The ancient Indian tradition holds Eternity, to be a never-ending cycle of transient and finite periods of Time, called the Kalpa. The Kalpa was subdivided into units measured on two scales, one cosmic and the other human. The Kalpa itself was but a cosmic day in the life of Brahma the Creator, who himself had a finite life span of 100 cosmic years. Each cosmic year was comprised of 300 cosmic days and 300 cosmic nights. The Universe was created by Brahma at the beginning of each cosmic day and dissolved at the beginning of each cosmic night. How does the cosmic day relate to the human day ? The cosmic day, or Kalpa, is equal to 4.32 billion years on the human scale as explained below.
THE MANVANTARA
The Kalpa is divided into 14 Manvantaras, each ruled on behalf of Brahma, by a Manu.The following is the sequence of the Manvantaras :
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| Each of the 14 Manvantaras is divided into 71 Mayayugas and are separated from one another by an interval called a Sandhya. There are thus 15 separating Sandhyas which together last 6 Mahayugas. Thus the total duration of the Kalpa is (14 x 71) + 6 ie 1000 Mahayugas. |
| Each Mahayuga breaks up
to a repetitive sequence of 4 Yugas, viz Satya (or Krita),
Treta, Dvapara and Kali Yuga with the following breakup:
Satya (Krita)
17,28,000 years
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| We are to-day in the Kali
Yuga of the twenty-eighth Mahayuga and the Kali Yuga
began in 3101 B.C. If Brahma had a clock like ours, every 43.2 seconds on it would be equal to 1 Mahayuga on the human scale. One of our days in 1995 would show as 11-29 A.M. on what is "to-day" for Him. On the human scale, around 1,972,949,100 years have passed since the present Kalpa, which is his "to-day", began. |
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This panoramic view of Time as a finite part of Eternity comes from
the Srimad
Bhagavatam, a great and revered work of 1,00,000 verses in Sanskrit, ascribed to sage Vyasa. And it places at different points of the vast timespan of the present Kalpa all the great and revered figures that vividly live even to-day in the minds of the millions of India. The Matsya Avatar comes in the dawn before the break of the present Kalpa. The Varaha and Narasimha Avatars along with Dhruva, later immortalised as the Pole Star, come in the first Manvantara of the new Kalpa. This Kalpa is called the Svetavaraha Kalpa as it was ushered in by the Varaha Avatar. Rama , Krishna and Vyasa come in the Dvapara Yuga of the twenty-seventh Mahayuga of the seventh Manvantara. |
| The Bhagavatham is replete with vivid stories of all these central characters and events that appeared at different points of the vast span of this Kalpa. One story has a special charm for it tells of a character who traversed the vast timespan of the first 27 Mahayugas of the current Vaivasvata Manvantara. Kakudmi was a king who lived on earth in the Satya Yuga of the first Mahayuga of the current Manvantara. Anxious to find a good match for his beautiful daughter Revati, he went to Brahma Loka, the world of Brahma, to get his advice. There, he had to wait for around 20 minutes(on the cosmic scale) for Brahma to return from watching a dance performance. Seeing him, Brahma told Kakudmi that during this period of his waiting, 27 Mahayugas had already elapsed on earth, and if he (Kakudmi) were to return now, he would find people on the earth enjoying the avatar of Krishna. In addition, he would also find in Krishna's brother Balarama, the right match for his daughter. Kakudmi followed Brahma's advice and thus it was that Revati came to be married to Balarama. Today of course, we would be inclined to refer to Kakudmi's travel in space and time as science fiction of that day. |
| How deeply these grand concepts of time and the great events and individuals that appeared at various points of this vast expanse of time, are embedded in the Indian psyche can be recognised in a ritual procedure called the Sankalpa performed even today in millions of Indian homes. The Sankalpa is comprised of a few Sanskrit verses wherein the performer of a ritual commences it with an expression of his resolve to follow the prescribed procedure for obtaining the desired result. There are two versions of the Sankalpa, a detailed one called the MahaSankalpa, and the ordinary Sankalpa. Which one is used, turns on the nature of the ritual. Either way, it's text declares the identity of the place and time of performance of the ritual as finite points of time and place, within a context of Infinity and Eternity, and the ritual always concludes with a declaration by the performer of his identity in terms of his Vedic lineage. Typically, the ordinary version of the Sankalpa for performing the monthly Shraddha on every New Moon day (Amavasya) for pleasing the manes runs as given below. |
| Ap:ev:*:H p:ev:*:< v:a s:v:aüv:sT:aö g:t:<ep: v:a y:H sm:rðt:Î p:ØNRrikax:ö s:b:aÊ AaBy:nt:rSS:Øec:H . m:an:s:ö v:aec:kö p:ap:ö km:üN:a s:m:Øp:aej:üt:ö Âiram: sm:rN:ðn:òv: vy:p:<het: n: s:öS:y:H. Âiram: ram: ram: et:eT:ev:ü\N:ØûH t:T:av:arH n:x:*:ö ev:\N:Ørðv: c: y:<g:Á krN:ö c:òv: s:v:üö ev:\N:Øm:y:ö j:g:t:Î . Âi g:<ev:nd g:<ev:nd g:<ev:nd A½ Âi B:g:v:t:H m:hap:Ø,\:sy: ev:\N:<raµ:y:a )v:t:üm:an:sy: Aa½b:ÒÉN:H e¾t:iy:p:raD:ðü Ãðt:v:rahklp:ð v:òv:sv:t: m:nv:nt:rð AÄaev:öS:et:t:m:ð kel:y:Øg:ð )T:m:ð p:adð j:mb:ܾip:ð B:art:v:\:ðü B:rt:HK:NRð m:ðr<H dex:N:ð p:aÃ:ðü S:kabD:ð A¡sm:n:Î v:t:üm:an: vy:av:haerkñ )B:v:adin:am:Î \:ÄÏy:aH s:öv:ts:raN:aö m:Dy:ð )m:aeD: n:am: s:v:ts:rð utt:ray:N:ð eS:eS:r ?t:aò kÙmB: m:as:ð ká\N:p:x:ð c:t:ØdüSyaaö p:ØNy:et:T:aò B:an:Øv:as:r y:ØVt:ay:aö S:t:eB:\:kÏ n:x:*:y:ØVt:ay:aö es:¹n:am: y:<g: S:kÙen: krN: Ov:ög:ØN: ev:S:ð\:N: ev:eS:Äay:aö Asy:aöö Am:av:asy:ay:aö p:ØNy:et:T:aò dS:ü Âa¹ö Ax:yy: t:àpty:T:üö ehrNy: ( et:l:t:p:üN:) -p:ðN:a½ ker\y:ð . |
| Translated the above slokas run thus :
Whether pure or impure, or in whatever state, one who recollects the lotus-eyed Lord, at once attains purity both internally and externally. There is no doubt that by a mere recollection of Lord Sri Rama, all the sins accumulated by thought , word and deed are totally cleansed. Salutations to Sri Rama, Sri Rama, Sri Rama. The Thithi (day of the fortnight during the waning of the Moon) is Vishnu, likewise the day of the week is Vishnu, the ruling star of the day is also Vishnu, the Yoga as well as the Karana are also Vishnu and the entire Universe is nothing but Vishnu. Salutations to Sri Govinda, Sri Govinda, Sri Govinda. In this Universe, operating upon the will of the first ever omnipotent, great Purusha, Lord Vishnu, on this new moon day of the dark fortnight, fourteen days after the full moon which is defined by the Siddha Yoga, (one of 5 Yogas marking a day) Sakuni Karana, (one of the 11 astrological divisions of the day) Satabhishak star (the 24th. of the 27 stars of the Zodiac), Sunday and in the month of Kumbha during the summer solstice when the Sun is in the north, in the autumnal season, during the year known as Pramadhi, (the current year in the cycle of sixty years starting from the year named Prabhava), during the first quarter of the aeon of Kali, in the island of Jambu, in the country of Bharatha, in the continent also known as Bharatha, south of Mount Meru, in the second Parardha (part) of the Svetavaraha Kalpa, in the 28 th Manvantara known as Vaivasvata Manvantara, I offer oblations, in the form of seeds of sesame with water , for the utmost satisfaction of the Manes. |
| It would be appropriate to refer at
this point in this presentation to the finer divisions within a year :
12 months per year 30 days per month 24 hours per day 60 ghatikas per day (1 ghatika = 24 minutes) 60 palas per ghatika 6 asus (breathing) one pala 1 asu = 2.5 kasthas (the time interval of 4 seconds) 1 kastha = 4 dirgha matras |
| As stated earlier every / ritual or
rite ends with the Karta (performer) by offering his salutations to the
Almighty, the elders and the learned, and by stating his identity in terms
of his Vedic lineage in the following words :
AeB:v:ady:ð Aae{rs: Aamb:ri\: y:aòv:n:aà *:y:a ?\:ðy: )v:ra¡nv:t: hert: g:<*: Aap:st:mb:s:Ü*:H y:j:ØSS:aKaa ADy:ay:i Âi ev:\N:Ø S:m:aü n:am:ahö A¡sm: B:<H A free translation would run as follows : Coming from the lineage of the three seers, Angiras, Ambarisha and Yauvanasva, I belong to the Harita clan and am a follower of Apastamba's manual of prescriptions under the Yajur Veda. I am a student Sri Vishnu Sarma by name. Salutations O ! Sir ! |