Yuga
Yuga ( Sanskrit युग yuga , n., [ Jugɐ ] "period") is the name of the four ages in Hinduism . One starts from the idea that being is exposed to a repetitive sequence of growth and decay.
Maha-yuga
The shortest of these world cycles is called Maha-Yuga ("long period") and is divided into four world ages of different lengths . These are:
- Satya-Yuga ( सत्य युग ), also called Kṛta yuga ( कृत युग ),
- Treta-Yuga ( त्रेता युग ),
- Dvapara-Yuga ( द्वापर युग )
- Kali-Yuga ( कलि युग )
In the first age of the world, the Krita Yuga , the law of life ( Dharma ) that has taken shape in it is fully realized. The power of the Holy Dharma dwindles by a quarter from age to age. In Treta-Yuga there are only 3/4 of the Dharma , and in Dvapara-Yuga only 1/2 of the Dharma. In kali yuga the worst state is reached. Similar to the ancient world, the development of the world is described as a continuous descent from a "golden" Satya Yuga , via the still "silver" Tretā Yuga to the "bronze" Dvāpara Yuga with a low point in the "iron" Kali Yuga . However, the Indians do not designate the ages according to metals with decreasing value like the Greek mythographers, but according to the throws in the game of dice , where Kṛta ("four") is the winning roll, followed by Tretā ("three", "triad") and Dvāpara ( "Two") and ending in the losing throw Kali , the one.
According to tradition, we currently live in a Kali Yuga, which was held on Friday, February 18, 3102 BC. Has started.
Duration of the cycles
The perfection of the age corresponds to its duration. The first age lasts four times, the second three times and the third twice as long as the last, most imperfect age, so that the duration of a Maha-Yuga is ten times (4 + 3 + 2 + 1) as long as that of the Kali Yuga . In Manusmriti , the “Code of Manu”, the duration of the four world ages is given as 4000, 3000, 2000 and 1000 years, which are preceded or followed by a transition period of 400, 300, 200 or 100 years, which results in a duration of Kali-Yuga of 1000 + 100 + 100 = 1200 years results. The duration of the Maha-Yuga is therefore 12,000 years.
However, according to Bhagavatapurana, one year of this calculation is usually set as a year in the calendar of the gods, which corresponds to 360 years in the calendar of men. This conversion results in the most commonly indicated duration of the yugas, namely
- Kali-Yuga: 1200 × 360 = 432,000 years
- Dvāpara-Yuga: 2400 × 360 = 864,000 years
- Tretā-Yuga: 3600 × 360 = 1,296,000 years
- Satya-Yuga: 4800 × 360 = 1,728,000 years
A Maha-Yuga lasts a total of 4,320,000 years.
1000 Maha-Yugas are a Brahma day or kalpa of 4,320 million years ago. A Brahma day is followed by an equally long Brahma night. The life of a Brahma is 100 Brahma years of 360 days each. Then there is a state of complete meltdown for another 100 Brahma years, after the end of which a new Brahma and at the same time a new world emerge from Vishnu's navel.
A complete world cycle therefore lasts (1000 + 200) × 10 × 1000 × 2 × 360 × 100 = 864 billion god years = 311,040 billion human years. After the end of these approximately 3 × 10 14 years, the whole thing starts all over again.
Yugas according to Sri Yukteswar
According to a theory of the guru Sri Yukteswar in his work The Sacred Science , the distinction between years of the gods and years of men is a falsification, ie the Maha-Yuga lasts (only) 12,000 years. However, he corrected the pessimistic traditional view, in which only descent follows descent, by adding a descending sequence of the four world ages with a corresponding ascending sequence, resulting in a total cycle with a duration of 24,000 years, which roughly corresponds to " Platonic year ” corresponds to the precession of 25,700 to 25,800 years.
According to Sri Yukteswar's calculation, we are at the beginning of Dwapara Yuga and have already passed the transition period. The low point of Kali Yuga , that time where the last Kali Yuga of the descending cycle and the first Kali Yuga meet the rising cycle was about 498 n. Chr. The next summit of perfection will be achieved according to this calculation the year 12,500 .
Inspired by the statements of Sri Yukteswar, scientific theses were put forward which, through astronomical investigations, want to provide evidence of a direct connection between cosmic events on the one hand and the Yugas on the other.
literature
- Heinrich Robert Zimmer : Indian myths and symbols: key to the world of forms of the divine. Diederichs Yellow Row 33. 7th edition Diederichs, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-424-00693-9 , pp. 18–24
Web links
- Yugas , ancientvoice (Eng.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Manusmriti I, 68-71
- ↑ Bhagavatapurana 3, 11, 19 ( Memento of the original from August 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Karl RH Frick: Light and Darkness. Gnostic-theosophical and Masonic-occult secret societies up to the turn of the 20th century , Volume 2; Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005; ISBN 3-86539-044-7 ; P. 282.
- ↑ Jnanavatar Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri: The Sacred Science . 9th edition. Barth, Bern et al. 1993, ISBN 3-502-62671-5
- ↑ Binary Research Institute - Introduction (English)
- ↑ The Great Year , Scientific Theses (English)
