Galactic Time Cycles: Yugas & Precession of the Equinoxes

There is so much new information that has been pouring in regarding galactic time cycles and their effects on human society, culture and consciousness.  I am currently working on a long article, perhaps a short book, that ties this information together.  Key sources of this information include:

Robert Lawlor – The Geometry of the End of Time

Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend – Hamlet’s Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge and Its Transmission Through Myth

Alain Danielou – While the Gods Play: Shaiva Oracles and predictions on the Cycles of History and the Destiny of Mankind

Jose Diez Faixat – Beyond Darwin: The Hidden Rhythm of Evolution

Here is an introduction:

As Robert Lawlor states in his essential book on the topic, The Geometry of the End of Time: “I do not want to present this ancient prophetic tradition [of the Yuga cycles] concerning “the end of time” as an article of faith or as a belief system, but rather as a carefully reasoned and scientifically plausible contemplation.”

The Yugas are cycles within cycles shaping the outpouring of universal energy into varied patterns of rhythmic alternation and influencing the continual manifestation of life, consciousness and form.  The Sanskrit term “Yuga” translates as “spinning, circling and turning” and relates to the ancient sense of cyclic transformation found in the Yuga system and the ancient science of how light manifests and evolves as form.  The Yuga philosophy of ancient India holds a key insight into the creation, origins, distribution, transformation and extinguishing of light.  In the esoteric belief system all is light.  This is meant symbolically and literally.  All atomic form results from vortices of photons.  Photons loop and spin to form subatomic particles, these resonate to form atoms, then molecules, molecular lattices, cells, cellular lattices and so forth, right on up to the forms of planets, suns, galaxies and galactic clusters.

Robert Lawlor writes: “As with certain invariable geometric values, these Yuga intervals and cyclic durations are eternal coordinates and unchanging principles existing throughout the movements, magnitudes and distances of the entire Earth, Moon, Sun and planetary system.  These invariables are also prefigured in the constellation of the stars, in the formulas of physics and chemistry, in the vibrations of sound and in the radiational patterns and proportion of light and color.”

Robert Lawlor states, “For ancient philosophers, Space and Time were a vast field of resonation, interrelating the forms and energies of the cosmos.  Time and space were highly distinct conceptualizations, each being partly physical and partly metaphysical.  The eternal geometric laws of spatial symmetries, dimensions and relationships found in circles, triangles, squares, cubes and tetrahedrons are exactly the same laws and proportions that govern the cycles and durations of time.  It is time that imparts the spiral patterns of growth, movement and space by means of resonant proportions between energy and form.”

Time in modern science is a system of measurements tied to recurring or repetitious event patterns such as day and night, expansion and contraction, rising and falling levels of pressure, temperature or entropy.  A deeper view of Time is one that sees the process of Time itself as the ultimate source of the organization, regularities and growth of all systems as well as the source of their entropy.  This is precisely the philosophy of time underlying the ancient cyclic theory of the Yugas.

The Yuga system and its philosophy:

1. Provides precise intervals of time as well as the effects of these on human development and the human spirit
2. Delves into the pattern of creation, destruction and renewal
3. Is based on the unchanging geometry of form, structure and process as well as the vibrational principles which underscore cyclic movement, sound, musical intonation, and harmonic resonance.
4. Is structured around a universal inverse relationship between vibrations, with the form and qualities of an object emitting those vibrations.
5. Unfolds in four distinct ages similar to the pattern of harmonic vibration.

The four ages of the Yuga system are:

1. The first age or “Golden Age” is four Yugas (24192 years)
2. The “Silver Age” is three Yugas (18,144 years)
3. The “Bronze Age” is two Yugas (12,096 years)
4. The final “Iron Age” or age of Kali, is one Yuga. (6048 years)

These ten Yugas of four ages equal 60,480 years and is called a “Kalpa”.  Together these ten Yugas are necessary to express the four ages of humankind and the natural world.  The Yuga-Kalpa cycle terminates with death and dissolution on all levels, micro and macro.  The dissolution via the Yuga also brings forth an all-inclusive dynamic of transfiguration.  Without death there is no rebirth or resurrection.

We are currently in the twilight of the Iron Age or Kali Yuga.  The Kali Yuga began in 3606 BC.  Its twilight period began in 1938 and will take us through to 2442.  This is the Iron Age known for a progressive decline in morality, an excess of materialism, violence, hypocrisy and quarrel.  It is known as the Age of Conflict and is marked by paradox, illusion, corruption and those who ‘work iniquity in secret’.  Knowledge and power of humanity is confined to the world of gross matter and the mind is centered on problems of material objectivity. Also a spread of flawed doctrines will arise during this cyclic descent of time and “the young will become old and the old will become infantile and senseless as this era drowns in the roar of technological turbulence.”

The Dwapara Yuga or Bronze Age is one in which humanity gains a comprehension of the finer forces and more subtle matters of creation, such as the fact that all matter – all atomic form – is nothing but expressions of energy and vibratory force.

The Treta Yuga or Silver Age is one in which knowledge and power is extended over the attributes of universal magnetism, the source of positive, negative and neutralizing forces.

The Satya Yuga or Golden Age is one in which the comprehension of the source of universal magnetism, its principle of polarity and intelligence reaches out to grasp the mystery of Vibration, the creative power that sustains the Universe.

Lawlor states: “The Yuga system outlines a process in which the qualities and potentials expressed in the manifestation of life will alter and determine the forces and configurations governing the universe itself.  The entire Yuga process is a gestation period in the realization of our truly human (Royal) form and function.  That is to say, material life is not eternally destined to be this relentless tragic-comedy, but rather a cyclic revelation of light and darkness, of beauty and deformation, of transformation and elimination, a cycle always moving toward the purification and perfection of an incarnate being, conscious of its own nature and of the nature of the universal play.”

There is much confusion surrounding the actual time frame of the Yugas as the Yuga system takes two distinctly different yet parallel formations.  The first is the universal or “divine” system originating in the Rig Veda.  This deals with time frames in the millions of years.  The second Yuga system is the “Human” Yuga system.  This deals with time frames in the thousands and tens of thousands of years and has its historic cultural source in the Puranic texts of the Dravidian South India.

The ancient text The Laws of Manu state that the length of the Golden Age is 4800 years + 3600 years of the Silver Age + 2400 years of the Bronze Age + 1200 years of the Iron Age for a total of 12,000 years for one arc.  According to this text two arcs or 24,000 years would complete the cycle.  This number 24,000 is very close to the 25,920 year cycle leading many to believe that the Yuga cycle and Precessional cycle are the same. In fact, they are not.  To use a metaphor that will discussed in greater depth as this paper moves forward: The Precession of the Equinoxes provides what can be thought of as the ‘musical scale’ in its totality; while the Yuga cycles are the ‘song’ played within that scale.  It is the harmonic intervals and specific notes that mark important events and shifts in the cycle.

Other researchers (Aryabhatta, Paulisa, Srishena, Vishnucandra and others) believe that the yugas are of equal duration.  To them a yuga cycle of 12,000 years consists of four 3000 year yugas.

Other Sanskrit texts such as the Rig Veda conflate this number of 12,000 to an extremely high value of 4,320,000 years by multiplying by 360.  This large number constitutes a Divine Year, and deals with the ‘universal’ or ‘divine’ system as stated above and represents the evolution of the planet as a whole, rather than just the evolution of humanity.  We will take a look at this in the pages to come.

For this paper we will be using the controlling number of the Yuga cycle as 6048 years.  This is the ‘Human’ Yuga system and is based on the work and research of Sri Yukteswar, Alain Danielou, Robert Lawlor, and Jose Diez Fiaxat, and has its roots in Puranas as stated above.  As we progress I will clearly show you why this number and its related cycles are the harmonic cycle of the Precession of the Equinoxes and how it is related to evolution of form and consciousness on many levels.

Clearly the Yuga cycle and the Precessional Cycle are linked.  However the Yuga cycle is not the same as the Precession of the Equinoxes.  These are two interlocking cycles that move together as one – though they are not the same.  The Precessional cycle is approximately 25,920 years with 12 Ages of 2160 years each.  These Precessional Ages are the Ages of the Zodiac.  The Yuga Cycle is actually related to the Harmonics of the Precessional cycle.  In other words if the Precessional Cycle is plotted as a waveform, the harmonic points, such as the musical 5^th, would mark the key points of creation, destruction and transformation in the Yuga cycle.  Many misunderstand these two cycles as being the same – as I once did.  However they are not the same, and we will take a detailed look at this as we move forward.

As a simple yet important opening example we will note here that the Precessional Cycle shifted from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius during the years of 2008-2012, with the mid-point at the summer solstice of 2010.  This date of the shifting into the Age of Aquarius coincided with the Mayan 2012 prophecies.  For this reason many people thought that the creation, destruction and transformation of our planet would happen in that time frame.  This of course, did not happen.  The Yuga cycle relates to harmonic points of the Precessional cycle, as stated.  This means that the end of the current Kali Yuga will occur at exactly 1/5^th through the Age of Aquarius.  This is an important harmonic point, which we will explore in detail.  This means that the current end of the Kali Yuga, and the associated shift of human consciousness will occur not in 2012 but in 2442 – though we still cannot be sure this number is exact.  We can only approximate.  This also helps us understand why the ancients traditionally regarded times of transition between one age or Zodiac sign and the next as ill-omened.  The years of 2008-2012 were very turbulent years indeed, and they would only lead to an acceleration of these ill-omened times for the next 432 years – the twilight of the Kali Yuga.

Much more to come!

Read Jose Diez Faixat’s excellent paper here.