What is the Cycle of Ages?
The energetic clock that influences of the macro-evolution and de-evolution of human consciousness.
The cycle of yugas - the word in Sanskrit meaning “epochs” - has largely been hidden from the collective human history. The ancient Vedic texts are the predominant source of the yuga cycle, although the Greeks preserved their Great Year concept, and most ancient cultures have their own macro cycles based on their individual readings of the Sky-clock.
From an energetic perspective, each Age’s unique vibration affects humans’ ability to perform their dharma (inspired duty), with the highest form of dharma being the spiritual path towards merging back into the Source of all Creation, thus ending the cycle of birth and death on the material plane. Humans are either growing or diminishing in their conscious awareness, and each Age has has unique potentialities and characteristics affecting this process.
This macro-cycle has 4 Ages or 'yugas': The Golden (Satya), Silver (Treta), Bronze (Dvapara), and Iron (Kali).
There is much debate about the structure, calculation, duration and the current Age, with most commentators agreeing that we are in the Kali-yuga, are about to leave it, or have recently left it.
The Vedic texts say that the longest Age is the Golden Age, and each subsequent Age is 1/4 the duration of the full Golden Age. So the full Golden Age is 4000 years, the Silver 3000, Bronze 2000 and Kali 1000.
There are also two transition periods at the beginning and end of each Age lasting 1/10 of the full duration of that Yuga.
For example, at the start of the Golden Age, there is a transition period of 400 years, then the Golden Age proper that lasts 4,000 years, and at the end of the Golden Age another transition period of 400 years. After that Golden Age transition period ends, a 300 year Silver Age transition period begins, and then the proper Silver Age proper begins.
This gives the full duration of the yugas from Golden to Kali respectfully: 4,800, 3,600, 2,400, 1,200.
The Vedic texts also repeatedly stipulate that the cycle is calculated in Divine Years, and 1 Divine Year is 360 Human Years.
This makes the Golden Age 1,728,000 human years long, the Silver Age 1,296,000 human years, the Bronze Age 864,000 human years , and the Iron Age 432,000, and one trip around the cycle being a total of 4,320,000 human years long.
To make things even more magnanimous, the texts state that the age of the Universe is calculated by the lifetime of Brahma, the aspect of All That Is that is in charge of the act of Creation. Brahma’s lifetime is 100 Years, and 1000 yuga cycles is equal to just 1 day of Brahma. Then, Brahma lives 1 night, of equal length to the day.
Calculated out, this makes the duration of the Universe (Brahma's lifetime) 311,040,000,000,000 years long! See this wikipedia article & this one as well, if you are interested in more specifics about the mathematical calculations according to the ancient texts and traditionalist Vedic scholars.
An important and highly disputed concept is whether the Ages progress and then repeat (ie, after the Golden until Iron, then Golden restarts the series), or if there are Descending and Ascending Cycles.
The two images below show the difference between these two cycles, which greatly alters the structure, duration and experience of the entire cycle.
The key takeaway of the Cycle of Ages is that each Age changes the spiritual and material vibratory condition on Earth. Thus, the fundamental experience of Earthly life is different from Age to Age for all beings.
The Golden Age is the most spiritual Age, when the most highly evolved beings are able to incarnation on Earth. The total population is very low and the beings live very long lives spent in meditation. The Iron Age is the most materially dense, when the population on Earth is very high and filled with beings at all levels of spiritual progress, and they live short lives of difficulty and strife.
The following articles will explore each Age in depth and rough estimates of historical events that could have happened in each Age according to the Ages' vibratory condition.
Watch my 6-part YouTube Series for more in-depth information about the Cycle, viewable here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lef59nY8y0&list=PLtbxCZBTLB02T9nAtW0UU0ADoMEkJ1gkB
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