Maha Yugas

According to the theory of creation in Hinduism, time (kal) is a manifestation of Ishwara. God is timeless or eternal, for time is relative and cannot exist in the Absolute.

The past, the present and the future all exist in Him simultaneously. But once manifested in the worlds created by him, time becomes kal chakra, the time cycle. He creates it in order to create divisions and movements of life and sustain the worlds in a particular time frame.

He also uses it to create the illusion of life and death. It is time which is responsible for the old age and death of beings. When we overcome time, we become immortal.

Time in Hinduism is not linear, but cyclical, because the process of creation also is cyclical, involving both involution and evolution. It is also a never ending process; it begins to end and ends to begin. Creation ends when God withdraws all His energies into a state of inactivity and begins when He makes them active again.

The Hindu tradition and Puranas speak of four great epochs of time through which creation passes from the beginning till the end. Each age is represented by certain characteristic features which distinguish it from the others. The tradition confirms that three epoch of time have already passed away into history, while the fourth one is still going on. At the end the fourth epoch, there would be great destruction and ending of creation. These ages are:

1. the Age of Truth called Satyayug

2. the Second Great Age called Tretayug

3. the Third Great Age called Dwaparayug and

4. the Fourth Great Age called Kaliyug.

There has been a lot of speculation as to what exactly these ages represent. Many try to find historical evidence for these ages and end up in frustration. The events that took place in these ages also provide sufficient fodder to the mills of atheists who regard them to be too unrealistic to be true.

How can Hanuman fly in the air, or make himself unbelievably large? How can the warriors shoot an arrow and make every one in the battle field lose their consciousness? How can you build a bridge across a vast sea in times when we had no technology? How can there be anything like Pushpak Vimana (an airplane called Pushpak) in an age when there wan no advanced metallurgy?

These and many similar questions baffle us as long as we believe that these ages were part of "protohistory" in which archaeologists (ironically) found nothing but pieces of pottery, few primitive paintings and some stone, bone and metal implements. Those who view Rama and Krishna as historical figures, with the sense of history with which we are familiar, may find this article very disappointing.

Symbolically these four ages represent the four phases of involution during which man gradually lost the awareness of his subtle bodies.

According to Hinduism, man has five bodies, namely, the gross physical body (annamayakosa), the breath body (pranamayakosa), the mental body (manomayakosa), the intelligence body (vignanamayakosa) and the bliss body (anandamaya kosa). (For more information on these bodies please read the section on "The Constituents of Man - the Jiva", available at this site.)

The Age of Truth

To start with, during the age of truth, man was conscious of the four inner bodies and had either a physical body that was not very gross or was assuming it only when there was a need. He was "Truth" himself. Hence the name Satyayug, the Age of Truth. He was spiritually well advanced and possessed immense spiritual and psychic powers. He performed his religious and moral duties in tune with his dharma and was in touch with gods of the higher worlds. Because of his immense powers he could travel to these worlds quite easily with his subtle bodies and communicate with the gods directly. Men were spiritually so powerful, that they were even participating in the battles of the devas as the ancestors of Dasaratha ( the father of Rama), and many of their contemporaries did. Perhaps during this period the people were not using their physical bodies as much as we do today. They however had terrestrial existence of some kind because of which they are regarded as mortal too like us.

Treta Yug

During the next age, the Treta Yug, man had knowledge of three inner bodies only. The outer physical body had become denser though it was still not very dense and reflected divine beauty in many respects, like the body of Anjaneya  or of Sri Ram. The people of this age had lost awareness of their in most bliss bodies, symbolically represented by the suffering of Rama and Sita in their terrestrial lives. This loss of this awareness must have diminished to some degree the spiritual powers of the people of this age. But the beings were still very spiritual and highly evolved and adhered to the moral and religious duties of their times, as Rama and his brothers did, very much like the people in Satyayug, though not to the same degree.

DwaparaYug

In the third age called Dwaparayug, men had knowledge of two inner bodies only. The physical body had definitely become denser and central to human life as is evident from such characters of this age as Duryodhan, Jarasandh, Balarama, Bhim and so on. Having lost the knowledge of the two inmost bodies, namely the body of intelligence and the body of bliss, the people were gradually succumbing to the temptations of human life and to the impulses and desires of their lower selves. The awareness of the inner bodies constituting the higher self, might have been still there among a few, like Dharmaraj, the eldest of the Pandavas, or Bhishma, but the great majority were already succumbing to the temptations of their lower selves as is evident from the epic story of Mahabharata which took place during this time. By the end of this age the signs of the fourth age were already on the horizon.

Kaliyug - The First Phase

The fourth age, called Kaliyug, has two phases. During the first phase men were conscious of their breath bodies, having lost touch with the rest. Physically they also became very dense and strong. Because of this reason, the various branches of Yoga, especially Hathayoga, which deals with breath and body control techniques and the knowledge of kundalini became perfect sciences during this period, which knowledge is still available to us though in rudimentary form. During this period there was still some sanity among the people, since they had some awareness of their true nature and spiritual responsibility through their contact with the breath body.

Kaliyug - The second Phase

But during the second phase even this knowledge seems to have disappeared greatly leaving us now with the awareness of the gross physical body only. This age can be truly called age of matter or gross material formations, in which all scientific research is presently concentrated, so much so that we have completely mastered the art of splitting the physical atom to release the hidden energy. Due to our preoccupation with our physical bodies and our lower selves, and due to our excessive emphasis on materialism, this age is truly called the age of darkness. It is also the age of profound ignorance as we have lost touch with of all our inner bodies.

During this phase, due to the predominant activity of the physical body we have succumbed to the interplay of the gunas or qualities of nature. and are in pursuit of gross materialism. The extent of our preoccupation with the body can be seen all around us in all parts of the world. No elaborate explanation is needed for this.

The Signs of Kaliyuga!

The range of cosmetics that are now available, the extent of plastic surgery operations people undergo now a days, the way sex and food industries are progressing, the way people are obsessed with dieting and exercise, leave us with no doubt as to what this age truly represents. This is the age of the gross physical body (annamaya kosa) and nothing much is needed to prove this point.

What Happens  Next ?

It is predicted that at the end of this age comes a great destruction, during which the physical body is completely destroyed or would undergo a great transformation losing much of its grossness. Then probably starts the period of evolution during which men may slowly regain in phases awareness of their remaining four bodies and become Truth Beings.

The interpretation of the four ages given here is purely a product of this writer's hypothesis, based upon the theory of involution and evolution of life on earth, with a little bit of assistance from his intuition. There are no historical or "physical evidences" to prove this theory. One cannot even correctly determine when and for how long the first three ages lasted and for how long the last one would continue.

It is possible some events similar to the events of the Ramayana and Mahabharata might have even taken place on earth during the kaliyug, triggering the racial memories and leading to the origin and shaping of the two great epics. But it is difficult to believe that such events alone could produce such monumental epics of immense grandeur and universal vision. 

Is there any Evidence? Unfortunately No !

All that history and science can do is to dig upto the beginning of the second phase of the fourth age only. Nothing can be proved scientifically about the existence of the previous ages.

Perhaps a vision of the past or some degree of intuitive awareness may help us some to understand their significance and validity. But it is doubtful if such explanations can ever convince the world about their existence.

The previous three and half ages might not have even taken place in the physical plane of this planet, but definitely somewhere in the gigantic universe of the Lord, probably on different planes, involving all the souls who have been existing and evolving since long on earth or elsewhere.

Since they happened to us, we have the stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata in our racial memory or collective consciousness. But since they happened in such a remote past, no amount of digging and no amount of debate would help us establish their authenticity.

We have only three options: we can either believe in them or know them from our intuition or look at them with disbelief.