kalpa - the concept of hindu time element

8/7/2019 Kalpa - The Concept of Hindu Time Element

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Om! Gam! Ganapathaye! Namaha!Om! Sri Raghavendraya Namaha!

Om! Namo! Bhagavathe! Vasudevaya!Om! Ham! Hanumathe! Sri Rama Doothaya Namaha!

KALPA –THE HINDU TIME ELEMENT

Having understood the concept of Ugadi (Yuga + Aadi) as a time element let us now tryto understand the arithmetic of Hindu time element and certain related terminologiesthat will help us in understanding the time element called Kalpa Para that refers to thelife span of the Universe and Lord Brahma. Reference to Hindu time element is said tohave been scripted in many Vishnu related puranas like Maha Bhagavatha, MatsyaPurana, Brahmanda Purana, Mahabharatha and Bhagavath Geetha.

Hindu sages describe time as cyclic and an endless process of creation, preservation anddissolution. The Universe is cyclically created and destroyed. Hindu religion andphilosophy which strongly believes in Vedas has clearly spelled out the time element ofthe universe at different levels. Understanding of time element in Hinduism is as old asthe Hinduism itself. Several pouranic texts have mentioned about the time element inHinduism.

It is said that before commencement of Creation (Srushti) there was only water everywhere and Lord SriManNarayana the primordial person (Aadi Purusha) only waspresent in deep meditation. Desired (Sankalpa) to start the creation, He first created theUniverseand Omkara from where the Vedas got originated. It is also said that Vedasare (swayambhu) Lord SriManNarayana himself. He then created Lord Brahma fromhis navel to take further the process of Creation.

A Kalpa is a Sanskrit word meaning an aeon (immeasurably long period of time)inHindu cosmology. In Hindu philosophy a Kalpa is equal to 432 crores of years. It is a

day in the life of Lord Brahma. It is equal to 1000 Mahayugas measuring the durationof the world. Each Kalpa is divided into 14 Manvantharas each one lasting 306,720,000years. Two kalpas constitute a day and night of Lord Brahma.

A Kalpa is also called as Vedanga, the hand of VedaPurusha. Kalpa is also referred toas the Sasthra that involves one to carry out the injunctions of Kalpa. Various kinds of



spiritual rituals to be performed come under the province of Kalpa. Kalpa is one of thesix disciplines of Vedanga.YUGAYuga is a period or an Era in which we live. As per Kalpa Pramana there are fourYugas viz. Krita Yuga known as Sathya Yuga which is also called as the Golden age anera of total virtue, Thretha Yuga called as the Silver age an era of 3/4 th virtue, DwaparaYuga called as bronze age with half virtue and half sin in its era, and Kali Yuga called asiron age (Black age) with 1/4 th virtue and 3/4 th sin in its era.

Life span of these Yugas will not be equal. The Yugas get progressively worse frommorality point of view as one proceeds from one Yuga to another. As a result each Yugais of shorter duration than its previous one. It is as follows,

Krita Yuga (Sathya Yuga) 1728000 yearsThretha Yuga 1296000 years

Dwapara Yuga 864000 yearsKali Yuga 432000 yearsTotal 43, 20,000 years

MAHA YUGAOne cycle of four Yugas (Krita, Thretha, Dwapara and Kali) is called as Maha Yuga(Chatur Yuga); its life span will be 43, 20,000 years . It is also called as a Divine Yuga.

MANVANTHARADuring every Kalpa Lord Brahma creates 14 Manus one after the other, who in turn

manifest and regulate the world. Manvantharais Manu’s cycle the one who gives birthand govern the human race. Manvanthara is reckoned with the age or period ofManu.The period of each Manvanthara consists of 71 Mahayugas (Chaturyugas) that is 71 x4320000 = 306.720 million human years. After each Manvanthara there follows a SandhiKala of the duration of Krita Yuga years. (1728000). It is said that at the end of eachManvanthara it is followed by a Pralaya during the Sandhikala.

There are 14 generations of Manus they are, Swayambhuva, Swarochisha, Outtama,Tamasa, Raivatha, Chakshuva, Vaivaswatha, Savarni, Daksha Savarni, Brahma Savarni,Dharma Savarni, Rudra Savarni, Deva Savarni, and Indra Savarni. At end of the 14 th

Manu, the cycle repeats again and Brahma creates fourteen additional Manus. EachManvanthara will have a set of seven sages called Saptha Rishis who will live throughout the Manvanthara period.

KALPAA Kalpa is a day (12 hours) in the life of Lord Brahma. Each Kalpa is ruled by asuccession of 14 Manus and the period of reign is called Manvanthara. A Kalpa (day



period of Brahma) consists of a period of 17,28,000 years called Aadi Sandhi followedby 14 Manvantharas and Sandhi kalas that will be equal to 1000 Maha Yugas.One day (Kalpa) of Brahma is also divided into 10000 parts called charanas equivalentto 1000 Maha Yugas of 10 charanas each. Each Maha Yuga consists of 10 charanas (KritaYuga 4, Thretha Yuga 3, Dwapara Yuga 2 and Kali Yuga 1 charana).

A day of Brahma (Kalpa) is equal to 14 (Manvantharas) x 71(Maha Yugas) = 994 MahaYugas + Sandhi kalas (equal to 6 Maha Yugas) = 1000 Maha Yugas. Sandhi kalaisarrived at as follows; For 14 Manvanthara 14 sandhikala periods equal to the age of 14Krita Yugas = 1728000 x 14 = 24192000 + 1728000 (Aadi Sandhi period) = 2,59,20,000/43,20,000 years = 6 Maha Yugas. In terms of number of years, a Kalpa will be of 1000Maha Yugas x 4320000 = 432 crores of years. A night of Brahma is of equal duration ofanother 1000 Maha Yugas = 432 croresyears. Thus a full day (day + night) of Brahma isthe period of Two Kalpas equal to 2000 Maha Yugas (864 crores years)

At the end of Brahma’s day time there will be a deluge (Pralaya) when the Universe willtemporarily get dissolved by way of a Naimittika Pralaya. Then that will be the nighttime of Lord Brahma which will be equal to another Kalpa. During this time LordMaha Vishnu reclines into meditative pose (Yoganidra) before Brahma starts recreationin the new Kalpa that will be the beginning of a new day for Lord Brahma. Thus in afull day’s cycle of Lord Brahma there will be creation during day time and destructionduring night time.

There are 30 Kalpas as per Matsya Purana which gets repeated cyclically. They areSwetha, Neelalohita, Vamadeva, Rathanthara, Rourava, Deva, Bruhath, Kandarpa,

Sadhya, Eesana, Tamah, Saraswatha, Udaana, Garuda, Kaurma, Narasimha, Samana,Agneya, Soma, Maanava, Tathpuman, Vaikunta, Lakshmi, Savithri, Aghora, Vaaraah,Vairaja, Gouri, Maheswara, and Pithru Kalpa. It is said that Vayu Purana gives adifferent list of Kalpas which are 28 in number.

Reckoning of time for Lord Brahma:In Bhagavath Geetha a day of Lord Brahma has been defined as 1000 Maha Yugas(Sahasra Yuga paryantham ahar-yad brahmano vidhuh meaning a day of Brahma is of1000 Mahayugas). According to Mahabharatha 12 months of Brahma is equal to 360days that constitute his year and 100 such years is his life time and that is the life cycleof the Universe.

Fifty years of Brahma are supposed to have been elapsed and we are now in the 51 st

year of Lord Brahma in Swetha Varaha Kalpa. At the end of the Kalpa, Brahma rests forone night that is equal to the day during which time the world is annihilated(destroyed) that is called as Pralaya.



As per Vedamana the life span of Lord Brahma is said to be 100 years called as BrahmaKalpa. Though Brahma Kalpa had started from the day of his origin, first half of his life(50 years) was spent in knowing and understanding the tatva of Lord SriManNarayana.As per the directions of supreme Lord Sri Maha Vishnu, Brahma started creation in his51st year that is the current year in the life of Lord Brahma. Life span of Lord Brahma isreckoned as follows in terms of human years

• 1000 Maha Yugas = 1 Kalpa = 1 day (12 hours) of Lord Brahma = 432 crores of years• 2000 Maha Yugas = 2 Kalpas = 1 day (24 hours) of Lord Brahma = 864 crores of years• 30 such days of Brahma = 30 x 864 crores of years = 259.2 billions years = 60 Kalpas• 12 such months (one year or 360 days) of Brahma = 12 x 259.2 billions years = 3.1104

trillions years = 720 (360+360) Kalpas• 50 such years = 1 Paraarddha = 50 x 3.1104 trillion years = 155.52 trillions years =

36000 Kalpas• 2 such Paraardhas = 100 years of Brahma = 311.04 trillions years = 72000 Kalpas

As per the above arithmetic life span of Lord Brahma will be 311.04 trillions years.

Reckoning for the Current Date: (The time elapsed since the current Brahma has taken over the task of creation)

Some of the words in Sankalpa sloka that we recite daily during Sandhyavandana orbefore commencement of any divine prayer or ritual contain the time element viz.Aaadhya Brahmana, Dwiteeya Parardhe, Swetha Varaha Kalpe, Vaivaswatha

Manwanthare, Kaliyuge, Prathama Pade, Salivahana Sakhe. In these words there isreckoning of the current date as per Vedamana since the birth of Lord Brahma.

Aaadhya Brahmana Dwiteeya Parardhe : That means first half of the life time of Lord Brahma is over and we are in the 2 nd halfcalled Dwiteeya Parardhe in the 51 st year of Lord Brahma (50 years of Lord Brahma isequal to 155.52 trillions human years)

Swetha Varaha Kalpe : That means we are in the first day (only day) called Swetha Varaha Kalpa in the 51 st

year of Lord Brahma. In Swetha Varaha Kalpa (first day of Lord Brahma) after passingthrough 6 Manvantharas out of 14 we are currently in the 7 th Manvanthara calledVaivaswatha Manvanthara. In terms of number of years after taking into account thesandhi kalas we have passed through 185.2416 crores human years (4320000 x 71 x 6) +(17,28,000 x 7) in the current Kalpa (during the previous six Manvantharas)

Vaivaswatha Manvanthare :



And in the current Manvanthara (Vaivasvatha) we have passed through 27 Maha Yugasout of 71 and we are currently in the 28 th Maha Yuga. That means in this Manvantharawe have passed through 11.6644 crores human years during the last 27 Maha Yugas.

Kali Yuge : In the 28 th Maha Yuga after passing through the three periods viz. Krita, Thretha, andDwapara Yugas comprising of 38,88,000 human years we are currently in the 4 th Yugathat is Kali Yuga, in which we have already passed through 5110 human years out ofthe Kali Yuga span of 4,32,000 years. As per scripts it is said that Kali Yuga had begun3102 years BC.

Counting from beginning of the Kalpa it is (185.24 + 11.67 + 0.39 + 0.005) =197.30 croreshuman years since commencement of creation by Lord Brahma. That also means out of432 crores years in the current Kalpa we have already passed through 197.30 crores ofyears and still 234.70 crores of years have to pass through before end of the Kalpa.

Salivahana Sakhe :Further reckoning down based on the concept of Sakha, after passing through theYudhistira and Vikrama Sakhas we are currently in the Salivahana Sakha 1931 yearssince its beginning in 78 AD.

Tabulating the above it is reckoned as (taking the year 2009 as the base)

• 311.04 Trillions human years is the life span of current Brahma ( 100 Brahma years )• 157.49 Trillions human years since the origin of current Brahma ( 153.55 trillion years

still left )• 197.30 Crores years since the beginning of the Swetha Varaha Kalpa, the time

since creation started ( 234.70 crores years still left in the present Kalpa )• 12.06 Crores years since the beginning of Vaivaswatha Manvanthara ( 18.61 crores

years still left in the current Manvanthara )• 38.88 lakhs years since the beginning of this 28 th Maha Yuga ( 4.27 lakhs years till left

in this Maha Yuga )• 5110 years since the beginning of the present Kali Yuga ( 4,26,890 years still left in the

current Yuga )• 1931 years since the beginning of Salivahana Sakha

It is said that after the life span of Lord Brahma it will take another 100 Brahma yearsbefore a new Brahma is born. It is also said and believed that Lord Hanuman is goingto be the future Brahma after the expiry of the life span of the current Brahma.



We would have heard or come across statements or news items like the world is comingto end, Pralaya is coming, it is going to be a dooms day, soon the world is going todisintegrateetc., Latest of such statements is that the year 2012 is going to be an end ofthe world. Behind all its realities, such statements are definitely going to create lot ofconfusion, chaos, scare, anxietyamong the world population. While most of the nonHindu cultures base their cosmologies on familiar units such as few hundreds orthousands of years, Hindu concept of time element based on Vedic scripts believes onimmeasurable period of time lasting billions and trillions of years.

Universal repositioningtakes place whenever celestial splendors like Eclipses occur.Astronomically lot of changes do takes place in the universe and all such may not andneed not lead to a dooms day. Above arithmetic shows that still 18.61 crores humanyears have to pass through before end of the present Manvanthara when it is expectedto be a deluge(Pralaya). So as per this study one can be assured that cyclical end of theUniverse is far away and it is a long way to go for a dooms day.

One should always remember the fact that nothing is permanent in this world even theUniverse, or even Lord Brahma (Creator). The only permanent entity is the PrimordialPerson Lord SriManNarayana the creator of Brahma. In Phalastuthi of Sri VishnuSahasranama Sthothram, Lord Brahma describes Lord Maha Vishnu as

! Namostvananthaya Sahasramuurthaye! SahasraPaadaakshi Sirorubaahave!! Sahasranaamne Purushaya Saswathe! SahasraKoti Yugadhaarine Namah!!

Salutations to the Infinite, one who has manifested as innumerable number of forms,

who has innumerable feet, eyes, heads, arms, one who has innumerable number ofnames, who is an eternal person, and who holds thousands of crores of Yugas which areuncountable.

NB: One billion = 1000 million = 100 crores - One trillion = 1000 billion = 100000 crores

Annexure

Sakha Karthas of Kali Yuga:

The legends says that in Kali Yuga six Kings will create new eras (Sakhas) which will benamed after them. They are,

• Yudhistira Sakha (Dharmaraja): His calendar started in the year 3102 BC continuedfor 3044 years.

• Vikrama Sakha : His calendar started in 57 BC continued for 135 years



• Salivahana Sakha (current period) : His calendar started in 78 AD and will continuefor 18000 years.

• Vijayabhinandana Sakha (future coming): His calendar will start in 18078 AD andwill continue for 10000 years.

•

Nagarjuna Sakha (future coming): His calendar will start in 28078 AD and willcontinue for 4, 00,000 years.• Kalki Sakha (future coming): His calendar will start at the end of Kali Yuga 4, 28,078

AD and will run for 821 years when the Kali Yuga will come to an end.

Time Element for other Entities

For Devathas:One day for Devathas = One human year comprising of two half years.Brighter half of the day is called as Uttarayana

Darker half of the day is called as Dakshinayana.12000 years for Devathas is equal to one Maha Yuga (Chatur Yuga) for human beings.

For Pithrus (Ancestors)1 day of Pitru = One human month (comprising of two fortnights).Brighter fortnight (sukla paksha) is day time for Pitrus.Darker fortnight (Krishna paksha) is night time for Pitrus.

Sri Krishnaarpanamasthubhargavasarma

kalpa - the concept of hindu time element

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