The Yugas Discussed

The Yugas Discussed

I’ve mentioned the Yugas or ages in various articles. These mark the rising and falling of collective consciousness in the seasons of time. I summarized the Yukteswar interpretation of their timing previously (see comments there for links to other related content). This interpretation most closely matches my experience of time and the events of prior lives. I also mentioned The Yugas book by Joseph Selbie and David Steinmetz, which explores this with examples from history.

The 4 ages are:
Sat, the spiritual age
Treta, the mental age
Dwapara, the energy age (current time)
Kali, the material age
(notice how they align with dominant kosha.)

Recently, Rick Archer interviewed Joseph Selbie on Buddha at the Gas Pump. They explored the book and ideas in some detail.

On YouTube

Here’s a chart with some historical events, although some dates are off. For example, Patanjali cognized the Yoga Sutra during Treta yuga, not during Kali. The astrological ages, based on the location of the spring equinox, are in the inner ring.
Yuga Chart

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16 Comments

  1. Aaron

    Thank you for sharing this! The yugas sound like an earthly version of the awakening process. Very interesting and very optimistic. I want to finish this book now after the interview.

    1. Right, Aaron. Time moves in cycles within cycles, all of it reflecting the flow out into expression, and the return home to source. In this case, the descending and rising cycles.

      The yugas are also sub-cycles in a whole series of progressively larger life-cycles that include the universe, creation, and consciousness becoming aware of itself. And yet simultaneously, none of it has ever happened, and all of it happened at once. 🙂

    1. Thanks for sharing. This doesn’t bring out the cyclic nature of time but does point to the pattern. In the descending cycle, the transitions are often accompanied by collapses – self-inflicted or natural. We’re in a rising cycle now which allows for smoother steps of growth, if we learn to support the process.

      Somewhat like the human maturation process but writ large.

    1. Hi Roxana
      Yes, I saw that awhile ago myself. The short film had beautiful graphics but unfortunately they were not used accurately. They spoke of fall vs spring equinoxes, then used spring thereafter but graphics illustrating the fall. In the graphic above, this flips the Aries-Libra axis, putting Aries-Pisces across the top.

      Our being in the Age of Pisces (Christianity strongly represents) is clearly spring-based. As the chart shows, the Age of Aquarius is yet to come.

  2. One fascinating detail in the book I’ve touched on elsewhere – writing develops at the start of descending Dwapara. In the west, we see written language as a sign of evolution. However, writing came to replace oral traditions that were crumbing due to our descending consciousness and sense of connection. Oral traditions came up in Treta prior to replace our disappearing ability to communicate in consciousness.

    Veda Vyasa compiled and wrote down the core Vedas of India to prevent their loss in the coming dark age. Some of them were still, the nadi leaves often burned as firewood.

    In other words, this blog exemplifies Dwapara. Written word distributed using energy.

    We know oral is superior due to name and form. We can encode experiences in sound.
    https://davidya.ca/2008/08/06/name-and-form/

  3. Lewis R.

    Went to a local museum where there were a number of Egyptian artifacts, some dating back to @3000 BCE. The end of Treta…. Most were solidly from descending Dwapara Yuga. What I would have liked the authors of the book to comment on is the differences in the rising and descent of the Yugas. Clearly, Egyptian civilization that might have been experiencing a similar vibratory environment as what we have now was much different as they were coming down and not up…. Wonder what evidence there might be from the last rising Dwapara and what to expect. Then there is the theme from Maharishi and others that we are entering a Golden Age and to some extent can bring it in through large groups meditating etc. Like to know if other Golden Ages have been brought about about in this way….sort of outside the Yuga Cycle and more about the possible fact that we still may be in the 400,000 year plus cycle and how it might affect the shorter @25,000 cycle. Your thoughts. Thank you.

    1. Hi Lewis
      I don’t think the distinctions are as well known between rising and falling transitions. The falling transitions often lead to collapse of civilizations. One of them was particularly precipitous due to unfamiliar heavier emotions arising. But that is being balanced now by a rapid rise.

      Rising transitions lead to more positive transformations, like our shift into the industrial then information ages. Not without issues and loss, but an improvement overall. We’re now in a period of disruption in multiple industries with new tech taking over transportation, power, and more.

      The Egyptian civilization in particular was descending. It’s said they immigrated there from a region of geographic collapse and rising sea levels. They built their greatest structures early on but fairly quickly lost some of it. And again, the writing came later. A similar thing happened in India where some of the major coastal cities were flooded, like Dwarka.

      There is bits of evidence from the last Dwapara but a lot of understanding is lost. There are ancient texts describing the technology of flying vehicles, for example. Read a book recently on these vamanas. Only a very few things make the slightest sense. This one I relate to as I have past life memories of working with the tech. Alas, it’s memories of the look and feel of the life, not the mind details. 🙂

      What I expect to see now is a progressive shift to less materialist and more energy-oriented living. Far less pollution and environmental degradation. And a gradual shift to a smaller global population (Areas where quality of life improves see longer lives and fewer kids).

      Time moves in cycles within cycles. There is a 60 year cycle, a 120 year cycle, and so forth. The Yugas as Maharishi described them is deva time. Within that are the yugas of humans which align with the precession of the equinoxes / Great Year. So in Deva time, we’re in long Kali but in human time, we’re in Dwapara, the energy age. Dr Frawley proposed a cycle within that, similar to the dasha cycles and subcycles of jyotish. In that, we’re in Dwapara/ Kali. Dwapara will become much stronger in Dwapara/ dwapara. But yes, it will be a more muted version than if the deva cycle was in a higher age. But it’s also more accessible and a nice upgrade. Many souls are not ready for a whole lot more. They’d be obliged to take their evolution elsewhere.

      Krishna said when he left that in 5,000 years there would be a 10,000 year golden age. That’s about now and takes us into the next scheduled golden age. There are several factors in play, including the balancing rise I mentioned above, and Krishna setting the stage. You may know that in the early 70s, Maharishi said the opportunity was there but it wasn’t certain. But millions of people took up meditation then and the momentum began. Now in recent years, thousands have been waking. As those shifts mature and the collective is purified, the effects will amplify.

      As Maharishi said, the key now is groups to help smooth the transition. Even though it’s an upgrade, there’s a lot of unresolved trauma out there. Not to mention the habitual resistance to change many have.

      I don’t know how common the current transition style is. I don’t remember back that far. But I suspect its exceptional.

      If the topic interests, you may enjoy the earlier article plus some of the added links in comments that explore some of this further.
      https://davidya.ca/2011/11/22/yukteswars-yugas/

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