{"id":334,"date":"2009-01-10T17:08:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-10T11:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radhikand.wordpress.com\/2009\/01\/10\/what-goes-around-comes-around"},"modified":"2009-01-10T17:08:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-10T11:38:00","slug":"what-goes-around-comes-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiance-holistic.com.au\/site\/what-goes-around-comes-around\/","title":{"rendered":"What goes around, comes around"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This blog entry has been long overdue, since November last year, when I listened to John Anthony West<\/a>\u2019s (JAW, for short) PhoenixFire show, episode 8, Consider the Kaliyuga<\/a>. However, I wanted to write a well thought piece and so I didn’t rush into it. I read his article<\/a> by the same title on Graham Hancock\u2019s website. Among other things, JAW reminds us of his favourite belief that progress is not linear. Progress does not go, in his own words, \u201cfrom dumb, primitive caveman to smart old us, with our weapons of mass destruction and bobble-head dolls.\u201d To support this, he gives the example of Plato\u2019s concept of \u2018Cyclic life\u2019 and the even more elaborately explained \u2018Yuga\u2019 concept in Hindu Vedic<\/a> literature. I agree with this form of life and progress\/regress myself and do not believe that we are the first advanced human civilisation this planet has \u201cendured\u201d. You will find this opinion mentioned in few of my other blog entries as well. Human race has reached the pinnacle of progress and then has tumbled off the throne at least once, if not more times, before. As JAW points out, almost every civilisation has legends of ancestors who were more progressed, materialistically and spiritually, than us. Up until recently we have called them a myth, a fantastic invention of some innovative mind etc. only because we were never progressed enough to grasp the ideas in those stories. Only when we exploded our first atomic bomb did we realise that one such bomb, Brahmastra<\/a>, was used in epic war of Mahaabhaarat. Only when we ourselves fly around the globe in 747s and A380s do we understand that the flying machines<\/a> appearing in legends worldwide can actually be manufactured and used. These are only couple examples that should help us open our minds and consider the myths and legends more rationally. And, more importantly, not think of us as the most progressed homo sapiens\u00a0<\/i>ever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As illustrated in JAW\u2019s audio show and his article, ancient Hindu philosophy measures the time in \u2018Yuga\u2019, age or epoch. There are 4 different Yuga, each characterised by a virtue that is accorded the highest value in each one.\u00a0(Source: Wikipedia, text in [ ] mine.)<\/i><\/p>\n

Krita \/ Satya Yuga:<\/b> Dhyana (meditation). In the highest yuga, the great majority of people can experience spirituality by direct intuitive realization of truth. The veil between the material and the transcendent realms becomes almost transparent. It is a period free from any kind of unhappiness or misery. [Plato\u2019s Golden age]
\nTreta Yuga:<\/b> Yadnya (sacrifice). The Treta Yuga is the mental age. Mental power is harnessed and men are in power. There are inventions that dissolve the illusion of time. Clairvoyance and telepathy are common skills. [Plato\u2019s Silver age]
\nDwapar Yuga:<\/b> Archana (worship). In the Dwapar Yuga, science flourishes, people experience the spiritual in terms of subtle energies and rational choices, inventions are abundant, particularly those that dissolve the illusion of distance (between people and between things), and power is mostly in the hands of women. [Plato\u2019s Bronze age]
\nKali Yuga:<\/b> Daana (alms). In the lowest epoch, Kali Yuga, most people are aware only of the physical aspects of existence. The predominant emphasis of living is material survival, and power is mostly in the hands of men. [Plato\u2019s Iron age]<\/div>\n

The occurrence of these Yuga best makes sense when considered as illustrated in the figure<\/a> at the top which depicts the ideas of Sri Yukteswar. There is some dispute over the time scale of each of the Yuga, the one in Hindu scriptures requiring 4.3 million years<\/a> for one cycle to finish. Sri Yukteswar revised these estimates to 24000 years in total and JAW feels these are more agreeable. I\u2019m not going to comment on which time scale is correct though I feel the original 4.3 million year one is way too long based on the rate of progress\/regress of modern humans in last few thousand years. I keep typing \u2018progress\/regress\u2019 because that is a relative term and also it will depend on which Yuga we are in right now, which will be clear in some time. The cycle of progress\/regress should, logically, go like this: Krita\/Satya (descending half) \u2192 descending Treta \u2192 descending Dwapar \u2192 descending Kali \u2192 ascending Kali \u2192 ascending Dwapar \u2192 ascending Treta \u2192 Krita<\/i>\/Satya<\/i>\u00a0(ascending half)<\/i> ….. and this continues to cycle. So now based on the \u201cdefinitions and characteristics\u201d of the various Yuga mentioned earlier, below is my interpretation of what could be happening,<\/p>\n