Most ancient cultures believed
that human civilization and consciousness moves in grand cycles, slowly
declining from Golden Ages of illumination and harmony to Dark Ages of
ignorance and strife. In India, this cycle was called the Yuga Cycle. Other
cultures knew it by different names. The Greeks referred to it as the Cycle of
the Ages of Man, the Supreme Year, or the Great Year. The Persians called it
the World Cycle. The Hopi refer to the four previous ages as the Four Worlds,
while the Aztecs knew them as the Four Suns. The Egyptians were also aware of
the Yuga Cycle, as did many other cultures; for this understanding was encoded
into the ancient tales and sacred wisdom that had been orally transmitted for
generations.
In the years leading up to 2012,
when there was considerable global consternation over the approaching end of
the Mayan Calendar, I became interested in the Yuga Cycle doctrine of ancient
India, and decided to take a closer look at the available data and
philosophical speculations in order to determine the possible ending of the
Kali Yuga or Iron Age – which is the current age of greed and lies, discord and
violence, that we are living in. When I dove into the details, however, I
realized that a number of errors and omissions had crept into the ancient texts
in course of our long passage through the darkness of the Kali Yuga, as a
result of which, the original formulation of the Yuga Cycle was completely
lost.
The guiding principle that I
decided to adopt in order work out the original Yuga Cycle formulation was
that, there could not have been different Yuga Cycles for different cultures.
There was only one Yuga Cycle for the entire world that governed the periodic
rise and fall of consciousness, and in order to stitch together the original
framework, it was of utmost importance to delineate the common threads that run
through the different traditions. I was also keenly aware that I needed to keep
tabs on the latest archaeological, anthropological and historical findings, for
any Yuga Cycle framework needs to be backed up by as much scientific data as
possible.
In July 2012, I had published an
article titled, "The End of the Kali Yuga in
2025: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Yuga Cycle"[1] in which I
had put forward, what, in my opinion, was the original Yuga Cycle timeline,
which indicated that the Kali Yuga was due to end in 2025. I had discussed the
rationale for the proposed timeline in the article, and I have treated the
matter with a lot more rigor in the book. Without going into the
nitty-gritties, let me present some of the essential building blocks of this
framework.
1. The complete Yuga Cycle is of
24,000-years duration, and is comprised of an ascending cycle of 12000 years,
when human consciousness gradually increases, followed by a descending cycle of
12000 years when consciousness gradually diminishes.
2. Each 12,000-year half-cycle
is comprised of four Yugas of equal duration of 3000-years each. The actual
duration of a Yuga is 2700 years, and it is followed by a transitional period
of 300 years before the qualities of the subsequent Yuga is manifested. The
Yuga Cycle was tracked using the “Saptarshi Calendar” or “Calendar of the Seven
Sages” of ancient India, which has a 2700-year cycle called a “Saptarshi Yuga”.
3. It can be determined from the
extant historical records that, one of the starting points of the Saptarshi
Calendar was in 6676 BCE, which denotes the beginning of the Dwapara Yuga
(Bronze Age) in the descending cycle. Using this date as an anchor point, the
entire Yuga Cycle timeline gets unraveled, as shown below. For those who are
not familiar with the Sanskrit terms: Satya Yuga is Golden Age, Treta Yuga is
Silver Age, Dwapara Yuga is Bronze Age and Kali Yuga is Iron Age.
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Figure 1:
The 24000-year Yuga Cycle based on the Saptarshi Calendar. Credit: Bibhu Dev
Misra |
The Yuga Cycle framework
reveals that the descending cycle of consciousness began in 9676 BCE, around
the same time that the last Ice Age came to a rather abrupt end. The ancient
authors indicate that this was the time when the Golden-age kingdom of Atlantis
sank into the ocean, and the Supreme Creator of the Zoroastrians, Ahura Mazda,
had re-created the world and initiated the current World Cycle of 12,000
years.
Over the past 5700-odd years, we
have been living in two back-to-back Kali Yugas - the descending Kali Yuga
followed by the ascending Kali Yuga. These two Yugas of ignorance and discord
span most of recorded history, starting with the Bronze Age civilizations in
Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.
We are now approaching the end
of ascending Kali Yuga in the year 2025. The term “ascending” tends to convey
the wrong impression that we may be in a “higher Yuga” and our civilization is
on an upward trajectory of virtue and progress. Far from it. In the ascending
Kali Yuga only the material circumstances of life begin to improve, along with
an increase in our lifespan and physical stature, but the degradation of human
consciousness and the proliferation of vices continues unabated throughout the
entire duration of the Kali Yuga. This is why, at the fag end of the Kali Yuga,
we have an out-of-balance society which is characterized by a massive
“matter-spirit gap” that is highly destabilizing and is responsible for much of
the misery and injustices we see around us. The need of the hour is to reduce
our attachment to material acquisitions and focus our energies on the other
dimensions of our life, particularly on cultivating mental and spiritual
awareness, in order to restore the much-needed balance, harmony and sanity in
our lives.
The Yuga Cycle timeline
indicates that we are living in the times of momentous changes, which will
begin to unfold as we get closer to 2025 and enter the period of transition.
Not only are we about to emerge from the dense, materialistic vibrations of the
Kali Yuga, but we are also at the cusp of the entire descending cycle of
consciousness that began in 9676 BCE. The events of the past few years have
revealed that human consciousness has now plunged into utter depravity, and,
all means, however despicable, are now considered legitimate for the
acquisition of money and influence and for the exploitation and enslavement of
the masses. The specter of hatred, war and unrestrained violence is spreading
across the world, while the frequency and ferocity of extreme weather
phenomenon such as floods, landslides and wildfires have dramatically increased
over the past few years. All of these are precursors of the planetary-scale
changes that lie ahead of us.
Every time we go though the
periods of transition between the Yugas, there is a cataclysmic obliteration of
the existing civilizations (“pralaya”, in Sanskrit), which is followed by the
re-emergence of a new wave of civilizations with different artistic,
technological and cultural traits. The purging events purify our consciousness
and restore all of nature to its original pristine state to support another
round of civilization. In my article, I had presented a gamut of archaeological
and geological evidence which show that, every 3000-odd years, a new wave of
civilizations emerge all over the world, built on the ashes of the previous
civilizations, which are wiped away by a slew of cataclysmic events occurring
over a period of roughly 300 years.
It happened in c.9600 BCE, soon
after the cataclysmic end of the last Ice Age, with the establishment of the
settlements at Gobekli Tepe. We can be quite certain that similar settlements
were springing up elsewhere at the same time, the evidence of which we are yet
to uncover. In c.6500 BCE, new settlements emerged in Anatolia and Southeastern
Europe with distinct cultural traits, but we don’t have much of an idea about
what was going on in other parts of the world at that time. This was preceded
by a bout of global flooding, triggered primarily by the collapse of the
Laurentide Ice Sheet in North America. Then in c.3600 BCE, the “Bronze Age”
civilizations arose almost simultaneously in Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, Malta
and other places, while the pre-Bronze Age cultures were wiped out without a
trace. Finally at around c.700 BCE, the Iron Age cultures emerged almost
simultaneously in the Eastern Mediterranean region, Persia, India, Mesoamerica
etc., built on the ashes of the Bronze Age civilizations which had collapsed in
a heap over the previous 400-odd years.
The trend is distinct and
unmistakable. The Yuga Cycle is not an article of faith but an important
scientific doctrine which captures the cyclical nature of human civilization.
Not only does it give us a clear perspective of what had happened in the past,
it also tells us where our own decadent civilization of the Kali Yuga is
headed. In my book YUGA SHIFT, I have taken a closer look at the events of the
last four Yuga-transitional periods, which reveals that comet and meteor
impacts inevitably play a crucial role in the periodic destruction and renewal
of civilizations.
However, one of the questions
that had puzzled me for a long time ever since I wrote the article on the Yuga
Cycle was the reason for the discrepancy between the complete Yuga Cycle of
24,000 years and the earth’s precession cycle of 25,800 years.
The phenomenon of the
“precession of the equinoxes” was known to, and tracked by, many ancient
cultures. Briefly, what this means is that, the position of the vernal equinox
sun relative to the fixed stars of the zodiac changes very slowly at the rate
of 1° every 71.6 years, completing an entire cycle of 360° around the zodiac in
about 25,800 years.
In the present epoch, the vernal
equinox sun is very close to the beginning of the Pisces constellation, near
its boundary with the Aquarius constellation. This can be determined by drawing
a line from the earth to the sun and extending it to the ring of fixed stars
beyond.
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Figure 2:
The zodiac constellations encircle the solar system like a giant ring. On the
vernal equinox date, the Sun appears in front of the Pisces constellation.
Credit: Bibhu Dev Misra. |
Very soon – perhaps, in a few
decades - the vernal equinox sun will appear in front of the Aquarius
constellation. In this manner, the vernal equinox point slowly shifts its
position relative to the fixed stars of the zodiac at the rate of 1° every
71.67 years, spending roughly 2150 years in each constellation called an
Astrological Age. So, we are now in the Age of Pisces, and about to transition
to the Age of Aquarius very soon. Since the boundaries between the
constellations are not precisely defined by a specific star or asterism, the
exact date of transition from one Astrological Age to another is kind of hazy
and subject to individual interpretation.
The slow change in the position
of the equinoctial sun against the backdrop of the fixed stars of the zodiac is
called the “precession of the equinoxes” or simply precession, while the cycle
duration of 25,800 years is called a precession cycle. Human civilizations
lives through twelve Astrological Ages in course of the 25,800-year precession
cycle.
Now, here’s the mystery that had
baffled me for a long time: What is the reason for the mismatch in values
between the 24,000-year Yuga Cycle and the 25,800-year precession cycle? The
duration of the Great Year specified by Cicero i.e. 25,920 years, is so close
to the scientifically measured value of the precession cycle that it leaves
little doubt that the two cycles must be identical.
Moreover, the Yuga Cycle
doctrine of the Jains - which I had discussed in the original article on the
Yuga Cycle - strongly hints at this possibility. If we recollect, as per the
Jains, the Yuga Cycle consists of an ascending half called Utsarpini, which is
comprised of six smaller periods, and a descending half called Avasarpini,
which is comprised of six periods as well. Thus, the complete Yuga Cycle
consists of twelve smaller periods. What could these twelve periods be, if not
the twelve Astrological Ages? If the complete Yuga Cycle is comprised of twelve
Astrological Ages, then it gives us a very good reason to suspect that the Yuga
Cycle and the precession cycle are one and the same.
But, how do we account for the
apparent mismatch in values?
I found an answer to this
conundrum when I came across a key piece of information about the Yugas
mentioned in the ancient Greek texts, that I had overlooked earlier. As per the
doctrine of the Ages of Man in Greek tradition, the earth is subjected to two
extended periods of purging in course of the Great Year. One is called
Kataklysmos (meaning, “Deluge”) or the “great winter” of the Great Year, when
the earth is inundated by water. The other is called Ekpyrosis (meaning
“Conflagration”) or the “great summer” of the Great Year, when the world is
destroyed by fire. In the 3rd century CE, the Roman philosopher Censorinus
wrote:
“There is a period called “the
supreme year” by Aristotle, at the end of which the sun, moon and all the
planets return to their original position. This “supreme year” has a great
winter, called by the Greeks Kataklysmos which means deluge, and a great summer,
called by the Greeks Ekpyrosis or combustion of the world. The world, actually,
seems to be inundated and burned alternately in each of the epochs.”[2]
Now, there was a fair degree of
unanimity in the ancient times that the Flood had occurred at the end of the
Golden Age or Satya Yuga. This means that the period of transition that the
Greeks called Kataklysmos must have followed the Golden Age or Satya Yuga.
It is extremely intriguing that
the period of Kataklysmos was also called the “great winter” of the Great Year,
for it just so happens that the earth went through a long period of freezing
temperatures called the Younger Dryas period, which extended for nearly 1200
years from 10,900 BCE - 9700 BCE. During this time, global temperatures had
plummeted by nearly 10 - 15°C to near-glacial conditions and the glaciers had
advanced to their Ice Age positions.
Could the entire 1200-year
Younger Dryas period, therefore, be the extended period of transition that the
Greeks called Kataklysmos or “great winter”?
In 2007, a team of international
scientists led by Richard B. Firestone found compelling evidence that that the
earth was bombarded by multiple fragments of a giant disintegrating comet
nearly 12,900 years ago, (c.10,900 BCE) which destabilized the Laurentide Ice
Sheet and triggered the Younger Dryas cooling. The shock waves and biomass
burning generated by this catastrophic impact even led to the extinction of 35
genera of North American Pleistocene megafauna, and ended the prehistoric
Clovis culture.[3]
A dense, carbon-rich, black
layer, called the “black mat” was deposited over the bones of the extinct
megafauna and the Clovis artifacts at more than 50 sites across North America.
The black mat contains evidence of biomass burning and impact proxies such as
elevated levels of Iridium, and its thickness spans the entire Younger Dryas
cooling period from c.10, 900 – 9,700 BCE. This suggests that impact events
must have continued to occur throughout the entire Younger Dryas period!
Surprisingly, hardly anyone seems to be talking about this possibility. Is this
scenario too mind-bogglingly catastrophic even for our consideration?
Not many would be aware, though,
that a little-known Sanskrit text called Adbhuta-sagara provides
astonishing details of a sequence of 26 comets that struck the earth, one after
the other, throughout the Younger Dryas period. The second comet in the
sequence is said to have caused the Deluge, the tell-tale signs of which are
still preserved in the black mat! In my book, YUGA SHIFT, I have discussed in
detail about the Younger Dryas comet swarm and the evidence of the Flood.
Obviously, the kind of
environmental calamities that had swept over the world during the Younger Dryas
period could not have happened while the Golden Age was still in progress.
Conditions of life in the Golden Age were supposed to have been utopian; temperatures
were pleasant, nature was teeming with life, and natural disasters or diseases
were unknown. The Younger Dryas period could have started only after the Golden
Age had ended.
The Yuga Cycle timeline that I
had proposed earlier had a 300-year period of transition after the Golden Age.
But that may not be correct, and it is quite likely that the Golden Age had
ended by 10,876 BCE, and was followed by a 1200-year period of Kataklysmos or
“great winter”, that extended from 10,876 BCE - 9676 BCE, coinciding with the
Younger Dryas period.
This means, the end of Kali Yuga
in 2025 will be also followed by an extended period of cataclysmic activity
called Ekpyrosis (meaning “Conflagration”) or the “great summer” of the Great
Year, for nearly 1200 years, since the upcoming transition is diametrically
opposite to the Younger Dryas period. In other words, post 2025, it will be the
Younger Dryas period all over again; except that, this time the cleansing will
be by fire and not by ice and water.
There are direct references to
the upcoming period of Ekpyrosis in many end-time prophecies. For instance,
the Kalachakra Tantra prophecy tells us that, after the divine
Savior Rudra Chakrin will destroy the evil forces in an apocalyptic battle, he
will bestow “the “perfect age” for at least “a thousand years”, during which
time, “the whole world will turn into Shambhala with no sickness or poverty,
and no need to work to earn a living.”[4] This dovetails with The
Revelation, according to which, after his Second Coming, Christ will reign
for a “thousand years” along with the resurrected holy men.[5] Both these
prophecies appear to be telling us about the 1200-year period of transition
called Ekpyrosis which will follow the Kali Yuga, before the ascending Yuga
Cycle begins.
Although the 1200-year period of
Ekpyrosis will be a time of significant earth changes and periodic comet
impacts, which will purify and renew our world, it will also be an amazing time
to live for the survivors of the impending cataclysms, for a new, divine energy
will course through our planet, activating our dormant chakra centers and
subtle mental abilities, and, as a result, the people of that period are likely
to experience powerful feelings of bliss and connectedness that are
inconceivable today. Their awareness will be expanded, revealing to them new
possibilities and ways of living that promote peace, justice and harmony. They
will establish the foundations of a new civilization which will eventually grow
into the enlightened civilizations of the ascending Yuga Cycle, culminating in
the next Golden Age.
In the Yuga Cycle framework that
I had proposed earlier, all the transitional periods were of equal length of
300 years. However, since the extended periods of transition called Kataklysmos
and Ekpyrosis extend for a whopping 1200 years each, the duration of the
complete Yuga Cycle is extended by (900 + 900) i.e. 1800 years. Thus, the
duration of the complete Yuga Cycle becomes equal to (24,000 + 1800) = 25,800
years, which is exactly the same as the scientifically measured value of the
precession cycle!
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Figure 3:
The 25,800-year Yuga Cycle, including the 1200-year periods of Kataklysmos
and Ekpyrosis. Credit: Bibhu Dev Misra. |
It is quite amazing to realize
that, once the periods of Kataklysmos and Ekpyrosis are included in the Yuga
Cycle framework, the complete Yuga Cycle and the earth’s precession cycle
become perfectly aligned! For a long time, the discrepancy in values between
the two had baffled me, and it was a great relief to be able to finally put my
finger on the solution.
Like a giant jigsaw puzzle,
critical bit and pieces of the Yuga Cycle doctrine had been scattered all over
the world, lying concealed with the sacred texts and oral traditions of
disparate cultures, for many generations. It is only when we diligently pick up
all the pieces and scrutinize them, keeping one eye always on the scientific
data so that we don’t veer off track, does it become possible to put together
this puzzle for the ages.
Evidently, the Yuga Cycle and
the earth’s precession cycle are one and the same, and extend for 25,800 years.
On 21st of March 2025, the Kali Yuga and the entire descending cycle of
consciousness will come to an end; and we will enter a long period of transition
of nearly 1200 years, during which time our planet will be dramatically altered
beyond recognition, and the outlines of a new civilization will be manifested,
which will be permeated by compassion, peace, harmony and truth. The
environment will be restored to its original pristine state, and the
interdimensional gateways may open up revealing to us a reality that we have
long forgotten.
However, my research also
indicates that the collapse of the current Kali Yuga civilization is likely to
be completed in a small window of time between 2025 to 2040, due to a
combination of global wars and comet impacts. These are the end-times that the ancient
prophecies tells us of, when our reality will be drastically altered, and we
will be forced to introspect about our patterns of thought and our way of life.
The survivors of these transformative events will inherit a renewed earth and
become the seeds of the new dispensation that is on the way.
In my book, YUGA SHIFT, I have
discussed what causes the cyclical fluctuation of consciousness in course of
the Yuga Cycle, the cosmic triggers for the cataclysms during the periods of
Yuga transition, and the real meaning of the various prophecies that describe
the return of a Savior or Avatar at the end of this age. If you are one of
those who can already sense that a momentous shift is underway, and are trying
to figure out how exactly this transformation may play out in the coming years,
then you are likely to find the answers to some of your questions in the
book.
References
[1] Bibhu Dev Misra, "The
end of the Kali Yuga in 2025: Unraveling the mysteries of the Yuga Cycle",
Ancient Inquiries, July 15, 2012, https://www.bibhudevmisra.com/2012/07/end-of-kali-yuga-in-2025-unraveling.html
[2] Censorinus, De Die Natali, xviii.
[3] R. B. Firestone et al, “Evidence for an extraterrestrial impact 12,900
years ago that contributed to the megafaunal extinctions and the Younger Dryas
cooling”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Oct 2007,
Vol.104, No.41, pp. 16016-16021,
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0706977104
[4] Victoria Dmitrieva, The Legend of Shambhala in Eastern and Western
Interpretations, Mc Gill University, November 1997, p. 11.
[5] Revelation 20.4-
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