Topic started by marius Darre (@ davinci.ti.telenor.net) on Thu Feb 21 17:02:09 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Many of you have probably read this line in various religious writings... What I am wondering about is it meaning. Is it the allegorical for the periods of creation, and the periods of rest?

Responses:

• From: K (@ 1cust20.tnt15.bos2.da.uu.net) on: Thu Feb 28 01:40:45
  
  PuraanangaLai namba mudiyaadhu. They are all brooda. They're there just to inculcate some good habits(!) in people.
  
  
• From: Marius Darre (@ nietzsche.ti.telenor.net) on: Sun Mar 3 18:29:37
  
  Thank you for answering. Didn't really think I was going to get an answer on that one.
  As I have understood it there is a hierarchy of gods, answering to Bramha. Pitris, manus. Pitris being the formers of inner man...When I hear 'days and nights of Bramha' I think of the periods of rest and creation between the manvantara - the times of men.
  
  
• From: Dr. KK (@ access-isdn2-43.abington.psu.edu) on: Sun Mar 3 20:21:27
  
  Marius:
  In Hindu cosmology the basic cycle, through which the cosmos passes for all eternity, is the kalpa or 'day of Brahma', equivalent to 4,320 million years. A night is of equal length, and 360 days and nights of this duration form one year of Brahma's life; this is expected to last 100 years.
  
  I think he's about 51 now ;) We are halfway through the Shweta-Varaaha Kalpa, the Eon of the White Boar. Each Kalpa is divided into 4 Yugas, or Ages. Satya, Dvapara, Treta and Kali: Correspodning to the four sides of the elongated indian dice: The Ages of the One, Duece. Trey and Four. There is a colorful metaphor for deteriorating mores that pictures the "Cow of Dharma" as balancing on four, three, two and one leg in the corresponding Yugas.
  
  You are right in supposing that this indicates a cyclical nature of creation and destruction.
  
  
• From: Marius Darre (@ nietzsche.ti.telenor.net) on: Mon Mar 4 17:17:32
  
  I have also found '4,320' in Norse mythology also.
  Valhalla, the hall of slain heroes of Viking myth,
  was ruled by the king of the gods, Odin, in the realm of the gods, Asgard.
  The hall had 540 doors, through each of which 800 (slain) heroes could walk abreast.
  540 x 800 = 432,000.
  
  Some say 432,000 is the cosmic key...
  These Kalpas you wrote about - how many are there?
  Is it "only" hundred?
  
  "A kalpa is one day of Lord Brahma and one day of Brahma consists of a thousand cycles of four different yugas or ages.
  The ages are Satya yuga "the golden years, then comes Treta yuga " the silver years", next comes Dvapara yuga " the copper years"
  and last Kali yuga " the iron years". The golden age lasts 1,728,000 years.
  The silver age runs 1,296,000 years.
  The copper age lasts 864,000 and the present age of iron,
  Kali yuga lasts 432,000 years."
  
  It makes a fascinting reading!
  One can't but wonder what comes at the "end" of all the kalpas...
  
  The Eon of the White Boar - it sounds very metaphoric .
  Does it relate to the present humans in this Kalpa?
  Is a Kalpa the same as a Manvantara (Manu-vantara?)?
  When was it our Kali Yuga started, if I remember correct was it with the "death"
  of Krishna?
  
  The Manus are - I have been lead to belive the shapers of the Kalpas...
  The reason why non of the Kalpas are to be like the previous.
  They are the shapers of all life in the Kalpas (tell me if I am wrong) - animal, and human.
  
  Have anyone read the Vimana?
  What do you think when you read it?
  All these machines, golden cities in the sky...and the Mahabaratha were they tell of horrible weapons.
  How does all of this fit into our scientistic understanding of how the past was?
  It seems like we begin from scraps in every Kalpa - and then work our way up...
  Repeating the previous cycles.
  
  
• From: Dr. KK (@ access-isdn2-4.abington.psu.edu) on: Mon Mar 4 22:16:22
  
  I don't believe a "kalpa" is considered the same as a "manu-antara".
  
  The 4 "yugas" or Ages, put together, are said to compose a "mahaa-yuga" - a great age. Seventy two of these constitute the reign of a Manu - a progenitor. And that corresponds in some schools also to the reign of an Indra - King of the Gods.
  
  Fourteen such Manu-antaras are supposed to make up a Kalpa. I re-read my post and I was fuzzy in not specifying that a Kalpa is subdivided before it goes into Yugas. The fourteen Manu-s taht reign in this Eon of the White Boar (preceded by the Eon of the Lotus, Padma Kalpa, are taken to be:
  
  Swayambhuva: Born of the Self-Born
  Swarochishta: Born of The Effulgent
  Uttama: Born of The Highest
  Taamasa: Born of Darkness
  Raivatha: Born of Wealth
  Chaikshusa: Born of Vision
  VAIVASWATHA - The Present one - Born of Brightness
  Arka Savarni: Born of the Sun
  Daksha Savarni: Born of Daksha the Ritualist
  Brahma Savarni: Born of Brahma
  Dharma Savarni: Born of Righteousness
  Rudra Savrni: Born of the Howler
  Deva Savarni: Born of the Divine
  Indra Savarni: Born of Indra the Thunderer
  
  I'm not sure I'd take this as is, but some people also divide this as follows: Twenty seven Maha Yugas is one Pralaya. Seven Pralayas is one Manvantara. Finally, six Manvantaras is a Kalpa. That is, one Kalpa is 27x7x6 = 1,134 Maha Yugas. This works out to 1134 x 4.3 million = 4.876 billion years. And, according to modern science, that is the approximate age of the planet Earth.
  
  You pick which one you want =)
  
  By the way just to prove nothing is permanent, Bramha himself is destroyed in the praLaya - flood - at the end of his life.
  
  The Puranas are quite fun that way to read. Me, I prefer the Bramhanas. Even more fun.
  
  And if you think that's complicated remember that Niddhoggr is gnawing through the roots of Yggdrasil even as Ratatoskr is racing up and down it =) So whether you want to trace the roots back to laughing Hvergelmir, wise Mimir and the Gjallarhorn, or peaceful Urtharbrunn, it lives and dies at the same time..
  
  
• From: Srini (@ 61.11.72.44) on: Wed Mar 6 01:15:34
  
  Can someone move this thread from here to 'Miscellaneous' section where it should rightfully belong.
  
  
• From: JayBee (@ 210.186.103.96) on: Mon Mar 18 18:58:39
  
  about this number 432, there are some interesting connections.
  
  will meet you there in 'miscellaneous'.
  
  
• From: Marius Darre (@ nietzsche.ti.telenor.net) on: Wed Mar 20 17:48:44
  
  And then we have the matter of Bramhas' four heads, and hands.
  Any thougths on the subject?
  
  
  

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