The Fourth Cycle of Time, the KALI YUGA
A yuga in Hindu philosophy is the name of an ‘epoch’ or ‘era’ within a cycle of four ages. These are the Satya Yuga, the Treta Yuga, the Dvapara Yuga, and finally the Kali Yuga. Life in the universe is created, destroyed once every 4.1 to 8.2 billion years, which is one full day (day and night) for Brahma. The lifetime of a Brahma himself may be 311 trillion and 40 billion years. The cycles are said to repeat like the seasons, waxing and waning within a greater time-cycle of the creation and destruction of the universe. Like Summer, Spring, Winter and Autumn, each yuga involves stages or gradual changes which the earth and the consciousness of mankind goes through as a whole. A complete yuga cycle from a high Golden Age of enlightenment to a Dark Age and back again is said to be caused by the solar system’s motion around another star.
There are numerous descriptions of the symptoms of the Kali Yuga in the ancient Sanskrit Puranic texts. Bear in mind that writing is itself a symptom of the Kali Yuga. These texts were composed and transmitted orally in the previous cycles of time and handed down through memory, based on verbatim repetition, from one generation to the next. It was only in 500 BC that the grammarian Panini codified the Sanskrit language and these memorized texts were put into the form of writing. Sanskrit’s arduous precision was intentionally designed to protect the ancient knowledge from the confusion ensuing in the Kali Yuga.
The Kali Yuga is the Age of Darkness. The Light is primarily unmanifest, meaning not completely gone, just veiled and hidden in the Kali – and the Darkside rules. You can lighten the world around you by realizing and Remembering the God-within you, and by letting that frequency flow out around you. Even if people don’t accept what you say, they will be uplifted by your silent consciousness.
… the pleasures that spring from sense impressions are sources of unhappiness, because they have beginnings and ends. –Bhagavad Gita
The end of the Kali Yuga (which according to Hindu philosphy is happening now) is a particularly favorable period to pursue true knowledge. Some will attain wisdom in a short time, for the merits acquired in one year during the Treta Yuga can be obtained in one day in the age of Kali
During the Kali longevity, strength, and features become less and less. Men attain perfection within a short time.
What is gained by the practice of dharma for a year in the Treta Yuga is attained by the practice of it for a month in the Dvapara Yuga. In Kali an intelligent devotee attains the same in a day by practicing Dharma strenuously.
What will you do? In these moments of challenge, of sorrow and of awakening consciousness, how will you behave? Can you find courage within yourself and compassion for others? Can you master the divine detachment that comes from knowing that what is unfolding is the grand Cosmic Design. Can you remember that every one and everything is God, Isness – and this Oneness is you.