While the Gods Play

by Alain Daniélou

  Wandering is a means, for those who do not wish to take up the family profession, to escape from the caste system. By renouncing its advantages, they are freed from its obligations, prohibitions, and restrictions.

  PART FIVE

  THE THEORY OF CYCLES

  1

  The Duration of the Universe

  ACCORDING TO A THEORY THAT SHAIVA PHILOSOPHY calls Determinism (niyati), the development of the world and the galaxies, like species or individuals, is governed by cycles. Civilizations are born and die according to certain inescapable rhythms. For this reason, we can only understand human history in relation to the duration of the cycles that regulate life on earth.

  The first stage of creation is that of space, of the receptacle in which the world will develop and which, at the outset, has neither boundary nor dimension. Time at this stage exists only in a latent form that we can call eternity, as it has no measure, no duration, no before or after. A moment is not intrinsically longer or shorter than a century, except in relation to an element of consciousness by which it is possible to establish its direction and measure its duration. It is energy, by producing vibratory waves having direction and length, that will give birth to the rhythms whose perception will create the dimension of time, the measure of space, and at the same time the structures of matter. This is why the formation of the world is symbolized by the beat of the drum and the dance of Shivä (principle of expansion). For man, the perception of the dimension of time is determined by his vital rhythms—his heartbeat—as well as the movements of the sun, the moon, and the earth, which determine the duration of the cycles, the years, the nights, and the days in this cell that we call the solar system. Time as perceived by man corresponds to a completely relative duration, revolving around a center of perception (the living being) in a specific world which is the earthly one. It is not an absolute value of time. Yet human time is the only unit of measure that we can understand. In relation to it, we can estimate the duration of the universe, which, from the viewpoint of the creative principle, is only a day's dream, just as the life span of certain atomic worlds is in our view infinitesimal. The laws that govern the development and deterioration of the universe as a whole are the same as those which govern that of each of its parts. For this reason, one can compare the duration of the body of the universe, of Cosmic Man, Purushä, with that of a human being, who is his image, a small-scale model of him, or even with a tree, an animal, or a species. Man's life is neither shorter nor longer than the life of a god or a universe. Its duration differs only in relative terms, for the value of time exists only in relation to a specific system of perception.1

  The time scale of the creative principle, the duration of a day of Brahmâ, which sees the world appear, evolve, withdraw, and disappear, is called a Kalpä. Its night lasts another Kalpa. [Lingä Purânä 1.4. 6]

  The duration of the material or visible world (Präkritä) is called the day of Brahmâ. The night of Brahmâ is a period of time of equal length during which the world ceases to exist. In reality, it is not a matter of night and day; these terms are used symbolically. [Lingä Purânä 1.4.3–6]

  In the course of the day of Brahmâ the cells that make up the universe (the galaxies, the solar systems) are formed, destroyed, and renewed, just as the basic molecules of the human body are continually destroyed and renewed.2

  Precise calculations of the cycles of time, which go from the blink of an eye (Kashtä, approximately one-fifth of a second) to the duration of the universe, are given in many works, in particular, the Purânä(s).

  The life of Brahmâ (or the duration of the universe) is divided into a thousand cycles called Mahâ-Yugä(s), or Great Years (corresponding for the earthly world to the cycles of the precession of the equinoxes). The Mahâ-Yugä, during which the human race appears and disappears, is divided into a little more than seventy-one cycles of fourteen Manvantarä(s). [Lingä Purânä 1.4.7]

  The Manvantarä is the cycle of a Manu, the forefather of a human epoch. (These last figures are, in reality, an expression of the figure 1,000 (that is, 14 × 71.42 = 1,000), this figure being considered symbolic).

  Before the appearance of living species, beings appear who then preside over the development of various aspects of creation. The forms of consciousness that rule over the organization of matter are called the Elemental Gods (Vishvädevä[s]). Those which govern the life of living creatures, regarded as entities that develop in time and of which individual beings are the cells, are the Lords of the Species (Prajâpati). The beings that have charge of the development of knowledge, in parallel with that of life, and who are the conscious witnesses of the secret nature of the world, are called the Seers (Rishi[s]). The Rishi(s) appear from time to time in human form.

  During what is called the day of Brahmâ, everything which "evolves" (vikriti) including the Elemental Gods (Vishvädevä[s]) and those which preside over the evolution of the species (Prajâpati), as well as the subtle or incarnate beings who govern the evolution of knowledge, that is, the witnesses or seers (Rishi[s]), are present. They disappear during the cosmic night and arise again at the break of day. [Lingä Purânä 1.4.1–4]

  According to the calculations of the Purânä(s), the duration of the universe is 34 billion, 560 million years. The Mahâ-Yugä or Great Year lasts 4,320,000 years. According to modern data (Reeves), the age of the universe is around 15 billion years, and of the earth 4.5 billion years. The universe is therefore still young and would only be halfway through its life. Its expansion should last another 2 billion years before its period of retraction starts.3

  "The duration of the demi-Kalpä, according to the calendar of the gods, is 2,867,000,000 years. Eight thousand years of Brahmâ form its Yugä. One thousand Yugä(s) of Brahmâ are a Savanä, and nine thousand Savanä(s) are a day of Rudrä" (Lingä Purânä 1.4.37–40). The interpretation of these data poses a few problems as they concern in some cases lunar years (or human years) or ancestral years (years of the various races) or even the years of the gods. We will follow here the interpretation of the astrologers, who attach a great deal of importance to the duration of the cycles.

  The Cycles of the Yugä

  The cycles, in conjunction with astronomical phases, determine the life span of the species. The duration of a human species is included in a cycle called Manvantarä (the length of the reign of a Manu, the forefather-lawmaker of the human race). Each Manvantarä is divided into four ages or Yugä(s), producing a gradual decline in spiritual values at the same time as material advances. "The relative duration of the four ages is respectively 4, 3, 2, 1. Each age is preceded by a period of dawn and followed by a period of twilight. These transition periods (amshä) at the beginning and end of each Yugä last a tenth of the duration of the Yugä. [Lingä Purânä 1.4. 3-6]

  The duration of time viewed at different levels in the hierarchy of creation presents a harmonious relationship.

  On earth a human year forms a day and a night of the ancestors (that is, of a lineage, a model, from its appearance to its end). The period of the year (from the winter solstice to the summer solstice) when the sun rises toward the north (uttârayanä) is equivalent in length to the day of the ancestors; the period when the sun goes down toward the south (dakshinâyanä) (from the summer solstice to the winter solstice) is their night.

  With regard to the year of the gods, thirty human years correspond to a month of the gods, one hundred human years make three months and ten days of the gods, 360 years of man make one year of the gods, 3,030 years of man make one year of the Seers (Rishi[s]) (that is, of a tradition of knowledge passed on through initiation). Nine thousand and ninety years of men comprise one year of the cycle of the North Star (Dhruvä). [According to modern astrological data, the cycle of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit which determines the position of the North Star is in reality around 92,000 years.] Thirty-six hundred human years are a century of the gods; 360,000 human years make a thousand years of the gods. [Lingä Purânä 1.4.16-23]

&n
bsp; The night and the day (of humans) are each divided into fifteen periods (muhurtä) of twenty minutes. A lunar month corresponds to a day of the ancestors (pitri). Thirty human months constitute a month of the ancestors; 360 human months (thirty years) constitute a year of the ancestors, that is, one generation. One hundred human years are three ancestral years. Twelve earthly months make up one human year, twelve ancestral months, one ancestral year. [Lingä Purânä 1.4.7–14]

  The duration of the lineage of the ancestors corresponds to the evolution and predominance of a particular race. One hundred and twenty ancestral years, that is, the life of a race, corresponds to approximately four thousand human years.

  The number of days in a year is not constant. The rhythm of the earth's rotation varies over very long periods. A figure of 360 is considered to be the average. The figures and dates calculated on this basis are therefore approximate since they are based on the circle and its division into 360 degrees (Kalâ), giving an approximate picture of the cycles. The circle is an illusion, for the cosmic mechanism is in reality always formed of spirals. Nothing ever returns to its point of departure. However, the circle does give us a simplified image. With regard to the Kali Yugä, the world age in which we now find ourselves, the difference between the cycle of 360 days and the actual duration of a year results in a difference of approximately fifty years over the five thousand that constitute the Yugä.

  "The absolute maximum life span for man is 120 terrestrial years, for gods it is 12,000 celestial years. [Because one celestial year equals 360 human years] the life span of the gods is therefore 360 × 12,000 = 4,320,000 human years" (Lingä Purânä 1.4.4 and 1.4.24-36). We have seen that 71.42 Manvantarä(s) form one year of the gods. Each cycle of four Yugä(s) therefore lasts 60,487 years (being 4,320,000 divided by 71.42) as astrological treatises see it. Similarly, the normal human life span is 43,200 days (360 days × 120 years).

  The cycle of 4,320,000 years, the Maha-Yugä, which corresponds to the life of the gods, is divided, according to the Lingä Purânä, into "a little more than seventy-one periods" (71.42 × 14 = 1,000), each divided into four Yugä(s) whose duration relative to each other is 4:3:2: 1.

  The duration of the four Yugä(s) with their dawns and twilights is therefore:

  Dawn of Kritä Yugä: 2,016.24

  Kritä 20,162.40

  Twilight 2,016.24 Total: 24,195

  Dawn of Tretâ 1,512.10

  Tretâ 15,121.80

  Twilight 1,512.10 Total: 18,146

  Dawn of Dvâparä 1,008.10

  Dvâparä 10,081.20

  Twilight 1,008.10 Total: 12,097

  Dawn of Kali 504.06

  Kali 5,040.60

  Twilight 504.06 Total: 6,048.72

  Total of the four Yugä(s): 60,487 human years

  According to the traditional Indian calendar, which is still in use, the Kali Yugä commenced in 3012 B.C. If we accept this date for the beginning of Kali Yugä, the following calendar results:

  Dawn of Kritä Yugä 58,042 B.C.

  Beginning of Kritä Yugä 56,026 B.C.

  Beginning of Twilight 35,864 B.C.

  Dawn of Tretâ Yugä 33,848 B.C.

  Beginning of Tretâ Yugä 32,336 B.C.

  Beginning of Twilight 17,215 B.C.

  Dawn of Dvâparä Yugä 15,703 B.C.

  Beginning of Dvâparä Yugä 14,695 B.C.

  Beginning of Twilight 4,614 B.C.

  Dawn of Kali Yugä 3,606 B.C.

  Kali Yugä 3,102 B.C.

  Middle of Kali Yugä 582 B.C.

  Beginning of Twilight A.D. 1,939

  End of Twilight of Kali Yugä A.D. 2,442

  The twilight of the Kali Yugä therefore would have started in 1939, in the month of May. The final catastrophe will take place during this twilight. The last traces of this present humankind will have disappeared in 2442. The figures, as we have seen, are accurate to within fifty years. Using these dates as a starting point and going back, we find that the first manifestation of humanity came forth in 419,964 B.C., the second in 359,477 B.C., the third in 298,990 B.C., the fourth in 238,503 B.C., the fifth in 178,016 B.C., the sixth in 118,529 B.C., and the seventh in 58,042 B.C.

  The beginning of the present human cycle, the seventh, in 58,042 B.C., seems to correspond to the appearance of what we call Homo sapiens or Cro-Magnon man. The species that preceded this is probably that to which we give the name Neanderthal, whose brain capacity (1400 cm3) was markedly superior to ours, which varies between 1,200 cm3 (Nordic males) and 650 cm3 (Polynesian females); according to anthropological treatises, Neanderthal man probably dates back to 118,000 B.C.

  The first period, the Kritä Yugä, is the age of accomplishment and wisdom (corresponding to the Golden Age of Hesiod). Including its dawn and twilight, it lasts 24,195 years. Next comes the Tretâ Yugä, "the age of the three ritual fires," the age of rites but also of the hearth, that is, of sedentary, agricultural, and urban civilization. Its duration, counting the dawn and twilight, is 18,146 years in all.

  The third age, the Dvâparä Yugä or "age of doubt" sees the birth of the anti-establishment religions and philosophies. Man loses the sense of the divine reality of the world and grows away from natural law. The Dvâparä Yugä lasts 10,081 years, and its dawn and twilight last 1,008 years each, a total of 12,097 years.

  Finally comes the fourth age or "age of conflict," the Kali Yugä. It lasts 5,040 years, and its dawn and twilight each last 504 years, totaling 6,048 years. It will end with the nearly total destruction of the present humanity.

  The word Tretâ, "triad," refers to the three ritual fires. Dvâparä can mean "after the two," but more especially "doubt" or "uncertainty." Kali (two short syllables), which means "quarrel" or "conflict," bears no relationship to Kâlï (long syllables), which is the name of the goddess, of the power of time and of death.

  The Flood

  THE present phase of mankind commences with a great flood, which is recorded by all civilizations, which probably took place around 60,200 B.C. A lesser flood, dated in Sumerian writings at around 3000 B.C., heralds the beginning of the Kali Yugä. The Sumerian dynasties are classified as antediluvian and postdiluvian. The Purânä(s) mention the change in men's moral behavior from the dawn of the Kali Yugä.

  Vaivasvatä Manu (the Noah of the Bible), survivor of a previous human cycle, was saved by Vishnu who, in the form of a fish, pulled the ark to dry land.4 The decendants of Manu's companions, intermingled with the new races then still in semi-animal form (the Nephilim of Genesis), constitute the present humanity.

  2

  The Three Cities

  The Ages (Yugä)

  ACCORDING TO SHAIVA TRADITION, SINCE THE WORLD has been inhabitable, several manifestations of humanity have existed. Each had its period of glory, of technological development, of knowledge, then of decline, and has reached its end in a cataclysm. We are part of the seventh "humanity." The earth has therefore already known six successive appearances of mankind, each of which have disappeared,1 leaving to the following "humanity" some traces of their knowledge and sometimes a reminder of their glory. After the termination of the present humankind, the earth will know human or similar species seven more times before becoming uninhabitable. All living species evolve as entities, as individuals. They have their gestation, childhood, adolescence, maturity, and decline.

  In the Purânä(s) we find the account, passed down over millennia, of the circumstances that surrounded the end of the cycle of the human species preceding ours. However, details of two catastrophes are intertwined in this account: on the one hand, that which caused the end of the civilization of the Assurs, more than 60,000 years ago, and, on the other hand, the destruction of the cities of the Indus by Aryan invaders, which, two thousand years before Christ, marks the beginning of the Kali Yugä, the period of the decline of the present human race. This account gives us a clear picture of the conditions that lead to the destruction of the species at the end of each of the cycles that punctuate life on earth. The history o
f the Assurs is at the same time an account of the past and a prediction of the future.

  There is an obvious parallel between the events, the religious concepts, the ideologies, and the social and moral theories that caused the destruction of the Assurs and those which, since the beginning of the Kali Yugä, characterize the present human cycle and the "self-induced catastrophe" (naimittikä pralayä) that eventually awaits us.

  The history of the Assurs also teaches us how, by our actions and especially by our moral and religious concepts, we can delay the final day for the whole or a part of the human race. This would enable some to survive the cataclysm and take part in the Golden Age of the future mankind.

  The Destruction of the Assurs

  THE Assurs, who had attained a tremendously high standard of civilization, are depicted as fervent worshipers of the god Shiva. They practiced the cult of the Lingä, the divine phallus. With the help of Mayä, the architect of the spirits, they had built three impregnable cities. One, on the ground, was of copper; another, floating above the ground, was of silver; and the third, high in the heavens, was gold.

  According to the Shivä Purânä2

  The Assur princes were moderate men, well mannered, disciplined, decent, courageous, persevering. They were the enemies of the Aryan gods. They could control the sunlight and had a great variety of uses for this energy. They distributed food to the hungry.... Dressed in silky-looking clothing [underwater suits], they could even survive below the ocean without any trouble....