By Subhamoy DasAccording to Hindu scriptures and mythology, the current universe is destined to pass through four great epochs, each of which is acomplete cycle of cosmic creation and destruction. Hindu mythology deals with numbers large enough to be nearly impossible to imagine.Hindus believe the process of creation moves in cycles and that each cycle has four great yugas, or epochs, of time. And because the process of creation is cyclical and never-ending, it "begins to end and ends to begin."A Kalpa, or eon, is said to be comprised of a thousand cycles of four yugas—each of a different quality. By one estimate, a single yuga cycle is said to be 4.32 million years, and a Kalpa is said to consist of 4.32 billion years
About the Four YugasThe four great epochs in Hinduism are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapar Yuga, and Kali Yuga. Satya Yug or the Age of Truth is said to last for 4,000 divine years, Treta Yuga for 3,000, Dwapara Yug for 2,000 and Kali Yuga will last for 1,000 divine years—a divine year equalling 432,000 earthly years. Hindu tradition holds that three of these great ages of this current universe have already passed away, and we are now living in the fourth one—the Kali Yuga. It is quite hard to contemplate the meaning of the vast quantities of time expressed by the Hindu time scheme, so vast are the numbers. There are different theories about the symbolic meaning of these measurements of time. Symbolic InterpretationsMetaphorically, the four Yuga ages may symbolize the four phases of involution during which the human gradually lost the awareness of his or her inner selves and subtle bodies. Hinduism believes that human beings have five kinds of bodies, known as annamayakosa, pranamayakosa, manomayakosa, vignanamayakosa, and anandamayakosa, which respectively mean the"gross body," the "breath body," the "psychicbody," the "intelligence body," and the "bliss body."Another theory interprets these epochs of time to representthe degree of loss of righteousness in the world. This theory suggests that during Satya Yuga, only truth prevailed (Sanskrit Satya =truth). During the Treta Yuga, the universe lost one-fourth of the truth, Dwapar lost one-half of the truth, and now the Kali Yuga is left with only one-fourth of the truth. Evil and dishonesty have therefore gradually replaced truth in the last three ages.Dasavatara: The 10 AvatarsThrough out these four yugas, Lord Vishnu is said to have been incarnated ten times in ten different avatars. This principleis known as Dasavatara (Sanskrit dasa = ten). During the Satya Yuga, the Age of Truth, human beings were spiritually most advanced and had great psychic powers.In the Treta Yuga people still remained righteousand adhered to moral ways of life. Lord Rama of the epic poem the Ramayana lived in Treta Yuga.In the Dwapara Yuga, men had lost all knowledge of the intelligence and bliss bodies. Lord Krishna was born in this age.Living in the Kali YugaWe are said to presently be living in the Kali Yuga—in a world infested with impurities and vices. The numbers of people possessing noble virtues are diminishing day by day. Floods and famine, war and crime,deceit, and duplicity characterize this age. But, say the scriptures, it is only in this age of critical troubles that final emancipation is possible.Kali Yuga has two phases: In the first phase,humans—having lost the knowledge of the two higher selves—possessed knowledge of the "breath body" apart from the physical self. Now during the second phase, however, even this knowledge has deserted humanity, leaving us only with the awareness of the gross physical body. This explains why human kind is now more preoccupied with the physical self than any other aspect of existence. Due to our preoccupation with our physical bodies and our lower selves, and because of our emphasis on the pursuit of gross materialism,this age has been termed the Age of Darkness—an age when we have lost touch with our inner selves, an age of profound ignorance.What the Scriptures SayBoth the two greatepics—the Ramayana and Mahabharata—have spoken about the Kali Yuga. In the Tulasi Ramayana, we find the sage Kakbhushundi foretelling:In the Kali Yuga, the hot bed of sin, men and women are all steeped in unrighteousness and act contrary to the Vedas. Every virtue had been engulfed by the sins of Kali Yuga; all good books had disappeared;impostors had promulgated a number of creeds, which they had invented out of their own wit. The people had all fallen prey to delusion and all pious acts had been swallowed by greed.In the Mahabharata (Santi Parva), the hero Yudhishthir says:“The ordinances of the Vedas disappear gradually in every successive age, the duties in the Kali age are entirely of another kind. It seems, therefore, that duties have been laid down for there spective age according to the powers of human beings in the respective ages. ”The sage Vyasa, later on, clarifies: In the Kali Yuga, the duties of the respective order disappear and men become afflicted by inequity.What Happens Next?According to Hindu cosmology, it is predicted that at the end of the Kali Yuga, Lord Shiva will destroy the universe and the physical body will undergo a great transformation. After the dissolution, Lord Brahma will recreate the universe, and human kind will become the Beings of Truth once again.
