A Blink, a Breath, and the Limits of Calculation

Srimad Bhagavatam 3.11.37

कालोऽयं द्विपरार्धाख्यो निमेष उपचर्यते ।
अव्याकृतस्यानन्तस्य ह्यनादेर्जगदात्मनः ॥

“The duration of the two parts of the creator Brahma’s lifetime is calculated to be one nimesha [a blink of the eyes] for Lord Vishnu.”

But Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti explained that this statement was upacara-matram – figurative language – and na tu vastuto nimeso ‘pi, “not an actual blink in reality.”

Visvanatha anticipated a reader asking:

nanv evam nimesadikramena tasyapi kim ayur ganyate

“By studying a sequence beginning with a blink, can Vishnu’s lifespan be calculated?”

But the “blink” was upacara – figurative language; elsewhere scripture spoke of a “breath,” and that too was upacara-matram. In reality, there was not even an actual blink. Visvanatha gave the reason:

avyakrtasya kala-krta-vikara-rahitasya

“The Lord is unmanifest [in this material sense], free from transformations produced by time.”

anantasyanadeh kala-paricchedatitasya

“He is unlimited, beginningless, and beyond all the limitations imposed by time.”

Then finally:

kala-adi-sarva-jagat-karanasya

“He is the cause of time and of the entire universe beginning with time.”

Sridhara Swami also put forward this idea. He commented:

upacaryate kevalam na tv anenapi kramenayur gananam tasya

“This blink is mere figurative language; the Lord’s lifespan is not to be calculated even according to this sequence.”

The word krama, “sequence,” was important here. Sridhara Swami expressly blocked the attempt to turn the metaphor into a chronological series one might study to calculate the extent of the Lord’s existence.

Sri Jiva Prabhu cited the Brahma-samhita statement about the universes existing for the duration of one exhalation:

yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya
jivanti loma-bilaja jagad-anda-nathah

“All the Brahmas who become lords of different universes live for the duration of one exhalation of Vishnu, from whose skin pores the universes appear.”

But Visvanatha prevented us from converting that information into an estimate of the physiology of Narayana. “Breath” was another upacara. The Lord is not an enormous organism whose lungs literally inflate and deflate according to a cosmic stopwatch, as if the Lord were embedded in time and living under the influence of time.

Indeed, Sri Jiva himself said of the Purusha:

mahapuruso ‘pi kaladhino na bhavaty eva

“The Maha-purusha is most certainly not subject to time.”

He distinguished the Lord’s avirbhava-tirobhava-lila – His pastimes of manifestation and disappearance – from ordinary temporal change. Sri Jiva Prabhu then went on to say that Bhagavan’s supreme nature is nityavirbhava, eternally manifest.

The Bhagavatam calls Vishnu Urukrama – the Lord who makes mighty strides. Sridhara Swami warned us not to calculate the Lord’s existence by envisioning a sequence of blinks and breaths. The Sanskrit word he used was krama – a sequential, ordered progression.

The Bhagavatam repeatedly calls Vishnu Urukrama, for His activities surpass ordinary measure. As humans, we naturally try to understand the infinite by arranging things into sequences: one moment after another, one breath after another, one universe after another. The Acharyas warned us that human language might help us think about the greatness of Vishnu, but we must not think Vishnu exists within the machinery of time.

atmaramas ca munayo nirgrantha apy urukrame
kurvanty ahaitukim bhaktim ittham-bhuta-guno harih

“Even self-satisfied sages, although freed from all material bonds, render causeless devotion to Urukrama, Hari, for His qualities are of an extraordinary nature.”