Happy New Year 155,521,972,949,112 !!!

If at the beginning of English year, we wished each other by saying “Happy New Year 2010”, then for this Hindu New year, the corresponding phrase will translate to above!

Surprised?? If you had a chance to pay attention to what a person performing any religious rite says in what is called as a Sankalpa, you would find that the person is actually describing the time elapsed since the dawn of Universe. The Sankalpa goes like this:

“Dwitiya parardhe, Shwetavarah kalpe, Vaivasvata Manvantare, Kaliyuge, Pratham Charane, Sarvadhari naam Samvatsare, Chaitramaase, Shukla Pakshe, Pratham tithau, Somvasare, JambuDweepe Bharat Khande, Bharat Varshe Godavaryam Dakshine Tire (Or Gangayam UttareTeere if you are in UP)…..

…. poojam aham karishye”.

 

Meaning:

"Today, the second half of  Brahma's life in Vaivaswat Manvantar and Shvetvarah Kalpa and the first part of Kaliyuga, in the year named Vikruti in the month of Chaitra in brighter half on first date  in the holy land of Bharat in Jambudweep(Asia) at such & such  place on Monday I perform this Yagya/Pooja/etc."

This is of great significance for understanding the Hindu way of counting the age of universe. Here is the short glimpse.

The calculation of total time measured by Hindu calendar can be easily accomplished by replacing the terms used in the above sankalpa by the respective numerical equivalents. Yes, Dwitiya parardhe, Shwetavarahkalpe, Vaivasvata Manvantare, Kaliyuge, Pratham Charane etc terms signify some time associated with them.

Time Elapsed        (In Years)	Head	Notes
5,111	Kaliyug	Total duration of Kaliyug = 4,32,000 years
38,88,000	Satya, Treta and Dwapar Yugs	Satya, Treta and Dwapar are 4,3Yug respectively. and 2 times of Kali
11,66,40,000	27 Mahayugs	1 Mahayug = Satya + Treta + Dwapar + Kali Yug.
1,85,06,88,000	6 Manvantars	1 Manvantar = 71 Mahayug + 1 Satya Yug.
17,28,000	Satya yug at the beginning of Kalpa	1 Kalpa = Brahma’s Half Day
155520,00,00,00,000	50 Years of Brahma	1 Brahma’s Year = 360 Brahma’s Days 1 Brahma’s Day = 2 Kalpas 1 Kalpa = 14 Manvantar + 1 Satya Yug (= 1000 Mahayugs)
155521,97,29,49,111	Total

The coming year is 5112 in Kaliyug and is named “Vikruti”. So Happy New Year 155 521 972 949 112 !!! 

Sounds like you are telling your age in microseconds or may be number of trees in this world, Isn’t it?

So lets just say, “Happy Vikruti year 5112!!”

Now lets also take  a look into Indian Time Measurement System

Purans and Vedas and other ancient scriptures talk of some "time systems". But this knowledge has been lost and tainted over the centuries. How/ Why ? First, because of the antiquity of these magnificent treatise' ; Second, innumerable attempts have been made by foreign invaders , again and again- for centuries, to wipe out this knowledge; third, Indian culture had a lot of openness which encouraged new ideas and information to be added to the already existing "database". Finally, a lot of knowledge contained in these ancient texts was encrypted so that if it were to fall into "wrong" hands it could not be easily interpreted. So if today some one wishes to interpret it- they better be smart !!

Now a days there is concerted effort to restore and decipher this knowledge- by some Indian scholars around the world. And that is helping us in understanding our glorious past. Let us support them (these scholars) - at least let us listen to them ! Let us give them a chance to present "our" case ! Let us encourage them !! It will go a long way in restoring our pride and it will bring to us a sense of gladness and respect about our past and heritage. We were glorious !! An understanding of the past can only help us in doing it again !!

Lets get back to the subject. How accurate was this time system ? Was it scientific ? Sadly, to prove that we compare it to the modern system. We will not divert too much by comparing them both. But to give an example, Indians in ancient times had calculated the time period for a cycle of creation of our universe till its destruction as 8 .64 billion years. Interesting , because that is what the modern scientists claim too- based on their scientific calculations. Ancient Indians had defined larger time cycles too. How?

Lets start from the beginning since we are talking about time ! But according to Indian philosophy there is no beginning (or end) !! When we say beginning, it means beginning of "a" cycle. In the beginning there was only Divine Energy. This energy is referred to as "Brahman" ( this brahman has nothing to do with the caste system ! ).This Brahman or the energy takes three shapes- that of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. The Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer.

There is only a sea of water and in that sea is an Egg, and from that Egg emerges Brahma. The Egg is referred to as "Hiranyagarbha"- the golden womb or egg. This is the first step to all creation. During Brahma's day there is creation, at night there is destruction or "pralaya". What does Brahma's day mean ?

Physically, one "God" year or day is not equal to one man year or day. Why is that? Its not to confuse us- I hope !! A thought here. I feel that a year for us is defined by our Solar system with Sun being the center of the system. But other solar systems, in the same universe, will have a different Sun's , and obviously their "day" and "year" will not be equal to ours. So the common/constant unit will be "Gods" time scale ! Thus there is a God time scale and there is a Man (earth) time scale. Lets crunch some numbers now.

"Nimesh" is the time it takes to blink an eye. This is the smallest unit of time (similar to seconds). Fifteen Nimesh add up to one "Kashth". Thirty Kashth's equal a "Kaal", and thirty Kaal's make a "Muhurt". Thirty Muhurt's sum up to a "Ahoratr". One Ahoratr constitutes a day.
Thus there are thirty Muhurts in a day (or in one Ahoratr) – fifteen each for day and night. A God Ahoratr (day) equals one man year. The first six man months- when Gods have their first half of a day is called "Uttar Yaan" and the next six man months - when Gods have their night is called "Dakshin Yaan".

Three hundred and sixty human years equal one God year. Thus 12,000 God years equal 4,320,000 man years. This is a "Maha Yug".

There are four major Yugas or periods/eras. Satya Yug, Tret Yug, Dvapar Yug and Kali Yug. Satya Yug lasts 1,440,000 man years; Tret Yug for 1,080,000 ; Dwapar Yug for 720, 000 and Kali Yug for 360,000 man years. In addition ,there are other time periods between these four Yugas. These periods are referred to as "Sandhyamsh" and they last for 720, 000 man years. Adding up the four Yugas and the Sandhyamsh we get a total of 4,320,000 man years or a Maha Yuga.

Hold on , there is more !! But do these numbers sound too large and too vague ? Thats what we tend to feel/ think till we realize that they can carry so much truth. Ignorance never carries an answer. At least not the truth. One "Manvantr" equals seventy one Mahayugas. Thus there are 296,720,000 man years in a Manvantr. One "Kalp" equals a thousand Mahayugas. Thus there are 4,320,000,000 man years in a Kalp. One Kalp corresponds to one Brahma day ! Thus there are 8,640,000,000 man years in one day/night of Brahma. Between the time he opens his eyes- to start all over again. Time between creation and destruction.

That is a count of 8.64 billion years !! It is the same as calculated by present day science !! But even the present day science cannot divide this time period as done so, poetically and scientifically, by our ancient scriptures. Is this a coincidence ? A lucky guess by ourancestors ? ....You guess!!

How do we calculate our festivals ? It does not fall on the same date each year! Indians use Lunar calendar for these calculations. A lunar month has 28 days. But there are only 12 defined months(Maas): Chaitr, Vaishakh, Jyeshth, Ashaad, Shravan, Bhadr-pad, Aasvin, Kartik, Maargsir, Pushya and Magha.

There is a problem here, these 12 months add up to 48 solar weeks, and an year has 52 solar weeks ! Physically- the year is after all defined by the Sun ! The concept of "Adhik Maas" is applied here. Every year one month (four weeks) is added to make it 52 weeks. This year the extra month is Adhik Jyeshth. Thus there are 8 weeks of Jyeshtha Maas- Adhik and Niji (real Jyeshtha).

There are 2 weeks in a lunar month, comprising of 15 days each (equalling 14 Sun days). They are: Poornima/Amavasya, Padyami, Vidiya, Tadiya, Chaturthi, Panchami, Shashti, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami, Dashami, Ekadashi, Dvadashi, Trayodagi and Chaturthi. These name may vary depending on language and region.

By the way- why are we celebrating the year 5112 today ?
Logically- because Kali Yug began 5111 years ago !! Also, Kalyug began the day after Lord Krishna took maha-samadhi! That day was exactly 36 years after the advent of Mahabharat !

To see the depth of knowledge possesed by our ancestors, as early as 4000 years ago, following are quotes from Atharva Veda:  

"Sun has been pronounced as the determining factor of TIME (KAAL – GANANA)".
-Atharva-veda-II/13/2-38

"Sun rises under the command of TIME (KAAL) and it sets in under the same command".
-Atharva-veda-II/19/54-1

"The Day is caused by the presence of Sun in one part (of the earth), while the Sun is traveling in the other half (of the earth) during the night".
-Atharva-veda-II/13/2-43

{This indicates that the ancient Indian scholars had knowledge of the fact that earth is round. }

"He (Sun) created one month by thirty days and nights and one year by thirteen months (one extra month)."
-Atharva-veda-II/13/3-8

{ It is called LOND YEAR in Indian Calender these days}

"TIME (KAAL) created the past and the future (and also the present)."
-Atharva-veda-II/19/54-3

The Atharva-veda (Book II. Kanda-12, Sukta-1 and SHLOKA-36) Mentions that there are six RITU (seasons) in one year, such as:
- Greeshm (Summer)
- Varsha (Rains)
- Sharada (Season after Rains)
- Hemant (Early Winter)
- Shishir (Cold season)
- Vasant (Autumn)

"The earth is possessed of GRAVITATIONAL FORCE (GURUTVAKARSHAN) and it rotates around the Sun".
-Atharva-veda-II/12/1-48

"The earth revolves around its own axis"
-Atharva-veda-II/12/1-37

 

Note - This post is based upon different email and contents available throughout the web. Special thanks to Chetan Jee to forward such a valuable mail.