The Transient World

   The Biblical saying is: “Let there be Light”, said the Lord, “Lo, there was Light”. The vast, deep, dark, space consists of innumerable galaxies. There is unimaginably dark space (distance) between each star. The distance between the Sun and the nearest star Sirius (Jyeshta) is 1.4 Light Years. The ‘Milky Way’ in which the Sun, a moderate sized Star, of our solar system is a spiral disc containing myriads of stars and planets. The Sun, a hot gaseous mass, is said to be born 4.56 billion years ago and would last another 7.44 billion years during which all its energy would radiate rendering it a cold, gross, inert body. We are all bound by this time and time is energy.

   Time begins with the radiation of solar energy; but, our Almanac, Calendar, does not reflect this although it is based on the Solar Principle (Surya Siddhanta). During the last 4.53 billion years (since the origin of the earth), seven manvantara have elapsed (each manvantara consisting of four quarters called the ‘yuga’ – each of multiple duration, together lasting 3.42 million years) and another seven more manvantara would follow. Each one begins with a Sun as the first manu (from which the word ‘manvantara’ is derived). We are supposed to be living in Kali yuga, the fourth lap of the Seventh manvantara called the vaivasvata manvantara. The Calendars followed by different religions, castes and sects tell different stories and all these do not bring out the exact date of the beginning of the origin of the universe, the solar system, or that of the date of birth of the Earth and the Moon.

  To be precise, the Calendar that we follow reads like this- As on April 2014- vaishakha masa, Uttarayana, Shree Jaya nama samvatsara- 5114 years have elapsed from the first day of the First Quarter (prathama pada) of Kaliyuga according to Hindu almanac. We are living in the 28^th Kaliyuga, the last lap of the Seventh manvantara called the Vaivasvata. It is the Seventh since the birth of Sun as Vivasvan, First Manu. So far, 18025 kalpas (Six manvantara) are over and we are in the 18026^th kalpa called Shveta varaha kalpa. The life span of Solar System is about 36,000 kalpas and the earth would last for 8640 Million Years. However, these figures may not agree with the Gregorian or Christian and the Hijari Calendars. In India, the Hindu calendar, Shalivahana Shakha Panchanga, we have the paksha masa of two weeks from pratipada to Amavasya or Purnima based on the revolution of the Moon (constituting a year from April to April) around the earth and, the Solar calendar of a year from January to December.

     Vedanta, however, gives us a clear idea about the nature of the origin of this phenomenal world. These fundamental principles are explained later. However, it suffices to state that, “This phenomenal world always exists. It was there when I appeared here as a jiva, and would continue to exist even after I leave my carnal body.” This life span of a Hundred years of a Jiva is a is a short period, as if a wink of an eye when compared to billions of years of the life span of some of the stars and their family of planets and satellites.

  Lord Shree Krishna says, “Arjuna, there is no time when you and I never existed” (Bhagavad-Gita, IV-5). We have been in existence (as stellar material in some elemental form?) even prior to the birth of Vivasvan, the Sun. Several are our lives and you do not remember the past ones, whereas I know the past, present and the future. Bhagavan Shree Krishna manifests here as pure Consciousness, the Witnessing Self (Sakshin) and Arjuna is depicted as born out of the sacred word (the mantra putra), blessed son of Indra, the Deity of the Mind!

   Now it is certain that all the jivas are taking a long journey on this earth with repeated births and deaths, as if changing the worn-out clothes. There is no beginning or end to the jiva’s ignorance. All the jivas live and work in a mysterious world that has no real existence of its own! The earth is borne out of the Sun, rather Solar flares, and the jivas survive on sun rays. Further, the jivas live on an unstable earth- rotating and revolving, subject to unexpected jerks, shaking now and then due to earthquakes, and volcanoes spewing gas, dust, boulders and Magmatic material and lava flows, besides the vagaries of climate like storms, cyclones, floods and famines, tsunamis, etc. These are really the cause of great worry. Our very existence is at stake.

   It is no more a surprising fact that the earth is always on the move- rotating on its axis and revolving at a terrific speed, going around the Sun. The entire Solar System in our Galaxy called ‘Milky Way’ or ‘Akash-Ganga’ is racing along with millions of galaxies in the direction of the Pole Star. There is no safety and security or stability here. Still we all live and work peacefully, and sleep quietly every night as if nothing happens!

   The Earth, as a Planet of the Solar System was born 4.53 billion years ago from the solar flares. It has undergone cooling, condensation, and solidification for millions of years to reach the present state- Land (21%) found within the shallow depths of the earth’s surface and the inner core of the earth is plasma of boiling Nickel and Iron. The surface history of the earth is quite interesting. Six great convulsions of earth’s crust, upheavals have taken place so far and the face of the earth has changed remarkably over the billions of years by tectonic processes, orogenesis, weathering, denudation- erosion and deposition. But, these changes are slow and imperceptible. Many a deep Sea basins have been gradually filled with deposits of sediments by agents of weathering and denudation such as wind, rain, and rivers and new lands have been created. Many ancient lands (like the Atlantis) have disappeared under the sea. Mountains stand where there stood vast stretches of narrow sea. The Himalayas, for example occupy the place that was once a Sea of Tethys, the remnant of which is the Mediterranean Sea. There are large areas of land below sea level, dykes have been built to prevent flooding of the low-lying Scandinavian countries- Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Netherlands, and the entire Europe is a low-lying plain. These are exemplified in the epics as avatars of the Lord- varaha avatara, kurma avatara and matsya avatara to resurrect the earth and restore the Veda. Upliftment and submergence of lands have taken place along the Western coast of India. Crustal movements and subsequent eustatic changes causing change in seal levels are common.

   As regards the origin of the solar system, the Sun is a Hydrogen-Helium spirally boiling gaseous body, rotating on its axis and moving at a great speed in space. It is a million times larger than the Earth. Several smaller planets and satellites including the Earth and Moon have formed out of the spilling gas of these solar flares. It is on this unbelievably small mustard-sized planet, as compared to the Sun, that life is found in multitude of forms in different ecosystems like the marshes, forests, grasslands and deserts, mountain slopes, sea coasts, lake-sides and river-sides! May be several hundred such Earths are there around us!

      When we see all these and think about the appearance of life on earth, one feels that definitely there must be a powerful force, an unseen (adrushta) power (shakti) that create and govern all these. There is a higher power that sits everywhere, within us, too, driving the universe as a chariot by a charioteer like Lord Shree Krishna (driving the Chariot of Arjuna) in the epic Mahabharata War. It is He who creates jivas at His Will and pleasure and infuses prana, desires, dreams, ambitions, aspirations, thoughts and ideas, give imagination, forms, and motion and drive jivas around in all their pursuits. We do not believe that “He, the God is within us” and, do not realize that “It is He who breathes in and breathes out within us, sustains us with life-force (prana) and consciousness (prajnya)!”