Sat-darshana Bhashya (translation)

Verse 18.

क्व भाति दिक्कालकथा विनाऽस्मान्
दिक्काललीलेह वपुर्वयं चेत् ।
न क्वापि भामो न कदापि भामो
वयं तु सर्वत्र सदा च भामः॥

Where is space without me and where is time? The body exists in space and time, but no body am I. Nowhere I am, in no time I am. Yet am I everywhere in all time.

Space and Time exist with reference to the subjective being which is a conscious principle. When the force of Consciousness manifests the mind, assuming spatial and temporal terms of existence, the subjective being becomes mental, manomaya, in its character. It is necessary here to recall to mind what was stated in the beginning of the Shastra, that "All are He...a Lord of Limitless power". The power to assume a manifold existence is inherent in the Spirit, the Purusha. And manifold form presupposes extension or space; and there is no movement without time, for time itself is movement. Thus the force of consciousness as movement and extension becomes time and space for mental comprehension. It must be borne in mind that space and time which are but the twin terms of the creative conscious force are inalienable from Existence-Consciousness itself sat-cit, which is the substantial Truth, Brahman. Brahman and His Shakti, Consciousness and Force are really in a relation of identity like light and its radiation. “In speech alone can one separate substance from its force, never in fact, never in experience.” Therefore when the Self whose character is Consciousness becomes mentalised, it becomes subject to space and time in an embodied existence. But the supreme truth of ourselves is the ultimate reality which is the basis of the spatial and temporal manifestation of the mental being. Hence it is easy to understand the statement that there is no space or time without me, the mental being. If I am embodied, then there can well be the talk of ’space and time’ which are but manifestations of the conscious force. But ‘nowhere I am’; my root-being is not subject to space; ’In no time I am’; nor is my self-being subject to time. Yet as the Real, my ultimate being has become all space and time; "I am everywhere, in all time.”

Subject to space and time, the conscious self is mental; beyond space and time it transcends the mind. Thus the Existent, the Spirit, Purusha, is spoken of in his two-fold aspect, the dynamic and the static and here again we are reminded of the One Brahman that is at once sakala and niskala, Relative and Personal as well as Absolute and Impersonal, of which repeated mention has been made in the earlier part.

Next the difference in experience between the ignorant and the man of Realisation is mentioned.