I was requested to write this blog about the Yugas by one of my students.

What are the Yugas and how do they affect us here and now?

Well according to the Vedas, an excellent explanation is given to time and how time is counted in Vedic terms. In the Vedas, time is divided up into long cycles and short cycles thought of as seasons of consciousness i.e. winter, spring, summer and fall.

In the long cycles, the winter season is called Kali Yuga. It lasts 432,000 years and it is the season we are presently in. It started 5,103 years ago. During this Yuga, there is less than 1% people who are enlightened. The energy is very thick and challenging.

Spring is known as Treta Yuga and lasts 1,296,000 years. Summer is known as Satya Yuga and lasts 1,728,000 years. During the summer Yuga – there are at least 98 – 99% of people are enlightened. The energy is very light and pleasant. The fall season is known as Dwapara Yuga and lasts 864,000 years.

Therefore one complete Yuga is 4,320,000 years long. So this is considered a day of Brahma and there is a night of Brahma that is of equal length. 360 of these days and nights is considered a year of Brahma and 100 of these years are considered to constitute Brahma’s lifetime. After the completion of a Brahma’s lifetime, there is rest for the 100 of these years and then a new Brahma is born from the great Narayana’s belly.

The short cycles – are 24,000 years in length. They travel backwards through the zodiac signs every 2,000 years, for example, we are now in the Age of Aquarius having just left the Age of Pieces. Every 2,000 years we enter another Age – until we go through all of the signs completing the 24,000-year cycle.

So as you can read, the Vedas go into a lot of detail about time.  There is much more but too much to go into here. What I’d like to get across though is the importance of being on this planet at this time.

The energy during Kali Yuga is very dense and dark. There is a lot of disease and unhappiness, lives are short and things are just plain difficult. It is very hard to practice spiritually during a time like this. But any spiritual practice that is done during this time really can make headway.

It’s like the energy is a thick soupy ocean and consequently if we are in a boat and rowing – our oars can really get in there and push us forward. While during Satya Yuga – it is like rowing in air – very very hard to make any advancement.

This is one of the reasons that our lives are so precious at this time. They say that gods want to have a human life during this time because though it is very hard, so much spiritual refinement can take place.

So contemplate this – the preciousness of this life. If you knew how hard you bargained for it, to get the chance to be here, you wouldn’t let a moment go to waste!

So I encourage you – use this time well – practice your Mantras – do your meditations and know that all your effort is making great strides.

Time in Sanskrit is Kala. The Kala Chakra Mantra is a powerful Mantra that helps us work with time. The Mantra is:

 OM HA KSA MA LA VA RA YAM SWAHA 

DEVELOP AND ACTIVATE THIS ESOTERIC CHAKRA. BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND TIME AND EVENTUALLY WORK WITH IT.

With Love,

Aly M. Dunne