Beginning of universe and Concept of God-The Time Division

Table showing different division of time-Cosmic time

                                                                                                                                                     

One year of Human beings  = One day of Demi-gods.

One year of Demi-god         = 360 human years
One Manavatara                  = 72 Maha-yuga
     

        One avatar of Vishnu will occur in every 1000 years of demi-god or devas.
01 avatar of Vishnu             = 1000 years of demi-god.
                                             = 1000 X 360
                                             =360000 human years
          

                              Duration of earth time is divided in the ratio of 4:3:2:1 among the four yugas. So the above ratio is also the number of the avatar in different yugas.
One Maha-yuga          =04 yugas
Satya yuga                  = 4000 demi-god years ,04 avatar
Treta yuga                  =3600 demi-god years, 03 avatar
Dwapar yuga              =2400 demi-god years , 02 avatar
Kali yuga                    =1200 demi-god years , 01 avatar

     One Manavatara  = 72 chatur yuga or Maha yugas
                                   = 14 Manus = 01 kalpa or day & night of Brahma
At the end of each kalpa, there's a period same as Kalpa of dissolution or Pralaya.
Numbers of Vishnu avatar = 14 X 72 maha yuga X 10 avatar
                                             = 10080 times avatar will occur on earth in a day of Brahma.

A manavatara is the period during which the earth is ruled by a particular Manu, the father of the man. A new manu manifests at the beginning of each manavatara to produce a new race of human beings. Each manavantara lasts for about 72 Mahayuga.In each manavatra along with Manu appears Seven seers or rishis and one Indra. The current Manu is 7th in the line and is known as Vaivasvata Manu.

 The duration of the material universe is limited. It is manifested in the cycle of Kalpas. These four yugas, rotating a thousand times, comprise one day of Brahma, and the same number comprise one night. Brahma lives 100 such years.”These hundred years” by earth calculation equals 311 trillion and 40 billion earth years. By this calculation, the lifetime of Brahma seems fantastic and interminable, but from the viewpoint of eternity, it is as brief as a lightning flash. In the causal ocean, there are innumerable Brahma rising and disappearing like bubbles in the Atlantic. Brahma and his are all part of the material universe, and therefore they are in constant flux. In the material universe, not even Brahma is free from the process of birth, old age and death. After his tenure, Brahma gets death or dissolve in the supreme soul. Elevated sanyasis are promoted to the Brahma’s particular world-Brahmalok, which is that the highest planet or loka or world within the material universe and which survives all the heavenly planets in the upper strata of the planetary systems, but in due course, Brahma and every one the inhabitants of Brahmaloka are subject to death, consistent with the law of fabric nature. After 4320,000,000 solar years, when Brahma awoke to create again by the will of the lord, all the risis Marici, Angira , Atri etc. and so were created from the transcendental body of the lord. A day of Brahma’s life is 4320,000,000 solar years and for this same period, Brahma Ji rests in the dark in Yog-Nidra within the body of Garbhodakasayi Visnu, the generator of Brahma. Thus after the sleeping period of Brahma, when there is again creation by the will of the lord through the agency of Brahma, all the great risis again appears from the different parts of the transcendental body, and Narada also appears. This means that Narada appears in the same transcendental body, just as man awakes from sleep in the same body. Sri Narada is eternally free to move in all parts of the transcendental and material creation of the almighty. He appears and disappears in his own transcendental body, which is without distinction of body and soul, unlike conditioned beings.

 

There is two types of dissolution of the manifested cosmos. At the end of every 4,320,000,000 solar years, when the Brahma, the lord of one particular universe, goes to sleep, there is one annihilation. At the end of Lord Brahma’s life, there is the complete annihilation of the entire universe, and in both the periods, both the material energy called the Maha-tattva and the marginal energy called the Jiva-tattva merges in the supreme soul. The beings remain asleep within the body of the lord until there is another creation of the material world, and that is the way of creation, maintenance and annihilation of the material manifestation. In the first dissolution, all the lower planetary systems or lower lokas are destroyed. In the second dissolution, all the planetary systems, including the heavenly systems are dissolved and enter into the body of Garbhodakasayi Vishnu, who lives in the Garbhodaka ocean.

Lord Shiva- After the lifetime of Brahma (100 Brama years) the entire cosmos gets merged into Lord Vishnu and he goes for his Yog-Nidra. Lord Shiva dances for 100 Brahma years, destroying everything that is left. After 100 Brahma years, Lord Vishnu wakes up and start creating a new Brahma from his navel. Then Lord Shiva goes into meditation.

Lord Vishnu- He goes into Yog-Nidra after the lifetime of Brahma, he wakes up after 100 Brahma years from Yog-Nidra and creates another Brahma. Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva, with their consorts, are eternal.

 

According to some sects age of Vishnu Ji is seven-time that of Brahma. Shiv Ji's age is seven times that of Vishnu. As there are Trinity for every universe. So these trinity merges in the Supreme soul after term.

Beginning of universe and Concept of God-The Time (Kala)

The concept of Time or Kala

        Time is known as Kala. Kala means both time and death. Death is a limiting factor in human life. Kala because the god of death determines how long an individual should live upon the world , so death and time are associated together. An individual’s time upon Earth begins together with his |along with his"> together with his birth and ends with his death. However, for the Soul,there is no death. It has no time because it is without a beginning and an and. There is the concept of space and time. The duration of time changes from Loka to Loka ( world to world) and that our time was not absolute. There is clearly distinguished between the cosmic time of the gods and earthly time. God, demigods have longer and more intense lives. They were subject to a different time frame and had their periods of activity and rest. These constitute their days and nights when the supreme soul awakes. He would expand outwardly and manifests his objective worlds and when it had been a time for rest, he would withdraw into himself and brings the planet and therefore the entire creation to a temporary halt.

         

The concept of time is best on our own experience of time as recurring and predictable phenomena measurable in terms of the unit such as days and nights, months or years. Time is a facet of this illusory world and it exists as long as we are subject to the method of becoming or change. Time is cyclic. As it is based on our own experience of time in weeks, months, years, season and yugas. so time is a never-ending cycle, with is both repetitive and exhaustive. In a sense it is limited. In another it is eternal. From a spiritual perspective, time exist when we are in a state of duality but disappear when we enter into the state of Unity or Samadhi.

   

        Each time cycle has three-component, Srishti, Sthithi and Laya. Srishti means creation, Sthithi means continuation and Laya means dissolution. Each time cycles begins with creation, continues for a certain duration of time and then dissolves into nothingness or Supreme soul. And after the certain break, the cycles begin all over again. These three aspects of time are under the control of the Trinity. we can see the same pattern in the day and our life too. Each day is created in the early hours, continues throughout the day and then finally dissolves into darkness. And again day start after a break known as night. Same in our life also, as birth, a continuation of life ( childhood adulthood and old age) and then death.

The Trinity

The Trinity

Vishnu:- Vishnu word is composed of VISHWA (universe) + ANU (Atom), hence his name is Vishnu. He may be called a universal atom. He is considered to be the supreme god by Vaishnava sect. He is one of the Trimurti (trinity) along with Brahma and Shiva. He is the preserver and maintainer of the universe. According to scriptures, the universe came into being from his navel, and the first living being born was 

Brahma.

Shiva:- He is one of the Trimurti. He is considered to be the supreme being by shivas sect. He is seen as the destroyers of the universe.

Brahma:- He is one of the trinity. Brahma is the creator of the universe. Brahma is the creator of the Vedas. There are four Vedas, and it is said that each me of them came from one of his heads.

 The Trinity of Goddesses 

Laxmi:- Laxmi is the eternal consort of Vishnu, and is also the goddess of wealth. This is not only material wealth but also the spiritual aspect of it. She endows with wealth whoever worships her.

Parvati:- She is the Wife of shiva and his eternal consort. She is taken into account to be the “Adi Shakti” or the primordial, force that keeps the universe together. She is benevolent but in a certain instance, she has taken the form of Kali and Durga. Parvati is claimed to convert to the fierce avatar when she is angry. Parvati has infinite and is even respected by the Trimurti.

Saraswati:- Saraswati is the eternal consort of Brahma, the creator of the universe. And as Brahma is the source of all Knowledge in the universe, Saraswati is the embodiment of knowledge itself. She is that the giver of speech, wisdom, and learning. She is also the supreme knower of fine arts like music, literature& arts.

 

There are mainly three sects:-

Vaishnavism- Lord Vishnu is considered or supreme soul. Followers of Vaishnavism worship Vishnu and his ten incarnations. Rama & Krishna are two most worshipped incarnation of Vishnu.

Shaivism- Shaivas are those who primarily worship Shiva as supreme lord.

Shaktism- Shaktas worship goddess as mother shakti. Mother Shakti is considered as supreme soul as well as Prakriti (Maya/ illusive power) of the supreme soul which is not separate from the supreme soul itself. In Shaktism, the goddess is presented as both the supreme soul & Prakriti. These forms include Durga, Kali, Parvati, Lakshmi, Saraswati. 

           

               

Therefore whatever be the opinion or belief of different sect about supreme being but it is a universal truth is that God is one. Just take an example of water it is called by many names in the same and different languages but that does mean it changes its characters and properties. Water is water, you call it by whatever name. It will quench the thirst of the person despite whatever name you know or call him. Water has three forms- liquid, solid, Vapour. Though it appears in different forms the case substances h2O remains the same in all forms.

 

 

 

             For simplicity let us assume the universe as a company whose owner or CEO is the supreme soul and is also the owner of many such companies. He divides himself into trinity for the smooth functioning of the universe. Therefore Brahma works as production managers, Vishnu as HR and quality manager and Shiva as destruction manager. Destruction is necessary for the creation and vice versa. Brahma in turns appoints many Demi gods & Demi goddess for looking after the day to day affairs of different works the universe. There is a Brahma for each universe. Majority of the sect believe Brahma is a post for a fixed term. Some sects believe the Trimurti, Brahma Vishnu & Shiva as the post for a fixed term after that they merge in the supreme soul. Death comes to all who are created, but the trinity is the creators and they see the birth and end of all. But to say that they die will be wrong at the end of his life recedes to the pure form of the supreme soul, he may be Vishnu for vaishnavites, shiva for Shaiva and Adi Sakti to sakta. (Supreme being is the one and an only constant source of energy who is neither created not destroyed only its form are changed. The trinity is energy in their basic nature and only recede to the supreme soul is which is outside the concept of death and birth. They only merge together, So to question who is supreme among the trinity are useless.

 

Take for example:- A child love and respect his parent, as they are loving, parenting him, they are the cause of his creation. But he may be more attached or inclined to one or other according to his liking or devotion. If he wants something from them generally he will ask the one to whom he is more attached. As he is attached more to one does not mean he does not love others and vice versa. Devotion or prayer to one goes to the other two of the trinity and the supreme soul, as they are one. As a child, we may discriminate between parents but the mother (The creator) loves all her child (Creation) equally.

 

33 CRORE GODS

          There are no such 33 crore gods (demi-gods). There are many demigods but 33 are best or great (Koti means better or best) whose function is to sustain the world. Each living being contains the fraction of devas. They are unable to offer any living being Moksha/Nirvana. They also go through the cycle of life & death. They are also living beings like us but they are highly evolved, More Knowledgeable and intelligent than us. Their body limitation is much less than us, Because of this they always have upper hand in comparison to human beings.