Indian Mythology/Legends/Pralaya

What it is? Pralaya is essentially described as the destruction of the universe that took place in the past and will take place in future. It also describes the time between the two consecutive Pralayas and has an excellent account of timekeeping in Hindu Mythology. When? 1 Year = 360 days (as per Hindu Calendar) 1 Yuga = 1 Lakh years (100, 000 years) There are 4 Yugas: Satyuga, Treta, Dwapara and Kali (each one having 100,000 years) 4 Yugas = 1 Dev-Yuga (which is equivalent to 4 * 100,000 = 400,000 years) 71 Dev-Yuga = 1 Manvantara (that is, 28,400,000 years) 28 Manvantara = 1 day of Brahma (which is 795,200,000 years) 100 years of Bramha = (360 * 100 * 795200000 = 28,627,200,000,000 years) After every completion of a 100-year-old cycle of Brahma, Pralay (also known as Maha-Pralay) will take place. Restoration of the Hindu astronomical calculations Following the restoration of Hindu astronomy by Sri Yukteswar in 1894, the astronomical figures quoted above are deemed to have come about through a misunderstanding occurring during the last descending Kali Yuga. By referring to the works of Manu, Sri Yukteswar quotes that. "Four thousand years, they say, is the Krita Yuga (Satya Yuga or the "Golden Age" of the world). Its morning twilight has just as many hundreds, and its period of the evening dusk is of the same length (i.e., 400 + 4000 + 400 = 4800). In the other three ages, with their morning and evening twilights, the thousands and the hundreds decrease by one (i.e., 300 + 3000 + 300 = 3600; etc.). That fourfold cycle comprising the 12,000 years is called an Age of the Gods. The sum of a thousand divine ages only constitutes one day of Brahma; and of the same length in its night." Sri Yukteswar, who was the teacher of Paramahamsa Yogananda, was explaining that the Yugas were described as representing the descending cycle of the Yugas, which is complemented by an ascending cycle. In this way, the descending Kali Yuga, which is composed of 1200 years, including its dawn and evening twilights, precedes an ascending Kali Yuga, with the meeting place of those two ages as being the depth of the cycle and the greatest distance of the Solar System moves from the Centre of the mental virtue that he identifies as the Brahma. The entire cycle takes 24,000 years during which time, the Solar System moves towards and away from this Centre of the mental virtue, with the Golden Age composed of two Satya yugas, one ascending and one descending giving the comprising a total of 9,600 years or more than one third of the entire cycle. Sri Yukteswar places the depth of the cycle with the period of greatest ignorance or least mental virtue, in 499 AD, he and himself writing in 1894 as being at the end of the ascending dawn of the Dwapara Yuga, meaning that in 2009 we are 110 years into the ascending Dwapara age proper. Sri Yukteswar, The Holy Science, Introduction pp 7-17, Self Realisation Fellowship, 1990 How? At the time of Pralay, the energy residing in all the living beings unites at a single place. The brilliance of the Sun increases by many and many magnitudes, and this generates the extreme heat. The heat causes the huge fires, and it devours everything; all the living beings of the earth will die. Only ashes remain in the Universe. Then the Supreme Wind (Vaayu) gathers these ashes in one place. Afterwards, the Supreme Rains will start, and it drowns everything in the earth. Who says so? Only one Rishi - Markandeya Rishi - has seen and survived the Maha-Pralay. He watched the Maha-Pralay and survived it because he is Immortal. After this event, there was water everywhere and nothing else. He felt terribly lonely after the Maha-Pralay, and he went to Brahma and made prayers and pleaded to have just one Darshan of Him. And he granted the request, and he saw a leaf of the Pipal tree floating in the water and, on that leaf, he just saw a human infant playing happily with its thumb. When the infant saw the Rishi, the infant said, "Bal Markandeya. (Ed.: Generally, elders call a kid as "Bal" which means "Son") Hope you are fine!" The Rishi was astonished as the infant addressed him as "son". Slightly angered, he replied, "My age is a few lakhs of years, and still, you are addressing me as 'son'? Who are you?!" On this, the infant laughed aloud and replied, "I have seen and survived innumerable events such as Maha-Pralayas! Your father was blessed with an Immortal son; hence you survived this Maha-Pralay. I am known as Bal-Mukund, and I am the creator and destroyer of this Universe. Now I leave it to you to disseminate this story," and the infant had disappeared.