Srimad Bhagavatam #22: Cosmic time in the Vedas
Srimad Bhagavatam #22: Cosmic time in the Vedas
After hearing about the prayers of Brahma and the blessings he received from the Lord, Vidhura wanted to know about the subsequent creations of Brahma.
In this part:
Divisions of the creation and the Universal Time (chapter 3.10)
The planetary systems
Parallels with modern science
The nature of material time
The effects of time
Units of Time, starting from the Atom (chapter 3.11)
The cosmic units of time
The Divya-yuga
The manvantara cycles
Cosmic time
What happens At the end of each day of Brahma?
The life of Brahma
The size of the universe
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The divisions of the creation of Brahma
After hearing about the prayers of Brahma and the blessings he received from the Lord, Vidhura wanted to know about the subsequent creations of Brahma:
“Śrī Vidura said: O great sage, please let me know how Brahmā, the grandfather of the planetary inhabitants, created the bodies of the living entities from his own body and mind after the disappearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (SB 3.10.1)
Maitreya starts his answer by describing how after meeting the Lord, Brahma engaged in penances for 100 celestial years more before starting the creation. In his purport, Srila Prabhupada explains that he was not engaged in meditation, like in the period of 1000 celestial years before meeting the Lord, but in direct devotional service to the Lord.
After this period, his concentration was broken by strong cosmic winds that made both the Garbhodaka Ocean and the universal lotus tremble. The lower part of the universe, where the lower planets as well as Bhu-mandala were supposed to be was thus completely flooded. Being put in such an awkward situation, Brahma’s attention returned to his service of creating the universe.
Having met the Lord, and advanced in his devotional service, Brahma had matured in practical knowledge. Thus, he perfectly understood what to do. Just as Lord Shiva controls the material mode of ignorance without being affected by it, Lord Brahma controls the mode of passion without being directly affected by it. Srila Prabhupada mentions (SB 3.9.35) that when Brahma becomes bewildered, as in the pastime when he stole the boys and the calves from Krsna, this bewilderment happens due to the influence of the internal potency of the Lord, as part of a pastime, and not due to the ordinary mode of passion.
At first, Brahma had to fix the conditions of the universe so the process of secondary creation could take place. It’s mentioned that “both the lotus on which he was situated and the water on which the lotus was growing were trembling due to a strong, violent wind.” Using his power, Brahma could drink the wind, as well as the water, fixing the situation. Now, without the disturbance of the cosmic winds and with the Garbhodaka Ocean back to its proper level, creation could take place.
The first step was to create the planets, from the elements contained in the lotus. This is described in verses 7 and 8:
“Thereafter he saw that the lotus on which he was situated was spread throughout the universe, and he contemplated how to create all the planets, which were previously merged in that very same lotus.
Thus engaged in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Brahmā entered into the whorl of the lotus, and as it spread all over the universe he divided it into three divisions of worlds and later into fourteen divisions.” (SB 3.10.7-8)
Previously, the Lord created both the material elements and the subtle forms of the planets (in the Virat-rupa) and thus factually everything was already created by the Lord. The work of Brahma, which looks so amazing to us, consists of organizing the material elements into the forms conceived by the Lord.
Prabhupada explains this point in his purport:
“The seeds of all the planets in the universe were impregnated in the lotus on which Brahmā was situated. All the planets were already generated by the Lord, and all the living entities were also born in Brahmā. The material world and the living entities were all already generated in seedling forms by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Brahmā was to disseminate the same seedlings all over the universe. The real creation is therefore called sarga, and, later on, the manifestation by Brahmā is called visarga.”
Brahma thus used the material elements from the lotus to create the fourteen planetary systems: 1) Satyaloka, 2) Tapaloka, 3) Janaloka, 4) Maharloka, 5) Svargaloka, 6) Bhuvarloka, 7) Bhūrloka (of which our planet is part), 8) Atalaloka, 9) Vitala-loka, 10) Sutala-loka, 11) Talātala-loka, 12) Mahātala-loka, 13) Rasātala-loka, 14) Pātāla-loka.
The planetary systems of Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talātala, Mahātala, Rasātala and Pātāla are the lower planets, where the demons live. The Earth as well as the other planets that form Bhūrloka are called the intermediate planetary system, while Svargaloka is the higher planetary system where the demigods live. Bhūrloka is the place for Rakshasas and other subtle beings led by Kuvera. They are in the middle, considered higher than human beings, but lower than the demigods.
All these different planetary systems are destroyed at the end of each day of Brahma and recreated at the beginning of the next day.
Still higher are Satyaloka (the planet of Brahma), Tapaloka, Janaloka, and Maharloka, inhabited by great sages. These sages are in general above the feuds between demigods and the demons and engage their time in advanced devotional service. Because of that, these planetary systems are not destroyed at the end of the day of Brahma, surviving until the end of the parardha.
The planetary systems
Svargaloka, Bhuvarloka, Bhūrloka, etc. are not single planets, but planetary systems which include a number of planets each. The Earth, for example, is part of Bhūrloka, a planetary system that includes all the different structures that Srimad Bhagavatam describes as part of Bhu-Mandala. Although for the demigods these structures appear to be observable as a series of concentric islands, for us, they appear as different planets.
The inhabitants of these different planetary systems have different levels of consciousness and as a result different sets of senses. As part of the population of Kali-yuga, our consciousness is very gross, and thus we have senses that can experience only gross matter, while demigods, demons, and other beings have more subtle senses that are able to perceive different varieties of refined matter that is not visible to us. It’s interesting to note that modern theories predict that up to 95% of the universe is composed of dark matter and dark energy, forms of matter we can’t detect with our senses or instruments. Higher beings with subtler senses are capable of observing all these subtle forms of matter, and thus they perceive the universe differently from us.
We like to call our perception of the universe “reality”, but the way we see things is just the way our mind interprets the electrical signals that our eyes, hands, etc transmit to the brain. Other species around the universe have different sets of senses, and thus “reality” for them is something completely different.
From these fourteen planetary systems, ten are destroyed at the end of each day of Brahma, including all the lower planets, as well as the intermediate planets and the abodes of the demigods. The list includes Svargaloka, Bhuvarloka, Bhūrloka, Atalaloka, Vitala-loka, Sutala-loka, Talātala-loka, Mahātala-loka, Rasātala-loka and Pātāla-loka.
This happens because the ultimate goal of the creation of the universe is to offer an opportunity for the souls to realize their eternal relationship with Krsna. As time passes and most of the souls in these different planetary systems do not engage in devotional service as seriously as they should, Lord Ananta becomes angry and eventually destroys all these different planetary systems with the assistance of Lord Shiva. All the inhabitants of these planetary systems have to wait inside the body of Lord Garbhodakasayi for 4.32 billion years until the next creation.
Only the four highest planetary systems, Satyaloka, Tapoloka, Janaloka, and Maharloka are spared from the destruction. Srila Prabhupada explains the reason in SB 3.10.9:
“This is because of the causeless devotional service rendered unto the Lord by their inhabitants, whose existence continues up to the end of dvi-parardha time, when they are generally liberated from the chain of birth and death in the material world.”
They were destroyed at the end of the first parardha, or the first half of the life of Brahma, and now they will continue to exist until the end of the dvi-parardha, until the end of the second half. At that time, these great sages will have the opportunity of going back to Godhead, together with Lord Brahma.
One interesting detail mentioned in the Brhad Bhagavatamrta is that although Maharloka is spared the destruction at the end of the day of Brahma, it becomes very hot, forcing its inhabitants to take shelter in Tapoloka, where the conditions are more favorable.
At the beginning of the next day of Brahma, when the lower planets are created again, these great sages go down in order to populate the universe, becoming the Prajapatis, the progenitors of the next generations of living beings. This process is described in the Vayu Purana (1.7.7):
pratyāhate pūrvakalpe pratisaṃdhiṃ ca tatra vai
anyaḥ pravarttate kalpo janāllokāt punaḥ punaḥ
“First, the the Kalpa ends and, subsequently, the Pratisaṃdhi end. Then, the next Kalpa begins with life imported from Janaloka. This process occurs again and again”.
In other words, Brahma performs the complete creation of the universe, as described in the Srimad Bhagavatam two times, at the beginning of his life, and then on the first day of the second half. On other days, the prajapatis coming down from Janaloka take charge of repopulating the universe.
Parallels with modern science
This description of the creation of the planetary systems described in the Srimad Bhagavatam, with Brahma drinking the wind and so on may sound mythological, but modern studies also conclude that there was a lot of chaos in the initial formation of the solar system, conditions that were not suitable for the existence of life. Later on, the conditions subdued with the formation of the planets and so on.
We should keep in mind that the descriptions of the Srimad Bhagavatam are given according to the sense perception of higher beings. What Brahma perceived as a strong wind could appear to be something different in our plane. However, we can understand the essence of the description, meaning that there were disturbances and it was fixed, allowing the planets to form and be gradually populated.
There are other descriptions that may sound strange at first. The Vedas mention that there are flying mountains for example. At first, it may sound absurd, until we realize that there are indeed flying mountains all over the cosmos in the form of asteroids and so on.
It’s also important that the creation of Brahma doesn’t happen by magic but by the manipulation of subtle potencies that result in the gradual formation and organization of the planets. That’s not a process that happens from night to day. Modern science attributes the creation of the universe to the mere action of physical laws such as gravity, but the Vedas give a more complete explanation, describing the controllers behind the action of such potencies.
As we will study in more detail later on, the dates given in the Puranas for the creation of the universe, the creation of the solar system, the mass extinctions, and the destruction of the solar system are all very close to the numbers given in the latest studies. According to the Puranas, the creation of the universe started 13.819 billion years ago, while the latest modern estimation (2018, Aghanim et al.) is 13.801 billion years. The difference is just 0.0135%! Based on such similarities we are forced to agree that other descriptions given in the Srimad Bhagavatam must be correct.
The nature of material time
After hearing about the creation of the planetary systems, Vidura asks about the workings of material time:
“Vidura inquired from Maitreya: O my lord, O greatly learned sage, kindly describe eternal time, which is another form of the Supreme Lord, the wonderful actor. What are the symptoms of that eternal time? Please describe them to us in detail.” (3.10.10)
Time is the energy that puts the whole material manifestation in movement. The influence of time leads to the transformations that both create and destroy all living beings and material objects. Due to the influence of time, everything is created at a certain point due to certain transformations, and these transformations continue until their death or destruction. Because of time, everything that is material has a beginning and also an end, just like the universe itself. Everything spiritual, however, passes through no transformations and thus has no beginning and no end.
Krsna explains this in the Bhagavad-Gita (2.16) with the words nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ. “Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the non-existent there is no endurance and of the eternal, there is no change.”
By non-existent (asat) Krsna refers to everything that is material, and by eternal (sat) Krsna refers to everything that is spiritual. Srila Prabhupada explains that non-existent or “asat” in this context doesn’t mean false, but temporary or illusory.
Prabhupada explains more about time in his purport:
“The complete universe is a manifestation of varieties of entities, beginning from the atoms up to the gigantic universe itself, and all is under the control of the Supreme Lord in His form of kāla, or eternal time. The controlling time has different dimensions in relation to particular physical embodiments. There is a time for atomic dissolution and a time for the universal dissolution. There is a time for the annihilation of the body of the human being, and there is a time for the annihilation of the universal body. Also, growth, development and resultant actions all depend on the time factor. Vidura wanted to know in detail the different physical manifestations and their times of annihilation.”
Although the universe exists for a limited amount of time, which we can calculate (311.04 trillion years), the cycles of creation and destruction of the material universes go on following the breath of Maha-Vishnu. Time is thus eternal in the sense that these cycles of creation and destruction have been going on since time immemorial and it is not possible to trace when it all begin. Time is also eternal as an energy, being one of the divine spiritual energies of the Lord. That’s why material time is also called “eternal time”. However, although time is eternal as an energy, its effect on matter, generating the material universes has a beginning. Similarly, the soul is “eternally conditioned” in the sense that it is not possible to trace the beginning, but not literally in the sense that we were never out.
In his purport, Prabhupada explains that time, as an energy is impersonal, although it also has a personification in the form of Kali, just like all other energies of the Lord have their predominating deities. Time has thus both aspects simultaneously.
As Prabhupada explains:
“The impersonal time factor is the background of the material manifestation as the instrument of the Supreme Lord. It is the ingredient of assistance offered to material nature. No one knows where time began and where it ends, and it is time only which can keep a record of the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material manifestation. This time factor is the material cause of creation and is therefore a self-expansion of the Personality of Godhead. Time is considered the impersonal feature of the Lord.”
Apart from the material time, or eternal time, there is the absolute time of the spiritual planets. This absolute time is continuous, without past and future. Everything spiritual simply exists, without a beginning and an end, without past and future. There is time in the spiritual world in the sense that the inhabitants live one day after the other, but there is no time in the sense of an oppressive force that makes everything change and eventually be destroyed. Time as past, present, and future is something that exists only in the material world. In the spiritual world, there is just an eternal present.
Apart from being characterized by past, present, and future, material time is also cyclical. The material creation goes through cycles of creation and destruction and in each cycle, the same basic events repeat. This happens on each cycle of four eras (Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali-yugas), in a day of Brahma, and in each complete cycle of creation. This is confirmed in verse 13:
“This cosmic manifestation is as it is now, it was the same in the past, and it will continue in the same way in the future.” (SB 3.10.13)
The perception of time is also relative, being different in different regions of the cosmos. This brings the possibility of traveling to the future by going to a higher planet, where time is perceived as going faster than here. One example of this, narrated in the Mahabharata, is the story of King Kakudmi, who once went to Brahmaloka with his daughter Revati to ask Lord Brahma about a suitable husband for her. After spending just what seemed to be a few minutes in Brahmaloka, Brahma explained to him that millions of years had passed on Earth and all the suitors he was considering were already dead. The story has a happy ending, however, because Balarama was on the planet at the time, and Brahma told him to give Revati in marriage to Him.
Many books and movies speculate about the possibility of traveling to the past, but the Vedas explain that this is impossible. Time is the divine energy of the Lord, and we can’t go against it. It’s possible, however, to travel to the “past” by going to the future to a point where the events of the past repeat. One can go from Treta-yuga to Satya-yuga by going to Brahmaloka and waiting for a few seconds there until the next Satya-yuga starts.
As Prabhupada explains:
“There is a systematic schedule for the perpetual manifestation, maintenance and annihilation of the material world, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā (9.8): bhūta-grāmam imaṁ kṛtsnam avaśaṁ prakṛter vaśāt. As it is created now and as it will be destroyed later on, so also it existed in the past and again will be created, maintained and destroyed in due course of time.”
The effects of time
After explaining the nature of material time, Maitreya explains its effects, by describing the nine kinds of creations and the three kinds of annihilation.
The nine types of creations are divided into two groups, the creations of the Lord, and the creations of Brahma. The creations of the Lord compose the first six:
1) The mahat-tattva, the sum of all material elements and the material modes, that interact creating the other elements.
2) The false ego, which leads to the creation of the other material elements, material knowledge, and activities.
3) The sense perception (hearing, touch, vision, etc.) and from there the material elements.
4) Knowledge and the possibility of performing material activities.
5) The creation of the demigods and the mind.
6) The creation of avidya, the material illusion that covers all living beings. Due to this ignorance, a soul forgets his relationship with the Supreme Lord and is overwhelmed by attachment, pride, hatred, and so on.
The other three are the creations of Brahma:
7) The immovable entities, which include different types of trees, creepers, and other plants.
8) The lower species of life, including all the different species of animals, which are divided into species that have only one hoof (horse, mule, ass, etc.) species with split hooves (cow, goat, buffalo, etc.) with five nails in their claws (dog, jackal, tiger, etc.), and birds.
9) The human beings, who have superior intelligence and can thus choose between developing the animal propensities of just eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, or developing spiritual realization.
Brahma also creates the demigods, which are sometimes counted as the 10th creation, and sometimes not. The reason is that the creation of the original demigods is already counted as part of the creation of the Lord, and the demigods created by Brahma are just partial manifestations of them.
The term “demigod” (deva) in this context includes all the beings that are superior to human beings, including (1) the demigods, (2) the forefathers (the inhabitants of Pitṛloka), (3) the asuras (who live in the lower planetary systems) (4) the Gandharvas and Apsarās (5) the Yakṣas and Rākṣasas (the followers of Kuvera who live in Bhuvarloka), (6) the Siddhas, Cāraṇas, and Vidyādharas (inhabitants of the celestial system), (7) the Bhūtas, Pretas, and Piśācas (evil spirits who are considered superior to human beings for not processing gross bodies), (8) the Kinnaras (superhuman beings from other parts of Bhu-mandala, which often act as celestial singers and artists).
All these different types of beings have refined bodies and can’t normally be seen by human beings, but they interact with each other. Asuras, for example, are considered lower in the sense of being atheists, but have bodies similar to the demigods and can fight with them for the control of the universe. Sometimes the asuras win, and assume the control of the universal affairs, just like in the case of Hiranyakashipu and Bali Maharaja.
Not all Asuras are atheists tough. Sometimes pure devotees take birth as asuras, like in the case of Prahlada Maharaja, Bali Maharaja, and Vrtrasura, described later in the Srimad Bhagavatam. The demigods come from Aditi, while the asuras originate from Diti. Both are sisters and wives of Kasyapa Muni. They are thus more like two separate families than two separate species in this sense. There are even some cases of asuras begetting children with demigods, like in the case of Viśvarūpa.
Apart from the nine kinds of creations, there are three kinds of annihilation. These are:
1) The final annihilation due to the scheduled time of the annihilation of the entire universe.
2) The annihilation at the end of each day of Brahma, in which a fire emanates from the mouth of Lord Ananta and destroys all the planetary systems up to Swargaloka.
3) One’s own death, due to the karma originating from his activities.
After describing the nature of time and the effects of time in terms of the material creations, Maitreya goes ahead and describes the different units of time, which go from measurements of small fractions of seconds, all the way to the universal cycles. It’s useful to become familiarized with these units because all the descriptions of periods of time in the scriptures are based on these units, and not in hours and years like we are used to.
Units of Time, starting from the Atom (chapter 3.11)
The 11th chapter of the 3rd canto of Srimad Bhagavatam gives us a condensed explanation of the measurement of time according to the Vedas. This gives us some context on what time is for us and how it looks on the universal scale of things. All material bodies, from the sun to the atom, are under the influence of the kāla-chakra, or material time, but the scales of time for different bodies can be wildly different.
This description of the units of time is divided into two parts. The first are the units of time that are smaller than the lifespan of a human being, or in other words, the units of time we use in our practical life, starting from the truti, the smallest division of time according to the Vedas, all the way to the vatsaraḥ, or lunar year.
According to Srimad Bhagavatam, the smallest particles of material creations are called parama-aṇuḥ, or atoms. The smallest measurement of time mentioned there is the time of the chemical reaction that results in the combination of two atoms. Two parama-aṇuḥ’s combine to form an aṇuḥ (double atom) and three aṇuḥ’s combine to form a trasareṇuḥ (hexatom). The time needed for the combination of three trasareṇus, forming a trasareṇu-trikam (a certain type of molecule formed by 18 atoms) is called a truṭi, which equals about half a thousandth of a second.
100 trutis make a vedha, 3 vedhas make a lava, 3 lavas make a mimesa, 3 mimesas make a ksana, 5 ksanas make a kastha, 15 kasthas make a laghu, 15 laghus make a danda, and 2 dandas make a muhurta.
So far, we have thus:
100 trutis = 1 vedha
3 vedhas = 1 lava (300 truti)
3 lavas = 1 nimeṣa (900 truti)
3 mimesas = 1 ksana (2700 truti)
5 ksanas = 1 kastha (13,500 truti)
15 kasthas = 1 laghu (202,500 truti)
15 laghus = 1 danda or nadika (3,037,500 truti)
In modern times, a danda is calculated as being 1/30 of a day or night (in other words, there are 60 dandas in a period of 24 hours). A danda is thus often taken as 24 minutes, but the length varies according to the seasons (as the days become longer or shorter). These values are used for astrological calculations.
However, the Srimad Bhagavatam appears to use a different value for the danda described in the text. Instead of being a variable unit that changes according to the length of the day, the danda mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam is a fixed unit, that can be calculated by a simple experiment involving a pot of copper on water described in SB 3.11.9. This experiment is based on making a copper pot of certain dimensions and weight, with a hole in the middle, also of a precise size. When the pot is put in water, it will take exactly one danda to submerge.
This description was probably clear for people of the time, who would be familiar with the units of measurement mentioned in the description, but it’s hard for us to follow, just like a recipe mentioning inches, feet, ounces, and stones is hard to follow for people who not be familiar with such measurements. However, the main point is that different from the modern danda which is a variable unit of around 24 minutes, the danda mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam is a fixed unit that is calculated by our previous acaryas as approximately 30 minutes.
This makes sense, because all the smaller units are calculated according to the measurement of the danda, and it would not make sense they would become shorter or longer according to the length of the day. A truti for example is a unit fixed at the time of a chemical reaction (that will take always the same time, regardless of the length of the day or night in the current season).
In this way, we have:
One danda = 30 minutes
One laghu = 2 minutes
One kastha = 8 seconds
One ksana = 1.6 seconds
One mimesa = 0.533 seconds
One lava = 0.177 seconds
One vedha = 0.0592 seconds
One truti = 0.000592 seconds (1 second divided by 1,687.5)
This discussion about the length of the danda is important because some commentators make the calculations based on a danda being 24 minutes, and thus end up with incorrect results for all the units mentioned in this chapter. The fact that the Bhagavatam mentions a danda as a fixed unit of approximately 30 minutes (instead of 24 minutes, as in astrology) becomes clear when we calculate the larger units of time.
What are they?
Two dandas make a muhurta and three muhurtas make a prahara. Eight praharas make an ahani or a set of day and night (24 hours). Fifteen ahanis make a pakṣaḥ (fortnight) and two pakṣaḥ make a masah (lunar month), which equals one day in Pitrloka. Six māsāḥ make one ayanam (half year) and two ayanānis make a vatsaraḥ or lunar year, which is a day and night for the demigods. With this, we come to the scale of time we are used to dealing with in day-to-day life.
2 dandas = 1 muhurta (1 hour)
3 muhurtas = 1 prahara (3 hours)
8 paharas = 1 ahani (24 hours)
15 ahanis = 1 pakṣaḥ (fortnight)
2 pakṣaḥ = 1 māsaḥ (month) – one complete day and night in Pitrloka.
6 masah = 1 ayanam (half of the year, one complete movement of the sun from south to north.)
2 ayanam = 1 vatsaraḥ (lunar year) – 360 days, or one day and night for the demigods
Human beings live for 100 of such years. However, higher beings have much larger lifespans.
Maitreya ends this part of the description with a very beautiful verse. Time affects only the conditioned souls. Pure devotees of the Lord who identify with their eternal identities as servants of Krsna live in the absolute time and are not affected by the past, present, and future of the material world.
“O Vidura, the sun enlivens all living entities with his unlimited heat and light. He diminishes the duration of life of all living entities in order to release them from their illusion of material attachment, and he enlarges the path of elevation to the heavenly kingdom. He thus moves in the firmament with great velocity, and therefore everyone should offer him respects once every five years with all ingredients of worship.” (3.10.15)
The cosmic units of time
The second part of Maitreya’s explanation describes the larger cycles of time, which measure the duration of time of inhabitants of higher planetary systems, many of which live for many kalpas. This part starts with the inquiry of Vidhura:
“Vidura said: I now understand the life durations of the residents of the Pitā planets and heavenly planets as well as that of the human beings. Now kindly inform me of the durations of life of those greatly learned living entities who are beyond the range of a kalpa.” (SB 3.11.16)
Different from modern theories that conclude that modern human beings are the result of a long evolutive process that ultimately happened by chance, the Vedas explain that modern humans are actually the fruit of a devolutive process. The idea given in the Vedas is that our planet goes through a cyclic sequence of four cycles: Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga. Our planet is populated by perfect human beings at the beginning of Satya-yuga and slowly degrades up to a point of complete barbarism by the end of Kali-yuga.
The Divya-yuga
Satya-yuga lasts for 4,800 celestial years. Each celestial year corresponds to 360 years of our time, and therefore Satya-yuga lasts for a total of 1,728,000 years. During this period there is a gradual decline in the level of consciousness, which in time leads humanity to the second age in the cycle: Treta-Yuga, or the Silver Age.
During this period, people become interested in economic development. Agriculture becomes very prominent and society is divided into different classes, with pious kings watching over the well-being of the general population. Most people in this age are still quite pious, and their level of consciousness is sufficient to award them bodies capable of living up to 10,000 years. The preferred method of self-realization in this age is the performance of elaborate Vedic sacrifices.
Treta-yuga lasts for 3,600 celestial years, or 1,296,000 years of our time. Again, there is a gradual deterioration and low qualities become more prominent, leading humanity to the third age: Dvapara-yuga, or the Bronze Age. In this age, about half of humanity is dominated by lust, greed, and other similar qualities. At the start of Dvapara-yuga people live for 1,000 years, but life expectancy diminishes gradually and by the end of the period is close to 100 years.
Dvapara-yuga lasts for 2,400 celestial years, or 864,000 years of Bhu-Mandala. It’s followed by Kali-yuga, the last era of the cycle, the era we are currently living. According to astronomical calculations, this age started at 3012 BCE, exactly at the time Krsna left this world. The Surya Siddhanta describes a particularly inauspicious alignment of planets that happened at the start of this era. Modern calculations confirm this alignment happened at the described time.
During Kali-yuga, humanity slowly degrades, as beings from the lower realms get the opportunity to take birth on our planet to accumulate a new set of Karma. This is also the shortest of the four eras, lasting for just 1,200 celestial years, or 432,000 years of Bhu-Mandala.
It’s narrated that by the end of this period, the avatara Kalki comes. He destroys the oppressive kings and soldiers who by that time will be no more than plunderers of the poor citizens, and creates the conditions for the beginning of a new cycle. Under the guidance of great sages from previous ages who wait for the end of Kali-yuga in Badarikāśrama, humanity is restored to its original state, and a new Satya-yuga starts, marking the beginning of a new cycle.
The cycles of Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga go on cyclically like the seasons of the year. Each complete cycle of four eras is called Divya-yuga, and it lasts for a total of 12,000 celestial years or 4.32 million years of Bhu-Mandala. It may seem like a very long period, but it’s just a moment in the cosmic scale of time. It’s described that the inhabitants of Swargaloka live for 10,000 celestial years (3.6 million years). From there, we can see that not only the living standard but also the perception of time on different planets of the cosmos differ. What’s almost a complete universal cycle for us, is just a lifetime for them.
One year in Bhu-Mandala (the intermediate planetary system) equals one day for the demigods. Therefore, one year for the demigods equals 360 years in Bhu-Mandala. Satya-yuga lasts for 4,800 years for the demigods, Tretā-yuga for 3,600 years, Dvāpara-yuga 2,400 years, and Kali-yuga for 1,200 years. Thus, a Divya-yuga, or one complete cycle of four yugas lasts for 12,000 years of the demigods, or 4,320,000 years in Bhu-Mandala.
The manvantara cycles
With this, we come to the Manvantara, which is the cycle that more directly affects the demigods.
A Manvantara is composed of 71 Divya-yugas and lasts for a total of 852,000 celestial years or 306,720,000 years of Bhu-Mandala. The events at the end of a Manvantara are much more dramatic than the events at the end of Kali-yuga, resonating all over the cosmos.
All the Devas, led by Manu, stay in their posts for the period of a single Manvantara. When the period is concluded, they are promoted to Maharloka and a new Manu, as well as a new generation of demigods, take their places. During this time there are many disturbances in the universe and it takes some time until things get back on track. During this period, life on most planets ceases almost completely, and everything starts again with the advent of a new Manu, who receives the mission of repopulating the universe with all the different species of life. This period of transition is called Manvantara-sandhya, and it lasts for 1.728 million years.
71 Divya-yugas, or complete cycles of four yugas, form a Manvantara (306,720,000 years, or 852,000 years of the demigods), and 14 Manvantaras, together with their Sandhyas form a day of Brahma (4.32 billion years). The same is the duration of his night.
1 Divya-yuga (set of 4 yugas) = 4.32 million years (12,000 celestial years)
1 Manvantara (71 Divya-yugas) = 306.72 million years (or 852,000 celestial years)
1 Kalpa (a day of Brahma) = 4.32 billion years
360 of such days and nights form one of his years, and 50 of such years form a Parardha. Brahma lives for two of such parardhas and thus his life is divided into two halves. As mentioned in SB 3.11.34: “The one hundred years of Brahmā’s life are divided into two parts, the first half and the second half. The first half of the duration of Brahmā’s life is already over, and the second half is now current.”
With this, we enter into the really large units of time:
2 Kalpas (a day and night of Brahma) = 8.64 billion years
1 Parardha (50 years for Brahma) = 155,52 trillion years
2 Parardhas = 1 Maha-kalpa (311,04 trillion years)
1 Maha-kalpa (a life of Brahma) = 1 mimesa for Lord Maha-Vishnu
The total duration of the life of Brahma equals just one mimesa (about half a second) for Lord Maha-Vishnu, which gives us an idea of the insignificance of our limited lifespans in this material world. One could use these formulas to calculate the length of the ksanas, kasthas, laghus, and daṇḍas of Maha-Vishnu, but I believe what we saw up to here already makes the point.
Similarly, our universe is covered by seven layers (earth, water, fire, air, ether, mahat-tattva, and false ego). The first layer has 10 times the diameter of the universe itself, and each successive layer has 10 times the diameter of the preceding layer. All the universes clustered together appear like atoms in a huge combination that are constantly created and destroyed, following the cycles of exhalation and inhalation of Maha-Vishnu. Thus, not only do we live for an insignificant amount of time, but we are also incredibly small on the universal scale.
What happens At the end of each day of Brahma?
We already studied that at the end of the creation, all universes are destroyed and all the souls, as well as the material energy, enter into the body of Lord Maha-Vishnu following His process of inhalation. However, what exactly happens at the end of each day of Brahma?
“At the end of the day, under the insignificant portion of the mode of darkness, the powerful manifestation of the universe merges in the darkness of night. By the influence of eternal time, the innumerable living entities remain merged in that dissolution, and everything is silent.
When the night of Brahmā ensues, all the three worlds are out of sight, and the sun and the moon are without glare, just as in the due course of an ordinary night. (SB 3.11.28-29)
At the end of each day of Brahma, there is a partial destruction of the universe. As a result, all the planetary systems at the bottom of the universe, up to Swargaloka are completely destroyed and all living entities, with the exception of great sages who live in the higher planetary systems, go to sleep in the body of Garbhodakasayi Vishnu. This division happens because the sages living in these higher planetary systems are involved in advanced spiritual activities, while the ordinary living entities living in the lower planetary systems are engaged in material activities using gross material bodies.
It is described that the sun and the moon are not destroyed, but they stop providing illumination, and thus everything becomes dark, in a night that continues for 4.32 billion years.
It’s important to note that the Earth’s satellite, the piece of rock that sits about 238,000 miles from Earth and is called “the moon” in modern astronomy is different from the moon that is described in the Vedas.
The moon described in the Vedas is a celestial planet that is presided over by the demigod Soma. It’s larger than the sun and is situated even further from our planet, hundreds of millions of miles away. The moon described in the Vedas also emits light, just like the stars. This is explained in the Bhagavad-Gita (10.21) when Krsna says “nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśī” (amongst the start, I’m the moon).
The planetary system of Swargaloka includes many stars that are situated relatively close to our planet on the cosmic scale. These stars have a nature that is also different from what is believed in modern astronomy, emitting a modest volume of light, instead of being powerful like the sun. The moon described in the Vedas is the chief among such stars and shares their luminous nature, instead of simply reflecting the light of the sun.
Because of these differences, Srila Prabhupada argued that the Apollo missions didn’t actually reach the moon, since they came to a place that was deserted and filled with rock and sand, and not to the celestial planet described in the Vedas. They went somewhere, but not to the same place described in the Vedas as the celestial moon.
This makes the point that the satellite orbiting our planet and the celestial moon described in the Vedas are two separate things. The moon around our planet could be a gross manifestation of the celestial moon, the way it appears in our gross dimension, or could even be Rahu, as some believe. The main point is to understand that these are two different objects. The moon that orbits our planet is destroyed at the end of the day of Brahma, together with the planet itself, while the celestial moon remains.
Apart from these stars that form Swargaloka, or universe includes many other stars that are situated much farther from our planet, all the way to the edge of the universe. These stars form the higher planetary systems of Maharloka, Tapoloka, Janaloka, and Brahmaloka. Many of them may not be visible to us. These higher stars also survive the devastation.
How does the destruction take place?
“The devastation takes place due to the fire emanating from the mouth of Saṅkarṣaṇa, and thus great sages like Bhṛgu and other inhabitants of Maharloka transport themselves to Janaloka, being distressed by the warmth of the blazing fire which rages through the three worlds below.
At the beginning of the devastation all the seas overflow, and hurricane winds blow very violently. Thus the waves of the seas become ferocious, and in no time at all the three worlds are full of water.” (SB 3.11.30-31)
At the end of the day of Brahma, there is a great fire, and thus the sages living in Maharloka are forced to relocate to Janaloka. In the Srimad Bhagavatam, it is mentioned that this great fire comes from Lord Ananta, situated at the bottom of the universe, while the Vayu Purana (2.38) gives a slightly different description, mentioning that the sun becomes red, like an incandescent ball of iron, and its size increases seven times, scorching Bhu-Mandala and the heavenly planetary systems, destroying all forms of life in these places. These two descriptions are not contradictory, since the Srimad Bhagavatam emphasizes the main factor (Lord Ananta), while the Vayu Purana emphasizes the secondary factor, which are the changes in the sun.
This description of the Vayu Purana matches the current theory that our sun will become a red giant in the future, destroying most of the planets in our solar system. Modern estimates calculate that this process will start between 3.5 and 5 billion years. According to the Vedas, the destruction at the end of the day of Brahma will happen at about 4 billion years of our planet), so we can see that, again, the dates given in the Puranas fits the range given by modern studies.
The Vayu Purana also mentions that after this process the sun will disintegrate, ejecting gigantic luminous clouds in all directions. This also matches the modern theory that after about 150 million years of the red giant phase, the sun will explode into a large planetary nebula, ejecting clouds of hot plasma in all directions and becoming a white dwarf. Again, this matches the description of darkness during the night of Brahma.
The main difference between modern theories and the Puranas is that modern theories predict that the universe will continue indefinitely until the sun and all stars exhaust their fuel and the universe just becomes a dark and cold wasteland. The Puranas give a more optimistic revelation, showing how not only the stars will continue shining for a much longer period (311,032 trillion earthly years, until the next complete devastation), but our solar system will be re-created at the start of the next day of Brahma.
All these numbers and details are very strong proof of the superior nature of the knowledge of the Vedas. How could it be that sages living in the forest could come to numbers so close to modern estimates without access to any kind of modern equipment? The only possible explanation is that the knowledge of the Puranas was received from superior sources.
The life of Brahma
Just like us, Brahma lives for 100 years. The difference is that his years are a little longer than ours.
The life of Brahma is divided into two halves, or parardhas. The first half is already over, and now we are in the second half. The first day of the life of Brahma was called Brāhma-kalpa (the millennium Brahma appeared), and the second Pādma-kalpa (the millennium the first creation happened). The current millennium is called the Vārāha millennium (because that’s the millennium Lord Varaha appears) or Pādma-kalpa (because in this millennium a new creation takes place following the complete destruction at the end of the first half of the life of Brahma). The whole life of Brahma equals just one nimeṣa (half a second) for Lord Maha-Vishnu.
“The one hundred years of Brahmā’s life are divided into two parts, the first half and the second half. The first half of the duration of Brahmā’s life is already over, and the second half is now current.
In the beginning of the first half of Brahmā’s life, there was a millennium called Brāhma-kalpa, wherein Lord Brahmā appeared. The birth of the Vedas was simultaneous with Brahmā’s birth.
The millennium which followed the first Brāhma millennium is known as the Pādma-kalpa because in that millennium the universal lotus flower grew out of the navel reservoir of water of the Personality of Godhead, Hari.
O descendant of Bharata, the first millennium in the second half of the life of Brahmā is also known as the Vārāha millennium because the Personality of Godhead appeared in that millennium as the hog incarnation.
The duration of the two parts of Brahmā’s life, as above mentioned, is calculated to be equal to one nimeṣa [less than a second] for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is unchanging and unlimited and is the cause of all causes of the universe.” (SB 3.11.34-38)
Although time controls everything that is material, time is under the complete control of the Lord. Similarly, time controls everyone who is under the body’s conception of life, frow lower animals to demigods, but it doesn’t control pure devotees of the Lord, who live in the transcendental platform.
The size of the universe
The two last verses of the chapter briefly describe the dimensions of the universe:
“This phenomenal material world is expanded to a diameter of four billion miles, as a combination of eight material elements transformed into sixteen further categories, within and without, as follows.
The layers or elements covering the universes are each ten times thicker than the one before, and all the universes clustered together appear like atoms in a huge combination.” (SB 10.11.40-41)
Bhu-mandala, the early planetary system is just four billion miles in diameter, a size that is similar in scale to the size of our solar system according to modern astronomy. We can’t access the other parts of Bhu-mandala because these realms exist in higher dimensions, but it is described that qualified human beings from previous ages were able to access the different realms that comprise it. However, when we speak about going up, to the higher planetary systems, the trip can’t be completed by just traveling in the physical plane: it demands a change of consciousness. Only someone who has a level of consciousness similar to the demigods and great sages can visit their planetary systems. It is described that Arjuna could visit the celestial planets, and even go all the way to the causal ocean together with Krsna. We can understand that was possible because Arjuna is a pure devotee, but for general people, this is not possible.
Apart from the universe created by Brahma, our universe also includes the coverings of elemental earth, water, air, fire, sky, ego, and mahat-tattva. Each covering is ten times larger than the previous. According to the measurements given in the Puranas, the coverings extend to a scale similar to what in modern astronomy is calculated as the size of our galaxy, but due to the multidimensional nature of the Vedic universe, it may extend much further than this, covering all the observable universe and beyond.
Because it demands a shift in consciousness, the distance to the higher planets when calculated in terms of physical distance becomes practically infinitely big. Our universe is simultaneously relatively small (the four billion miles of Bhu-Mandala) and infinitely big, including all the different stars and galaxies we see in the sky. All of this is however not the complete material manifestation. There are millions of other universes, clustered together like atoms.