“You will find your answers to any of your questions in the Puranas” used to be something I was used to listening while growing up. When I recently went to a planetorium and saw the expanse of the universe, it made me think about the microcosm as well. While it triggered multiple thoughts in me, I started looking at each of them one by one.
Sharing what I read, realized and understood thus far…
Puranas are from Hindu mythology, so I will be referencing some of the Hindu Gods in this post.
- Lord Brahma has the life span of 100 years. (In Brahma years (not our 365 days a year types.. let us see how much that is as we read along).
- His life span is called as “Par” and half his life span is called as “Parardha”, meaning half a life span (Par-ardha – where ardha means half).
Now let us start from the smallest level of time that can be quantified
- One Kastha consists of 15 Nimeshas
- One Kala consists of 30 Kasthas
- One muhurtha consists of 30 Kalas
- The period of 30 muhurthas are equal to one day & night of human beings (24 hour cycle)
- One month equals 30 days and nights
- Six months make an Ayan
- One year consists of two Ayans (Uttarayan and Dakshinayan)
- Uttarayan is the day of the deities
- Dakshinayan is the night of the deities
Now let us start looking expanding our perspective
- Four yugas (also known as Chatur yuga) are equivalent to 12,000 years of the deities. These yugas occur in a cyclic order
- Satya yuga – 4000 years
- Treta yuga – 3000 years
- Dwapara yuga – 2000 years
- Kali yuga – 1000 years
- Total – 10,000 years
- Each yuga is followed by a hibernation period called Sandhya and Sandhyansh
| Yugas | Sandhya | Sandhyansh |
| Satya Yuga | 400 years | 400 years |
| Treta Yuga | 300 years | 300 years |
| Dwapara Yuga | 200 years | 200 years |
| Kali Yuga | 100 years | 100 years |
| Total | 1000 years | 1000 years |
Now, it starts getting complex 🙂
- One Brahma’s day consists of 1000 such Chatur yugas.
- Fourteen Manus appear during this whole period of 1000 Chatur yugas (or in other words, in a day of Lord Brahma)
- Each Manvantar (meaning during a specific Manu’s phase) is named after a Manu and is equivalent to about 71 Chaturyugas
- A Manvantar is approximately 306,720,000 (about 306 Million years…)
- 14 such Manvantars are there during a Brahma’s day making it 4,294,080,000 (about 4 Billion years)
- After this period of Brahma’s day, deluge takes place and there is unbearable heat
- Lord Brahma then takes rest for the same period of 4 Billion years (equivalent to one Brahma’s night)
- Then, he commences creation again
This process continues for all 100 years of Lord Brahma’s life span. Then, it is time for the next Brahma.
I had to read it over 20+ times to understand and appreciate the micro level and macro level – traversing in my mind the concept of a nimesha (1/20th of a second) to 400 Billion years (One Brahma’s lifespan). Just so absolutely amazing!
Using astrology, we can predict the events and happenings to as minute as 1/20th of a second where the thought is seeded in our mind and the concept of the universe became clear. Traversing the micro and macro was not easy from a mind and thought standpoint. I needed to learn more. Now there were three things I wanted to know.
- More about the universe
- More about Predictions and Astrology
- More about the rest of the information in the Puranas
Felt, my learning to understand the universe had started!