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The Cosmic Cycles & Eternal Return
An even more interesting aspect
of synergy between modern cosmology and the ancient wisdom of five key stages
in the cosmic life cycle of manifested Universe. For example, as already
mentioned Alexander Friedmann also refers about the variable type of the
universe i.e. the dynamically cyclic model of the universe. I am reproducing
his earlier quoted description again for your reference: “The variable type of Universe
represents a great variety of cases; there can be cases of this type when the
world's radius of curvature... is constantly increasing in time; cases are also
possible when the radius of curvature changes periodically: the Universe
contracts into a point (into nothing) and then again increases its radius from
a point up to a certain value, then again, diminishing its radius of curvature,
transforms itself into a point, etc. This brings to mind what Hindu mythology has
to say about cycles of existence” Interestingly,
the last statement highlights the synergy with ancient Hindu cosmological
model.
The
Conformal Cyclic Cosmology proposed by Roger Penrose & Gurzadyan as an
alternative to the linear big-bang
singularity model based on Einstein’s
classical General relativity singularities (originally proposed jointly by
Roger Penrose himself along with other experts like Stephen Hawkings and Robert Geroch) is another version of the modern
cosmological model hinting a cosmic cycles.
Again, The oscillatory nature of universe
proposed by the Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC) school of modern astrophysics
which is based on the Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG),
which aims to provide an integrated model of the macro-cosmic phenomena like
the weak gravitational field with the micro-cosmic phenomena like the
quantum fields (QCD) operating at
planck scales.
for example, which is based on the has striking similarity with the Cyclical Cosmology of ancient Hindus. To be more specific, the LQC interprets the Big Bang to actually have followed previously collapsed
Universe (Big Crunch). Thus, according to this school,
cosmology involves periodic cycles of Big Bounces or Quantum
Bounces of Big Bang evolution, growth and finally
leading to Big Crunch collapse.
Interestingly, the following
verses from the वायवीय संहिता पूर्व भाग (vāyavīya saṁhitā pūrva bhāga) in the शिव महा पुराण (śiva mahā
purāṇa) very categorically hints to us
about the cyclic cosmology wherein the cosmological events of creation, growth
and dissolution keep recurring as the wheel of time rotates.
मुन्य ऊचुः
कालाद्रुत्पद्यते सर्वं कालादेव विपध्यते।
न निरपेक्षं हि व्कचिक्तिञ्चिद्धि वेद्यते॥
यद्सम्यानिगर्तं विश्वं शक्ष्वत्संसारमण्डलम्।
सर्गसंहृतिमुद्राभ्यां चक्रवत्परिवतर्ते॥
(
munya
ūcuḥ
kālādrutpadyate
sarvaṁ kālādeva vipadhyate|
na
nirapekṣaṁ hi vkaciktiñciddhi vedyate||
yadsamyānigartaṁ
viśvaṁ śakṣvatsaṁsāramaṇḍalam|
sargasaṁhṛtimudrābhyāṁ cakravatparivatarte||
The sages said, "All
the things grow at the appropriate time, and get destroyed in due time. Nothing
happens beyond time.
When the entire universe is
absorbed at the time of dissolution, then it is recreated. The process of
creation and dissolution moves like a wheel”.
-translation by Shantilal Nagar
) शिव महा पुराण (śiva mahā purāṇa) (7.1-2)
Moreover, as originally
highlighted by renowned astrophysicist Professor Fed Adams in the popular
science book - “The Five ages of the Universe”, which was later experimentally
verified based on the WMAP satellite expedition findings, modern
astrophysics also recognizes five major cosmological eras, while defining the lifecycle of our
universe. In the words of Professor Fed Adams, “We can organize
our current understanding of the past and future history of the universe by
defining the following distinct eras of time. As the universe passes from one
era to the next, the inventory and character of the universe change rather
dramatically, and in some ways almost completely. These eras, which are
analogous to geological eras, provide a broad outline of the life of the
universe.” The below chart gives a
diagrammatic representation of the above phases
The
following table further summarizes these five stages. If you
think deeply these five stages have striking parallels to the पञ्च महा कृत्य (pañca mahā kṛtya – five cosmic acts) of creation (evolution), sustenance (maintenance), destruction (dissolution),
veiling (obfuscation) & final emancipation (liberation) listed earlier. The primordial
era for example, represents
the fucntion of creation, which is followed by the
current era of sustenance viz. Stelliferous Era. Subsequently, the whole Universe will begin to dissolve during the third era (Degenerate Era)
Stage
|
Era Name
|
Duration
|
Description
|
1
|
Primordial
Era
|
In this phase, the
universe started expanding and cooling (The big bang nucleo synthesis)
|
|
2
|
Stelliferous
Era
|
This is the
current era of hydrogen rich stars, galaxies and planetary systems
|
|
3
|
Degenerate
Era
|
During this era,
the stars will start exhausting its energy (hydrogen, helium burning etc)
leading to darkness and collapse of massive stars and galaxies into white dwarfs.
|
|
4
|
Black
Hole Era
|
This will be era
of black holes and the only source of energy outlets will be the thin layers
of radiation (slow evaporation of energy – also called as Hawking radiation)
|
|
5
|
Dark
Era
|
This is the final state of the universe when all the sources of
energy are completely exhausted leading to what is called as Heat Death
|
These first three stages very obviously map to each other as they are
purely cosmological in nature. The remaining two stage are more eschatological
and may not be that obvious. The fourth stage of तिरोभव (tirobhava - veiling) when everything gets hidden by the veil of ignorance just as a black hole physically hides (covers) up everything including light and knowledge. Finally,
in the fifth stage, there is complete liberation when all
differences vanish by merging into the seed state of हिरन्य गर्ब (hiranya garba - dark
womb). In fact, the
latest scientific discoveries hint that “supermassive black holes might be hiding entire
universes inside”
Yes, yet
again science discovers ageold ancient Puranic wisdom of the evolved universes
seeded back to the dark blackhole symbolized as हिरण्यगर्भ (hiraṇyagarbha - golden womb) during
the महा प्रलय काल (mahā pralaya kāla - Big Crunch Era) before
the next मन्वन्तर (manvantara - manu's epoch) begins. This is the period
when the manifested तत्त् (tattva - evolutes) dissolves back into its प्रकृति अवस्त
(prakṛti avasta -primordial
state). I am reminded of the
following verses of the noble saint சித்தர் சிவ வாக்கியர் (siva vaakkiyar)
ஆவதும் பரத்துள்ளே அழிவதும் பரத்துள்ளே
போவதும் பரத்துள்ளே புகுவதும் பரத்துள்ளே
தேவரும் பரத்துள்ளே திசைகளும் பரத்துள்ளே
யாவரும் பரத்துள்ளே யானும் அப் பரத்துள்ளே
ஏழுபேர் ஏழுகடல் இனங்கள் எட்டு வெறுப்புடன்
சுளுவான் கிரிகடந்து சொல்லும் ஏழுலகும்
ஆழிமால் விசும்பு கோல் பிரமாண்டரண்ட அண்டமும்
போவதும் பரத்துள்ளே புகுவதும் பரத்துள்ளே
தேவரும் பரத்துள்ளே திசைகளும் பரத்துள்ளே
யாவரும் பரத்துள்ளே யானும் அப் பரத்துள்ளே
ஏழுபேர் ஏழுகடல் இனங்கள் எட்டு வெறுப்புடன்
சுளுவான் கிரிகடந்து சொல்லும் ஏழுலகும்
ஆழிமால் விசும்பு கோல் பிரமாண்டரண்ட அண்டமும்
(
aavadhum
paraththuLLE azhivadhum paraththuLLE
pOvadhum
paraththuLLE puguvadhum paraththuLLE
dhEvarum
paraththuLLE thisaigaLum paraththuLLE
yaavarum paraththuLLE
yaanum ap paraththuLLE
Ezhupaar Ezhukadal
ibangaL ettu veRppudan
sUzhuvaan
girikadandhu sollum Ezhulagamum
aazhimaal visumbu
koL biramaaNdaraNda aNdamum
Uzhiyaan oLikkuLE
udhithudan odungumE..
) சிவ வாக்கியர் பாடல்கள் (sivavaakkiyar paadalgaL) (281,282)
The darkness or blackness (what science calls the black hole) is also symbolized निश्कल (niśkala
- undifferentiated / noumenal) state and also
conceptualized as the ब्रह्म निमेषण (brahma nimeṣaṇa -closing of God's eye). Please be noted that, while it is true that,
modern science has already begun to recognise the significance of the पञ्च महा कृत्य (pañca mahā kṛtya – five cosmic acts), atleast from physical perspective; however, it still has a long way
to go, from the point of view of higher realms of consciousness.
On
the other hand, such concepts were always integral part of ancient Hindu wisdom
as there are numerous case studies in the Hindu purāṇas esoterically highlighting the doctrine of Eternal recurrence of cosmic cycles. Moreover,
the concept of cosmological recurrence has been highlighted
through various mythological episodes in the पुराण शास्त्र (purāṇa
śāstra – mythological literatures). The story of the “Parade of the
Ants’
narrated in the ब्रह्म वैवर्त पुराण (brahma
vaivarta purāṇa)
for example, highlights the cyclic nature of cosmology, wherein the universe is
manifested with the opening of ब्रह्म देव (brahma
deva - God)’s
eyes, and is annihilated back when closing His eyes. Heinrich Zimmer summarizes
the esoteric message behind the parable thus, The wonderful story of the Parade of Ants opens
before us an unfamiliar spectacle of space and throbs with an alien pulse of
time … The astounding story of the re-education of the proud and successful
Indra plays with visions of cosmic cycles-eons following each other in the
endlessness of time, eons contemporaneous in the infinitudes of space…
This process of opening and closing of God’s
eye is technically called as उन्मेश (unmeśa – eye opening) and निमेश (nimesha
– eye closing) in शैव शास्त्र (śaiva
śāstra).
In fact, the concept of चतुर् युग (catur yuga – four
fold epochs) and the मन्वन्तर (manvantra - patriarchate) also endorse this philosophy. Interestingly, in
line with the Hermitic wisdom, “as
above, so below”, the theme is not
confined to the macro-cosmic scales but extended to the individual’s soul’s
life cyle as well. The doctrines of re-incarnation and resurrection for examples also
reflect the same philosophy.
The arrow of time plays a critical role in understanding these
doctrines and we need to discuss the same. It is obvious that from a day to day
common sense perspective, the flow of time always follows an uni-directional
linear pattern. It always moves from the past, through the present to the
future. Saint Augustine was one of the first advocates to formalise the concept
of linear time as a philosophy. Technically, according to
modern thermodynamics, as explained initially by Ludwig Boltzmann, the eminent
Austrian physicist, the arrow of time is
necessitated by entropy as
defined in the second law of thermodynamics.
Although
to the common man, time looks like a uni-directional flow constituting linear
events, yet according to modern science, the linear time is more a psychological construct of the mind
and hence it is even called as the psychological
time modern physics echoing the ancient concept of कन्चुक (kancuka
– adjucnt or sheath) in Hinduism. At higher
realms of consciousness, the underlying curvature behind the apparent linearity
revealed. In geometrical term, linearity of time gets curved and becomes more
elliptical and cyclical as explained by the Hindu sages thousands of years ago.
It is also believed that Time follows the laws of Eternal Return also referred as The Law
of Eternal Recurrence. This fact is also
endorsed by Einstein’s Relativistic physics, which talks about the space-time
curvatures
due to Gravitational impact. Modern scientific discoveries thus reveals a
cyclical pattern in time in contrast to practical experience of linear. Moreover,
in striking variance from our emperical observation that time always flows in a
specific sequence of past through present to the future, according to modern
science, time like space exhibits perfect symmetry. That is, potentially, time
can flow in both the directions – viz. past as well as the future. (We shall
discuss, more about this while analysing spatial dimensions.)
In
ancient Greek philosophy, the different forms of eternal recurrence doctrine
seemed to be prevelant right from pre-Socratian era itself. For example, belief
in cyclic patterns of ekpyrosis (anhilation/conflagragation) eventually followed by
polyngenesis
(rebirth)
among the Stoic philosophers (like Zeno of Citium, Cleanthes of Assos &
Chrissipus of Soli), was a flavour of eternal recommencement - the unending
succession of destruction and recreation of
the world at periodic cycles. Etymologically, the term is derived fron
the roots palin (again) & genesis (beginning / birth). According to them everything created
from
pneuma
primordial sunstance and eventually dissolved back to the same. For example,
according to Cleanthes the recyclying pattern of ekpyrosis (anhilation/conflagragation) & polyngenesis
(rebirth)
was as follows, from fire to air to water to earth and back to water to air
to fire.
It is widely believed
that the famous Ionian philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus` doctrine of cross
recyclying between primordial elements (from fire to water to earth and back to
water to fire) had influenced the Stoics towards such a belief system.
Interestingly, as indicated below Heraclitus was one of the foremost
philosophers to have used the term cosmos (world order) which later on became the defacto standard
term in philosophy and astrophysics. Moreover, esoterically speaking, according
to Heraclitus, fire corresponded to the soul as testified in the
following statements :
This world-order (cosmos), the same of all, no god nor man
did create, but it ever was and is and will be: everliving fire, kindling in
measures and being quenched in measures. Fire’s turnings: first sea, and of sea
the half is earth, the half burner
(lightening or fire)…(earth) is dispersed as sea, and is measured so as
to form the same proportion as existed before it became earth. All things are an exchange for fire, and fire for all things,
as goods for gold and gold for goods… To soul it is
death to become water; to water it is death to become earth.. From earth comes
water, and from water soul (again)….
- Deils-Kranz
(DK) collection of preSocratic resources ( 22B30, 22B36, 22B90)
Of course, Heraclitus
was not the only occidental philosopher to advocate eternal cycles of ekpyrosis
(conflagragation) & polyngenesis
(rebirth). The ancient myths of Phaethon and Decalion
reiterated the same and philosophers like Plato leveraged the myths of cyclic
cataclysms through natural disasters by fire or floods into their cosmological
doctrines. Similarly, Pythogras believed that the history of civilization is
cyclical. Again, Empedocles also
believed in a cylical cosmic order. The atomists also believed that the
universe manifested from and atoms and eventually will disintegrate and newo
ones will again arise from the
void. Similarly, the ancient Hermitic
wisdom belonging to the Greco-Egyptian schools also believed in rythemic comsic
cyles as testified in the following maxim from Kybalion : “Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all
things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure
of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm
compensates”
More recently in the beginning of 19th
century, eminent thinkers like Friedrich
Neitsche were strong advocates of it. His famous declaration echoes “Everything
becomes and recurs eternally - escape is impossible!” and, again “In an infinite period of time, every possible combination
would at some time be attained.” In fact, he reiterated
“The law of conservation of energydemands eternal recurrence." However, the focus of
his philosophy was more social than cosmological. In fact, from a psychological
perspective, looks like, he was not personally very comfortable with the
consequences of such recurrence as admitted in his own words, “What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you
into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it
and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more'
... Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon
who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would
have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.”'
The concept of
recurrence was also hinted by the eminent philoopher of science and
mathematician Jules Henry Poincare, who postulated the famous Poincare
recurrance time theorem, which is widely applied in statistical mechanics, dynamic
systems and related domains. It states that, “if a dynamical system has a fixed total
energy that restricts its dynamics to bounded subsets of its state space, then
the dynamical system will eventually return arbitrarily close to its initial
system state infinitely often”. In simple words, the theorem states that after a
sufficiently long (unfathomably long) time, all closed dynamical systems, like
the Hamiltom space, will sample any accessible state. Mathematically, the theorm is
defined as follows,
Let T : X → X
be a measure-preserving transformation of (X, B, µ) and let A ∈ B have µ(A)
> 0.
Then for
µ-a.e. x ∈ A, the orbit {T nx}∞ n=0 returns to A infinitely
often
In
his famous work, titled ‘On the three body problem’, the eminent
mathematician justfies his doctrine this, “A
theorem, easy to prove, tells us that a bounded world, governed only by the
laws of mechanics, will always pass through a state very close to its initial
state. On the other hand, according to accepted experimental laws (if one
attributes absolute validity to them, and if one is willing to press their
consequences to the extreme), the universe tends toward a certain final state,
from which it will never depart. In this final state, which will be a kind of
death, all bodies will be at rest at the same temperature.
I do not know if it has been remarked that the English
kinetic theories can extricate themselves from this contradiction. The world,
according to them, tends at first toward a state where it remains for a long
time without apparent change; and this is consistent with experience; but it
does not remain that way forever, if the theorem cited above is not violated;
it merely stays there for an enormously long time, a time which is longer the
more numerous are the molecules. This state will not be the final death of the
universe, but a sort of slumber, from which it will awake after millions of
millions of centuries.
According to this theory, to see heat pass from a cold body
to a warm one, it will not be necessary to have the acute vision, the
intelligence, and the dexterity of Maxwell's demon; it will suffice to have a
little patience.
One would like to be able to stop at this point and hope that
some day the telescope will show us a world in the process of waking up, where
the laws of thermodynamics are reversed.”
This is obviously not
mere theoretical speculation – but is backed by years of experimental anlysis.
In fact, as already observed, according to recent scientific discoveries in
astrophysics the Universe passes through
a five phased life cycle namely (originally defined by astrophysicist Professor
Fed Adams, in his famous book – The Five Ages of the Universe). Even classical
physicist Isaac Newton endorses this by saying that every action as a equal and opposite
reaction. In other words,
whenever there is a creation there necessarily has to be its reverse action,
which is destruction. In the words of Dr. Michio Kaku, “The WMAP not only gives
the most accurate glimse of the early universe, it also gives the most detailed
picture of how the universe will die. Just as a mysterious anti-gravity force pushed
the galaxies apart at the beginning of time, this same anti-gravity force is
now pushing the universe to its final fate…. If this antigravity continues, the
universe will ultimately die in a big freeze.”
Interestingly, these
astounding scientific discoveries are but reflections of many ancient religious
cultures across the globe, who even without the luxury of sophisticated
technological infrastruture avilable to modern day scientist, have been
advocating similar doctrines of cycllical pattern in time. There is a huge list
of ancient mythological stories, highlighting the cyclical pattern of time. Famous parables such as Parade of the Ants narated in the ब्रह्मविवर्त
पुराण (brahmavivarta purāṇa), the Sumerian legend of Inanna’s descent to the nether
world, the Egyptian legend of the Horus are other
popular references of similar theme.
In Hindu cosmology as
described in श्रीमद् भागवत पुराण (śrīmad bhāgavata purāṇa), विश्णु पुरानम् (viśṇu purānam) and various other mahā purānas deal with the concept
of स्रिश्ति (sriśti - manifestation), स्तिति (stiti – sustenance) and प्रलय (pralaya - annihilation) of the
universe in repeatitive
time cycles of theयुग (yuga) & मन्वन्त्र (manvantra - patriarchate) time scales defined in the above table. In fact, a according to these scriptures, the cosmic recycling, technically
called as युग प्रलय (yuga pralaya – epoch dissolution), occurs at the end of every yuga as indicated
by the table below.
युग (yuga - Epoch)
Ascending order of evolution
|
Terrestrial Duration
(in human years)
|
विभव अवतर
(vibhava avatar –glorious incarnation)
|
सत्य युग (satya yuga – Golden Epoch)
|
1,728,000
|
मत्स्य (matsya – Fish)
कूर्म (kūrma - tortoise)
वराह (varāha - Boar)
नरसिम्ह (narasimha – Lion Man)
|
त्रेत युग (treta yuga – Silver Epoch)
|
1,296,000
|
परसुराम (parasurāma - man with axe)
वामन (vāmana – dwarf man)
राम (rāma)
|
द्वापर युग (dvāpara yuga – Bronze Epoch)
|
864,000
|
कृश्न (kṛśna)
बलराम (balarāma)
|
कलि युग (kali yuga – Iron Epoch)
|
432,000
|
कल्कि (kalki)
|
महा युग (mahā yuga)
Grand Total
|
4,32,000
|
|
Before proceeding
further, in order to appreciate these concepts better, we need to get some
fundamental brushup of the various time scales discussed here. We have already
seen that time is generally expressed in units of seconds, minutes, hours,
days, weeks, months, and years. While such denominations are sufficient for
most of our practical life, it may not be enough for measuring higher realms of
time, both in the microcosmic and the macrocosmic aspects. Hence, a more
comprehensive scale of measurement is required and thanks to the Hindu sages
whose foresight has helped in defining very elaborate and well thought through
science of Time. The following table lists the various measures of time defined
by Hindu wisdom (as articulated in various sacred scriptures including विष्णु पुराण (viṣṇu purāṇa), श्रीमद् भागवत पुराण (śrīmad bhāgavata purāṇa), सूर्य सिद्धान्त (sūrya siddhānta) etc.
Unit of Measure
|
Details
|
1 त्रसरेण (trasareṇu)
|
The lowest unit of combination of 3 hexatoms
|
1 त्रुति (truti)
|
The time taken to integration of 3 त्रसरेण
(trasareṇu)s = (approx) 8/13,500 second = 1/6787.5 seconds
|
1 वेधः (vedhaḥ)
|
100 त्रुति (truti)s = 8/135 second
|
1 लव (lava)
|
3 1 वेध (vedha)s = 8/45
second
|
1 निमिष (nimiṣa)
|
3 लव (lava)s = 8/15 second.
Etymologically the term निमिष
(nimiṣa) means “blinking of the eye”
|
1 विकला (vikalā)
|
1 second
|
1 क्षण (kṣaṇa) or 1 परमाणु (paramāṇu)
|
3 निमिष (nimiṣa)s - Average
time taken by a human to blink his eyes once. - 8/5 second
|
1 मात्र (mātra)
|
8 निमिष (nimiṣa)
|
1 गुरु (guru)
|
2 मात्र (mātra)
|
1 प्राण (prāṇa)
|
10 प्राण (prāṇa) = 4 seconds
|
1 काष्टा (kāṣṭā)
|
5 1 क्षण (kṣaṇa) = (approx) 8 seconds
|
1 पल (pala) or
विगत्ति (vigatti) or विनाडी (vināḍī)
|
6 प्राण (prāṇa) = 60 विपल् (vipal) = 6 परमाणु (paramāṇu)s =3 काष्टा (kāṣṭā)s= (approx) 24 seconds
|
1 लघु
(laghu)
|
15 काष्टा (kāṣṭā)s (approx
2 minutes)
|
1 घटी / नाडी / ¿¡Æ¢¨¸ / दन्दा (ghaṭī / nāḍī / naazhigai / dandā)
|
60 पल् (pal)
= 15 लघु (laghu)s = (approx) 24 minutes
|
1 कला (kalā)
|
2 लघु (laghu) = 30 काष्टा (kāṣṭā) = 60
विकला (vikalā) =
1 minute
|
1 क्शन (kśana)
|
30 कला (kalā)s
|
1 मुहूर्त (muhūrta)
|
2 घटी (ghaṭī)
= 12 क्षण (kṣaṇa)
s = approx 48
minutes
|
1 यमः (yamaḥ)
|
6 मुहूर्त (muhūrta)s = (approx) 1/4th of a day
|
1 करनः (karanaḥ)
|
2.5 यम
(yama)s = 15
मुहूर्त (muhūrta)s = ½
तिथि (tithi)
|
1 तिथि / मनुष्य अहोरात्र (titi/ manuṣya
ahorātra – lunar/sidereal
day)
|
60 ghaṭīs = 2 karanaḥ
= 5 yamas = 30 muhurtas
= 24 hours (approx).
|
1 वार (vāra - week)
|
7 terestrial days
|
1 पक्ष (pakṣa - fortnight)
|
15 तिथि
(tithi – lunar days)
|
1 माश (māśa
- month)
|
2 पक्ष (pakṣa) = 30 तिथि (tithi) (approx) = lunar month measured in lunar days
solar month measured in solar
days
|
1 ऋतु (ṛtu - season)
|
2 माश (māśa) = 2 terestrial months
|
1 आयनम् (āyanam - solistice)
|
3 ऋतु (ṛtu)s = 6
terestrial months
|
1 मनुष्य वत्सर (manuśya vatsara - human year)
|
2 आयनम् (āyanam)s = 12 माश (māśa)
(360
days approx, 4.5 days rounded of for calculations)
|
1 पितृ दिन (pitṛ
dina – ancestral day)
|
15 मनुष्य
दिन
(manuṣya dina ( 15 human days)
|
1 पितृ रात्रि (pitṛ rātri – ancestral night)
|
15 मनुष्य रात्रि (manuṣya rātri - 15
human nights)
|
1 पितृ अहोरात्र (pita ahorātra –
ancestral daynight)
|
30 मनुष्य अहोरात्र (manuṣya
ahorātra – day
+ night) = 1
पितृ दिन (pitṛ dina – ancestral day) + 1 पितृ रात्रि (pitṛ rātri – ancestral night)
|
1 देव अहोरात्र (deva ahorātra – divine day)
|
1 मनुष्य वत्सर (manuśya vatsara - human year) = 360 human days
|
1 देव वत्सर (deva vatsara – divine
year)
|
360 deva ahorātra = 1,29,600
human days
|
1 कलि युग (kali yuga – dark era)
|
1200 देव वत्सर (deva vatsara – divine year) = 4,32,000 terestrial years
|
1 द्वापर युग (dvāpara yuga)
|
2400 देव वत्सर (deva vatsara – divine
year) = 8,64,000 terestrial years =2 कलि
युग (kali yuga)s
|
1 त्रेत युग (treta yuga)
|
3600 देव वत्सर (deva vatsara – divine
year) = 1,296,000 terestrial years = 3 कलि युग
(kali yuga)s
|
1 सत्य युग (satya yuga)
|
4800 देव वत्सर (deva vatsara – divine
year) = 1,728,000 terestrial years =4 कलि युग (kali yuga)s
|
1 चतुर् युग (catur yuga) or 1 महा
युग
(mahā yuga)
|
12000 देव वत्सर (deva vatsara – divine
year) = 4,320,000 (4.3
million) terestrial years (1 catur yuga = kali + dvāpara + treta + satya)
|
1 मन्वन्तर (manvantara
- patriarchate)
|
71.43 1 महा युग (mahā yuga) = 308,571,428.6
(308.5 million) terestrial years.
|
1 कल्प (kalpa - aeon)
|
1000 1 महा
युग (mahā yuga)s = 4,320,000,000 (4.32 billion) terrestrial years Or 14 मन्वन्तर (manvantara
- patriarchate)s
|
1 सूर्य कल्प (surya kalpa
– solar aeon)
|
7 कल्प (kalpa) = 30,240,000,000 (30.24 billion) terestrial years
|
1 ब्रह्म दिन (brahma dina – brahma day)
|
2 कल्प (kalpa)s = (1 day time
of Brahma + 1 night of Brahma) = 8,640,000,000 (8.64
billion) terestrial years
|
1 ब्रह्म वत्सर (brahma vatsara – brahma year)
|
360 ब्रह्म दिन (brahma dina) =
3,110,400,000,000 (3.1
trillion) terestrial years.
|
ब्रह्म आयुस्
(brahma āyus – brahma’s
lifespan)
|
100 ब्रह्म वत्सर (brahma vatsara – brahma year) = 311,040,000,000,000 (311
trillion) terestrial years
|
பல்லாண்டு பல்லாண்டு பல்லாயிரத்தாண்டு
பலகோடி நூறாயிரம்
மல்லாந்த திண்தோள் மணிவண்ணா உன்
சேவடி செவ்வி திருக்காப்பு
(
பலகோடி நூறாயிரம்
மல்லாந்த திண்தோள் மணிவண்ணா உன்
சேவடி செவ்வி திருக்காப்பு
(
pallaaNdu pallaaNdu pallAyirathAndu
palakOdi nURAyiram
mallANda thiNthOL maNivaNNa! un
sEvadi sevvi thirukkAppu
O Lord in the colour of blue emerald, who destroyed the
evil wrestlers with thy strong shoulders, May the beauty of your divine red
feet protect us for many many
countless years, many hundred
thousands countless years, many crores of thousands of years.
)
திருப்பல்லாண்டு (thiruppallaaNdu) 1
Well all this huge
numbers may seem very fanciful, but as Madam H.P. Blavatsky explains in her
epoch making book Isis Unveiled, “These ciphers are not fanciful, but founded upon
actual astronomical calculations, as has been demonstrated by S. Davis. Many a
scientist, Higgins among others, notwithstanding their researches, has been
utterly perplexed as to which of these was the secret cycle”.
Honestly, looking at
such massive time scales, humbles us - the ordinary mortals, the literally
insignificant role we are supposed to be playing, in the entire scheme of
things – The BIG picture. Looking at the
above time scales, we can very clearly understand that, the Brahman is definitely much
beyond the human scope (range) of Time. Both from the temporal and spatial
dimensions, we should in all honesty admit that we are less than a speck of
dust in the ब्रह्माण्ड (brahmāṇḍa). We are almost NOWHERE!
Well yes, NOWHERE is definitely the
right word to be used here as in the one sense it means our role in this whole
system is almost no where even significant when talking about the bigger
scheme of things, but looking at it the other way round, NOWHERE also means Now Here! Yes, it means every
individual soul definitely has a very vital role and potential to play now,
here in this world. After all, we are the Heroes of the divine drama. We can
discuss more about this later and for now return back to our discussion.
From the युग (yuga - era) & अवतार (avatāra -
incarnation) mapping table listed earlier, one can
easily observe that the चतुर् युग (catur
yuga - four eras) are split in the ratio of 4:3:2:1
in the ascending order of evolution, starting with the सत्य युग (satya yuga) (comprising 1,728,000 human years) followed by the
remaining three. Interestingly these yugās are also bound by the 3rd law of thermodynamics, the entropy (which measures the degree of
disorder in the system) increases over time. For example there is a gradual
fall in the quality of life index – politically, morally, spiritually in the
process of evolution from सत्य युग (satya yuga) to कलि युग (kali yuga – dark era). In fact,
the former is called as the Golden age, while the latter is ridiculed as
the dark age. श्रीमद् भागवत
पुराण (śrīmad bhāgavata purāṇa), one of the
most popular mahā purānās, very categorically
endorses this fact, in Canto 12, chapter 2 beginning with the following verses
स्रि-सुक उवाच
ततस् चनु-दिनम् धर्मः
सत्यम् सौचम् क्सम दय
कलेन बलिन रजन्
नन्क्स्यत्य् अयुर् बलम् स्म्र्तिः
(
sri-suka
uvāca
tatas
canu-dinam dharmaḥ
satyam
saucam ksama daya
kalena
balina rajan
nanksyaty ayur balam smrtiḥ
Sukadeva
Gosvami said: Then, O King, religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, tolerance,
mercy, duration of life, physical strength and memory will all diminish day by
day because of the powerful influence of the age of Kali.
)
श्रीमद् भागवत पुराण (śrīmad bhāgavata purāṇa) (12.2.1)
Moreover, in the same scripture, the four fold
ratio mentioned earlier is exoterically expressed as the number of legs of the cow
representing धर्म (dharma) which is originally four during the सत्य युग (satya yuga), is broken to
3, 2 and 1 in the त्रेता युग (tretā
yuga), while द्वापर युग (dvāpara yuga) and the कलि युग (kali yuga – dark era) respectively.
Please remember that once in every 4,32,000 years there is a विभव अवतार (vibhava avatāra - Divine Incarnation) descending from above, to set right anomaly and restore back the धर्म (dharma – order/cosmos). In the सत्य युग (satya yuga) for example,
there are four incarnations (as listed in the above table), while it is 3, 2
and 1 (yet to happen) in the respective eras.
By
the way, please remember that युग प्रलय (yuga
pralaya – epoch dissolution) is only
special kind of temporal recycling, Hindu wisdom has recognized various
frequencies of temporal recycling as listed below
·
नित्य प्रलय (nitya pralaya - continual dissolution): This is the kind of dissolution
continuously occurring in the microcosmic-world as endorsed even by modern
quantum physics of the
nuclear and the sub atomic worlds, where there is continuous emission and
absorption of particles in what is generally referred to as particle
time (measured in very tiny units of time e.g. picoseconds etc.). Please
remember that these पञ्च महा कृत्य (pañca mahā kṛtya – fivefold
cosmic acts) are not once in aa while activity
but eternally recurring series of continuous acts making up the phenomenal
universe. Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi very clearly explains this as captured in
the following verses by close disciple Sri Muruganar, “Know
that according to His will, law and plan, every moment of everyday the five
functions of God (creation, sustenance, destruction, veiling and Grace) will be
going on perfectly and unceasingly in the universe, which is full of moving and
unmoving objects. Every moment (i.e., many millions of times in a second) each
atom (in the
universe) is destroyed and newly created. Since this is going on unceasingly,
it appears as if they (the objects of the universe) are the same (objects)
existing continuously.”.
- · दिन प्रलय (dina pralaya – Daily dissolution): This is kind of dissolution is also called as दिनादिन मरनम (dinādina maranam - daily death) when the human soul temporarily dissolves its waking consciousness and goes to sleep.
- पौरुश प्रलय (pauruśa pralaya- Personal Dissolution): This is the kind of dissolution for the individual soul (jeevathma). This kind of dissolution is commonly known as Death
- · नैमित्तिक/ भौमिक/ अवान्तर प्रलय (naimittika / bhaumika/ avāntara pralaya- Occasional/ Terrestrial/ Minor Dissolution): This is supposed to occur at the end of every कल्प (kalpa) the first half of a ब्रह्मदिन (brahmadina – divine day) which is approximately equivalent to 1000 महायुग (mahā yuga) i.e 4.32 billion human Years; when all the manifested forms in the ब्रह्माण्ड (brahmāṇḍa – cosmic egg - terrestrial Universe) will be dissolved by fire back to the original state of स्थूल तत्त्व (sthūla tattva - gross elements). Thus, this is not a complete dissolution, as the world is only reduced to the subtler residual state of elements hence considered to be नैमितिक (naimittika - occasional). Correspondingly, during the following 4.32 billion years 2nd कल्प (kalpa) – ब्रह्मरात्रि (brahmarātri - divine night) the ब्रह्माण्ड (brahmāṇḍa – cosmic egg is considered to be in a state of hibernation. Each कल्प (kalpa) is governed by a team of 14 मनु (manu - progenitors) and the मन्वन्तर (manvantara - patriarchate) is considered to be around 71 महा युग (mahā yuga). Etymologically, the term मन्वन्तर (manvantara - patriarchate) is derived from the words मनु (manu - progintors) & अन्तर (antara – duration). Thus, मन्वन्तर (manvantara - patriarchate) means “the duration between two manus”. The following words from the सूर्य सिद्धान्त (sūrya siddhānta) describes a मन्वन्तर (manvantara - patriarchate) thus,
योगानां सप्ततिः सैका मन्वन्तरमिहोच्यते।
कृताब्दसंख्या
तस्यान्ते सन्धिः प्रोक्तो जलपलवः॥
(
yogānāṁ
saptatiḥ saikā manvantaramihocyate|
kṛtābdasaṁkhyā tasyānte sandhiḥ prokto jalapalavaḥ||
One and seventy Ages
are signed here as Patriachate (manvantara); at its end is said to be a
twilight which has the number of years of a Golden Age, and which is a deluge.
Translation by E. Burgese
) सूर्य सिद्धान्त (sūrya
siddhānta).(1.18)
- · सौर्य प्रलय (saurya pralaya - Solar Dissolution): This is supposed to occur at the end of every सूर्य कल्प (sūrya kalpa - solar aeon), which is around 30.24 billion years.
- · प्राक्र्त प्रलय / महा प्रलय (prākrta pralaya/ mahā pralaya - Total Dissolution): The total dissolution is supposed to be occurring at the end of every ब्रह्म (brahma) life which is calculated to be around 311.04 trillion human years
·
आत्यन्तिक प्रलय (ātyantika pralaya - Absolute Dissolution): While all the above kinds are predominantly at the
collective level, this happens when the individual self, on attaining release
from bondage attains
मोक्श
(mokśa - liberation).
Etymologically, आत्यन्तिक (ātyantika) is derived as अति (ati - beyond) + अन्त (anta - end), meaning ‘Beyond End’. This is the state of absolute Immortality attained by rare जीवन् मुक्थ (jīvan muktha) who
by their spiritual progress have attained this state of மரணமில்லா பெரு வாழ்வு (maranamillaa peru vaazhvu - Immortal
Life of Bliss),
and becomes a
चिरन्जीवि (ciranjīvi – immortal being)
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