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Manvantara: Difference between revisions
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(Created page with "[Sanskrit from ''manv'', used in compounds for ''manu'', + ''antara'' “interval,” “period of time”] In Hinduism, the period or age of a Manu; one of the fourteen inter...") |
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Every world creation evolves through the four ''yugas'', or ages, which are the smallest units in the Hindu cosmic cycle. These four ages are '''Satya''' or '''Krita''', '''Tretā''', '''Dvāpara''', and '''Kali'''. The first age begins in perfection and each succeeding one decreases in length and increases in its degradations. The combined duration of all four ages is said to be 4,320,000 years. (For a different calculation of the duration of the yugas, see ''The Holy Science'', by Swami Sri Yukteswar.)<ref>Swami Sri Yukteswar, ''The Holy Science'', 7th ed. (Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1972), pp. x–xxiii.</ref> | Every world creation evolves through the four ''yugas'', or ages, which are the smallest units in the Hindu cosmic cycle. These four ages are '''Satya''' or '''Krita''', '''Tretā''', '''Dvāpara''', and '''Kali'''. The first age begins in perfection and each succeeding one decreases in length and increases in its degradations. The combined duration of all four ages is said to be 4,320,000 years. (For a different calculation of the duration of the yugas, see ''The Holy Science'', by Swami Sri Yukteswar.)<ref>Swami Sri Yukteswar, ''The Holy Science'', 7th ed. (Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1972), pp. x–xxiii.</ref> | ||
According to one tradition, the cycle of four yugas, known as a ''mahayuga'', is repeated 1,000 times, thereby forming a larger cycle, or ''kalpa'', which constitutes a complete cosmic cycle from the origination to the destruction of a world system. A kalpa is one day in the life of Brahma. It is during the day of Brahma that the manifest world evolves. Each day is followed by the night of Brahma during which all matter in the universe is absorbed into the Universal Spirit. This period of destruction, or involution, is called a ''pralaya''. Matter is again formed after this cycle, continuing to evolve during each day of Brahma and to dissolve during his night. | According to one tradition, the cycle of four yugas, known as a ''mahayuga'', is repeated 1,000 times, thereby forming a larger cycle, or ''kalpa'', which constitutes a complete cosmic cycle from the origination to the destruction of a world system. A kalpa is one day in the life of Brahma. It is during the day of Brahma that the manifest world evolves. Each day is followed by the night of Brahma during which all matter in the universe is absorbed into the Universal Spirit. This period of destruction, or involution, is called a ''[[pralaya]]''. Matter is again formed after this cycle, continuing to evolve during each day of Brahma and to dissolve during his night. | ||
Brahma’s lifetime is conceived as being 100 cosmic years, a vast length of time calculated as 311,040,000,000,000 solar years, the largest of the cosmic cycles. | Brahma’s lifetime is conceived as being 100 cosmic years, a vast length of time calculated as 311,040,000,000,000 solar years, the largest of the cosmic cycles. | ||