely to have been her womb. composed after the 5th century BCE. Darshana is a key word in Indian philosophical formulate and explain the phenom- Amrit Gangar in conversation with Ashish Avikunthak in discourse. It is used, colloquially, to mean optical vision, enon of change in diverse ways. In their Cinema of Prayoga: Indian Experimental Film & Video the sense of sight. But the sage-poets use the same word to imply the higher sight that is made possible by the e ort to interpret and systematise the 1913-2006; Eds. Brad Butler and Karen Mirza, London: no.w here, 2006. inner eye, the cognitive process of ‘spiritual realisation’. Upanashadic ideas these schools devel- C.G. Jung said, “the self is our life’s goal, for it is the Thus the sages, poets or yogis who have had an imper- oped di erent metaphysical structures.” completest expression of that fateful combination we turbable and clear realization of such supersensuous call individuality.” Memories, Dreams, Re ections, Collins things as the soul or the Supreme Soul are called drastr or On the contrary, The Chārvāka material- and Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1963. seers. ists hold a radically di erent view of The Ashwattha or the sacred tree as referred to Bhagvad Opening the inward eye, Amrit Gangar, The Speaking Tree, Gita is an emblem of the ‘Tree of Life,’ the symbol of the The Times of India, 10 October 1998. Being and Time; they reject the doctrine never-ending universe. Commencing in the unknown, In the Puranas, one nd the idea of the four yugas – of the soul. The materialists held con- the universal, the beginningless and endless, the rootless satya, treat, dvapara and kali – along with that of the sciousness to be a by-product of matter. root of all-being, the tree is thus reversed. world-cycles, which provide a vision of vast expanse of Dynamic Facets of Indian Thought: Vedas to Auxiliary time in astronomical terms. Thus the Brahmānda Purana Death of the physical body meant a Scriptures, Volume One, Anil Kumar Sarkar, Manohar dramatically describes the four yugas as the four faces of complete cessation of the stream of Publications, Delhi: 1980. time, which are said to create and destroy all beings. Ibid. Again, the idea that the solar motion is the basis of time- consciousness. The Buddhist, as also the Ibid. divisions is found in the Agni Purana.In the Mahabhārata Jaina philosophers were operating with Ibid. one comes across the well-known simile where time is described as the wire-holder (sutradhāra) of the universe, the idea of a beginningless conscious- This Upanishad looks at the reality as being indescrib- able and its nature to be in nite and consciousness-bliss. permitting events and preventing them from taking continuum, which does not cease with Human beings are seen as the synthesis of the organ of place. Time is thus responsible for the order and speech, mind, prāna (cosmic energy) and the twin cosmic sequence of events. The Svetasvatara Upanishad refers to death. the view, which held time to be the cause of everything.
29 30 Ashish Avikunthak
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