Kala

KALA

A Multimedia presentation on Time

12th Dec.1990 - 28th Feb.1991

Matighar, IGNCA

Photograph from TIME (KALA) exhibition

Kala is an exploration of Man's understanding of Time. This experience begins from the reality of everyday clock time. Gradually shedding these perceptions of time, one enters the state of no time, where creation lies unmanifest.

Creation begins with the formation of galaxies and the interplay of its elements. The universe comes into being.

Life appears with the consciousness of breath and pulsation. Biological rhythms provide man with the basis for the primeval metaphors of time.

Primordial Time Hrdya There was neither non-existence nor existence then; there was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond. What stirred? Where? in whose protection? was there water, bottomless deep?
I	II - Creation Srsti	III - Breath Spandan

IV - Time articulation Kala-Bodha	V - Space-Time DiK-Kala	VI - Time-measure Kala-Mana

VII - Time as movement Kala-Krama		VIII - Transience Kala-Anubhuti

	IX - Transcendence and Immanence Kala-Sunya, Purna

Man articulates this awareness of time in the creation hymns of diverse civilizations.

Observing the planetary bodies in the skies above, man develops notions of space-time. Cosmologies evolve and astronomical orbits are identified. man expresses his inter-relatedness to the cosmos.

Man's tool for comprehending the nature of physical time is measure. from the blinking of an eyelid to the movement of the sun, man understands duration. This comprehension is reflected through observatories, almanacs and clocks.

Man attempts to grasp what affects his perceptions of duration, sequence and movement of time. They are reflected through symbols, iconography and architecture. These age-old notions are also expressed in modern science. The experience of time inspires poetry. Transience is its theme; the quest for eternity the journey, to be in a state of timelessness its aspiration.

The journey of the self is all this and beyond. No structures, no measure, no words can enter here. Only an ascent to a state of being of the perennial NOW.

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