Hinduism and the Maha Yugas

[Guest guest]

All:

 

Kalchakra or the time cycle is beautifully discussed in this

article.

 

Very long but beautiful articulation.

 

Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti.

 

--Sanjay Aggarwal

 

Hinduism and the Maha Yugas

According to the theory of creation in Hinduism, time (kal) is a

manifestation of Iswara. God is timeless or eternal, for time is

relative and cannot exist in the Absolute.

 

The past, the present and the future all exist in Him

simultaneously. But once manifested in the worlds created by him,

time becomes kalchakra, the time cycle. He creates it in order to

create divisions and movements of life and sustain the worlds in a

particular time frame.

 

He also uses it to create the illusion of life and death. It is time

which is responsible for the old age and death of beings. When we

overcome time, we become immortal.

 

Time in Hinduism is not linear, but cyclical, because the process of

creation also is cyclical, involving both involution and evolution.

It is also a never ending process, it begins to end and ends to

begin. Creation ends when God withdraws all His energies into a

state of inactivity and begins when He makes them active again.

 

The Hindu tradition and Puranas speak of four great epochs of time

through which creation passes from the beginning till the end. Each

age is represented by certain characteristic features which

distinguish it from the others. The tradition confirms that three

epoch of time have already passed away into history, while the

fourth one is still going on. At the end the fourth epoch, there

would be great destruction and ending of creation. These ages are:

 

1. the Age of Truth called Satyayug

 

2. the Second Great Age called Tretayug

 

3. the Third Great Age called Dwaparayug and

 

4. the Fourth Great Age called Kaliyug.

 

There has been a lot of speculation as to what exactly these ages

represent. Many try to find historical evidence for these ages and

end up in frustration. The events that took place in these ages also

provide sufficient fodder to the mills of atheists who regard them

to be too unrealistic to be true.

 

How can Hanuman fly in the air, or make himself unbelievably large?

How can the warriors shoot an arrow and make every one in the battle

field lose their consciousness? How can you build a bridge across a

vast sea in times when we had no technology? How can there be

anything like Pushpak Vimana (an airplane called Pushpak) in an age

when there wan no advanced metallurgy?

 

These and many similar questions baffle us as long as we believe

that these ages were part of "protohistory" in which archaeologists

(ironically) found nothing but pieces of pottery, few primitive

paintings and some stone, bone and metal implements. Those who view

Rama and Krishna as historical figures, with the sense of history

with which we are familiar, may find this article very disappointing.

 

Symbolically these four ages represent the four phases of involution

during which man gradually lost the awareness of his subtle bodies.

 

According to Hinduism, man has five bodies, namely, the gross

physical body (annamayakosa), the breath body (pranamayakosa), the

mental body (manomayakosa), the intelligence body (vignanamayakosa)

and the bliss body (anandamaya kosa). (For more information on these

bodies please read the section on "The Constituents of Man - the

Jiva", available at this site.)

 

The Age of Truth

To start with, during the age of truth, man was conscious of the

four inner bodies and had either a physical body that was not very

gross or was assuming it only when there was a need. He was "Truth"

himself. Hence the name Satyayug, the Age of Truth. He was

spiritually well advanced and possessed immense spiritual and

psychic powers. He performed his religious and moral duties in tune

with his dharma and was in touch with gods of the higher worlds.

Because of his immense powers he could travel to these worlds quite

easily with his subtle bodies and communicate with the gods

directly. Men were spiritually so powerful, that they were even

participating in the battles of the devas as the ancestors of

Dasaratha ( the father of Rama), and many of their contemporaries

did. Perhaps during this period the people were not using their

physical bodies as much as we do today. They however had terrestrial

existence of some kind because of which they are regarded as mortal

too like us.

 

Treta Yug

During the next age, the Treta Yug, man had knowledge of three inner

bodies only. The outer physical body had become denser though it was

still not very dense and reflected divine beauty in many respects,

like the body of Anjaneya or of Sri Ram. The people of this age had

lost awareness of their in most bliss bodies, symbolically

represented by the suffering of Rama and Sita in their terrestrial

lives. This loss of this awareness must have diminished to some

degree the spiritual powers of the people of this age. But the

beings were still very spiritual and highly evolved and adhered to

the moral and religious duties of their times, as Rama and his

brothers did, very much like the people in Satyayug, though not to

the same degree.

 

DwaparaYug

In the third age called Dwaparayug, men had knowledge of two inner

bodies only. The physical body had definitely become denser and

central to human life as is evident from such characters of this age

as Duryodhan, Jarasandh, Balarama, Bhim and so on. Having lost the

knowledge of the two inmost bodies, namely the body of intelligence

and the body of bliss, the people were gradually succumbing to the

temptations of human life and to the impulses and desires of their

lower selves. The awareness of the inner bodies constituting the

higher self, might have been still there among a few, like

Dharmaraj, the eldest of the Pandavas, or Bhishma, but the great

majority were already succumbing to the temptations of their lower

selves as is evident from the epic story of Mahabharata which took

place during this time. By the end of this age the signs of the

fourth age were already on the horizon.

 

Kaliyug - The First Phase

The fourth age, called Kaliyug, has two phases. During the first

phase men were conscious of their breath bodies, having lost touch

with the rest. Physically they also became very dense and strong.

Because of this reason, the various branches of Yoga, especially

Hathayoga, which deals with breath and body control techniques and

the knowledge of kundalini became perfect sciences during this

period, which knowledge is still available to us though in

rudimentary form. During this period there was still some sanity

among the people, since they had some awareness of their true nature

and spiritual responsibility through their contact with the breath

body.

 

Kaliyug - The second Phase

But during the second phase even this knowledge seems to have

disappeared greatly leaving us now with the awareness of the gross

physical body only. This age can be truly called age of matter or

gross material formations, in which all scientific research is

presently concentrated, so much so that we have completely mastered

the art of splitting the physical atom to release the hidden energy.

Due to our preoccupation with our physical bodies and our lower

selves, and due to our excessive emphasis on materialism, this age

is truly called the age of darkness. It is also the age of profound

ignorance as we have lost touch with of all our inner bodies.

 

During this phase, due to the predominant activity of the physical

body we have succumbed to the interplay of the gunas or qualities of

nature. and are in pursuit of gross materialism. The extent of our

preoccupation with the body can be seen all around us in all parts

of the world. No elaborate explanation is needed for this.

 

The Signs of Kaliyuga!

The range of cosmetics that are now available, the extent of plastic

surgery operations people undergo now a days, the way sex and food

industries are progressing, the way people are obsessed with dieting

and exercise, leave us with no doubt as to what this age truly

represents. This is the age of the gross physical body (annamaya

kosa) and nothing much is needed to prove this point.

 

What Happens Next ?

It is predicted that at the end of this age comes a great

destruction, during which the physical body is completely destroyed

or would undergo a great transformation losing much of its

grossness. Then probably starts the period of evolution during which

men may slowly regain in phases awareness of their remaining four

bodies and become Truth Beings.

 

The interpretation of the four ages given here is purely a product

of this writer's hypothesis, based upon the theory of involution and

evolution of life on earth, with a little bit of assistance from his

intuition. There are no historical or "physical evidences" to prove

this theory. One cannot even correctly determine when and for how

long the first three ages lasted and for how long the last one would

continue.

 

It is possible some events similar to the events of the Ramayana and

Mahabharata might have even taken place on earth during the kaliyug,

triggering the racial memories and leading to the origin and shaping

of the two great epics. But it is difficult to believe that such

events alone could produce such monumental epics of immense grandeur

and universal vision.

 

Is there any Evidence? Unfortunately No !

All that history and science can do is to dig upto the beginning of

the second phase of the fourth age only. Nothing can be proved

scientifically about the existence of the previous ages.

 

Perhaps a vision of the past or some degree of intuitive awareness

may help us some to understand their significance and validity. But

it is doubtful if such explanations can ever convince the world

about their existence.

 

The previous three and half ages might not have even taken place in

the physical plane of this planet, but definitely somewhere in the

gigantic universe of the Lord, probably on different planes,

involving all the souls who have been existing and evolving since

long on earth or elsewhere.

 

Since they happened to us, we have the stories of Ramayana and

Mahabharata in our racial memory or collective consciousness. But

since they happened in such a remote past, no amount of digging and

no amount of debate would help us establish their authenticity.

 

We have only three options: we can either believe in them or know

them from our intuition or look at them with disbelief.