The 4 Ages are:
1. The 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.
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 where as 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 life. 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 stuck in traffic or at the dentist.
Another example would be to consider the consciousness of an ambitious type-A personality, the would-be-executive who runs around non-stop day after day, balancing a bazillion enterprises in order to gain money, prestige and power, keeping busy-busy-busy to avoid any possible solitude or contemplation.
Compare that with the consciousness of a Tai Chi Master who moves so slowly as to defy nature and yet can knockout his opponent from across the room, or an ascetic hermit yogi who never moves, never goes anywhere or does anything, but by remaining at the center of his being becomes One with the Universe.
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. My understanding is that time actually continues to speed up in the Twilight of the Kali Yuga 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, but somewhat agree with the Mayan Calendar and the Hopi predictions. Danielou says that the Kali Yuga began in 3,606 BC and most scholars also do agree with this date. However he gives the duration of the Kali as 6,048.72 years.
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.
J. Robert Oppenheimer’s name is synonymous with the atomic bomb. His favorite quotation from the Bhagavad Gita was Krishna telling Arjuna:
I am Time grown old to destroy the world.
Embarked on the course of world annihilation…
***
In Hindu metaphysics time is cyclical and each period of manifestation is called a KALPA of Brahma, equivalent to 4.32 billion human years.
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]
While the Gods Play: Shaiva Oracles & Predictions on the Cycles of History and the Destiny of Mankind
Alain Danielou
Inner Traditions, 1987
Nick Herbert
Anchor Books/Random House; 1985, New York
Translated by Swami Ambikananda Saraswati; 2002, Ulysses Press
The Bhagavadgita in the Mahabharata
Translated by J.A.B. van Buitenen
University of Chicago Press, 1981
The Mahabharata
Translated & Edited by J.A.B. van Buitenen
University of Chicago Press, 1981
Translated and Annotated by Dr. G.V. Tagare
Part I & II
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers; 1987 & 2003, Delhi
The LINGA Purana
Translated by a Board of Scholars and Edited by Prof. J.L. Shastri
Part I & II
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers; 1973 & 1997, Delhi
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/2952/gohitvip/41.html
ONE COSMIC DAY OF CREATOR BRAHMA
http://www.indiaheritage.com/rendez/article1.htm
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