Eternal India Encyclopedia

PERCEPTIONS

Eternal India

encyclopedia

KAALA CHAKRA

(WHEEL OF TIME)

The duration of each

Yuga

is computed

by years of gods. A year of the gods is

equal to 360 years of man. So

Krita Yuga

4,800

4800 x 360 = 1,728,000

Treta Yuga

3,600

3600 x 360 = 1,296,000

Dvaapara Yuga

2,400

2400 x 360 = 864,000

Kali Yuga

1,200

1200 x 360 = 432,000

Total 12,000 4,320,000

A day of Brahma = 1000 x 4,320,000 = 4.32 x

years

The Hindu thinkers had evolved, not a

linear, but a cyclic theory of time made up of

yugas, manvantaras

and

kalpas.

The universe

is without beginning and without end going

on recurrent phases of manifestation and

dissolution. The

yugas

or ages of the

world are four in number.

In the first

yuga

called

krita,

whose du-

ration is computed to be 4,800 years of gods

(each year of gods being equal to 360 years

of men), there is perfect and eternal right-

eousness and the

Dharma

is standing on all

its four feet.

In the next three

yugas

viz

treta,

dvapara

and

kali,

consisting respectively of

3600, 2400 and 1200 years of gods,

Dharma

gradually decreases by one-fourth, remain-

ing to the extent of only one-fourth in the

present

kali yuga.

At the end of each

kali

yuga

there is tremendous destruction after

which the golden age appears again This

cycle of creation, destruction and recreation

of the world goes on eternally.

First is

Krita

Sathya

meaning perfect.

Krita

Sathya Yuga,

the first of

the ages is perfect or a

four-quartered

yuga.

Dharma,

the moral order

of the world, during this

age is firmly based.

KRITA

YUGA

"SATHYA "

This second

yuga

is the

Treta

Yuga.

Treta

means

three-quarters.

During this

Yuga,

the

world as well as the body

of human society, is sus-

tained by only three-

fourths of its total virtue.

During

Dvapara Yuga

only two of the four

quarters of

Dharma

are

effective, reflecting a

dangerous balance be-

tween imperfection and

perfection,

darkness

and light.

DVAAPARA YUGA

And, finally, in the

Kali Yuga,

the present dark age,

which began according to tradition in 3102 B .C. be-

lieved to be the age of the

Mahabharata

war,

the

world subsists on only

twenty-five percent of the

full strength of

Dharma.

During this age, man and

his world are at their worst

with complete moral and

KALI YUGA

social degradation.

KALI YUGA

Each

yuga

or age represents a progres-

sive decline in virtue, morality, happiness

and longevity. In the

Krita yuga

the duration

of human life was 4000 years. In the

Treta

3000. In the

Dvaapara

2000. In the

Kali

yuga

there is no fixed measure. We are at

present in the

Kali yuga

which according to

tradition began in 3102 B.C. the year of the

Mahabharata

war. The

Krita

is the golden;

the

Treta

the silver; the

Dvaapara

the cop-

per and

Kali

the iron age.

The four

yugas

constitute the

Ma-

haayuga

of 4,320,000 earthly years. One

thousand

Mahaayugas

or 4,320,000,000

earthly years make a

kalpa,

‘a day of

Brahma'. "At the close of this day of

Brahma, a collapse of the universe takes

place, which lasts through a night .of

Brahma, equal in duration to his day, during

which period the worlds are converted into

one great ocean, when the lotus-born god

(Brahma) expanded by the deglutition of the

uni verse... sleeps on the serpent Shesha. At

the end of the night he awakes and creates

anew."

(Vishnu Purana)

... at the end of the Kali-yuga there

is pralaya, or destruction, and the

cycle begins all over again. We are at

present living in a Kali-yuga, although

opinions differ as to how near we are

to the final destruction. Given the

incredible amassing of nuclear material

over the last few decades, enough

now to destroy not only mankind but

all life on this planet many times over,

it seems that we are nearer the end

than is generally believed. But, then,

we must also be nearer the new be-

ginning, the dawning of the next

Satya-yuga!

Dr. Karan Singh

A day and night of

Brahma

make up 8640

million years. 360 such days and nights

constitute a ‘year of

Brahma

’ or 3,110,400

million earthly years. His life lasts for 100

such years, that is, 311,040,000 million

years. This is the largest cycle in Hindu

cosmology after which the whole universe

returns to the world spirit until another

creator god is evolved. Within each

kalpa

there are 14

manvantaras

or secondary

cycles, each lasting 306,720,000 years with

long intervals between them. Each

man-

vantara

contains 71

Mahaayugas,

a thou-

sand of which form the

kalpa of

4,320 million

years.

At the end of each

manvantara,

the world

is recreated and a new Manu appears as the

progenitor of the human race. We are now in

the seventh

manvantara

of the

kalpa

which the Manu is known as

Manu

Vaivasvata.

The process of destruction after the end

of each

kalpa

is described in the

Vishnu Pu-

rana.

"At the-end of a thousand periods of

four ages the earth is for the most part

exhausted. A total death then ensues,

which lasts for a hundred years, and in con-

sequence of the failure of food all beings

become languid and exanimate, and at last

entirely perish. The eternal Vishnu then

assumes the character of Rudra, the de-

stroyer, and descends to reunite his crea-

tures with himself. He enters into the rays

of the Sun, drinks up all the waters of the

globe and causes all moisture whatever, in

living bodies or in the soil, to evaporate,

thus drying up the whole earth ....... "

Time never stops

"Time never stops — it ever flows : the

future rushes towards us to become the

present, and moment by moment it merges

with the entire past. In this river of time you

and I stand, work and achieve.

With eyes fixed on the Goal, to strive on

in the present becoming the architect of the

future, is 'creative living'. In this we employ

Time. We are masters of Time.

To live weeping for the past, wasting the

present moments, shuddering with imagi-

nary fears for the future is self destructive,

'suicidal living'. In this time employs us. We

then become slaves of Time.

Surrender to Him all your regrets and

fears, and work with blind audacity for

Truth, in Truth, with Truth.

—

Swami Chinmayananda