Most Hindus who have been educated in the anti Hindu education system devised by Max Mueller and Macaulay, consider it their privilege to blindly ape the western customs. The sore lack of Dharmashikshan (lack of education on Dharma) is the reason for the present pitiable state of Hindus. As a result, not only do most Hindus ignore the fact that the Hindu new year begins on Gudipadwa (also known as Yugadi), they deride those who advise them to observe this day.
In this article, we will see the immense timescales that have been familiar to Hindus since time immemorial. Also we will be able to appreciate the expansive nature of time. Seekers will be able to introspect on the infinitesimally tiny part that we occupy in the wheel of time; which helps to reduce ego.
1. Time is infinite.
It is divided as Kalpa, Manvantara, Mahayuga, and Yuga.
A. The Four Yugas:
Satya Yuga = 1,728,000 years
Treta Yuga = 1,296,000 years
Dwapara Yuga = 864,000 years
Kali Yuga = 432,000 years
B. The Mahayuga:
Mahayuga (also called as Chaturyuga or Divyayuga) = sum of all four Yugas; 4,320,000 years
C. The Manvantara:
Manvantara: 71 Mahayugas make one Manvantara
D. The Kalpa
Kalpa = 14 Manvantaras (or 1,000 Mahayugas, after including the yuga sandhyas)
14 Manvantars or 1,000 Mahayugas = 4,320,000,000 years
2. A Kalpa is one day or one night cycle in the life of Lord Brahma
Such 360 Days + 360 Nights = One Year of Lord Brahma’s life
One Parardha = 50 Years of Lord Brahma’s Life
Lord Brahma’s lifespan = 100 years (calculated as shown above)
100 years of Brahma’s life = One breath of Maha Vishnu
When Maha Vishnu breaths in, the entire collection of countless universes are annihilated and enter into the body of Maha Vishnu.
When Maha Vishnu again breaths out, all of the countless universes are again manifested and recreated.
3. As of now, 50 years from Brahma’s life have been completed
15,55,20,00,00,00,000 years have passed.
A. Right now, the first day of the 51st year (Shwetavaraha Kalpa) is going on.
B. Six Manvantaras of this Kalpa have been completed while the 7th (Vaivasvata) is taking place.
C. The Vaivasvata Manvantara comprises of 71 mahayugas of which 27 have been completed. The Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga and Dwapara Yuga of the 28th Mahayuga have been completed, and we are in the Kaliyuga.
D. The first part of Kali yuga comprising 5115 years has passed and this Gudipadwa / Yugadi will signal the start of the 5,116th year.
E. To specifically calculate the year that starts on this Gudipadwa / Yugadi. First Parardha + [6 Manvantars x 71 Mayugas] + [27 mahayugas x 4,320,000 years] + 3 yugas [Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, and Dwapara Yuga] + 5,116 years of the present Kali Yuga.
F. That would be, 155,520,000,000,000 + 1,840,320,000 + 116,640,000 + 3,888,000 + 5,116 = 155,521,960,853,116 years.
So celebrate the 155,521,960,853,116th new year on 31st of March, 2014! This is the vastness of the Hindu calendar. Compare that to the western world, which begins their calendar just 2,014 years ago.
Happy 155,521,960,853,116th new year!
… but remember this has been just half a breath of the Maha Vishnu.
Thank you for this mind expanding article.
Indeed, the Sages of India have preserved for all humanity
the Supreme Knowledge of Divine Life, and it’s attainment.
The knowledge about creation helps one have great
reverence for the Supreme.
I have a question about the article:
Below bullett 3, you arrive at the number
15,55,20,00,00,00,000 years have passed.
I understand that you did that by the simple
procedurer of multiplications and additions.
But for the benefit of “appreciation” a person
will have in understanding the duration of the life of Lord Brahma, I feel that the step which lists the earth years equivalent of 50 years of Lord Brahma should be elaborated
by showing what is multiplied by what and what is added to what.
As I said, it would add to one’s appreciation of the VASTNESS of the scales of time, as perceived by the great Sages of India
I am curious. If this is all true, how did this knowledge come about? How did the Sages of India access it? Can an ordinary person (like you or me) access it? If so, how?
While the article is informative, let us not deride the present system of calendar. It is more practical. In the above system it is zeroes all over the place! It does not matter if you omit or add extra zero! I also have a serious doubt about the length of the yugas mentioned above. According to accepted scientific thinking present civilization is about 10,000 years old. Mahabharata is supposed to have been fought around 3000 BC and Ramayana around 5000 BC. This is as per astrological position mentioned in the two great epics. One can rewind through astronomical software to arrive at the above numbers. Another argument in its favor is that the monuments/relics of Mahabharata and Ramayana that we see today cannot be millions of years old as per above calendar. If it is true, it totally contradicts the definition of yugas mentioned above. Any interesting views/arguments on this theory?
very good information.
Very interesting. If we try relating to science, the big bang started with Vishnu breathing out and the universe kept expanding ever since; until He starts breathing in causing the universe to start contracting till it reaches 0 size. Then the cycle will start all over. Perhaps science will come to this conclusion in the future.
In the the first place, there is no Ordinary person at all!
A “person” considers / makes himself as ‘ordinary’ because he considers himself to be the body-senses-mind combination.
But that ordinary person — if he explores as to who he is — or if he finds who said “I am an ordinary person” — and pursues it doggedly — he will find himself to be …………………….!
And then you are just KNOWLEDGE only!
Indian Vedas contain many such astonishing facts about life and the universe. Those of us who have got education away from Indian Culture may get puzzled because they can accept if these things follow any known laws that they have studied.
If you accept and get inside the treasure you will find new universe which has yet to be unearthed by the present science.
Thank you for giving such a elaborate information about time . Mindblowing and educative .
Hi. Very well explained. Nice article. It covers only one side of time measurement. I would like to read the other side of time measurements ? I.e hours minutes seconds according to Hindu scriptures?
Dear Venky, Mahabharat took place around 3000 BC years right and it is established by all recordes. However your calculations about Ramayana are miss-founded . Alignments of the celestial bodies repeats itself every few thousand years. However for a time this vast there is indeed greater need for science to be open-minded and try to find answers that the present science is not equipped for.
Very nice to see Timelin-yugas. Late SD Kulkarni has mentioned 10^17 years as well -along with your above information.
I look for Treta yuga -time line- can you help me ?
vidyardhicosmology vedas Interlinks-studies
Vedas and Geetha are great sources of knowledge both at a philosophical and mathematical paradigm. Science, in general, whether western or eastern, northern or southern, is always open to possibilities and probabilities. Even the most impossible events defined as IMPOSSIBLE in the English language, are always defined are largely improbable in the language of Science.
One cannot deride western education methods. It is only with such methods, the author, in the above article is actually able to convey his ideas and thoughts to the greater masses. And as a representative of science, the author should not be biased towards one type of education much less be critical about it.
Having said that, I also am stupefied by the account of origin of time as depicted in the above calculations. Time as we know and from the recent observations is dated back to Origin of Universe by Big Bang. This puts beginning of time as 13.8 billion years ago. In here YEAR is defined as time elapsed on earth. The article points out through the vedic teachings that the universe if 155 trillion years old. This is fascinating on 2 accounts:
1. This means there was TIME before the Big Bang (CMB was observed and reported by Penzias and Wilson)
2. How did mankind, as depicted in Vedas, know that universe is 155 trillion years old?
Further evidence might be there in these scriptures. Maybe the answers lie in Hinduism scriptures or maybe they don’t. However, we as humans, who have the highest order of intelligence must not stop looking for the answers.
Trying to add another 2 dimensions for the benefit of readers.
(1) Just like there is macrocosm, there is also a microcosm. (a) The
lowest time meseaurement is kshanam. If we keep 100 lotus leaf
together with uniform pressure and pierce with a needle, the time for
the needle tip to leave the outer surface of a leaf and touch the
inner surface of next leaf is kshanam. This is the period in which a
life can be established in a purusha (body matter that can hold life
and mind) or a life can leave a body or a calamity can break or mind
can change its direction of thinking or a person can change from good
to bad or vice versa and so on. (b) If we keep our eye sight on a
straight line, the time it takes to observe a sun’s disc crossing that
line in full is 4 minutes. Assuming that now we shift our eye sight
line to suns upper disc and wait until the sun’s lower disc touches
that line , this time is also 4 minutes. We need to shift our eye
sight 360 times until we reach the same original line. Each arc is one
degree. That is the reason why degree can never become metric. 360
degrees is one circle. Each quadrant of 90 degrees represent quarter
day or 6 hours or 360 minutes. Thus a day has 1440 minutes. 24 minutes
or 24 degrees is the arc in which a constellation of stars (rasi of
2.5 nakshatras) can be seen changing at sun rise.
(2) AT macro cosm, one day of brahma is one night of kala bairava –
the time keeper. During brahma’s night / kala bairava’s day time, the
planets reposition themselves to habitable distance from its sun
(which is currently calculated as 70 million kilometers to 120 million
kilometers). The habitable distance is where, the life giver viz.
water exists in liquid form. Receives enough heat to sustain
photosynthesis. Not too hot for every element to exist only in liquid
form or so cold that even water will exist only in solid form ice. The
transport of “life particle” is depicted as Noah’s arc in christianity
or the matsayavathara – nava in indian mythology.
FINALLY, no one knows (OR WILL EVER KNOW) how many life cycles have
gone on in the past or will go on in the future. No one knows why we
are born where we are born, unto such parents, in such a place at such
a time and live the way we live. That is depicted by LINGOTHBAVAM
(both vishnu and brahma going in search of the head and leg of AGNI
STHAMBAM which is representation of COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS) and failing.
However we all know we want to live happily. One person can never live
happy in isolation as an individual. The society / community needs to
be happy and prosperous (loka kalyanam and loka managalam). Hence we
need some discpline – a set of nature’s laws – that are applicable to
all at all times. That indestructible, ever applicable set of
discpline is what we call sanAthana dharmA. When that discpline is
respected (and protected) the society is protected.
I request people with similar know how should come out and share their
knowledge so that not only the article but also comments benefit the
younger generation
Response to Dr.Vonod: Nature has codified so much of information that could feed 6 billion cells in just 1 sperm. Likewise Vedas have codified a lot of information in capsules. The trouble is annotation. bagavAn could mean bAgathE bAthihi idhi bagavann – THAT COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS THAT SHINES THRU BILLIONS (OF PARTS) OF INDIVIDUAL CONSCIOUSNESS . It can also mean such as dhanavAn, gunavAn – one hwo has all the auspicious characteristics to bestow prosperity, peace and welness.
YOU ARE RIGHT. Research is required. But that must be done with desire and passion for truth rather than vidhandAvadham /anarthangyam – trying to find holes and arguing for the sake of arguement.
RESPONSE TO SEEKAR:
Knowledge of universe, creation, life and living, exists in kinetic form, vibrations or what they call mu measons or god particles prvasively across the universe. It has never been created nor can be destroyed. Just like RESOANCE COLUMN experiment, when an individual consciousness, attunes his / her own frequency to the frequency of a selected knowledge that is obtained in in an individual consciousness. Cosmic consciousness holds all the knowledge of universe and creation. ANy one, at any peiod of time, any where can get the knowledge. Our understanding also requires that “divine” intervention. Here divine denotes a force / energy / power that is not under the control of individual consciousness
thank you.
Hi, This ones sounds very interesting but can i know from which sources (Vedas or Upanishads or any other) did you get this info from ?
Guru Nadha ….. Namasthe … great job, but we need some thing we can share directly to the face book etc. do some thing like that so that we can share and spread our Hindu Dharma and knowledge to the unknown family members
Sashtanga namaskaram
Raj
According to Dr. P.V. Vartak in his book “Scientific Dating of Mahabharata” mentioned that the war fought on 16th October 5561 BC. Before reaching this date he had gone through the very painfull efforts and studies conducted establishing the date of Mahabharata and he depends mathamatics, astronomy, seasons mentioned in the epics carbon dating of historical evidence. a very interesting book and its available in google search
Dr. Gautom,
This has been such a useful article! You have no idea how awesome you are and this knowledge cannot be exchanged for a million bucks. Today, as I hear and learn about people saying that the world is only about 2000 yrs old, this displays not only the ignorance of the Veda truth but also the self-lowering denial to accept something contrary to contemporary belief. I’m so glad you explained this so clearly.
Thank you so much. However, I have one question, Why do you say the Vedic New year should begin on Gudi Padwa? (Marathi new Year?) I’m just curious.