|
Rise Above the Times |
|
Ages of the World According
to the Shastras (teachings of metaphysics passed down through the
millennium) there are four Ages, which are called YUGAS. The first Age is called Satya
Yuga, the second is Treta Yuga, the next is
Dwapara Yuga, and the last Age is called Kali Yuga. The entire cycle of four Yugas is called a Chaturyugi. The approximate
length (rounded to the
nearest quarter million years) of each Age is as follows: Satya Yuga is about 1.75 million years; Treta
Yuga is about 1.25 million years; Dwapara
Yuga is about .75 million years; Kali Yuga is about .5 million years. Thus, one Chaturyugi
equals approximately 4.25 million years. The Cosmic Day and Night The Ages,
or epochs of time, follow one another, over and over again, from the
time of the Creation until the Destruction of the world.
The period of time from the moment of Creation until the Destruction
of the world is called a single Cosmic Day, and the period of time that
passes before the next Day is called a Cosmic Night.
The Cosmic Day lasts for a period of 1000 Chaturyugis,
and the Cosmic Night is of the same length.
Thus, a Cosmic Day equals approximately 4.25 billion years, after
which there is an intermission of 4.25 billion years of non-existence,
or Cosmic Night. The Cosmic Night
is then followed by another Cosmic Day, and the process goes on repeating
itself forever. Note:
the prevailing view of many Shastris (scholars
of the Shastras) is that the period of 1000
Chaturyugis, or roughly 4.25 billions years, is the period
of the existence of the entire Universe.
However, this does not seem to coincide with the findings of
modern science. This period of time may actually refer to the age of
our Solar System, and since our ‘world’ is really (from the perspective
of ‘hands-on’ experience) limited by the vastness of time and space
to our single solar system, one could argue that the Yugas pertain to
this ‘world’ only, that is, to our ‘solar world’ comprised of the Sun
and its planets.*@ Our Earth is not necessarily the only, or first,
or last inhabitable planet in our solar world.
Also, our solar world is only one of many, many solar worlds.
Within our galaxy (the Milky Way) there are millions of other ‘solar
worlds,’ and within our universe there are billions of other galaxies
and trillions of ‘solar worlds’. Seasons of Time In some
ways, the four Ages can be compared to seasons of time.
If we consider that there are four seasons in a year (Spring,
Summer, Fall, and Winter), we could correlate these seasons to the four
Yugas, with Spring being the equivalent of Satya
Yuga and Kali Yuga the equivalent of Winter.
As spring follows winter, Satya Yuga
follows Kali Yuga. Age of Darkness? Satya Yuga is called the Golden Age, or the Age of Truth.
Kali Yuga is called the Age of Darkness.
Many people consider Kali Yuga to be the period of time when
people are the most foolish, stupid, and even wicked.
They say that during this Age, people are the least evolved spiritually,
and that the innate powers of the soul are buried beneath the materialistic
nature. But this is only half the picture: and half-truth
is NOT the Truth. The truth is
that everyone is always WHOLE—every soul is complete. There are no part-time souls: we are always essentially what we really are,
regardless of the changing circumstances or changing times. The soul
is like a diamond: in Satya
Yuga the diamond is set in a beautiful gold setting; in Treta
Yuga it is placed in a silver one; in Dwapara
Yuga it is set in a bronze setting, and later in an iron one; and now,
in Kali Yuga, the iron setting has rusted away and the diamond has fallen
to the ground and has become completely buried in the mud.
But even when buried in mud, the diamond of the soul is still
priceless and its essential glory remains forever untarnished. We should
think always in positive terms, especially now in this Age.
This Kali Yuga is the most challenging, and that’s why we were
born during this time, because
we are ready to meet the challenge and manifest the unfathomable glory
of our ATMA (Soul). This Kali Yuga presents a rare opportunity for
each of us to realize fully the power that is latent within us. A Drama of the Mind The Ages
of the World are the screen upon which the light of the soul seems to
be dancing. The light is always shining, and it is only
the shadows that we see cast on the screen.
In this Age we have the most contrast (between good and evil)
because the veil of Ignorance is very thick.
But unless we focus, we will not see clearly and may easily mistake
the unreal for the real, falsehood for Truth, and the meaningless for
the meaningful. For example,
some people give the Yugas far more significance than what they deserve.
They become entrenched in so-called metaphysical knowledge but have
very little practical know-how with regard to living a meaningful and
fruitful life. The truth is that just as one’s ‘age’ has more to do
with one’s mental attitude than with the age of one’s body, so too the
Age or ‘times’ in which we live have more to do with our state of mind
than with the state of the world in which we live. In fact,
the world we live in is a projection of our own mind only.
The more we change, the more we see the changes in the world
around us. On the other hand, if we are complacent and live in mental
stagnation, we also see the whole world as being in a similar state. If we are mean and miserable, we will likely
also view the whole world as mean and miserable. If we are unjust to ourselves, we will see injustice
everywhere. If we want
to bring about ‘Ram Raj,’ then we should become
Ram-like. If we want to live in
a Golden Age, then all we need to do is live by the Golden Rule and
‘Do Unto Others as We Would Have Others Do Unto Us.’ Supposedly
this Golden Rule is more difficult to practice in these so-called Dark
Times. But this is just not true. It is never difficult to do what is
right; it is only difficult to keep covering up our wrongs and making
believe that what we are doing is right.
In one’s heart everyone knows right from wrong; we all have an
innate ability to sense Truth from Falsehood, but the problem is that
we have lost touch with our real self and have become caught up in the
shadows of our mind. These shadows
are the not the Real Self. The
shadows of doubt, despair, anxiety, frustration, annoyance, and so on
and so forth, only exist because our ego is in the way. When ego is
removed from the mind, all we see (as real) is the Light of Consciousness.
The same Light is shining in all the seasons, in all the ages
of life, and in all the ages of the World. The Dark Cloud Has a Silver Lining The saying
goes that “the dark cloud has a silver lining.”
We should keep in mind that the Age of Darkness, or Kali Yuga,
has a golden lining, because it is Kali Yuga
that ushers in the Golden Age. From
the very commencement of Kali Yuga things have been getting better and
will continue to get better until the Golden Age, or Satya
Yuga is brought about. You could
even say that the pinnacle of excellence is attained in Kali Yuga and
that the highest point of that achievement has been designated as the
start of Satya Yuga. From that point onward there is a slow and very gradual decline
until the end of Dwapara Yuga is reached,
which (in this present cycle of things) was marked by the death of Yogiraj Shri Krishna following the Mahabharat
War. Consider
for a moment the state of the world just prior to the commencement of
Kali Yuga. All one needs to do is to read about some of
the events associated with the Mahabharat
War which took place approximately 5000 years ago at the end of Dwapara
Yuga:
Now, when
even the noblest of people acted openly in this way, how can anyone
not accept that those days were in deed the very darkest of times. The Mahabharat War
which followed some 14 years later, resulted
in the destruction of the few remaining truly noble people who were
alive at that time. Dharma (or
the Knowledge and Practice of one’s Real Nature) was buried in the ashes
of that War, and what little knowledge remained was scattered and fragmented. Kali Yuga had begun. In time,
fragments of that Knowledge were used as the basis for the formation
of the different religions and philosophies that have cropped up over
the last 5000 years. Though many of the religions and philosophies
were improvements in the conditions prevailing at the time, this fragmented
knowledge cannot solve the problems that we face today, nor can it ever
give lasting solace to those who seek Salvation, or Total Freedom. We cannot realize the whole Truth by believing
in the half-truths. The Truth Will Set Us Free—It
is not the Golden Age That Will Set Us Free It has
been said that “the Truth will set you free.”
To this we need to add, ‘the
half-truth will only bind you to your images.’ This is the problem
we face today in the world: the
religions of the world propagate the half-truth and perpetuate Ignorance
by ignoring or rejecting the whole Truth.
Ignorance is the root of suffering, and few people are really
removing the root. The only way to remove the root of ignorance
is to embrace the Truth. Embracing
the Truth has nothing to do with clinging to our images of truth, or
our images of God, or our images of our religion.
Don’t Wait For Better Times If a human
being is truly imageless and free of falsehood, that human being will
be open to the truth no matter which corner of the globe it comes from.
The Vedas tell us: “Let the Truth come from all corners of the
world.” Wisdom
is universal, it is not the brainchild of some
prophet or some philosopher. Wisdom is not limited to any place or time.
Now is the time to know the Truth, and there is no better time
than NOW. The ages
of Time will continue to cycle over and over, again and again. The seasons
will come and go. The body will
grow old and die one day. We have lived before, and we will live again.
But how we are living NOW is what counts the most.
Only NOW is guaranteed to us, only NOW is for certain. NOW is a ‘sure thing’. We can only be sure about NOW, and NOW is what
we make it. Our fate
is fashioned by ourselves, it is NOT fashioned by the times in which we live.
Our fate is determined by how we spend our time. If we spend
our time in the waves of our mind we are going to go up and down with
those waves. If we rise above
the waves of our mind, our mind will not disturb us, it will not distract
us, it will not excite us, and it will not destroy us. Become the Shining Light The Age
of Darkness is over the moment we embrace the inner Light.
Only the light of Consciousness can remove our ignorance. When we remove our ignorance we become the Shining
Light and that light enlightens the whole world. |