01-13-2006, 06:03 AM
The Devotionalistic Gods in Hinduism, Note 1
In Indian philosophy, the doctrine of a personal God who is distinct from matter and souls is usally associated with Madhva, who lived in the 13th century AD. Madhva was a Vaishnavite.
Return to text
The Devotionalistic Gods in Hinduism, Note 2
7th century AD. This is about as early as Vedânta occurs, and some speculate that its development was occasioned by the advent of Islâm.
Return to text
The Devotionalistic Gods in Hinduism, Note 3
In the 11th century a personal Advaita Vedânta was proposed by Râmânuja, who denied that Mâyâ was illusion and made it, with multiple âtmans, part of Brahman, whom he identified with Vis.n.u (ontologically, this is essentially the docrine of the Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza, although his God is still impersonal).
Return to text
The Devotionalistic Gods in Hinduism, Note 4
Cosmic time is infinite and cyclical in India. The world we are familiar with is that of our Mahâyuga, or æon. This divided into the Kr.tayuga of 4800 years, the Tretâyuga, of 3600 years, the Dvâparayuga, of 2400 years, and the Kaliyuga, of 1200 years. These decline in quality as well as in length, and can be characterized as the golden, the silver, the bronze, and the iron ages, respectively. We are in the Kaliyuga, which is supposed to have begun around 900 BC, at the time of the climactic battle in the Mahâbhârata. However, it has now obviously been much more than 1200 years since then, so the reckoning now is that the 12,000 years of the Mahâyuga are not ordinary human years, but "years of the gods," which are 360 human years. Thus, the Mahâyuga is 4,320,000 years long, and the Kaliyuga 432,000. In those terms, the Kaliyuga is supposed to have begun, still with the battle in the Mahâbhârata, on 18 February 3102 BC (identified by the Arab historian al-Bîrûnî [973-1048]).
The Kaliyuga is an age of decline and decadence, with the Pân.d.avas preserving as much good as they could from the previous yuga. This is rather like Tolkien's sense, in The Lord of the Rings, that great things are passing away (like the Elves), but as much good is preserved as possible. At the end of the Mahâyuga will be some sort of Apocalypse, either destroying the world or renewing it in some less catastrophic sense.
Seventy-one mahâyugas make a manvantara. This will be either 852,000 years or, with the years of the gods, 306,720,000 years. Fourteen manvantaras make a kalpa. The kalpa, as described in the text, is thus 11,928,000 or, with the years of the gods, 4,294,080,000 years. A Day and the Night of Brahmâ, each a kalpa, are multiplied by 360 to give a Year of Brahma (8,588,160,000 or 3,091,737,600,000 years); and 100 years of Brahmâ make the Life of Brahmâ (858,816,000,000 or 309,173,760,000,000 years).
The kalpa is also a basic unit of Buddhist cosmology, although there are different versions of it. Thus a Buddhist kalpa can be 15,998,000 years long, comparable to the shorter version of the Hindu kalpa, or it can be "incalculable" in length. Eighty such kalpas make a mahâkalpa, "Great Kalpa," but even this is a fraction of the asam.khya kalpa, which is a multiple of 1059 kalpas (of one kind or another). Three asam.khya kalpas are necessary for someone to become a Buddha. This is discussed in detail by Akira Sadakata in Buddhist Cosmology [Kôsei Publshing Co., Tokyo, 1997, pp.96-97]. The Hindu periods are explained by A.L. Basham, in The Wonder That Was India [Rupa & Co., Calcutta, Allahabad, Bombay, Delhi, 1954, 1967, 1981, 1989, p.323].
In Indian philosophy, the doctrine of a personal God who is distinct from matter and souls is usally associated with Madhva, who lived in the 13th century AD. Madhva was a Vaishnavite.
Return to text
The Devotionalistic Gods in Hinduism, Note 2
7th century AD. This is about as early as Vedânta occurs, and some speculate that its development was occasioned by the advent of Islâm.
Return to text
The Devotionalistic Gods in Hinduism, Note 3
In the 11th century a personal Advaita Vedânta was proposed by Râmânuja, who denied that Mâyâ was illusion and made it, with multiple âtmans, part of Brahman, whom he identified with Vis.n.u (ontologically, this is essentially the docrine of the Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza, although his God is still impersonal).
Return to text
The Devotionalistic Gods in Hinduism, Note 4
Cosmic time is infinite and cyclical in India. The world we are familiar with is that of our Mahâyuga, or æon. This divided into the Kr.tayuga of 4800 years, the Tretâyuga, of 3600 years, the Dvâparayuga, of 2400 years, and the Kaliyuga, of 1200 years. These decline in quality as well as in length, and can be characterized as the golden, the silver, the bronze, and the iron ages, respectively. We are in the Kaliyuga, which is supposed to have begun around 900 BC, at the time of the climactic battle in the Mahâbhârata. However, it has now obviously been much more than 1200 years since then, so the reckoning now is that the 12,000 years of the Mahâyuga are not ordinary human years, but "years of the gods," which are 360 human years. Thus, the Mahâyuga is 4,320,000 years long, and the Kaliyuga 432,000. In those terms, the Kaliyuga is supposed to have begun, still with the battle in the Mahâbhârata, on 18 February 3102 BC (identified by the Arab historian al-Bîrûnî [973-1048]).
The Kaliyuga is an age of decline and decadence, with the Pân.d.avas preserving as much good as they could from the previous yuga. This is rather like Tolkien's sense, in The Lord of the Rings, that great things are passing away (like the Elves), but as much good is preserved as possible. At the end of the Mahâyuga will be some sort of Apocalypse, either destroying the world or renewing it in some less catastrophic sense.
Seventy-one mahâyugas make a manvantara. This will be either 852,000 years or, with the years of the gods, 306,720,000 years. Fourteen manvantaras make a kalpa. The kalpa, as described in the text, is thus 11,928,000 or, with the years of the gods, 4,294,080,000 years. A Day and the Night of Brahmâ, each a kalpa, are multiplied by 360 to give a Year of Brahma (8,588,160,000 or 3,091,737,600,000 years); and 100 years of Brahmâ make the Life of Brahmâ (858,816,000,000 or 309,173,760,000,000 years).
The kalpa is also a basic unit of Buddhist cosmology, although there are different versions of it. Thus a Buddhist kalpa can be 15,998,000 years long, comparable to the shorter version of the Hindu kalpa, or it can be "incalculable" in length. Eighty such kalpas make a mahâkalpa, "Great Kalpa," but even this is a fraction of the asam.khya kalpa, which is a multiple of 1059 kalpas (of one kind or another). Three asam.khya kalpas are necessary for someone to become a Buddha. This is discussed in detail by Akira Sadakata in Buddhist Cosmology [Kôsei Publshing Co., Tokyo, 1997, pp.96-97]. The Hindu periods are explained by A.L. Basham, in The Wonder That Was India [Rupa & Co., Calcutta, Allahabad, Bombay, Delhi, 1954, 1967, 1981, 1989, p.323].