Every cycle is divided into fourteen manvantaras, each of which is ruled by a dominant Manu, or “teacher.” Each manvantara is followed by a great flood that destroys all living things, except those saved to repopulate the earth. During these floods, the continents are rearranged.
The Day of Brahma may also be divided into 1,000 yugas with each consisting of the Four Ages, discussed earlier. Four yugas together last 4,320,000 years—the first, 1,728,000; the second, 1,296,000; the third, 864,000; and the last yuga, 432,000. The year 1993 was the 5,093rd of the Kali yuga. This is ominous as Kali is believed by some to be the destroyer of the world.
By the time the last yuga has come and gone, the earth is completely exhausted of its resources. This is the point in the cycle of history where the universe is eradicated and prepared for re-creation. The god Vishnu now takes the form of Rudra the storm god, the destroyer of all things. First comes a horrible drought that lasts for 100 years, by which all life on earth is decimated if not extinguished.
Rudra then enters the sun, and all the water on earth—the seas, oceans, lakes, and rivers, as well as the water beneath the earth—dries up. All of the water is drawn off the earth into the sky. The ancient teachers called this “the sucking of the waters by Rudra,” for it is as if all of the moisture on earth has been sucked up by a straw. What is left of the earth is then burned and cleansed by the power of the superheated sun, so that all things are purged on earth and then throughout the universe.
Then Rudra breathes out great clouds filled with the moisture drawn from the earth. He begins sending thunderbolts out of heaven, the harbinger of a rain in sheets that lasts for 1,000 years, extinguishing the fires. The water rises and rises until it reaches the realm of the seven sages, far above the surface of the earth.
Then Brahma sends a wind that drinks up much of the water, establishing clouds in heaven. The world is now a watery chaos, the primordial state from which a new world can be created.
THE PERSIAN APOCALYPTIC MYTH
The Believer of the True Faith:
O Ormazd, I ask you concerning the present and future
How shall the righteous be dealt with,
And how shall the wicked be dealt with,
At the last judgment?
I ask you O Ahura [Lord], what will be the punishments
of them that serve the Evil One—
Of them who cannot make their living except by doing
violence to cattle and herdsmen?
O Ormazd, I ask you whether the well-disposed, the one
who strives to improve the houses, villages, clans
and provinces through justice—
Can he become like you?
And when?
By what deeds?
Tell me, O Lord, that I may no longer be deluded;
Be my instructor of Good Disposition!
Ormazd the Wise Lord answers:
O well-disposed believer
Don’t listen to the followers of the Evil One,
For they seek to destroy houses, villages, clans and
provinces.
They can only cause disaster and death.
Fight them with all your might!
The righteous alone shall be saved from destruction and
darkness;
From foul food and the worst curses at the time of the
end of days.
But wicked ones—beware!
For you will be delivered all these foul things because
of your evil spirit.
He that serves the Wise Lord in mind and deed
To him shall be granted the joy of divine fellowship, and
the fulness of health, immortality, justice and
power and the Good Disposition!
There will be three saviors sent to earth by the Wise Lord before the final, inevitable battle that will result in the ultimate triumph of good over evil, the Last Judgment, and the resurrection of the dead. First will come a period called the Period of Iron, in which demons will attack the earth relentlessly, sparing no one. They will be more interested in causing the faithful to suffer than in killing them. The darkness will be so pervasive that the light of even the sun and moon will be dimmed. At that time a shower of stars will occur to herald the birth of the first savior, the champion of the faithful, named Anshedar.
A virgin, fifteen years old, will bathe in a sacred lake in Iran that has been miraculously impregnated with the sperm of the prophet Zoroaster; the virgin will then conceive the child Anshedar. When Anshedar reaches the age of thirty, the sun will be motionless in the sky in the noonday position for ten days. After the appearance of this heavenly portent, Anshedar will meet with the angels and return to earth to preach the teachings of righteousness—exhorting all humankind to resist evil. When Anshedar leaves the earth, it will be better than when he found it. However, evil will only be temporarily subdued. At the end of this time of Anshedar, people will no longer die of disease, which is now inflicted by demons; they will only expire as the result of advanced age, accidents, or homicide.
A thousand years later, evil will again be ascendant and humankind will experience a hardship that had been long forgotten. Out of nowhere, suffering, disease, war, and hunger will appear. Again, a fifteen-year-old virgin will bathe in the sacred lake, become pregnant, and give birth to the second savior, Aushedarmah. Once more, when Aushedarmah reaches the age of thirty, the sun will remain in the noonday position, only this time for six days. Evil will again be subdued, but not entirely conquered. At the end of this period, no one will eat meat anymore and, as vegetarians, the people will be less aggressive.
But while Aushedarmah is on earth, the evil dragon Azhidahaka will awaken from his sleep in a cave and terrorize the earth, killing one third of all humans and animals. However, the ancient hero of the Persians, Keresaspa, will be resurrected by the Lord and slay this beast. Good will again be temporarily ascendant over evil.
The third and last savior, Saoshyant, will appear one thousand years after that; it is he who will herald the final judgment of the living and the dead, as well as the unchallenged rule of the Wise Lord over all things. He too will be born of a virgin in the same manner as the first two saviors. All the world will know him as the great champion of good on earth. A great flood of molten metal will sweep over the earth, killing the wicked in great pain; for the righteous, it will seem like a refreshing warm bath.
After this purge of the earth, the bodies and souls of all who have ever lived will be rejoined in the resurrection. After this will come the Final Judgment. The Wise Lord will appear out of the heavens, attended by angels. His light will be reflected in all those who follow good; the righteous will shine like the sun. The evil, on the other hand, will be seen for all the filth that they are.
It is Saoshyant who will preside over the last judgment. The wicked humans and Ahriman, the Evil One, will be consigned to hell forever, even as the Wise Lord rules uncontested over the universe. All death, disease, and suffering shall cease forever. The earth will be re-created and the blessed will enjoy immortality in a new Paradise.
Take heart, O righteous ones, and live in hope!
THE ISLAMIC APOCALYPTIC MYTH
NOTE: For Muslims the Koran (or Qu’ran) is not myth, nor is it even the word of God revealed and written by man. Rather, Muslims believe their Scripture to be the actual words of God dictated to the prophet Muhammad.
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. When that which is coming comes—and no soul shall then deny its coming—some shall be abased and others exalted.
When the earth shakes and quivers and the mountains crumble away and scatter into fine dust, you shall be divided into three multitudes: those on the right (blessed shall be those on the right!); those on the left (damned shall be those on the left!); and those to the fore (foremost shall be those!). Such are they that shall be brought near to their Lord in the gardens of delight: a whole multitude from the men of old, but only a few from the later ge
nerations.
They shall recline on jewelled couches face to face, and there shall wait upon them immortal youths with bowls and ewers and a cup of purest wine (that will neither pain their heads nor take away their reason); with fruits of their own choice and flesh of fowls that they relish. And theirs shall be the dark-eyed houris,* chaste as hidden pearls; a guerdon for their deeds.
There they shall hear no idle talk, no sinful speech, but only the greeting, “Peace, peace.”
Those on the right hand—happy shall those be on the right hand! They shall recline on couches raised on high in the shade of thornless sidrahs and clusters of [bananas]; amidst gushing waters and abundant fruits, unforbidden, never-ending.
We created the houris and made them virgins, loving companions for those on the right hand: a multitude from the men of old, and a multitude from the later generations.
As for those on the left hand (wretched shall be those on the left hand!) they shall dwell amidst scorching winds and seething water; in the shade of pitch black smoke, neither cool nor refreshing. For they have lived in comfort and persisted in the heinous sin [of idolatry] saying: “When we are once dead and turned to dust and bones, shall we, with all our forefathers, be raised to life?” [from Sura 56].
The day shall surely come when you shall see the true believers, men and women, with their light shining before them and on their right hands, and a voice saying to them: “Rejoice this day. You shall enter gardens watered by running streams in which you shall abide forever.” That is the supreme triumph.
On that day the hypocrites, both men and women, will say to the true believers: “Wait for us that we may borrow some of your light.” But they will answer: “Go back and seek some other light!”
A wall with a gate shall be set between them. Inside there shall be mercy, and out, to the fore, the scourge of hell. They will call out to them saying, “Were we not on your side?” “Yes,” they will reply, “but you tempted yourselves, you wavered and you doubted, and were deceived by your own desires until Allah’s will was one and the Dissembler tricked you about Allah. Today no ransom shall be accepted from you or the unbelievers. Hell shall be your home: you have justly earned it, a dismal end” [from Sura 57].
The Hadith
NOTE: The Hadith is to Islam what, roughly, the Talmud is to Judaism. The Hadith is not part of the Koran, but rather a collection of oral traditions attributed to the Prophet Muhammad and his companions.
The companion of the holy prophet Muhammad asked him what the signs would be of the end of the world.
The prophet told him of this terrible time, about which much is written in the Holy Koran: People will no longer study the Koran but will spend all of their time seeking material wealth, pleasure, and worldly power. There will be an epidemic in Jedda, a famine in Medina, and a plague in the holy city of Mecca. There will be earthquakes, unlike any ever seen before, throughout the entire Maghreb [North Africa]; lethal thunderstorms will strike throughout Turkey and Iran; Iraq will be the domain of murderous bandits. The peoples of the Far East will be wiped out through a succession of floods. The morality that binds societies together will be completely loosened—it will be every man for himself. At that time, the Dajjal—the Antichrist—will appear, riding on a donkey and subjecting all the peoples of the earth to his rule.
Dajjal will rule but forty days through terror and force. Then God will send Jesus from heaven on a white horse, with a lance in his hand, to subdue Dajjal. The remnant of faithful believers will form a powerful army of God to assist Jesus in the defeat of the Dajjal. Dajjal will be defeated but not killed, until God causes the feet of Dajjal to be fixed firmly to the earth; then Jesus will administer the fatal blow.
A throne will come down from heaven and Jesus will reign over the earth for forty years of perfect peace and justice. Each of these forty years will be twenty-six months in length, rather than the usual twelve—so they will actually be like eighty-seven of our present years.
At the end of his reign, Jesus will go to Jerusalem and pray at the Mosque of the Dome of the Rock, where God will take Jesus into heaven. Seven days after the arrival of the soul of Jesus in heaven, the monstrous Gog and Magog, monsters who had been imprisoned by Alexander [Iskandar] the Great, will break free, ruining civilization.
At this point God will call two angels into service. The first of these is Azrail, the angel of death. For believers, Azrail will appear as a beautiful star that calls them to their rest in a sweet, gentle voice. To the wicked, in contrast, Azrail will appear as a monster that rips their souls out of their bodies.
Another angel, Israfil, has the duty of blowing the trumpet of the last day. As all of the righteous will have been killed by the wicked at this point, all those left on earth will deserve the doom that begins with this trumpet call. Tired of the wickedness, God will tell Israfil to blow the horn and the mountains will crumble into dust. At the end of this destruction, forty years of terrible earthquakes and storms, the trumpet will sound again. At this sound, the souls of the faithful dead will search for their bodies to be reunited for the resurrection. Then, when souls and bodies are joined, the faithful will spend forty years praising Allah.
At the third blast of the trumpet, the holy prophet Muhammad will return to earth on his horse, Burak, led by a rope held by the angel Gabriel. All will then see the great scales of judgment descend from heaven. The throne of God will then be visible to all. There will be no secrets: The secret sins of everyone, believer and unbeliever, will be known to all. These secret sins will be weighed on the left side of the scale, and all good deeds, no matter how small, will be weighed on the right. If the right outweighs the left, then the soul is saved; if the opposite is true, the soul will be damned.
But what of those whose good deeds and evil deeds balance equally? These souls may be saved on that terrible day by crying out to God for mercy. If the soul cries in sincerity, honestly sorry for its sins, a note written in God’s own hand will fall onto the right side of the scale and paradise will be opened for that soul.
The Judgment will last only one hour.
Then the righteous and wicked alike will cross the bridge into Paradise, which is as thin as a hair. The righteous will cross it with ease, even as the wicked fall down into the chasm of hell. Some will be able, with much difficulty and a heart of sincere repentence, to crawl up out of hell. These and all faithful ones will drink of the sweet waters of Muhammad’s lake and never know sorrow, thirst, hunger, or any suffering.
MAITREYA
(Tibet, Korea, Mongolia)
In a future time there will be great changes in the world. The ocean will dry up partially, causing the Indian subcontinent to be larger and flatter at present. People will thus have an easier time traveling around Asia, and the subcontinent will be large enough to hold all of the world’s people. The world will suddenly be filled with abundant food. Human beings who were hostile one day will suddenly be kind to one another. There will be only three problems among human beings—hunger, elimination of waste, and growing old—sickness and war will be obsolete. But people will live to be very old indeed, not even marrying until they are 150, and living to be about 500.
There will be one ruler over all the world. Named Shankha, he will spread the Dharma of the Buddha as law throughout the world. During his reign, the future Buddha, Maitreya, will be born. His mother will be pregnant with him for ten months and he will emerge from the womb completely clean. At his birth he will announce that this is his last birth—only Nirvana (the supreme enlightenment) awaits him. As did the first great Buddha, the Buddha Shakyamuni, or Gautama Buddha, before him, Maitreya will contemplate the nature of things and see the illusory aspect of mortal life. He will then have eighty-four thousand people following him, attending him at all times. At that time, Brahma, the Eternal God, will announce the truth of the Dharma out of heaven in his own voice.
This period will witness the end of all selfishness and illusion. Possessions will mean nothing at all. No o
ne will be concerned about anything but achieving enlightenment. People will no longer live according to their passions, but lead a life of perfect chastity, such as monks do now. For there will be no need to produce children anymore, given the long life span. In fact, Maitreya himself will preach for over sixty thousand years in this environment of perfect harmony, after which he will leave the earth to go to his Nirvana, absolute union with God. The eternal law, the Dharma, will be in force for an additional ten thousand years, and all humans will achieve Nirvana.
All persons will be freed of every suffering and pain; all obstacles to human understanding of the Dharma will be removed. At the end of the ten thousand years, Brahma himself will teach the universal truth directly to humankind, revealing things concealed even from the Buddhas.
RAGNAROK: THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS
(Norse)
Ever since Odin bartered his eye for a drink from Mimir’s well of wisdom, he had known of the inevitable destruction of the universe, including himself and all the gods. The beginning of the end will be marked by signs in nature. Watch the animals carefully—one year, they will begin gathering food for the winter beginning in early spring—for they know what is coming before humans do. Winter will come that year and last for three seasons—from the autumn of one year to the beginning of the next autumn. These will be the coldest winters ever known. There will be three such winters, punctuated only by three months of thawing, before the Twilight of the Gods. Then the earth will begin to quake as never before. Earthquakes will strike in places that have never known them, causing the sea to rise up and flood the land. These earthquakes will be caused by Loki, the Evil One, breaking loose.
Parallel Myths Page 25