YUGAS

TIME

UNITS

YUGAS• Yuga in Hindu Philosophy is the name of an epoch or era within a four age cycle.

• According to Hindu Cosmology, life in the universe is created and destroyed once

every 4.1 to 8.2 billion years which is one full day (day and night) for BRAHMA

• The lifetime of a Brahma himself may be between 40 billion and 311 trillion years.

• The cycles are said to repeat like the seasons, waxing and waning within a greater

time-cycle of the creation and destruction of our universe.

• Like Summer, Spring, Winter and Autumn, each yuga involves stages or gradual

changes which the earth and the consciousness of mankind goes through as a

whole.

• A complete yuga cycle from a high GOLDEN AGE, called the SATHYA YUGA to a Dark

Age, KALI YUGA and back again is said to be caused by the solar system's motion

around another star.

DURATIONS OF FOUR YUGAS

According to the LAWS OF MANU, one of the earliest known texts describing the yugas, the

length is 4800 years + 3600 years + 2400 years + 1200 years for a total of 12,000 years for one

arc, or 24,000 years to complete the cycle (one precession of the equinox).

There is no mention of a year of the demigods or any years longer than the solar, which is

consistent with description in The Holy Science.

However, the one debatable interpretation from the Srimad Bhagavatam states the following:

"The duration of the Satya millennium equals 4,800 years of the Demigods, the duration of the

Dvāpara millennium equals 2,400 years; and that of the Kali millennium is 1,200 years of the

demigods...

As aforementioned, one year of the demigods is equal to 360 years of the human beings. The

duration of the Satya-yuga is therefore 4,800 x 360, or 1,728,000 years. The duration of the

Tretā-yuga is 3,600 x 360, or 1,296,000 years. The duration of the Dvāpara-yuga is 2,400 x 360,

or 864,000 years.

And the last, the Kali-yuga, is 1,200 x 360, or 432,000 years in total." (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam

3.11.19) These 4 yugas follow a timeline ratio of (4:3:2:1).

While the long yuga count is the most popular it does not correlate to any known celestial

motion found in the Astronomical Almanac.

The value of 24,000 years is within 7% of the modern astronomical calculation of one full

precession of the equinox of 25,772 years.

This phenomenon is observed as the stars moving retrograde across the sky at about 50 arc

seconds per year and is thought to produce periods of warm ages and ice ages known as the

Milankovitch Cycle, thus the yuga cycle may have some basis in known terrestrial cycles.

YUGASDEVA

YEARSBRAHMA JNANA LIFE STYLE

HUMAN

STATURE

AVERAGE HUMAN

LIFE SPANATTITUDE NUMBER OF AVATARS OF VISHNU

KRITA/SATYA

YUGA-GOLDEN

AGE

4,800

YEARS

BHRAMHANA

VARNA- THE

BRAHMANAS ARE

INVOLVED IN

YAGYA, SELF-STUDY,

DONATION AND

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

VIRTUE REIGNS

SUPREME. THE GODDESS

DHARMA BULL, WHICH

SYMBOLIZES MORALITY,

STOOD ON FOUR LEGS

21 CUBITS 100,000 YEARS.

POSITIVE AND

NEGATIVE ATTITUDES

MERGE TO BECOME

ONE AND THE SAME

THE FIRST FOUR AVATARS MATSYA,

KURMA, VARAHA AND NARASIMHA

CAME IN THIS YUGA.

TRETA YUGA-

SILVER AGE

3,600

YEARS

KSHATRIYA

VARNA-THE DUTIES

OF KSHATRIYAS ARE

THE PROTECTION OF

THEIR SUBJECTS

THERE WAS 3 QUARTER

VIRTUE & 1 QUARTER

SIN. THE GODDESS

DHARMA BULL, WHICH

SYMBOLIZES MORALITY,

STOOD ON THREE LEGS

14 CUBITS10,000 YEARS

POSITIVE AND

NEGATIVE ATTITUDES

ARE SEPARATE

THE SECOND THREE AVATARS

VAMANA, PARASHURAMA AND SRI

RAMA CAME IN THIS YUGA.

DWAPARA

YUGA-BRONZE

AGE

2,400

YEARS

VAISHYA

VARNA-The

duties of

Vaishyas are

trade and

agriculture.

THERE WAS 1 HALF

VIRTUE & 1 HALF SIN,

THE GODDESS DHARMA

BULL, WHICH SYMBOLIZES

MORALITY, STOOD ON

TWO LEGS

7 CUBITS1000 YEARS.

THERE IS JUST

POSITIVE ATTITUDE

AND NO NEGATIVE

ATTITUDE

THE THIRD TWO AVATARS KRISHNA

AND BALARAMA CAME IN THE

YUGA.

KALI YUGA-

IRON AGE

1,200

YEARS

SHUDRA VARNA-

The duty of

Sudras is to

perform tasks

that demand

highly physical

work

THERE IS 1 QUARTER

VIRTUE & 3 QUARTER

SIN. THE GODDESS

DHARMA BULL, WHICH

SYMBOLIZES MORALITY,

STANDING ON ONE LEG.

3.5 CUBITS 100 YEARSTHE TWO ATTITUDES

ARE ABSENT.

THE TENTH AVATAR, KALKI IS GOING

TO COME IN THIS YUGA.

Hindu religious scriptures such as the Vedas and Puranas describe a massive range of units ofKala measurements, spanning right from Paramaṇu (time length of about 17 Microseconds)

to the Maha-Manvantara (311.04 trillion Years).

According to these texts, the creation and destruction of the universe is a cyclic process,

which repeats itself forever.

Each cycle starts with the birth and expansion (lifetime) of the universe equaling 311.04 trillion

years, followed by its complete annihilation (which also prevails for the same duration).

Ancient Hindu units of measurement are still prevalent among the Hindu, Jain and Buddhist

communities.

They are used as a base for doing certain type of astrological calculations, performing

religious rituals, etc.

Hindu measurements in logarithmic scale (approx.)

LUNAR METRICS

1. LUNAR DAY IS DEFINED AS THE TIME IT TAKES FOR THE LONGITUDINAL ANGLE BETWEEN THE

MOON AND THE SUN TO INCREASE BY 12°.

2. TITHIS BEGIN AT VARYING TIMES OF DAY AND VARY IN DURATION FROM APPROXIMATELY 19

TO APPROXIMATELY 26 HOURS.

A PAKSA OR LUNAR FORTNIGHT CONSISTS OF 15 TITHIS

A MĀSA OR LUNAR MONTH

(APPROXIMATELY 29.5 DAYS)

IS DIVIDED INTO 2 PAKṢAS: THE ONE BETWEEN NEW

MOON AND FULL MOON (WAXING) IS CALLED GAURA

(BRIGHT) OR ŚUKLA PAKṢA; THE ONE BETWEEN FULL

MOON AND NEW MOON (WANING) KṚṢṆA (DARK)

PAKSHA

A ṚTU (OR SEASON) 2 MĀSA

AN AYANA IS 3 ṚTUS

A YEAR IS TWO AYANAS – UTTARAYANAM & DAKSHINAYANAM

RECKONING OF TIME AMONGST THE PITṚS (ANCESTORS)

HUMAN DAYS PITRS DAYS

15 DAYS 1 DAY (LIGHT) OR NIGHT

30 DAYS 1 DAY (LIGHT) AND NIGHT

900 HUMAN DAYS/2.5 HUMAN YEARS 1 MONTH OF THE PITṚS

10800 HUMAN DAYS/30 HUMAN YEARS 1 YEAR OF THE PITṚS

1,080,000 HUMAN DAYS/3000 HUMAN YEARS THE LIFESPAN OF THE PITṚS IS 100 YEARS

RECKONING OF TIME AMONGST THE DEVAS

The life span of any Hindu Deva spans nearly (or more than) 4.5 million years.

Statistically, we can also look it as …

The Viṣṇu Purāṇa Time measurement section of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa Book I ChapterIII explains the above as follows:

1 MAHA YUGA12000 DEVA YEARS = LIFE SPAN OF DEVAS. 12,000 DIVINE YEAR = 4 YUGAS (= 4,320,000 HUMAN YEARS). [2*12,000 = 24,000 DIVINE YEAR = 12000 REVOLUTIONS OF SUN AROUND ITS DUAL]

2 AYANAS - 6-MONTH PERIODS

1 HUMAN YEAR OR 1 DAY OF THE DEVAS

1 SATYA YUGA 4,000 + 400 + 400 = 4,800 DIVINE YEARS (= 1,728,000 HUMAN YEARS)

1 TRETĀ YUGA 3,000 + 300 + 300 = 3,600 DIVINE YEARS (= 1,296,000 HUMAN YEARS)

1 DVĀPARA YUGA 2,000 + 200 + 200 = 2,400 DIVINE YEARS (= 864,000 HUMAN YEARS)

1 KALI YUGA 1,000 + 100 + 100 = 1,200 DIVINE YEARS (= 432,000 HUMAN YEARS)

RECKONING OF TIME FOR BRAHMA

LIFE SPAN OF BRAHMA1000 MAHĀ-YUGAS 1 KALPA

1 KALPA 1 DAY (DAY ONLY) OF BRAHMA

2 KALPAS - 8.64 BILLION HUMAN YEARS CONSTITUTE A DAY AND NIGHT OF BRAHMA

30 DAYS OF BRAHMA - 259.2 BILLION HUMAN YEARS1 MONTH OF BRAHMA

12 MONTHS OF BRAHMA-3.1104 TRILLION HUMAN YEARS 1 YEAR OF BRAHMA

50 YEARS OF BRAHMA 1 PARĀRDHA

2 PARARDHAS = 100 YEARS OF BRAHMA -311.04 TRILLION HUMAN YEARS

1 PARA = 1 MAHĀ-KALPA (THE LIFESPAN OF BRAHMA)

ONE DAY OF BRAHMA IS DIVIDED INTO 10,000 PARTS CALLED CHARAṆAS. THE CHARAṆAS ARE DIVIDED AS FOLLOWS:

CHARANAS SOLAR YEARS YUGAS

4 CHARAṆAS 17, 28, 000 SATYA YUGA

3 CHARAṆAS 12, 96 ,000 TRETA YUGA

2 CHARAṆAS 8, 64, 000 DVAPARA YUGA

1 CHARAṆAS 4, 32 ,000 KALI YUGA

LIFE SPAN OF BRAMAH IS CONFIRMED BY THE GĪTĀ ŚLOKA 8.17 (STATEMENT) "SAHASRA-YUGA-PARYANTAM AHAR YAD BRAHMAṆO VIDUḤ RĀTRIṀ

YUGA-SAHASRĀNTĀṀ TE 'HO-RĀTRA-VIDO JANĀḤ", MEANING, A DAY OF BRAHMA IS OF 1000 MAHĀ-YUGA. THUS A DAY OF BRAHMA, KALPA, IS OF

DURATION: 4.32 BILLION SOLAR YEARS. TWO KALPAS CONSTITUTE A DAY AND NIGHT (ADHI SANDHI) OF BRAHMA

1,000 CYCLES OF MAHĀ-YUGA ONE DAY OF BRAHMA.

ONE CYCLE OF FOUR YUGAS ONE MAHĀ-YUGA 4.32 MILLION SOLAR YEARS

MANVANTARA WHICH IS RULED BY MANU - A KALPA CONSISTS OF A

PERIOD OF 4.32 BILLION SOLAR YEARS CALLED FOLLOWED BY 14

MANVATARAS AND SAṂDHI KALAS.

71 MAHĀ-YUGA - 306,720,000 SOLAR YEARS

AFTER EACH MANVANTARA FOLLOWS ONE SAṂDHI KALĀ OF THE SAME

DURATION AS A KṚTA YUGA (1,728,000 = 4 CARAṆA).

IT IS SAID THAT DURING A SAṂDHI KALĀ, THE ENTIRE EARTH IS SUBMERGED

IN WATER.

A DAY OF BRAHMA EQUALS

(14 TIMES 71 MAHĀ-YUGA) + (15 × 4 CHARAṆAS)

= 994 MAHĀ-YUGA + (15 * 4800)

= 994 MAHĀ-YUGA + (72,000 YEARS)[DEVA YEARS] / 6 = 12,000[DEVA YEARS] VIZ. ONE MAHA YUGA.

= 994 MAHĀ-YUGA + 6 MAHĀ-YUGA

= 1,000 MAHĀ-YUGA

THE SURYA SIDDHANTA DEFINITION OF TIMESCALES

THE SURYA SIDDHANTA [CHAPTER 14 MĀNĀDHYĀYAH (मानाध्यायः)], DOCUMENTS A COMPREHENSIVE MODEL OF NINE DIVISIONS OF TIME CALLED MĀNA (मान) WHICH SPAN FROM VERY SMALL TIME UNITS (PRĀŅA [प्राण] - 4 SECONDS) TO VERY LARGE TIME SCALES (PARA [पर] - 311.04 TRILLION SOLAR YEARS).

THE CURRENT DATE: CURRENTLY, 50 YEARS OF BRAHMA HAVE ELAPSED AND THIS IS THE FIRST 'DAY' OF THE 51ST YEAR.THIS BRAHMA'S DAY, KALPA, IS NAMED AS SHVETAVARAHA KALPA. WITHIN THIS DAY, SIX MANVANTARAS HAVE ALREADY ELAPSEDAND THIS IS THE SEVENTH MANAVATARA, NAMED AS – VAIVASVATHA MANVANTARA (OR SRADDHADEVA MANAVATARA). WITHIN THE VAIVASVATHA MANAVANTARA, 27 MAHAYUGAS (4 YUGAS TOGETHER IS A MAHAYUGA), AND THE KRITA, TRETA AND DWAPARA YUGAS OF THE 28TH MAHAYUGA HAVE ELAPSED.

THIS KALIYUGA IS IN THE 28TH MAHAYUGA. THIS KALIYUGA BEGAN IN THE YEAR 3102 BC IN THE PROLEPTIC JULIAN CALENDAR.SINCE 50 YEARS OF BRAHMA HAVE ALREADY ELAPSED, THIS IS THE SECOND PARARDHA, ALSO CALLED AS DVITHIYA PARARDHA.THE TIME ELAPSED SINCE THE CURRENT BRAHMA HAS TAKEN OVER THE TASK OF CREATION CAN BE CALCULATED AS:-

432000 × 10 × 1000 × 2 = 8.64 BILLION YEARS (2 KALPA (DAY AND NIGHT) ) 8.64 × 109 × 30 × 12 = 3.1104 TRILLION YEARS (1 YEAR OF BRAHMA)3.1104 × 1012 × 50 = 155.52 TRILLION YEARS (50 YEARS OF BRAHMA)

(6 × 71 × 4320000 ) + 7 × 1.728 × 10^6 = 1852416000 YEARS ELAPSED IN FIRST SIX MANVATARAS, AND SANDHI KALAS IN THE CURRENT KALPA27 × 4320000 = 116640000 YEARS ELAPSED IN FIRST 27 MAHAYUGAS OF THE CURRENT MANVANTARA

1.728 × 10^6 + 1.296 × 10^6 + 864000 = 3888000 YEARS ELAPSED IN CURRENT MAHAYUGA

3102 + 2013 = 5115 YEARS ELAPSED IN CURRENT KALIYUGA.

SO THE TOTAL TIME ELAPSED SINCE CURRENT BRAHMA IS

155520000000000 + 1852416000 + 116640000 + 3888000 + 5115 = 155,521,972,949,115 YEARS < AS OF 2013 AD >

THE CURRENT KALI YUGA BEGAN AT MIDNIGHT 17 FEBRUARY / 18 FEBRUARY IN 3102 BC IN THE PROLEPTIC JULIAN CALENDAR.AS PER THE INFORMATION ABOVE ABOUT YUGA PERIODS, ONLY 5,115 YEARS ARE PASSED OUT OF 432,000 YEARS OF CURRENT KALI YUGA, AND HENCE ANOTHER 426,985 YEARS ARE LEFT TO COMPLETE THIS 28TH KALI YUGA OF VAIVASWATHA MANVANTARA.

COMPILED BY

P.BASKARAN.

MAIL ID: BASKI_1960@YAHOO.CO.IN