What is the age of time? Modernists estimate it at about 13.8 billion years. At such a young age for the galactic vastness, we should be able to determine every event with precision. The modern geological time scale uses eon, era, and period to partition the age of time. Each classification exists for a duration of time. Eon lasts half a billion years, or more. Four eons are defined: Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic, and Phanerozoic. Eons are further divided into eras, and its duration lasts several hundred million years. Ten eras are defined. They are Eoarchean, Paleoarchean, Mesoarchean, Neoarchean, Paleoproterozoic, Mesoproterozoic, Neoproterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. Eras are divided into periods. Periods’ duration is 10 to 100 million years old. We are presently in the Phanerozoic Eon, Cenozoic Era, and Quaternary period. Duration of eons, eras, and periods do not follow a pattern. The duration, for a layman, is a random arrangement of time. It is unknown, or not discovered yet, if the observed patterns are cyclical. We do not mark these geological time scales with festivities. It is human nature to celebrate the commencement of a great period with a remembrance. A day is not carved out to celebrate entering Cenozoic Era, and Quaternary period. Should we not be celebrating such a historic moment? If we don’t celebrate how can humanity know the value of the geologic time divisions?
We do not celebrate the passing of a second, minute, day, or weeks. We are aware of the transient property of these small divisions of time. New moon to full moon, and back to new moon is a month. It is celebrated in a few cultures. Months are transient too. As months transition, seasons change. Spring, summer, fall, winter, and back to spring marks one year. Every person celebrates the New Year. It is a festive occasion. Humanity looks forward to the commencement of a new year. New year brings us new hopes. New dreams. Everything assumes newness. A year marks a beginning, or an end of something for all of us. Seconds to years are cyclical. Year, among them, is the most popular cycle of time measurement.
Giving a name to that we seek to see repeat in our lives is a human trait. Therefore, years have names. There are 60 named years given according to Indian culture. Those names are not important for our consideration. It exists to make it easy to calculate a person’s age without knowing the year of their birth. Why 60? A human’s lifespan is two cycles of 60, or 120 years in total. Therefore, 60 named years exist in Indian culture. The names start with ‘Prabhava,’ and end with ‘Akshaya.’ The meaning of ‘Prabhava’ is that it is born. ‘Akshya’ means undestroyable. These words provide evidence that the birth and death of time is eternal. It is born, and repeats cyclically. 60-year period can be viewed as 5 cycles of 12 years periods. It takes 12 years for the planet Jupiter to transit through the 12 houses of the zodiac. Product of 5 cycles with a 12-year duration gives us 60 years. These five-year cycles have names too. They are called Samvatsaram, Parivatsaram, Idaavatsaram, Iduvatsaram, and Idvatsaram. These names are not meaningless. They communicate a pattern of planetary influences that can be expected in a given year.
Incomprehensible the depth of thought behind these conventions of ancestors. One need not carry a calendar with them. One can easily work their way backward, or forward just by knowing the year’s name. It will be a familiar sight for Indians to see a priest calculate time forward, and backward based on these conventions. They can perform these computations on their fingertips based on the progression of the moon through 27 equidistant stars, the phase of the moon (waning, or waxing), and the day (thithi) of the moon. Time is an essential element of human existence.
Years are trivial on the scale of time. We would need larger divisions of time to comprehend the existence of ancestry far beyond what can be witnessed in modern times through scientific efforts. Large span of time is classified as ‘Yugam.’ A Yugam is a span of time that stretches 432,000 years. There are four names Yuga’s. They are Satya, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali. Satya spans 1,728,000 years. Treta spans 1,296,000 years. Dwapara spans 864,000. Kali spans 432,000 years. We are presently in Kali Yugam. 5,123 years have been eclipsed in the present Kali Yugam. The four Yugas, together, are called Mahayugam, which spans 4,320,000 years. In the present Mahayugam a total of 3,893,123 have eclipsed. Mahayugam is cyclical. When the present Kali Yugam ends in 426,877 years, Satya Yugam will commence. Calendar has remained unchanged for 3.89 million years. This is irrevocable proof for human existence far beyond the 100,000-year estimate of modernists.
Modern calendar is a mere 2022 years old. Time beyond this is measured in years as B.C. years. Months, and weeks are not present when time stretches beyond 2022 years for modern measurement of time. In this small stretch of time, the modern calendar has experienced many changes. Cyclical nature of time cannot be captured when each year has a numerical value. Any day of any year will not repeat in this system. Nature is cyclical. Our calendar must be cyclical too.
Kalpa is 1000 Mahayugams. Thus, a Kalpa is 4,320,000,000 years. Kalpa is divided into 14 Manvantaras. Each Manvantara spans 71 Mahayugams. Therefore, a Manvantara is a time scale of 306,720,000 million years. Of the 14 Manvantaras, we are presently in the 7th Manvantara called Vaivaswatha. Six Manvataras have already been completed, a span of 1,840,320,000 years has been eclipsed. In the present Manvantara, 27 Mahayugams have passed, and we are in the 28th Mahayugam. 27 Mahayugams are a total of 116,640,000 years, and 3,893,123 years have passed in the present Mahayugam. Humanity has witnessed 1,960,853,123 years since we entered the present Manvantara.
How can we deny the existence of humanity when we are accosted with evidence of time in wondrous detail? Why would humanity go through the trouble of presenting us with the vastness of time with unbelievable clarity for billions of years? It cannot be someone’s imagination to present us with various cyclical aspects of time. Modernity claims the Universe started to form 13.8 billion years back. Traveling back 1.960 billion years leaves a few billion years unexposed to humanity, however, tomorrow we will travel trillions of years back to discover the age of time. Suffice to know that the 500 years of modern history is a molecule of time against the vastness of 1.960 billion years. Time is cyclical, and so are trends in human history. Post-Modern times return us back to the grandeur of ancestral times, because whoever preserved time so beautifully, had to have lived a grand life.
Fragrance of Humanity 
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