 Measuring Time & Space  |
Have you ever said, "I don't have enough time?" Fact is, there is no "time!" Time is a convenient construct of the human mind, something man invented in order to measure distance, the space between things or events. Of course, distance only exists within the created Universe; ultimate reality is beyond Time and Space. However, since we are living here and now, smack-dab in the middle of maya, seeing or participating in events taking place in "real" time - let's look at the relationship among various time cycles that humanity first recorded in the Vedas. These ancient sacred scriptures called the major time cycles within Creation, Yugas and they trace the changes in human consciousness.
It is as if life is progressing against the backdrop of a vast canvas called "Time" divided into four distinct periods, the Four Yugas (Ages).
The first period in the cycle of Ages was Sat Yug, the Age of Truth, the Golden Age. For 1,728,000 years, "…man was one with the Divine and he realized the vibration which this Cosmic Energy created to make Prakriti (manifestation). People meditated on the Nam, Ong-the vibration of the Divine." (Yogi Bhajan)
Traveling forward in time, the Treta Yug followed. This Silver Age lasted 1,296,000 years, during which one quarter of the truth was hidden. People began to feel separate from God. "The being became weak, and recited Sohung (I am you)-and through this vibration acknowledged their identity with the Divine." (Yogi Bhajan)
Free will, God's gift to the creatures made in His own image, allowed us to digress further and further from awareness of our sacred identity, and when we reached the Doapar Yug, the Copper (or Bronze) Age, Truth was half hidden. People worshipped God in form (e.g., idols and images), and recited Ong Namo Narayana (Salutations to the Creator and God in human form). Righteousness declined, and people turned to various religions in order to have a relationship with God. This was the prevalent consciousness for 864,000 years.
Since then, we've been in the Kali Yug, the Dark Age-the Steel or Machine Age - in which Truth is three-fourths obscured. In the Kali Yug, disorder, distress, disease, despair, conflict, and war dominate, and people feel that "God is dead." The entire Kali Yug lasts for 432,000 human years. It began in 3102 BC, over 5,000 years ago. Now, in 2005, there are still 426,894 years of the Kali Yug remaining!
Yogi Bhajan said, "All mantras are good, they are all for the awakening of the Divine, but this mantra is effective and is the mantra for this time…the Divine key to open the lock of time for this Age, is Ek Ong Kar Sat Nam Siri Wahe Guru …when this Mantra is sung in the neck lock, at the point where Prana and Apana meet Sushumana, this vibration opens the lock and thus one becomes one with the Divine."
Together, the four Ages comprise one Maha Yug (Great Age) of 4,320,000 years. 2,000 Maha Yugas (eight million six hundred and forty thousand years) are said to equal merely one day and one night in the life of Brahm (one of the three facets of God, Creator). The ratio of years among the Four Yugas is: 4:3:2:1.
So, how does the Aquarian Age fit into all this? Well, both the Piscean Age and the Aquarian Age are very tiny segments of time within the huge span of the Kali Yug. They are Astronomical Ages based upon our point of view of the heavens from here on Earth. The space we call the Zodiac is divided into twelve parts, or signs. It takes over 2,100 years for our solar system to travel through each one of these signs or constellations. Astronomically, the Sun moves in reverse order through the Zodiac from the astrological sequence with which we are familiar.
So far, humanity has recorded events in the Taurean Age-the time of Adam; and the Arian Age, which followed, when Abraham came into the picture; and just about when the Roman Empire rose to power, the Sun entered Pisces. It was in the Piscean Age that Jesus was born. In the Aquarian Gospel 157: (29,30), the Age of Aquarius is foretold in Jesus' words, "And then the man who bears the pitcher will walk forth across an arc of heaven; the sign and signet of the Son of Man will stand forth in the eastern sky. The wise will then lift up their heads and know that the redemption of the earth is near."
When Yogi Bhajan came to the West, it was the dawning of the Aquarian Age. A new consciousness was being born on this planet. We are now in the cusp period (the three 7 year increments from 1991-2012) leading up to the actual arrival of the Aquarian Age in 2012. Yogiji explained back in November of 1991 that this period of transition from the Piscean to the Aquarian Age would bring even greater turmoil and upheaval to the planet. For over 35 years he gave his life and energy to prepare teachers of Kundalini Yoga to share tools for the healing, inspiration, and personal awareness urgently needed by humanity in this time and space.
If we overestimate the average human lifespan at 100 years, you can see that even in the foreground of our cosmic canvas, our lifetimes are barely visible in the overall scheme of things! Yet in each human life there is the potential to reunite with Brahm, to achieve the ultimate state of yoga, expanding our consciousness into the Infinite Timeless consciousness of God.
How does Astrology fit into this picture? The stars impel, they don't compel, so no matter what the horoscope says, no matter what challenges we have to face during this Kali Yug, as we enter the Aquarian Age we can emerge victorious by wisely getting acquainted now with our own immortal, self-illumined Self, our permanent true identity, Sat Nam, which is beyond Time and Space. Thus we can be released from the cycles of Time. Sadhana (personal spiritual discipline) is the solution!