Showing posts with label yugas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yugas. Show all posts
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Yuga in Hinduism is an epoch or era within a four-age cycle. A complete Yuga starts with the Krita Yuga, via Treta Yuga and Dvapara Yuga into a Kali Yuga.
Yuga: Spiritual -Theosophy Dictionary on Yuga
Yuga (Sanskrit) Age; an age of the world, of which there are four -- satya yuga, treta yuga, dvapara yuga, and kali yuga -- which proceed in succession during the manvantaric cycle. Each yuga is preceded by a period called in the Puranas, sandhya (twilight, transition period, dawn) and followed by another period of like duration often called sandhyansa (a portion of twilight). Each of these transition periods is one-tenth of its yuga. The group of four yugas is first computed by the divine years or years of the gods -- each such year being equal to 360 years of mortal men.
Thus we have, in divine years:
1. Krita or Satya Yuga . . 4,000
Sandhya . . . . . . . . 400
Sandhyansa . . . . . . 400
4,800 or 1,728,000 mortal years
2. Treta Yuga . . . . . . . 3,000
Sandhya . . . . . . . . 300
Sandhyansa . . . . . . . 300
3,600 or 1,296,000 mortal years
3. Dvapara Yuga . . . . . . 2,000
Sandhya . . . . . . . . 200
Sandhyansa . . . . . . . 200
2,400 or 864,000 mortal years
4. Kali yuga . . . . . . . 1,000
Sandhya . . . . . . . . 100
Sandhyansa . . . . . . 100
1,200 or 432,000 mortal years
Total: 12,000 a Mahayuga or 4,320,000 mortal years
Of these four yugas, our present racial period is the kali yuga (black age), often called the Iron Age, said to have commenced at the moment of Krishna's death, usually given as 3102 BC. These yugas do not affect all mankind at the same time, as some races, because of their own special cycles in running, are in one or in another of the yugas, while other races are in a different cycle. This series of 4, 3, 2, 1, with ciphers added or not according to circumstances, are among the sacred computations of archaic esotericism, which shows that all the various kinds of yugas, the small being included within the great, are each governed by the same periodic and regular series -- all of which makes calculation no easy thing.
"All races have their own cycles, which fact causes a great difference. For instance, the Fourth Sub-Race of the Atlanteans was in its Kali-Yug, when destroyed, whereas the Fifth was in its Satya or Krita Yuga. The Aryan Race is now in its Kali Yuga, and will continue to be in it for 427,000 years longer, while various 'family Races,' called the Semitic, Hamitic, etc., are in their own special cycles. The forthcoming 6th Sub Race -- which may begin very soon -- will be in its Satya (golden) age while we reap the fruit of iniquity in our Kali Yuga" (SD 2:147n).
The four yugas refer to any root-race, although indeed a root-race from its individual beginning to its individual ending is about double the length of the great yuga as set forth in the above chart. The racial yugas, however, overlap because each new great race is born at about the middle period of the parent race, although the individual length of any one race is as above stated. Thus it is that by the overlapping of the races, a race and its succeeding race may for a long time be contemporaneous on the face of the globe.
As the four yugas are a reflection in human history of what takes place in the evolution of the earth itself, and also of the planetary chain, the same scheme of yugas applies on larger scales: there exist the four yugas in the time periods of the evolution of a planetary chain, as well as in the general time period of a globe manvantara. These cosmic yugas are very much longer than the racial yugas, but the same general scheme of 4, 3, 2 applies throughout.
"The sacredness of the cycle of 4320, with additional cyphers, lies in the fact that the figures which compose it, taken separately or joined in various combinations, are each and all symbolical of the greatest mysteries in Nature. Indeed, whether one takes the 4 separately, or the 3 by itself, or the two together making 7, or again the three added together and yielding 9, all these numbers have their application in the most sacred and occult things, and record the workings of Nature in her eternally periodical phenomena. They are never erring, perpetually recurring numbers, unveiling, to him who studies the secrets of Nature, a truly divine System, an intelligent plan in Cosmogony, which results in natural cosmic divisions of times, seasons, invisible influences, astronomical phenomena, with their action and reaction on terrestrial and even moral nature; on birth, death, and growth, on health and disease. All these natural events are based and depend upon cyclical processes in the Kosmos itself, producing periodic agencies which, acting from without, affect the Earth and all that lives and breathes on it, from one end to the other of any Manvantara. Causes and effects are esoteric, exoteric, and endexoteric, so to say" (SD 2:73-4).
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Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Kotilingeshwara Temple - This temple hosts more than 86 lakhs Shivalingas
Kotilingeshwara temple hosts more than 86 lakhs Shivalingas and has the world's tallest ShivaLinga measuring 108 Ft height and Basava measuring 35 feet. It is surrounded by plush greenery amidst the Kammasandra village 5 km from Kolar Gold Fields.
TENS OF THOUSANDS The biggest linga in Kotilingeshwara is 108 ft tall
The adventurous foursome that we are, we set off to discover a few places we found in KSTDC pamphlets. With a load of hearsay and a couple of maps, we hit the road in a small family car to Chikka Tirupati via Whitefield. Most travelogues and guides flood you with dated info on popular tourist beeline ends, motorable beaten tracks and cushy spots to eat and sleep. For a change, we veered away from any such repeats and that is how we found our way to a Vaishnavaite temple in the middle of a handful of hamlets.
A homely but clean-on-the-inside mess nearby provided us with staple idlis, puris and avarekalu baath. We wended our way on routes frequented more by tractors than plush cars. We passed rose and marigold expanses, tomato, chilli, potato, cabbage, cauliflower, Bengal gram, mulberry plantations and mango and eucalyptus groves. Roses and tomatoes beckoned. We stopped to admire and even had a small chat with the locals.
Uniformly, they stand
On the way, Kotilingeshwara, we found, was one big park of lingas, lining pathways in all sizes amidst bilva and amla trees, but all in one single colour and shape, tens of thousands of them. The temple houses shrines for Manjunatha, Panduranga, Srinivasa, Panchmukha Ganesha, Panchamukha Hanuman, Rama-Sita-Lakshmana, Ayyappa, Annapoorneswari, Santhoshima and Kannika Parameswari, besides Navagraha and Raghavendra.
The biggest linga is 108 ft tall, matched by a huge figure of Nandi. Prasada lunch of anna, saru and majjige is served to all visitors between 12.30 p.m. and 2 p.m.
Then a short drive to Bangaru Tirupati. You can't miss the arch marking the entrance from the road to Mulbagal. The temple dates to Brigu Maharishi's days and is built on rocks. You reach the shrine after a climb of several hundred steps and see the deity through a chequered window. At a different level is the shrine for the consort Padmavathi, dating back to mid-19th Century.
Mulbagal lies just off the NH4. This taluk shows signs of rural progress. The well-known place here is the temple for Hanuman, said to be installed by Arjuna, one of the Pandavas, after the Mahabharata war. Sage Vasishta is believed to have installed the idols of the main deity Srinivasa, Padmavathi and Rama-Sita-Lakshmana.
Off the Srinivasapura road going north from Mulbagal, we reach Kurudumale. Two temples, within a hundred feet of each other, are now protected monuments. The Someshwara temple, where restoration work is under way, was built and dedicated to the locals by Raja Raja Chola. The priest patiently took us through the Chola king's times depicted on some of the pillar sculptures worked on by the king's sculptor, the legendary Jakanachari.
After military plunder some centuries later, just about 15 of the original 30-odd idols have been found and reinstated. The Ganesha temple has dates back to the Krta Yuga. The idol is said to have grown from a salagrama stone (originally from the Gandak river of Nepal) through the four yugas to attain its present size.
Legend has it that the Hindu trinity together installed the idol — hence the name Koodadri, now known as Koodumale or Kurudumale. The Vijayanagar king Krishnadevaraya built the temple around the idol at the request of the locals.
A recently built Prasanna Venkataramaswamy temple is located along a 1.5 km detour on the road back to Mulbagal. The place is called Doddaguruki/ Vedagiri.
Getting back to Mulbagal, it is a smooth turn into NH4 towards Bangalore. Five kilometres down the highway is a fairly huge Ayyappa Kshetram. Then Kamat group's Upachar, located after the Kolar bypass, is a good refreshment halt, 20 km short of Hoskote and is a standard stop for the KSTDC bus services. With an early start and a couple more hours in hand, it is possible to complete the day with a trip to Kaiwara, a forest department-maintained resort via Chintamani, travelling northwest from Mulbagal and get back on the highway near Hoskote.
How to get there
Chikka Tirupati (35 km from Bangalore): Turn right at Farm Cross, Whitefield; Kotilingeswara: On the right, three km short of Betamangala. Travel on Bangarpet-Betamangala- route via Malur, Tykal, Bangarpet; Bangaru Tirupati; Eight km from Kotilingeswara on the road towards Mulbagal. Entry marked by a stone arch; Kurudumale: Northeast from Mulbagal, off the Srinivasapura Road.
Surrounded by verdant greenery, Kammasandra is famous for its Kotilingeshwara temple. The temple houses 108 ft tall Shivling and 35 ft tall Basava. The shrine is surrounded by lakhs of small shivlings, which spread over an area of 15 acres. These icons are installed by the devotees to seek the blessings of the lord. The entrance from the highway to the central courtyard is majestic. Other major attractions here are ancient temples dedicated to Sri Manjunatheshwara, Trimurti, Ashta-Lakshmi, Subramanya, the Navagrahas and many other deities.
A three hour journey from Bangalore brings one to this place.
Formerly, Kolar was known variously as Kolahala, Kuvalala and Kolala. Kolar was called Kolahalapura during the middle ages, but later came to be known as Kolar. Kolahahapura in Kannada meant "violent city", as it was the battlefield for the warring kingdoms of Chalukyas in the north and Cholas to the south. It was the capital of the Gangas till 4th century AD when they shifted the capital to Talakad in Mysore. In 1004 A.D., the Cholas annexed Kolar till 1116 A.D,. Vishnuvardhana (1108-1142AD) freed Gangavadi from the Cholas, and in commemoration of his victory.
Gold was first mined in the area in the 2nd and 3rd century AD by the digging of small pits. During the Chola period in the 9th and 10th century AD the scale of the operation grew, but large-scale mining only came in the 1850s under the British with more manpower and sophisticated machinery. In 1873, M.F. Lavelle, a resident in Bangalore, applied to the Mysore Government for the exclusive privilege of mining in the Kolar district. His request was granted and he commenced operations by sinking a shaft near Urigam (Oorgaum) in 1875
There is a legend about why the Kolar Gold Fields are so full of gold. The story goes back to the Tretha Yuga, the time of Lord Rama. During his 14 years of vanavasa, Rama along with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana wandered through the dense forests of the present day Avani village, which is about 10 miles from the gold fields, where they set up their hut and lived. Surpanaka, sister of Ravana, one day happened to see Rama and asked him to marry her. He refused, as he was already married, so she approached Lakshmana.
People from many different places are settled in the Kolar Gold Fields today, with the majority of them being tamil speaking people from the north and south Arcot districts of Tamil Nadu. There are also Telugu speaking people from Kuppam, Ramakuppam, V-kota and other places in Andhra Pradesh. Given the mixture of population, many festivals are celebrated; the most famous and popular one being the Lakshmi Venkateshwara Jaatre.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Karma and reincarnation are inseparable and it’s not possible to adequately discuss one without the other.
Karma translates literally as 'action', 'work' or 'deed' and is often described as the "moral law of cause and effect". Such cause-and-effect occurs on any given plane, whether physical, mental, or otherwise. According to the Upanishads, it is said that the individual or 'actor', known as the jiva-atma, will develop samskaras (impressions) from all actions he or she performs. However, the soul itself is credited with being unchangeable, pure, and eternal, so it is the individual's "linga sharira", a body more subtle than the physical one, but less subtle than the soul, which "serves as the vehicle of mind and character" and retains impressions, carrying them over into the next life. These impressions create a unique trajectory for the individual, linked by actions in former lives and reactions in future lives.
Thus, the law of karma, which is said to be neutral and never-failing, is inexorably linked to the concept of reincarnation. It can explain one's unique circumstances of birth, such as one's personality (or aggregate of desires), family, physical characteristics, and geography. In addition, past lives intrude upon the present one by setting up inevitable windfalls or significant events in the future with vistas of infinite possibility interspersed in between. For instance, the Puranas claim that every being is born with an allotted number of breaths. How rapidly one uses up those breaths and in the engagement of what activities is more or less free, barring other primary karmas. The notion of free will and destiny/fate intertwine very tenuously in the system of karma, where the individual is always responsible for his/her own experiences during any given life-cycle, free to choose and yet bound to decision. The individual must act, must create a future for him or herself. This is central: inaction is not an option.
This system of action, reaction, birth, death, and rebirth is a continuum called samsara. One's atman must inhabit earthly forms (from lowly cell structures, fungi and plants to insects, fish, animals and, ultimately, human beings) in a continuous cycling motion forward in accordance with the system of eras, or yugas, ultimately seeking a way out or degenerating with the cosmos into negation and then emerging in a whole new cycle. This karmic continuity from one life to the next, the indispensability of the individual life to the workings of the universe, is a strong premise in much of Hindu thought and is exemplified as a primary theme in the Mahabharata. On the relationship between the physical life and causal life (the transient, earthly body and the eternal atman), the Bhagavad Gita in fact states that
As a person puts on new clothes, discarding old and torn clothes, similarly an embodied soul enters new material bodies, leaving the old bodies.
(B.G. 2:22)
If samsara were never-ending, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth would be a guarantee of eternal suffering sweetened only occasionally by ephemeral pleasures and, if one were so fated, rare glimpses of the divine. It is for this reason that many schools of Hinduism, particularly Advaita Vedanta, do not teach that all worldly pleasures are sinful but instead caution that they can never bring deep, lasting happiness (ananda) or peace (shanti) and serve only to further embroil the individual in more and more karma. A person desires to be born because he or she wants to enjoy ephemeral pleasures, which can be enjoyed only through a perishable body. This occurs as long as the soul mistakenly identifies itself with the ego (the sense of "I" and "mine", called ahamkara in Sanskrit), which causes it to be reborn again and again.
It is thought that after several cycles of birth and rebirths, a jiva-atma will eventually come to the conclusion that recurrence is suffering, that desires are the chains of karma, and that there is no other worthy purpose but liberation (moksha). To this end, the individual can undertake spiritual practice (sadhana or sanyasa or the yogas). When the individual finally realizes his or her own divine nature - i.e., apprehends the true "self" as the immortal, limitless soul rather than the finite body or the ego — all desire for the pleasures of the world vanish, since they seem insipid compared to spiritual ananda (Supreme Bliss). It is this realization which is capable of breaking the cycle of reincarnation.
Karma is a useful lens through which to view the concept of sin in Hinduism. To understand 'sin'/ 'bad'/'evil' and 'virtue'/'good' in certain schools which do utilize equivalent terms, it helps to keep in mind that, in this case, that which is sinful is contrary to dharma, or harmony, and therefore complicates one's karma, keeping one embroiled in samsara. That which is virtuous is in accordance with dharma, thus allowing older karmas to exhaust themselves without creating new ones. But, on the other hand, some schools maintain that there is no single yardstick for the valuation of any given karma (action) as being good or bad. It is simply a matter of dissolving past karmas and restraining from creating new ones. To this end, pursuit of self-knowledge would be prescribed as the means towards escaping the wheel of life.
While many Hindus see God as directly involved in this process (particularly as an avatar, balancing dharma and karmic 'debts'), others consider the natural laws of causation self-sufficient.
Also see about
- Lord Venkateshwara / Balaji
- Theory of Karma
- "Moksha" The Salvation
- Four Pursuits of Life
- Astronomy : Panchanga