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- श्री कृष्ण , भगवद्गीता 11.32I am mighty Time, the source of destruction that comes forth to annihilate the worlds. Even without your participation, the warriors arrayed in the opposing army shall cease to exist.
- Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavadgītā 11.32
What is the real nature of time? Is it cyclical, linear or something else? At least for the ancients, time was just a measure for the day and night and the higher measures like seasons and years. They created calendars based on astronomical observations. The ancients believed that time is cyclical, the ancient Indian texts mention a grand cycle of time that repeats after aeons.
The Surya Siddhanta, one of several Hindu texts related to astronomy talks about two kinds of time; the mūrta, the measurable and amūrta meaning the immeasurable corresponding to its smallness. In this article, we will be discussing the mūrta time.
लोकानाम् अन्तकृत् कालः कालो ऽन्यः कलनात्मकः ।
स द्विधा स्थूलसूक्ष्मत्वान् मूर्तश् चामूर्त उच्यते ॥ सूर्य सिद्धान्त १० ॥Time is the destroyer of the worlds; another Time has for its nature to bring to pass. This latter, according as it is gross or minute, is called by two names, real (mūrta) and unreal (amūrta).-sūrya siddhānta 10
The mūrta time cycle starts with the prāṇa, a period of four seconds and continues up to yuga’s with millions of years and finally ends with 311,000,000,000 years
Mūrta units:
Prāṇa = smallest mūrta unit (4 seconds)
Pala = 6 Prāṇas (24 seconds)
Ghatika = 60 Palas (24 minutes)
Muhūrta = 2 Ghatikas (48 minutes)
Ahorātram (sidereal day) = 30 Muhūrta (24 hours)
Māsa = 30 Ahorātrams (30 days)
Ritu (season) = 2 Māsa (60 days)
Āyana = 3 Ritu (180 days)
Saṃvatsara = 2 Ayana (360 days)
There are 4 types of yugas, the Kṛta yuga (a.k.a Satya Yuga or Satyuga), Tretā yuga, Dvāpara yuga and the Kali yuga or Kalyuga. The number of years in each of these yugas is in the ratio of 4:3:2:1 with the smallest being the Kali Yuga. The duration of the kali yuga of 3,60,000 years, the duration of a Dvāpara yuga is 7,20,000 years which is twice that of Kali Yuga, the duration of a Tretā yuga is 10,80,000 years, thrice that of Kali Yuga and finally, the Satya Yuga being the longest of the four years as a duration for 14,40,000 years, it is four times that of Kali yuga.
One cycle of these 4 yugas is called a Mahāyuga or a Caturyuga which includes the gap between each yuga called a yuga sandhyā which has a 1/10 duration of the yuga before it. This gives a total of 4,32,000 + 8,64,000 + 12,96,000 + 17,28,000 = 43,20,000 years. At the end of this period, a cataclysmic event occurs, called a Pralaya which can wipe out more than half of life on Earth.
The cycle doesn't stop here. As per our astronomical texts, when 71 such cycles occur, it's called a Manvantara. A Manvantara is a period which lasts for 30,67,20,000 years. So what is a Manvantara? It is a time period from the first human to be created till the end of 71 Caturyugas. It is a period for the birth of mankind, the evolution of the human race and finally the death of mankind at the end of the Manvantara. At the end of this period, a Manvantara Pralaya occurs. This wipes out almost all of the human race with only a handful of survivors who become the progenitors of the next Manvantara, and the cycle continues.
When 14 such Manvantaras have elapsed, with a Manvantara-Sandhyā between each Manvantar equal to a Kṛta yuga, it gives a period of 4,32,00,00,000 years called a Kalpa. This Kalpa is just one day in the life of the creator god Brahmā. This means that humanity is created 14 times and destroyed 14 times in one day of Brahmā. Every Manvantara has a progenitor having the title of Manu and has a supreme deity called Indra.
But hang on, isn't Indra a proper noun? Isn't it the name of the thunder god who rules the swarga? Well, the fact is, as per the Vishnu Purana, the word ‘Indra’ is a title and not a name (the Indra of the current Manvantar is called Purandhara), and so is the word ‘Manu’ a title and not a name.
After each Kalpa which is 14 Manvantaras, a Naimittika Pralaya occurs where all life on earth is destroyed with no survivors of any kind. A Kalpa which is one day of Brahmā is analogous to the 12 hours of the day, the same is the night of Brahmā. So the total period of Brahma's day and his night is 8,64,00,00,000 human years. Brahmā rests for the night, he composes himself, and with the start of the next Kalpa begins the cycle of creation of life on another planet. As per the Vedic texts, Brahmā lives for 100 such Brahmā’s years. So the total life span of Brahmā is 8,64,00,00,000*100*360 = 31,10,40,00,00,00,000 years, this is called a Mahā Kalpa. When the lifespan of Brahmā is over, a Mahā Pralaya occurs where the universe itself dissolves and Brahmā returns to his origin.
Wait, Brahmā’s origin? What could be the origin of the creator himself? As per Hindu mythology, Brahmā was created from the navel of Mahā Viṣṇu. At the end of Brahmā’s lifespan, it is said that only one breath of Mahā Viṣṇu has elapsed. Mahā Viṣṇu is known to be the primordial creator, the omnipotent, the omniscient, and the omnipresent. The anādi and the ananta, the one which has no beginning and no end, the one whose origin cannot be known.
But you might have heard that we are living in the Kali Yuga, now the question is which Kali Yuga. Hold your horses because now we are going to calculate the number of years that have elapsed since the start of Brahmā’s lifespan. As per the siddhanta texts, we are in the Kalyuga of the 28th Caturyuga of the 7th Manvantara in the 1st Kalpa of Brahmā’s 51st year. Let's decipher this step by step.
According to Aryabhatta, we are in the Kalyuga which began in 3102 BCE. So the time elapsed from the start of this Kalyuga is 3102 + 2021-1 = 5,122 years (the -1 is because the gregorian calendar doesn't have a 0 year). But in the Caturyuga cycle, we are in the Kalyuga and not the Satyuga. So the time elapsed since the start of this Caturyuga is 17,28,000 + 12,96,000 + 8,64,000 + 5,122 = 38,93,122 years. But we aren't in the not in the first Caturyuga, we are in the 28th Caturyuga of this Manvantara. This means 27 complete Caturyugas have already elapsed since the start of this Manvantara. So by adding the period of the preceding Caturyugas to the number of years elapsed in the current Caturyuga, we get a period of (43,20,000*27)+38,93,122 = 12,05,33,122 years. This means that the Manu of the current human race existed about 120 million years ago. But we are not in the first Manvantara of this Kalpa, but in the 7th Manvantara, so 6 such Manvantaras have already occurred where humanity was created 6 times and destroyed 6 times. So by adding the time period of the preceding 6 Manvantaras to the time elapsed in the current Manvanatara, we get (30,67,20,000*6)+12,05,33,122 = 1,96,08,53,122 years. So the current Kalpa or day of Brahma started around 1.96 Billion years ago. But we aren't in the 1st Kalpa of Brahmā’s 1st year, we are in the 1st Kalpa of his 51st year, which means Brahmā’s 50 years have already elapsed. So by adding the timespan of preceding 50 years to the number of years elapsed from the start of the current Kalpa we get 8,64,00,00,000*360*50 = 15,55,21,96,08,53,122 years. So the current age of Brahmā is around 155 trillion years which is equivalent to his 50 years. This gives the age of our universe as per the Hindu Kālacakra to be ≈ 155 trillion years.
So do these values hold any scientific credence in today’s time? As for modern physics, the age of our universe starting from the big bang is estimated to be about 13.8 billion years. The big bang theory proposed by Edwin Hubble is widely accepted today because of its 3 major major observational evidences. The first one being the presence of cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) which is the after glow of the big bang, the second piece of evidence for the big bang is the big bang Nucleosynthesis which shows the comparative scales of the percentages of hydrogen, helium and lithium present in the early universe and today and the last observational evidence for the big bang theory is the cosmic expansion that was proposed by Alan Guth and detected by Edwin Hubble.
So this shows us that the age of the universe as per Hindu scriptures does not agree with the age of the universe as per modern physics. so what is the point of knowing all of this exhausting information about the Kālacakra if in the end we are going to conclude that those values are nothing more than just a myth? We need to understand that these values although mythical portray the illimitable imagination of our Indian ancestors who thought about time scales not just in eons but spanning trillions of years. None of the contemporary civilizations in the world have cosmic time cycles spanning billions and trillions of years explained via structured mathematics. This shows that our ancestors had started wondering about the age of our universe spanning billions of years when the rest of the world was busy building huts and stone tools. Our ancestors were cogitating on questions like where did all of this come from and how did it come from nothing and if it was made from nothing who made it and who made the maker.
नासदासीन्नो सदासीत्तदानीं नासीद्रजो नो व्योमा परो यत् । किमावरीवः कुह कस्य शर्मन्नम्भः किमासीद्गहनं गभीरम् ॥
न मृत्युरासीदमृतं न तर्हि न रात्र्या अह्न आसीत्प्रकेतः । आनीदवातं स्वधया तदेकं तस्माद्धान्यन्न परः किं चनास ॥
तम आसीत्तमसा गूळ्हमग्रेऽप्रकेतं सलिलं सर्वमा इदम् । तुच्छ्येनाभ्वपिहितं यदासीत्तपसस्तन्महिनाजायतैकम् ॥
कामस्तदग्रे समवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः प्रथमं यदासीत् । सतो बन्धुमसति निरविन्दन्हृदि प्रतीष्या कवयो मनीषा ॥
तिरश्चीनो विततो रश्मिरेषामधः स्विदासी३दुपरि स्विदासी३त् । रेतोधा आसन्महिमान आसन्त्स्वधा अवस्तात्प्रयतिः परस्तात् ॥
को अद्धा वेद क इह प्र वोचत्कुत आजाता कुत इयं विसृष्टिः । अर्वाग्देवा अस्य विसर्जनेनाथा को वेद यत आबभूव ॥
इयं विसृष्टिर्यत आबभूव यदि वा दधे यदि वा न । यो अस्याध्यक्षः परमे व्योमन्त्सो अङ्ग वेद यदि वा न वेद ॥ ऋग्वेद १०.१२७ ॥“The non-existent was not, the existent was not; then the world was not, not the firmament, nor that which is above (the firmament). How could there be any investing envelope, and where? Of what (could there be) felicity? How (could there be) the deep unfathomable water?”
“Death was not nor at that period immortality, there was no indication of the day, of the night; That One unbreathed upon breathed of his own strength, other than That there was nothing else whatever.”
“There was darkness covered by darkness in the beginning, all this (world) was indistinguishable water; that empty united (world) which was covered by a mere nothing, was produced through the power of austerity.”
“In the beginning, there was desire, which was the first seed of mind; sages having meditated in their hearts have discovered by their wisdom the connexion of the existent with the non-existent.”
“Their ray was stretched out, whether across, or below, or above; (some) were shedders of seed,(others) were mighty; food was inferior; the eater was superior.”
“Who really knows? Who in this world may declare it! whence was this creation, whence was it engendered? The gods (were) subsequent to the (world’s) creation; so who knows whence it arose?”
“He from whom this creation arose, he may uphold it, or he may not (no one else can); he who is its superintendent in the highest heaven, he assuredly knows, or if he knows not (no one else does).”-Ṛgveda 10.127
“The Hindu religion is the only one of the world’s great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths.
It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond to those of modern scientific cosmology.”
- Carl Sagan, Astrophysist
~eclipse
