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 The Cycles of Time & The Kali Yuga

Our Ancient Origins: The Cycles of Time & The Kali Yuga - Part 1

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Knowledge of the Cycles of Time, the primordial ancient metaphysical wisdom found in the Sanskrit texts, reveals a more precise and deeper insight into our ancient origins. Beginning in 3012 B.C. we have been living in the Kali Yuga. For the past 6000 years - all of written history - our ability to 'see' and to know has been limited to five-sense perception. Our consciousness is literally been cooked by time into delusion and confusion. Everything we know is veiled in a miasma of amnesia. We have not only forgotten our past and our real origins - we have forgotten who we are.

The 4 Ages are:

1. The Satya or Krita Yuga, a Golden Age

2. The Treta Yuga, the Age of Ritual

3. Dvapara Yuga, the Age of Doubt: Man loses the sense of the Divine Reality of the world and grows away from natural law

4. The Kali Yuga, the Age of Conflict and confusion began in 3012 BC and will end with the nearly total devastation of the present humanity

When you study the Hindu theory of the Cycles of Time and the yugas, you will find a confusing divergence of opinion concerning the dates of their duration. Considering that we are now living in the Age of Confusion, the Kali Yuga, it is not surprising to find so much disagreement on these matters.

Writing is the symptom of a degenerative culture

What is more important to me than precise numbers is the fact that we are living in an era where there is almost no memory of the previous cycles of time. Most of us wrongly believe that civilization begins with written history, however writing is actually the symptom of a degenerative culture – because it is sound that communicates meaning, not the markings that seek to represent it. 

Reach beyond the limited frequencies of this Veil of Illusion you have been confined within - all of your lives. The experience of expanding and projecting your thoughts, consciousness and imagination back into primordial time is in itself liberating, revealing and uplifting.

The realization that time is in fact a function of consciousness will alter your perception of reality. We all experience time relative to our own specific consciousness. You can verify this for yourself by simply reflecting on, for example, how time flies when you are happy - as opposed how time drags when you are depressed or bored.

Time does not exist outside the temporal illusory hologram.

All increments, meaning measurements of time and space, are relative to the consciousness of the perceiver and thus the product of variations in waveform frequencies, based on and the result of the specific degree of the illusion of Separation from Oneness. This is similar to the quantum physics theory, The Copenhagen interpretation, Part II: Reality is created by observation. Or you might say more accurately, reality is created by the consciousness of the observer.

In ‘While the Gods Play’, the French scholar Alain Danielou explains that the length of a moment is established by the rhythms of consciousness that perceive it:  "It is energy, by producing vibratory waves having direction and length, that will give birth to the rhythms whose perceptions will create the dimension of time, the measure of space, and at the same time the structures of matter. ... For man, the perception of the dimension of time is determined by his vital rhythms, his heartbeat…"

The duration of each of the four yugas is relative to each other as 4:3:2:1. This implies that the Golden Age is the longest and our current Kali Age is the shortest. In a Twilight of the Kali Yuga, time actually continues to speed up and increases ever more so, as we reach the end. The cycles of time are rather like classical Indian Ragas that begin slowly, serene, increase in tempo and passion, and end in a frenzy of energy.

Alain Danielou’s dates differ from others. Danielou says that the Twilight of the Kali Yuga began in 1939 with the discovery of atomic fission. According to him, the final catastrophe will take place during this twilight and the last traces of this present mankind will have disappeared in 2442. This doesn’t necessarily imply that we have an extra 400 years to fool around in. God only knows what earth changes will be taking place on this planet during that time. 

In Hindu metaphysics time is cyclical and each period of manifestation is called a KALPA of Brahma, equivalent to 4.32 billion human year.

The KALPA is subdivided into 14 MANVANTARAS.

We are now in the seventh MANVANTARA of this KALPA.

Each MANVANTARA is divided into 71 MAHA-YUGAS of 4,320,000 years each. 

We are in the 28th MAHA-YUGA of this MANVANTARA.

Each MAHA-YUGA is made up of four yugas

Each Yuga is preceded by a period of a dawn and followed by a period of twilight. [Linga Purana 1.4.3-6]

Part 2: The KALI YUGA, the Age of Conflict & Confusion

Part 3: Symptoms of the Kali Yuga

By V. Susan Ferguson

 

Comments

Tsurugi's picture

All of those numbers are precessional. Meaning they are related to the precession of the equinoxes.

The 4-3-2-1 ratio of the Yuga periods, the 4.32 billion years of KALPA, the 4.32 million years of a MAHA-YUGA, and so forth....these are relating to the number 4,320. Divide that by 2 and you get 2,160, or the length, in years, of one of the ages in the precession of the equinoxes.

The MANVANTARA is divided into 71 MAHA-YUGAS. 71 is also a precessional number. It takes 71 years for the precession to shift one degree of arc in the sky.

To demonstrate, right now the most up to date number I can find for the full length of a precessional cycle is given as 25,771.57534 years. This value is reached using data from the latest instruments and using corrective procedures based on modern astrophysical concepts and other related sciences.

25,771.57534 divided by 360(to give us the number of years required to move one degree of arc) equals 71.5877092778. Rounding down to the nearest whole number is, of course, 71.
(72, an equally valid rounded number from 71.5877, is also related to precession and is found in many disparate myths, legends, and ancient texts. The 72 diciples sent forth before Jesus. The 72 forms of transformation learned by the Monkey from the Serpent-god in Chinese mythology. The 72 virgins said to be in the afterlife harem of a martyr for Islam. The 72 demons of Solomon. Just to name a few.)

Going back to the modern value given for the length of a complete cycle, if we round that value to 26,000 years, that gives an age length for each of the twelve ages as 2,166.667, which is very close to 2,160, or half of 4,320.
Yes, there is a lot of "convenient" rounding of numbers involved there, but remember that these numbers were inserted in mythological tales meant to be conveyed often only by word-of-mouth, across thousands of years, and 2,160 is a lot easier to remember than 2,147.6312783(the actual length of an age, without any rounding), and 4,320 is even better.

To illustrate, in the Nordic myth of Ragnarok, when the forces of good are marshaling to go forth and fight the final battle, there is this passage:
500 doors and 40 there are
I ween, in Valhalla's walls;
800 fighters through each door fare,
When to war with the Wolf they go

So there are 540 doors, and 800 warriors behind each door. So the forces of Valhalla number 432,000 warriors in all.

Precession.

I point this all out because it fascinates me. I have no idea what it means, and am not implying any different meaning to the Yugas thereby. Its just that these same numbers, undobtedly related to the precession of the equinoxes, are found in all the most ancient myths and tales, from all over the world. I had no idea they were present in the Yuga stuff too.

Amazing.

susan's picture

susan

V. Susan Ferguson

Born in 1945 in the Lone Star State, I left to try my wings in New York City art school in 1964. It was around this time that I first learned about the spiritual path and began... Read More

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