Types of Kala - Time

Ayurveda understands the word time in two ways. The first is Kshanadi Kala (period), the time usually referred to as hours, minutes, days, nights, morning, evening, etc. The second is Vyadhyavastha Kala (a phase of a disease), which is understood as a stage, i.e., the beginning, the disease in progress, the disease spreading, chronic disease, acute disease, metastasis, etc.

Bhéšadža means medicine, a set of gunas. Their connection with the body, for the purpose of changing the body, can happen in these two ways involving time. A fragment or fraction of time contains all of the same characteristics as the larger whole - when we have a piece of apple, for example, we wll not suddenly discover carrot there. These small units of time are given different names and recognized as stand-alone units. When we say "12 o'clock", it is a fixed, clear moment. 12:05 is not the same as 12:00. Our measurement of time involves naming, and it always reflects the characteristics inherent to the unit. We can also discuss a span of time, from 11:00 to 12:00 for example.  These are very exact comprehensions of how we interface with time, how we measure it, we have figured out how to count and therefore we can designate the different fractions of wholes - morning, noon, afternoon, evening, etc.

The second kind of time does not involve measurement, this is the avastha, the phase or stage, the status, but there is not an exact limitation to it, it is not a fraction. When we speak of "childhood", for example, it can be considered as lasting different lengths depending on the individual, it is a phase. It is not a unit of measurement. There are measurable moments and then states that are not measurable, such as the state of comprehension.

When we prescribe medicines, we are very often asked how long people should take them, because the concept of time they are used to working with is that of measurable units of time. However, people should take medicine until the desired change in the state of their health is achieved, and that cannot be predicted in terms of units of time. Today people are fixated on measurable time and not on the kind of time that involves phases of transformation. We are fixated on numbers and tables, which is why it is so difficult for us to understand natural functions. If we do not understand maturation, how something achieves the phase of maturation, then we will be unable to understand how to impact it. It is not the case that by a certain chronological age we can assess whether a person is "early" or "late" or "on time". Previously, natural phases of time were more understood, which is why many religious holidays (Divali, Easter, Passover, etc.) are not celebrated on a fixed, never-changing calendar date, but are celebrated when a certain natural phase arrives, which happens irrespective of our counting systems.

Most of us understand time as proceeding in a linear fashion, along an axis. The earth revolves around the sun and there are phases of equinox and solstice that happen with a certain regularity. We understand these seasons as something that can be measured, but actually the seasons of the year are not exactly the same year after year, they fluctuate. They same applies to dawn, sunrise, twilight, sunset, etc. - they do not happen at the exact same time every day, they flucutate and the length of daylight differs from day to day in a cyclical way.

Sattva, Rajas and Tamas are phases or states, not measurable aspects. When we are treating somebody we take their states into consideration. We cannot apply the numbers and tables method to states. To comprehend a natural process, we must understand the idea of phases, without using numbers. If two people are communicating who understand this, no numbers will be necessary. Numbers introduce dissatisfaction and disquiet. 

When we observe a patient, we must understand how diseases progress - what the difference is between the beginning of a fever, the high point of a fever, the resolution of a fever, etc. We must understand what the phase of the disease is in order to intervene and change it.

In the case of menstruation, Ayurveda says that what is considered normal is for women to menstruate on the new moon. If this is not the case, then what will be addressed is not the number the days the period is arriving "early" or "late", but the fact that this other periodicity indicates there is an imbalance between the psyche and the physiology that needs to be brought back into balance.

When diseases persist, it means the conditions creating them continue, they are being supported by the patient's behavior.