Ninth Moon Black (NMB), Kalyug: Part I: An Overview of Vedic Time

For the previous article: Ninth Moon Black, Kalyug: an introduction

Welcome back dear readers,

Our aim is to give you a basic over view of the concepts of Vedic Time and Yuga Cycles; in order to continue our setup of a detailed examination of Ninth Moon Black's (NMB) EP Kalyug (bandcamp). 

As a fore-word, the next post/part in this series is (to be) an examination of the work of  Michael Cremo. Know as a radical archeologist, and for good reasons, Michael A. Cremo brakes with Darwinian evolutionary theory, running in opposition to "mainstream" geology and archeology, as well as major (Western/Science) presuppositions, apriori assumptions, by first demonstrating that there is archeology evidence that supports thinking that humans have been around a lot longer than we are presently willing to admit. 

Because of archeological evidence, which cannot be explained by modern theories of human evolution from a less complex organism to us, but the other way around (and around) is perhaps why Cremo pays attention to these archeological anomalies, which stand in contradict with present "accepted" understanding. Which gives rationale to why Cremo has been lead to take Hinduism and other ancient texts a bit more seriously/literally.  For new readers, NBM album Kalyug is based on, an interpretation of Michael A. Cremo's work.

Here we turn to the matter of Hindu (Time) Yuga Cycles. It is well to keep in mind that Hinduism has four major varieties, which are barely considered in this article. 

The four great epochs in Hinduism are: Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapar Yuga and Kali Yuga. Satya Yuga or the Age of Truth is said to last for four thousand divine years, Treta Yuga for three thousand, Dwapara Yuga for two thousand and Kali Yuga will last for one thousand divine Years that equals to 432,000 earthly years. It is also believed that three of these great ages have already passed away, and we are now living in the fourth one. What these ages exactly mean, and why this division, it's hard to explain, because they appear too unrealistic to be true for the rational mind. [whose rationale, whose mind? emphasis added, link]; 

[A seemingly more actuate time table]: 

Satya Yuga      1,728,000  

Treta Yuga        1,296,000

Dvapara Yuga      864,000 

Kali Yuga             432,000
                        __________
Total                  4,320,000  One yuga cycle.

Yuga Cycles: 

Unlike our present Western understanding of Time, what I am calling Vedic Time is divided into epochs, more precisely, four time cycles of different duration. Yet, again, to appreciate this more fully, to understand the difference, one must let go off what they know of time as ultimately beginning and ultimately ending. In this understanding of time and human history, time repeats four cycles, eternally.

We shall starting with the most perfect of ages

Satya Yuga (our past and present):

"Migrating to this planet in their subtle bodies, many of our forebearers traveled through the Sun. The beginnings of mankind's mission on this planet came in a far-away time, when the atmosphere was dense with waters and gases. Flowers and animals were larger and more exotic than today. At first the transformation from etheric to physical form was difficult, but ceremonies evolved which, using the fragrances of fruits and flowers, brought devotionally to special pedestals, assisted in bringing through beings who absorbed these organic essences to materialize a denser, earthly, fibrous body. These beings loved the many jewels and golden ornaments that were crafted to bedeck and help support their flexible forms. Human life did not evolve from lesser earthly species. Aum." taken from The Lemurian Scrolls by Subramuniya and Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (emphasis added).

As you can see from the above emphasized text, even our bodies/souls where much different... as it is something we will follow in our next post, please notice two facts of the above passage... the first being that we traveled through the Sun... and the other that we lived at a time when the earth was geologically much different... 

set the controls for the heart of the Sun

In the age of Satya human beings have become a very spiritual "race" of beings. We were/have (both are present is our past, and our past our present, depending on which direction we turn towards) been said to have been/become taller, live/d longer, and are move more easily to perfection as we are said to be very close with nature (our environment). Even our bodies are different. But for now, what stands important here is that people are supposed to be aware of and respect the fact that they are connected with their environments, with what is called nature (as apposed to man-made environs). I like to envision the cover of old Yes albums.


What can be seen here is a movement from unity and community in nature towards increased isolation from the environment (perceptual and actual alienation; if there is a real difference) and increased individualization. Perhaps, what we have here is similar to a Western Platonic/Christian ideal (ideology?); in the sense that we move from Paradise to the Fall, to inequity on our way back to the garden, a promise of heaven on earth, and a promise of new bodies that are unaffected by death and disease. Yet in Satya we do not yet become immortal, but are said to live 100,000 years. Obviously, these creation stories are similar, but they are not exactly the same. The scared Sanskrit texts of Hinduism, the Puranas, give us a description that fits better with Everett's infamous wave description of quantum mechanics Many-Worlds Theory, than our singular time line, which is presently being reconsidered.


The major difference is time, that its is not simply a singular line segment between two transcendent and mythical limits (the final end and the first beginning). Rather this understanding is more like a circle or is it a spiral, even a circle within circles, cycles within cycles, a repetition (or perhaps, its a never quite repetition). And yet that the Satya Yuga comes to an end through transitional periods (time durations between ages) that transform our earthly being, and increase our distance from spiritual perfection, decreasing our lifespans, devolving into kingdoms, into corruption and society becomes fragmentary (each star their own law). According to the move through the Tetra Yuga to an even less perfect age of Dvapara Yuga (DY), only to arriving at our Satya Yuga mirror opposite, our present time cycle, Kali Yuga. T/here are a few curious matters to be mentioned. All time, all recorded time, documented/written history is located in Kali Yuga. And while there are many views, different takes on the amount of time that each cycle has, and if they are literal or symbolic. But a basic formula can be found here, Time In Hinduism: The Yuga.


Kali* Yuga (our Now time)


It is said that we are at the end part of Kali Yuga, but no matter how far into Kali Yuga we actually are, what seems less debatable is time is about up, as far as I can tell (but I have seen difference of a hundred years, much longer than the current projected human life expectancy). Have we missed the coming of the divine Kalki? If not 2012, when? Another alignment of the stars 2023, 2025 the forever not yet? 

Yet if one can at least momentary agree that such an age as Kali Yuga exists, then is it possible that there is something to the fact of another coming age or transformation of our being? It seems that the age of Kali prepares the way for Satya, by breaking down worlds order, strengthening individual character, for later transformations after the coming of the 10th Manifestation of Shiva, Kalki.  Another version of the Apocalypse? And by that mention one cannot hardly passover the coincidence of Mayan and Hindu calendars which point to a major planetary shift, of an end or at least a beginning of the end of the world as we know towards that ever present promise of something better. While this can be the coincidence of astronomy, astrology, occulture. It is already more than that as 2012, Dec 21st approaches the topic becomes seemingly unavoidable... and it is towards that reality of the ever-present desire/promise of ending of our understanding of TIME, the urge to destroy the clocks and our days divided into oppression, but is this the way out of the unwanted ways (the delusion that prevail despite our dissatisfaction) for the better ways of which we dream of (even if secretly) . Do we have a choice in the matter of the changing times? Perhaps all ways are open to us, if we only awake to-gather to realize. Perhaps that is just another (maya) worldly dream. To the next time, when we will to explore more deeply Hindu Astrology, as well as its use of astronomy, when we examine the work of Michael Cremo.


* It perhaps should be noted that Kali Yuga is not related to the Goddess Kali, as one might assume, but rather refers to a troubled time of decline.

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