Time presents itself to us in many different ways – we label it as good, fair, bad, ugly etc. We measure time, keep time, meet and greet in time because our daily lives are completely wrapped around time. When things slow down, we say time is just not passing, and when we need to achieve too many things we crib that we don’t find sufficient time. We are always on an onward journey in life because time does not wait for anybody and anything. We perceive time as past present and future. And, we store mental picture of time with images and events. Of course, we also cherish photographs of our life. Time is so important in our lives. The greatest discovery in understanding of time occurred about a hundred years ago with Einstein’s theories of Special and General relativity in which he introduced the concept of slowing of time with motion and with gravity.

Time is simply a manmade invention to count the period of events. It does not exist in nature. Since beginnings man has associated events of his life with time, this defines the past, present and future. Time is evolved from sun to indicate parts of a day, to the moon, to indicate part of night. Winter, spring, summer, rainy seasons tell us when to sow seeds and when to harvest. Researchers have inferred that people counted days in relation to the Moon’s phases as early as the Paleolithic age. The concept of month was first used in a modern manner by the Mesopotamian civilization based on the motion of the moon. We human associate with time, whereas it does not exist in the universe.

Hinduism recognizes four great ages: Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapar Yuga and Kali Yuga. Satya Yug is recognized as the Age of Truth which is believed to last for four thousand divine years, Treta Yuga for three thousand, Dwapara Yug for two thousand and it is believed that Kali Yuga will last for one thousand divine Years that equals to 432,000 earthly years. It is also believed that three of these great ages have already passed away, and we are now living in the fourth one. What these ages exactly mean, and why this division, it’s hard to explain, because they appear too unrealistic to be true for the rational mind.

We believe in four stages of lifecycle: infancy, growth, maturity and decline. We continuously progress in life, as we progress from one stage to another. Some people find themselves stuck in certain stages for years. While some even skip entire stages completely, without learning the important lessons. Hinduism links the four stages of life to four Ashramas. Each human should ideally go through each of these stages: the first Ashrama – “Brahmacharya” is about the Student Stage. This period is about formal education. It lasts until the age of 25, during which, the youngsters attain both spiritual and practical knowledge of life. This stage comprises of infancy and growth in life cycle.

The second Ashrama is called “Grihastha” This period begins when a human gets married, and undertakes the responsibility for earning a living and supporting family. This ashrama lasts until around the age of 50. This stage can be connected to maturity stage of life cycle, because the person produces kids, earns a living. Human in this stage are forced to think of others. He/she understands that taking decisions is important and taking responsibility for the outcome of decision. When something goes wrong, the human can’t blame others.

The third Ashrama is called “Vanaprasthashrama.”  This stage of a man begins when his duty as a householder comes to an end: the children are grown up, and have established lives of their own, and there are grandchildren around. According to the Laws of Manu, when a person’s skin wrinkles and his hair grays, he should go out into the forest.

The fourth Ashrama is called “Sanyasa.” At this stage, a human is supposed to be totally devoted to God. He is a sannyasi, he has no home, no other attachment; he has renounced all desires, fears, hopes, duties and responsibilities. He is virtually merged with God, all his worldly ties are broken, and his sole concern becomes attaining moksha or release from the circle of birth and death. The third and fourth Asramas are connected with decline stage of life. The reality of the four Ashramas is that people tend to prolong the Grihastashrama, they get so attached to this face of life.

Although these Ashramas were predominantly designed for the male, females had a vital role to play in each one of them. So women are not actually excluded because without them, men would not have had families. Today, women are leading more purposeful and active life.

Everything in the universe is moving; once moved ahead, it can’t go back. The universe is changing every second to something different than it was before, it can’t change back. We cannot change our past, but yes, we can change our present and our future. Time is continual movement. To realize the value of one year, look at a student who failed a grade.

To realize the value of one month, look at a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of an hour, look at the student who is writing an exam and the question paper is long. To realize the value of a minute, ask a person who just missed a train or a flight. Congratulate someone who escaped an accident by split of seconds, that person must have realized value of a second. And, look at the face of a sportsman who won a Gold medal in Olympics, for realizing value of one Millisecond!!

According to a research conducted at the University Of Berkeley, California, people who feel generally more powerful feel they have more time, power makes people have a broader time perspective. Mentally strong people are less stressed, and hence feel they have more time. The flip-side of the experiment is that those who feel powerless, sense the need to struggle with the feeling of not having enough time available to them. Your mental make-up matters a lot.

Legends often convey timeless and universal themes, which are relevant in portraying the human experience. Myths and legends give insights into the values and perspectives of long gone cultures. These stories give us an idea how our ancestors lived and what kind of societies they colonized. Myths and legends also show us what was different about human life when these stories originated; what has stayed with us and what is gone. The legends have value as literature too. Importantly, myths and legends allow us to understand how much we have progressed since then and in some cases they tell us how much we have retreated. Frankly speaking whenever I see the very old architecture, I feel people then were more progressive than today. The legendary Jagannath Puri temple which is almost 900 years old, but, still is standing majestically tall and has its interesting traditional story.

It seems the original image of Jagannath (Vishnu) at the end of Treta Yuga (as per the Hindu mythology Treta yug lasted 3,600 divine years and saw the sixth and seventh incarnations of Lord Vishnu as Prashurama and Rama) was in form of Indranil Mani. Vishnu is known as the preserver, Vishnu is one of three supreme Hindu deities, along with Brahma and Shiva. Vishnu’s role is to protect humans and to restore order to the world. His presence is found in every object and force in creation, and some Hindus recognize him as the divine being from which all things come. Jagannath is one of the names of Lord Vishnu.

Indranil Mani (Blue bead of Jewel) manifested (appeared on its own) near a Banyan tree near the seashore. It was so alluring that it could grant instant moksha (salvation), so the God Yama (God of death) wanted to hide it in the earth as his schedule of ending people’s life was getting disturbed by Indranil mani, he was successful in doing so. In Dvapara Yuga King Indradyumna of Malwa region wanted to find that mysterious Indranil mani, he became very restless; he tried his best to seek the Blue jewel. He became so restless and obsessed that he performed several harsh penances to obtain his goal. Vishnu then instructed him to go to the Puri seashore and find a floating log to make an image from its trunk.

As per Vishnu’s instructions, the King found the log of wood. He did a yajna (worship fire with devotion and offering) from which God Yajna Narsimha appeared and instructed that Vishnu should be made as fourfold (having four units) expansion, i.e. Paramatma as Vishnu, his Vyuha (head of troop for battle) as Samkarshana i.e Balarama, Yogamaya (energy of Lord Vishnu) as Subhadra, and his Vibhava (welth and prosperity) as Sudarsana chakra. Vishwakarma (the designer of all the flying chariots of the gods, and all their weapons and divine attributes, architect of Gods) appeared in the form of an artisan and prepared images of Jagannath, Balrama and Subhadra from the tree.

When the king Indradyumna found the floating log, radiant with light which was seen floating in the sea, Narada told the king to make three idols out of it and place them in a pavilion. Indradyumna got Visvakarma, the architect of Gods, to build a magnificent temple to house the idols. In fact, it seems Vishnu himself appeared in the guise of a carpenter to make the idols on condition that he was to be left undisturbed until he finished the work.

But just after two weeks, the Queen became very anxious. She felt that the carpenter to be dead as no sound came from the temple. Therefore, she requested the king to open the door. Thus, they went to see Vishwakarma at work at which the latter abandoned his work leaving the idols unfinished. The idols were without any hands. But a divine voice told Indradyumana to install them in the temple. It has also been widely believed that in spite of the idol being without most of the parts of body, but only beautiful and big eyes, it can watch over the world and be its lord. The conception of big spherical eyes comes from the outline that the eyes of Hindu deity are just like the Sun and Moon. The contour and circular shape depict the infiniteness. Lord Jagannath talks to his devotees through his big eyes.

The temple of Jagannath in Puri has these eight mysteries, they are:

1. The flag always flaps in a direction opposite to the direction in which the wind is blowing.
2. Look from any place in Puri, and you will always find the Sudarshan Charka (charka at the top of the temple) all the time facing you.
3. Normally during day-time, the wind blows from the sea to the land and in the evening, the opposite happens; but in Puri, the opposite happens. During daytime the winds flow from the land and in the night they blow from the sea.
4. Birds or planes do not fly above the temple.
5. The shadow of the main dome is unseen at any time of day.
6. The quantity of cooked food inside the temple remains same the entire year. And the same prasadam can feed whatever be the number of devotees – a few thousand people or 20 lakh people. It has never happened that the food is fallen short or has been wasted!
7. In the temple kitchen, seven pots are kept on top of each other and cooked on firewood. In this process, the contents of the top pot get cooked first, lastly, the bottommost one!
8. On entering from Singhadwara (Lion Gate), as one takes the first step inside the Temple, the sound of ocean cannot be heard, but, once you cross the same step outside the Temple, you can hear it.

Nabakalebara: The idol of Lord Jagannath is made of Wood. A unique custom is followed at Puri Jagannath temple. It is called the Nabakalebara process (Naba means new and Kalebara is body). The idols of the deities are replaced after 12 – 19 years as they are made of wood which decays with the time passed by.  Nabakalebara means leaving of the old deity and the sanctification of the new. As a person puts on new garments and gives up the old, the soul accepts new material bodies and gives up old. According to temple rituals, the deities are made from the neem, musk, sandalwood tree barks and some other combinations; they undergo a change before the Adhika Ashadha ends.  The change of wooden deities is done under a specific astrological combination in which their power is ritually transferred. Nabakalebara is about the transformation of the Puri temple and Odisha lords into a new body. The new wooden idols of Jagannath, Balarama and Subhadra and Sudarshan are welcomed to the temple in celebration. The old idols are ritually buried in Koili Baikuntha in accordance with century-old Odia scriptures.