YV BKI CH23 The Vicissitudes of Time

1
Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 23
The Vicissitudes of Time
Book I, Chapter 23
Rama speaking:
1By their much idle talk, ever doubting skepticism
and schisms, men of little understandings are
found to fall into grave errors in this pit of the
world.
2Good people can have no more confidence in the
network of their ribs than little children like fruit
reflected in a mirror.
3Time is a rat that gnaws off the threads of all
thoughts that men may entertain about the
contemptible pleasures of this world.
4There is nothing in this world which the all-
devouring time will spare. He devours all things
like an undersea fire consumes the overflowing
sea.
5Time is the sovereign lord of all, and equally
terrible to all things. He is ever ready to devour all
visible beings.
6Time as master of all, spares not even the greatest
of us for a moment. He swallows the universe within
himself, whence he is known as the Universal Soul.

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Book I, Chapter 23
7Time pervades all things, but has no perceptible
feature of his own, except that he is imperfectly
known by the names of years, ages and millennia
(kalpas).
8All that was fair and good and as great as Mount Meru
has gone down into the womb of eternity, like snakes
gorged by the greedy garuda.
9There was no one ever so unkind, hard-hearted,
cruel, harsh or miserly, whom time has not
devoured.
10Time is ever greedy even though he devours
mountains. This great gourmand is not satisfied with
gorging himself with everything in all the worlds.
11Time, like an actor, plays many parts on the stage of
the world. He abstracts and kills, produces and devours
and at last destroys everything.
12Time is constantly picking up the seeds of all
four kinds of living beings from this unreal
world, like a parrot picks up ripened fruit from under
the cracked shell of a pomegranate and nibbles at its
seeds.
13Time uproots all proud living beings in this
world, like a wild elephant uses its tusks to pull
up the trees of the forest.

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Book I, Chapter 23
14This creation of God is like a forest, having
Brahma for its foundation and its trees full of the
great fruits of gods. Time commands this creation
throughout its length and breadth.
15Time glides along constantly as a creeping plant,
its parts composed of years and ages and the dark
nights like black bees chasing after them.
16Time, O sage, is the subtlest of all things. It is
divided though indivisible. It is consumed
though incombustible. It is perceived though
imperceptible in its nature.
17Time, like the mind, is strong enough to create
and demolish anything in a trice, and its province
is equally extensive.
18Time is a whirlpool to men; and man being
accompanied with desire, his insatiable and
uncontrollable mistress, and delighting in illicit
enjoyments, time makes him do and undo the
same thing over and over again.
19Time is prompted by his rapacity to appropriate
everything for himself, from the meanest straw,
dust, leaves and worms, to the greatest Indra and
Mount Meru itself.

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Book I, Chapter 23
20Time is the source of all malice and greed, and
the spring of all misfortunes, and cause of the
intolerable fluctuations of our states.
21As children play with balls in a playground, so does
time play with his two balls of the sun and moon in his
arena of the sky.
22Upon the end of a kalpa age, time will dance about
with the bones of the dead hanging like a long chain
from his neck to the feet.
23At the end of a kalpa age, the gale of desolation
rising from the body of this world destroyer causes
the fragments of Mount Meru to fly about in the air like
the rinds of the bhoja-petera tree.
24Time then assumes his terrific form of fire to
dissolve the world in empty space, and the gods
Brahma and Indra and all others cease to exist.
25As the sea shows himself in a continued series
of waves rising and falling one after another, so it
is time that creates and dissolves the world, and
appears to rise and fall with the rotation of days
and nights.
26At end of the world, time plucks the gods and
demigods from their great tree of existence like
ripe fruit.

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Book I, Chapter 23
27Time resembles a large sacred fig tree (ficus religiosa)
studded with all the worlds as its fruit, resonant with
the noise of living beings like the hissing of gnats.
28Time accompanied by action as his mate,
entertains himself in the garden of the world,
blossoming with the moonbeams of the Divine
Spirit.
29As the high and huge rock supports its body
upon the earth, so does time rest itself in endless
and interminable eternity.
30Time assumes to himself various colours of black,
white and red (at night, day and midday) which serve
for his vestures.
31As the earth supports the great hills that are
fixed upon it, so time supports all the
innumerable ponderous worlds that constitute
the universe.
32Hundreds of great kalpa ages may pass away, yet
there is nothing that can move eternity to pity or
concern, or stop or expedite his course. It neither sets
nor rises.
33Time is never proud to think that it is he who,
without the least sense of pain or labour, brings
this world into play and makes it exist.

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Book I, Chapter 23
34Time is like a reservoir in which the nights are
mud, the day’s lotuses, and the clouds bees.
35As a covetous man, with worn out broomstick in
hand, sweeps over a mountain to gather particles
of gold strewn over it, so does time with his
sweeping course of days and nights collect all
living beings in the world in one mass of the dead.
36As a miserly man trims and lights a lamp with
his own fingers in order to look for his stores in
each corner of his rooms, so does time light the
lamps of the sun and moon to look for living
beings in every nook and corner of the world.
37As one ripens raw fruit in the sun and fire in
order to devour them, so does time ripen men by
their sun and fire worship, to bring them under
his jaws at last.
38The world is a dilapidated cottage and men of
parts are rare gems in it. Time hides them in the
casket of his belly, as a miser keeps his treasure in
a coffer.
39Good men are like a garland of gems, which time
puts on his head for a time with fondness, and
then tears and tramples it down.

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Book I, Chapter 23
40Strings of days, nights and stars, resembling beads
and bracelets of white and black lotuses, are
continually turning around the arm of time.
41Time looks upon the world like the carcass of a
ram, with its mountains, seas, sky and earth as its
four horns, and the stars as its drops of blood
which it drinks day by day.
42Time destroys youth as the moon shuts the
petals of the lotus. It destroys life like a lion kills
the elephant. There is nothing so insignificant
that time does not steal.
43After sporting for a kalpa period in the act of
killing and crushing of all living beings, time
comes to lose its own existence and becomes
extinct in the eternity of the Spirit of spirits.
44After a short rest and respite, time reappears as
the creator, preserver, and destroyer of all who
remembers all. He shows the shapes of all things
whether good or bad, keeping his own nature
beyond the knowledge of all.
Thus does time expand and preserve and finally
dissolve all things by way of sport.
*******

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Book I, Chapter 23
Recap
[Rama’s observations herein above are a lesson for all
seekers of Truth. “There is nothing in this world
which the all-devouring time will spare.”
“Time is constantly picking up the seeds of all
four kinds of living beings from this unreal
world…”
“At end of the world, time plucks the gods and
demigods from their great tree of existence like
ripe fruit.”
“After a short rest and respite, time reappears as
the creator, preserver, and destroyer of all who
remembers all…”
Wheel of Time spares none and continues to rotate.
Rama is seeking help of two great sages of his time.
Time does not spare gods, demigods and even the three
principal gods (creator, preserver and destroyer) then
where do we stand as human being of limited intellect.
It is high time that we pause and reflect on this issue.
On our own we cannot stop the Wheel of Time. We
shall have to seek the help of realized persons now, of
our time, who have been successful in doing so.]
*******

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Book I, Chapter 23
Meaning
[Vicissitudes: Successive or changing phases or
conditions, as of life or fortune; ups and downs;
mutability in life or nature (especially successive
alternation from one condition to another).
Skepticism: Doubt about the truth of something; the
disbelief in any claims of ultimate knowledge.
Schism: A separation or division into factions; division
of a group into opposing factions; the withdrawal of
one group over doctrinal differences.
Contemptible: Deserving of contempt or scorn.
Perceptible: Capable of being perceived by the mind
or senses; easily perceived by the senses or grasped by
the mind; easily seen or detected.
Gourmand: A person who is devoted to eating and
drinking to excess.
Trice: A very short time (as the time it takes the eye to
blink or the heart to beat); a very short period of time;
an instant.
Insatiable: Impossible to satisfy; unappeasable or
greedy.
Rapacity: Taking by force; plundering; greedy;
ravenous; reprehensible acquisitiveness; Subsisting on
live prey; the state or quality of being excessively
greedy or given to theft.
Fig Tree: Bo-Tree (from the Sanskrit Bodhi: "wisdom",
"enlightened"); Peepal or Pippal; the Bodhi Tree.

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Book I, Chapter 23
Desolation: The state of being decayed or destroyed;
an event that results in total destruction; devastation;
ruin.
Interminable: Tiresomely long; seemingly without
end; endless; having no apparent limit or end;
unending.
Eternity: Time without beginning or end; infinite time;
time without end; a seemingly endless time interval.
Vestures: Clothing; apparel; something that covers or
cloaks.
Dilapidated: (adj.) Having fallen into a state of
disrepair or deterioration, as through neglect; broken-
down and shabby; fallen into partial ruin or decay, as
from age, misuse, wear, or neglect; (v.) bring into a
condition of decay or partial ruin by neglect or misuse.
Kalpa: (In Hindu cosmology) a period in which the
universe experiences a cycle of creation and
destruction.
"The duration of the material universe is limited. It is
manifested in cycles of kalpas. A kalpa (4.32 billion
years) is a day of Brahma, and one day of Brahma
consists of a thousand cycles of four yugas, or ages:
Satya, Treta, Dwapar and Kali.
The cycle of Satya is characterized by virtue, wisdom
and religion, there being practically no ignorance and
vice, and the Yuga lasts 1,728,000 years.

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Book I, Chapter 23
In the Treta-yuga vice is introduced, and this Yuga lasts
1,296,000 years. In the Dwapar-yuga there is an even
greater decline in virtue and religion, vice increasing,
and this Yuga lasts 864,000 years.
And finally in Kali-yuga (the Yuga we have now been
experiencing over the past 5,000 years) there is an
abundance of strife, ignorance, and irreligion and vice,
true virtue being practically non-existent, and this Yuga
lasts 432,000 years.
In Kali-yuga vice increases to such a point that at the
termination of the Yuga the Supreme Lord Himself
appears as the Kalki avatar, vanquishes the demons,
saves His devotees, and commences another Satya-
yuga. Then the process is set rolling again.
These four yugas, rotating a thousand times, comprise
one day of Brahma, and the same number comprise one
night. A "month of Brahma" is supposed to contain
thirty such days (including nights), and 12 months of
Brahma constitute his year. Brahma lives one hundred
of such "years" and then dies. These "hundred years"
total 311 trillion 40 billion (311,040,000,000,000) earth
years.
By these calculations the life 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 Brahmas rising and disappearing like
bubbles in the Atlantic. Brahma and his creation are all

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Book I, Chapter 23
part of the material universe, and therefore they are in
constant flux."
By another calculation, each kalpa is divided into 14
manvantara periods, each lasting 71 Yuga cycles
(306,720,000 years). Preceding the first and following
each manvantara period is a juncture (Sandhya) the
length of a Satya-yuga (1,728,000) years.
[Kalpa: 14 x 71 x 4,320,000 + 15 x 1,728,000 = 4.32 x 109]
Two kalpas constitute a day and night of Brahma. A
"month of Brahma" is supposed to contain thirty such
days (including nights), or 259.2 billion years.
According to the Mahabharata, 12 months of Brahma
(=360 days) constitute his year, and 100 such years the
life of Brahma.
Life of Brahma in Earth Years
2 x (4.32x109) x 30 x 12 x 100 = 311,040,000,000,000
Fifty years of Brahma are supposed to have elapsed, and
we are now in the shvetavaraha-kalpa of the fifty-first;
at the end of a Kalpa the world is annihilated.
The universe is created, destroyed, and re-created in an
eternally repetitive series of cycles. In Hindu
cosmology, a universe endures for about 4,320,000,000
years (one day of Brahma, the creator or one kalpa) and
is then destroyed by fire or water elements. At this
point, Brahma rests for one night, just as long as the

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Book I, Chapter 23
day. This process, named pralaya or dissolution repeats
for 100 Brahma years (311 Trillion, 40 Billion Human
Years) that represents Brahma's lifespan.
When 'night' falls, Brahma goes to sleep for a period of
4.32 billion years, which is a period of time equal one
day (of Brahma) and the lives of fourteen Manus. The
next 'morning', Brahma creates fourteen additional
Manus in sequence just as he has done on the previous
'day'.
The cycle goes on for 100 'divine years' at the end of
which Brahma perishes and is regenerated. Brahma’s
entire life equals 311 trillion, 40 billion years. Once
Brahma dies there is an equal period of un-
manifestation for 311 trillion, 40 billion years, until the
next Brahma is created.
During one life of Brahma 504,000 Manus (Vedic
"Adams") are changing, or 5,040 Manus are changing
during one year of Brahma, or 420 Manus manifest
during one month of Brahma.
Manvantara is Manu's cycle, the one who gives birth
and governs the human race. Before and after each
manvantara there's a Sandhyakal as long as Satya-yuga
and in that time there is all water on earth.
Having gone into these details, let us see what the
Current Date is and we are passing through which
Manvantara:

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Book I, Chapter 23
Currently, 50 years of Brahma have elapsed. The last
Kalpa at the end of 50th year is called Padma Kalpa. We
are currently in the first 'day' of the 51st year.
This Brahma's day, Kalpa, is named as Shveta-Varaha
Kalpa. Within this Day, six Manvantara have already
elapsed and this is the seventh Manvantara, named as –
Vaivasvatha Manvantara.
Within the Vaivasvatha Manvantara, 27 Mahayugas (4
Yugas together is a Mahayuga), and the Krita (Satya-
yuga), Treta and Dwapar Yugas of the 28th Mahayuga
have elapsed. This Kaliyuga is in the 28th Mahayuga.
This Kaliyuga began in the year 3102 BCE in the
proleptic Julian calendar. Since 50 years of Brahma
have already elapsed, this is the second Parardha, also
called as Dwitiya Parardha (50 years of Brahma = 1
Parardha).
The time elapsed since the current Brahma has taken
over the task of creation can be calculated as:
432000 × 10 × 1000 × 2 = 8.64 billion years (2 Kalpa (day and night)
8.64 × 109 × 30 × 12 = 3.1104 Trillion Years (1 year of Brahma)
3.1104 × 1012 × 50 = 155.52 Trillion Years (50 years of Brahma)
(6 × 71 × 4320000) + 7 × 1.728 × 106 = 1852416000 years elapsed in first six
Manvantara, and Sandhyakal in the current Kalpa
27 × 4320000 = 116640000 years elapsed in first 27 Mahayugas of the
current Manvantara
1.728 × 106 + 1.296 × 106 + 864000 = 3888000 years elapsed in the current
Mahayuga
3102 + 2016 = 5118 years elapsed in the current Kaliyuga.

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Book I, Chapter 23
So the total time elapsed since current Brahma is:
155520000000000 + 1852416000 + 116640000 + 3888000 + 5117 =
155,521,972,949,117 years (one hundred fifty-five trillion, five hundred
twenty-one billion, nine hundred seventy-two million, nine hundred
forty-nine thousand, one hundred seventeen years) as of 2016 AD.
The current Kali Yuga began at midnight 17 February /
18 February in 3102 BCE in the proleptic Julian
calendar. As per the information above about Yuga
periods, only 5,117 years are passed out of 432,000 years
of current Kali Yuga, and hence another 426,883 years
are left to complete this 28th Kali Yuga of Vaivasvatha
Manvantara.
Four kinds of living beings: The four types of birth
are: Andaj; Jeraj; Utbhuj and Setaj.
Andaj refers to the form of birth from egg; the word
'anda' means 'egg'; e.g. birds, fish, snakes.
Jeraj refers to the form of birth from the womb; or birth
canal; viviparous - giving birth to living offspring that
develop within the mother's body e.g. Mammals,
sharks, etc.
Utbhuj refers to the form of birth from the earth; soil or
rocks; e.g.: plants, the vegetable kingdom, etc.
Setaj refers to the form of birth which is from bodily
secretion, involves heat or "sweat" microbes, bacteria,
etc.
*******

YV BKI CH23 The Vicissitudes of Time

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YV BKI CH23 The Vicissitudes of Time