dkb@cs.brown.edu (Dilip Barman) (03/18/90)
One thing that impresses me about eastern philosophy is its surprisingly
advanced and free-thinking attitude toward science. Recently I compiled
the following description of endless time in Hinduism; dogmatists
argue the beginning and end of time, but the following model that I
sketch seems more in line with a steady state universe and in any case
shows humbleness to that undefinable concept, time.
Re: Hindu cyclical concept of time
Wednesday March 14, 1990
There are an infinite number of worlds, and each passes through 4
yugas, or periods, over and over. Time itself has no beginning or end.
The names of the yugas come from dice throws, perhaps implying nondeter-
minism. The first age is krita yuga (lasting 1,728,000 years), then
comes treta yuga (1,296,000 years), dvapara yuga (864,000 years), and
finally our current one, Kali yuga (432,000 years). The yugas are of
decreasing length, mirroring a decrease in virtue.
But that's just the beginning! One cycle of the four yugas is
4,320,000 years and is called a mahayuga. One thousand mahayugas equals
ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF BRAHMA (the creator)!!!! This is called a kalpa.
After each mahayuga, there is a minor dissolution of the world and the
next mahayuga the universe is cosmically nondifferentiated potential.
After each kalpa there is a major dissolution that lasts another kalpa.
But even that's the beginning! Brahma lives for 100 Brahma years
of Brahma days and Brahma nights -- i.e., 311,040,000,000,000 human
years (3x10**14)!!! What happens when he dies? Everything, including
he, dissolve and nothing but potential substance exists for another
Brahma century. Then we start the whole cycle again! There's no
beginning or end!
{From Kinsley, David. R. "Hinduism: A Cultural Perspective". Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1982, page 86}
Dilip Barman dkb@cs.brown.edu
U.S. mail: Brown University Home: 19 Elton Street
Dept. of Computer Science, Box 1910 Providence, RI 02906
Providence, RI 02912 (401)863-7666 (401)521-9731