[Y-Indology] minor dissolution etc

[Guest guest]

At 08:56 PM 09/20/2001 -0400, Lynken Ghose wrote:

 

>

> Can anyone tell me the difference between the minor dissolution of the

> universe after the 4 yugas and the major one which is supposed to happen

> after 1,000 mahayugas (or 2,000, depending on the interpretation). I have

> looked in several sources and could not find a good distinction.

 

 

In theory, the difference is between a naimittika pralaya (an "occasional

dissolution") and a prAkRta pralaya (an "elemental dissolution"). The prAkRta

dissolution, as its name implies, means that the elements are resolved back

into their original source in PrakRti (along SAmkhya lines), so this implies

the "total destruction of the world," because it is the mirror opposite of

creation (according to the SAmkhya-style version of creation). The naimittika

destruction, however, happens more frequently and is supposed to be only a

partial dissolution, when natural catastrophes cause great destruction. These

catastrophes are usually associated with the elements: earthquakes (earth),

floods (water), intense heat, usually in the form of 7 suns (fire), and winds

(air). (Note that this is parallel to the reabsorption/liberation process of

haTha yoga, where each element is resolved into its previous one, only that

here it is on a macrocosmic scale).

According to the Puranas, the naimittika pralaya is said to take place at the

end of a day of BrahmA (also called a kalpa), while the prAkRta one happens at

the end of the life of BrahmA (usually 100 hundred of his years).

 

In practice, however, the distinction between these two in Puranic literature

is blurred. The naimittika pralaya usually looks merely like a shortened

version of the prAkRta one. The reason for this is that, originally (in the

MAnava Dharma ZAstra, the MahAbhArata) there was probably only one dissolution

( a total one, when all elements where resolved back into PrakRti) that took

place at the end of the kalpa (or of the mahAyuga, but that is another story).

But later, in parts of the Mbh and in the Puranas, a longer cycle was

conceived

of: the life of BrahmA, so there had to be 2 different kinds of pralaya with

their different degrees of destruction.

 

In the Bhagavad Gita (8.18-19) the world is reabsorbed at the end of the

kalpa. Note how Bhaktivedanta Swami, in his translation of the Gita, needs to

clarify that this really refers to the end of the life of BrahmA, in order for

this passage to make sense in terms of (post-Gita) Puranic tradition.

Commentators of the MAnava Dharma ZAstra are at odds when trying to understand

what kind of dissolution their text refers to in 1.54, 74, 78 (See Buhler's

notes on the opinions of the commentators, pp. 17, 21-22).

 

That is why you could not find a good distinction.

 

I deal with this in more detail (and with refs.) in the book (in Spanish):

Tiempo ciclico y eras del mundo en la India. Mexico: El Colegio de Mexico,

1988, pp. 135-147; as well as in a forthcoming book (in English) from Peter

Lang Publishing.

 

Best,

 

Luis Gonzalez-Reimann, Ph.D.

University of California, Berkeley

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

A minor dissolution is commonly held to involve only the lower lokas

up to Jana and/or Tapo Loka and thus Brahma and the rishis remain

manifest. In a Maha Pralaya even Brahma becomes unmanifest.

 

> At 08:56 PM 09/20/2001 -0400, Lynken Ghose wrote:

>

> >

> > Can anyone tell me the difference between the minor dissolution

of the

> > universe after the 4 yugas and the major one which is supposed to

happen

> > after 1,000 mahayugas (or 2,000, depending on the

interpretation). I have

> > looked in several sources and could not find a good distinction.