On eternity and time what are the themes in the story - Essay Example

English Themes in the “On Eternity and Time” “Eternity and Time” is a literature work in which terrestrial and extraterrestrial happenings are used to relate time and eternity. In this literature work, the ants’ parade is crucial in showing that eternity is characterized by extraterrestrial occurrences while time is characterized by terrestrial happenings. The relationship between eternity and time and that between terrestrial and extraterrestrial things plays a key role in explaining several themes which are in this work.

The various themes in the “Eternity and Time” are discussed below with relevant support from the art. The theme of “The Supernatural” is one of the themes which clearly appear in the story. The story begins by narrating about the giant titanic dragon which holds captive the heavenly waters inside its belly while couching upon the mountains and assuming a limbless shape that resembles a cloud serpent. The story further talks of how this monster is shattered into stack- like withered rushes by the thunderbolt which is swung by the god Indra amidst the coils.

This causes the waters to burst free across the land in ribbon-like streams that once again circulate through the world’s body (3). This shows the super-terrestrial nature of the supernatural beings which enable them to do superhuman deeds. This supernaturalism is also demonstrated by the ability of the gods to crumble and crack the magnificent mansions of the city during the supreme period of the dragon. The gods do this in an attempt to return to the central mountain’s summit from which they reign, thus forcing the titans to retreat into the worlds below.

The other theme which clearly comes out in the story is the theme of “Eternal Kingship”. In the story, the Indras succeed each other in a particular line as they reign in innumerable numbers of worlds. A rhetorical question is asked about numbering the world’s passing ages that endlessly follow each other. Another rhetorical question is about counting the universes, each of which contains Indras by the names of Brahms, Shiva and Vishnu, having searched through infinities of a very wide nature.

These questions relate to eternal kingship, which is further seen where the kings of gods ascend to godly kingship, one after the other as they maintain sand grains on the earth and the rain drops falling from the skies. It is quoted in the story that “The life and kingship of an Indra endure seventy-one cons, and when twenty-eight Indras have expired, one Day and Night of Brahma have elapsed. But the existence of one Brahma, measured in such Brahma’s Days and Nights, is only one hundred and eight years.” (4-6). This demonstrates that the Indras are bound to reign eternally, thus clearly showing how eternal kingship comes out as a theme in the story.

“Mortality” is the other theme featuring in this story in relation to time and eternity. The conversation about the ants between the Indra and the boy is focusing on mortality and time. The boy says that there is a secret that is not to be disclosed about the ants. This secret, which encloses the fruit of wisdom and the seed of woe, remains buried within the wisdom of ages, and even saints never get its revelation. Mortality is seen where it is said that wicked acts of the world’s inhabitants sink them into the underworld where they are painfully and sorrowfully reincarnated among the vermin, birds, insects and even tress (7).

Additionally, mortality is seen where a response in the conversation in the story mentions that death, the master all, is time-ordained, and thus executes the law of time by bringing perishability (8). According to the story, terrestrial beings such as the inhabitants of the earth are of a nature limited by time implying that they are mortal. The extraterrestrial beings such as the gods are celestial, glorious and bestowed with great wisdom and the highest capability of giving spiritual guidance.

This is an implication that they supernatural being that are immortally existing. In conclusion, these three themes are closely related since they show the relationship that exists between the terrestrial and the extraterrestrial, the mortal and the immortal as well as between time and eternity. Supernatural beings are extraterrestrial and immortal, and there reign or kingship is eternal. On the other hand, terrestrial beings are of a mortal nature and their reign is time-bound and limited. Works Cited “On Eternity and Time: The Parade of Ants.

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