Theos-Talk Archives (March 2007 Message tt00295)

Cas,
  Below is an excerpt From: <A HREF="http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/dp5/geochron.htm";>Geochronology: theosophy and science</A> 

>>The age of the earth


> 'Make thy calculations, O Lanoo, if thou wouldst learn the correct age of 
> thy small wheel.' (Stanzas of Dzyan, 6:7) 
> 

In Hindu philosophy, one lifetime of the earth is called a day of Brahmâ. It 
is said to last 4,320,000,000 years, and to be followed by a night of Brahmâ 
of equal length. A day of Brahmâ, or kalpa, consists of 14 manvantaras of 
306,720,000 years each, framed by 15 sandhis (a 'dawn' or 'twilight') of 1,728,000 
years each. Each manvantara of 306,720,000 years consists of 71 mahâ-yugas of 
4,320,000 years. Each mahâ-yuga consists of a krita- (or satya-) yuga of 
1,728,000 years, a tretâ-yuga of 1,296,000 years, a dvâpara-yuga of 864,000 years, 
and a kali-yuga of 432,000 years (SD 2:69-70). 
We are currently in the kali-yuga of the twenty-eighth age (mahâ-yuga) of the 
seventh manvantara (Isis Unveiled, 1:32). The kali-yuga began in February 
3102 BC.* On the basis of this information, the time that has elapsed since the 
beginning of the present day of Brahmâ up to February 2000 can be calculated as 
follows: 
6 manvantaras (1,840,320,000) + 7 sandhis (12,096,000) + 27 mahâ-yugas 
(116,640,000) + 1 krita-yuga (1,728,000) + 1 tretâ-yuga (1,296,000) + 1 dvâpara-yuga 
(864,000) + the time from the beginning of kali-yuga (3102 + 2000 - 1)** = 
1,972,949,101 years. *According to the Brahmans of Tiruvarur, the astronomical 
epoch began at sunrise on 18 February 3102 BC, and the civil era began at about 
2.27 am on 16 February 3102 BC (SD 1:661-2). The kali-yuga is also said to 
have begun at midnight between 17 and 18 February 3102 BC (SD 2:435; Blavatsky 
Collected Writings, 5:58; R.L. Thompson, Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy, 1989, 
pp. 19-22).
**The date of 3102 BC for the start of the kali-yuga is a chronological date 
rather than an astronomical date; in chronological dating there is no year 
zero between 1 BC and 1 AD, whereas in astronomical dating there is. In 
calculating the time that has elapsed since the beginning of kali-yuga and 2000, it is 
therefore necessary to subtract '1' in the above sum. (If we used the 
equivalent astronomical date of 3101 BC, there would be no need for this.) That 3102 
BC is a chronological date is indicated by J.S. Bailly in a calculation quoted 
in the SD (1:666-7), and is confirmed by Subba Row (Esoteric Writings, pp. 
55-6; BCW 5:261-2). Hence the first 5000 years of the kali-yuga ended in February 
1899 (= 5000 - 3102 + 1) and not in 1897/98, contrary to what is often stated 
(see Theos. Forum, Nov. 1937, p. 394). 
The time that elapsed from the beginning of the present kalpa up to 1887 was 
therefore: 1,972,948,998 years. However, according to The Secret Doctrine 
(2:68), the Tamil calendar called the Tirukkanda Pañchânga gives the following 
figures: 
>From the beginning of cosmic evolution up to 1887       1,955,884,687 years 
The (astral) mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms up to man, have    
taken to evolve     300,000,000 years*
    
Time from the first appearance of 'humanity' on our planetary chain         
1,664,500,987 years   

HPB points out that subtracting 300,000,000 from the first figure gives 
1,655,884,687, which differs from the third figure. She says that she cannot 
account for this discrepancy. She also states that the school of Pandit Dayanand 
Sarasvatî, founder of the Ârya Samaj, gives yet another date: 1,960,852,987 
years. *As HPB says, these Brahmanical figures refer to the evolution beginning on 
globe A in the first round. But she points out that the period of 300,000,000 
years also applies to the start of the fourth round: 'The astral prototypes of 
the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms up to man have taken that time 
(300 million years) to evolve, re-forming out of the cast-off materials of the 
preceding Round, which, though very dense and physical in their own cycle, are 
relatively ethereal as compared with the materiality of our present middle 
Round. At the expiration of these 300 million years, Nature, on the way to the 
physical and material, down the arc of descent, begins with mankind and works 
downwards, hardening or materialising forms as it proceeds.' (SD 2:68fn; see also 
2:52) 
The three figures quoted in the SD that need to be reconciled are therefore:
1,955,884,687 
1,664,500,987 
1,960,852,987 
We also need to explain why the first and third of these figures differ from 
the figure of 1,972,948,998 years calculated above for the time that has 
elapsed from the beginning of the present kalpa to 1887. 
The solution to the problem was first presented by Hans Malmstedt in an 
article entitled 'Our position in time on globe D' (The Theosophical Path, October 
1933, pp. 226-35; see also July 1931, pp. 63-9). 
The last three digits of the three figures from the SD are: 687, 987, 987. 
Malmstedt says that the number 687 must be wrong, and that the mistake may have 
arisen by a compositor turning the 9 upside down to make a 6 while setting up 
the number 987. 
A second minor error was made by both the writers of the Tamil calendar and 
Pandit Sarasvatî in calculating the time that has elapsed since the start of 
the kali-yuga. In the SD (1:650) we are told: 'The Hindus date their Kali Yug 
from a great periodical conjunction of the planets thirty-one centuries B.C.' 
The calculation was evidently done in this way: 3100 + 1887 = 4987. But as 
explained above, it ought to be: 3100 + 1887 - 1 = 4986. (A similar mistake is made 
at SD 2:69.) The last three figures of each of the three numbers above should 
therefore be: 986. 
The third and final correction concerns the fact that the kali-yuga actually 
began in 3102 BC, not 3100 BC. The calculation is therefore: 3102 + 1887 -1 = 
4988, so that the last three digits of the three numbers should be 988. 
If we now add another 113 years so that the numbers apply to the year 2000 
rather than 1887, they become:
(1) 1,955,885,101 years 
(2) 1,664,501,101 years 
(3) 1,960,853,101 years 
whereas the number we originally calculated was: 
(4) 1,972,949,101 years. 
All these numbers are essentially correct, as will now be explained. 
Subtracting (1) from (4) gives: 17,064,000 years. What does this number 
represent? The answer is to be found in the ancient Hindu astronomical text, the 
Sûrya-Siddhânta. Chapter 1, verse 24 reads: '47,400 divine years passed while 
the God Brahmâ was employed in creating animate and inanimate things, planets, 
stars, gods, demons, and the rest.' Since one divine year equals 360 solar 
years, 47,400 divine years are equal to 17,064,000 solar years. In other words, 
the present kalpa on earth began with a period of divine activity lasting 
17,064,000 years, and only then did the period of what HPB calls 'cosmic evolution' 
begin.* *In the SD (2:68) HPB writes: 'The esoteric doctrine says that this 
"cosmic evolution" refers only to our solar system; while exoteric Hinduism 
makes the figures refer, if we do not mistake, to the whole Universal System.' 
However, in the very next footnote she states: 'The above Brahmanical figures 
refer to the evolution beginning on Globe A [of the earth planetary chain], and 
in the First Round.' (A similar statement is made at BCW 13:301.) 
According to the SD, it took the astral mineral, vegetable, and animal 
kingdoms up to man 300,000,000 years to evolve. However, the difference between 
numbers (1) and (2) is only 291,384,000 years. The solution to this puzzle becomes 
apparent if we subtract (2) from (4), for we then get: 308,448,000. This is 
exactly equal to one full manvantara, i.e. one manvantara of 306,720,000 years 
plus one sandhi period of 1,728,000 years (or a dawn and twilight of 864,000 
years each). In other words, the first appearance of 'humanity' on earth 
occurred a whole manvantara of 308,448,000 years after the beginning of the present 
kalpa, and therefore only 291,384,000 years after the beginning of 'cosmic 
evolution' 17,064,000 years later. 
Finally, subtracting (3) from (4) gives: 12,960,000 years. This is equal to 7 
x 1,728,000. In other words, the date given by Sarasvatî is the time that has 
elapsed since the beginning of the present kalpa, but it excludes the seven 
sandhis appearing before and after each of the six manvantaras that have so far 
elapsed. 
In conclusion, according to Hindu chronology, the time that has elapsed from 
the beginning of the present day of Brahmâ up to February 2000 is 
1,972,949,101 years. It should be noted, however, that the Hindu figures for a day of 
Brahmâ and its subdivisions, based on the number 4320, are only approximations, 
albeit close ones, to the occult figures. HPB comments: 'not one of the exact 
numbers will ever be given out, as they pertain to the Mysteries of Initiations 
and to the Secrets of the occult influence of Numbers' (BCW 13:306). <<

John








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