A COMPLETE GUIDE TO KALA: VEDIC TIME

by Deva Madhava

According to the Vedas, time unfolds in an eternal cycle. In this way, cosmic time follows the way of nature — we rotate through four seasons every year, the moon waxes and wanes in its repeating revolution of the earth, and the soul experiences birth, youth, adulthood, old age, and finally death, only to relive this cycle in a new body, exposed to a new variety of experiences.
In this article we explore the concept of time as it is explained in the Vedic literatures, including Vedic time dilation, Vedic time units, the four yugas of a cosmic age, and more.

The Amazing Precision of Vedic Time

Although some modern scholars say that the Vedas were written during the Vedic period of ancient India, the Vedas are actually much, much older. It is well known that Indian history, as recorded in the ancient Puranas, goes back millions of years.

In his famous Cosmos series, astronomer Carl Sagan acknowledge the astounding accuracy of Vedic time scales:

“The Hindu religion is the only one of the world’s great faiths dedicated to the idea that the cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang.”

In fact, our team has discovered that the Vedas contain accurate dates for such significant cosmic events as the origin of the universe, the age of the sun, and the Earth’s greatest mass extinction. Check out our book, The Big Bang and the Sages, to learn more.

Time Dilation According to the Vedas

Time dilation was first discovered in the Western world by renowned physicist Albert Einstein. According to Einstein, the law of special relativity states that physical laws remain constant for all observers, regardless of their speed of motion. As a result, time will dilate in proportion to a person’s speed of travel. For example, as a person’s speed approaches the speed of light, time will pass more and more slowly, even though their subjective experience of time will remain the same.

The phenomenon of time dilation has been described in the Vedic literatures in their description of the structure of our solar system. In total, there are a total of fourteen planes of existence. Those situated above the Earth experience time more slowly. For instance, one year on Earth is equivalent to a single day in the realm known as Svarga, the abode of the demigods. And in the passing of a single day on the planet of Lord Brahma, the “engineer” of our solar system, we experience 8.64 billion years on Earth. This is because the pace of life on Brahma’s planet is much closer to the speed of light than the pace of life here on Earth.

By contrast, in the planes of existence below the Earth, the passing of time is much faster than what we experience here. In a single day on Earth, years go by in the lower planetary systems, such as Mahatala and Patala.

Learn More: Check out our guide on Vedic Cosmology to learn more about the structure of the universe according to the Puranas.

Vedic Time Units

Although time is eternal, it can nonetheless be measured in different ways. However, even the largest of units represent a minute sample of the totality of eternal time.

Universal Time Scales

On the macrocosmic scale, there are three primary units of time: kalpa, manvantara, and yuga.

Kalpa

The Vedic view of the universe has as its basic unit a day of Brahma. This is known in Sanskrit as a kalpa. Brahma the creator of the universe is the first living being generated from Sri Vishnu after the creation, or “Big Bang” event. Brahma’s lifespan is the duration of one universe, from the time of the “Big Bang” to the time of universal annihilation, when the entire cosmos is reabsorbed into Vishnu, who rests on the cosmic ocean.

One kalpa is equal to approximately 8.64 billion solar years.

Manvantara

Smaller than a kalpa, a manvantara is the duration of the reign of a single Manu, a higher-dimensional leader of the realm of Bhu-loka, which includes our Earth planet.

Fourteen manvantaras equal one kalpa. A manvantara is equal to approximately 613.44 million solar years.

Chatur Yuga

The chatur yuga, or four-part yuga cycle, is the smallest of the cosmological time units. Its duration is 8.64 million solar years. One thousand chatur yugas is equal to one kalpa.

Other Vedic Time Units

In addition to these three primary cosmological units of time, there are two additional units which are used less frequently:

Maha-kalpa: Also known as a brahmanda, the maha kalpa is the duration of one hundred kalpas, or the lifespan of Brahma.

Prarardha: This is 1/2 of a maha-kalpa, or one half the lifespan of Brahma.

Microcosmic Time Scales

In addition to providing highly accurate time scales for the cosmos, the Vedas also contain time units of very small duration, from atomic time all the way up to a human year. Below is a table of these units:

It’s clear that these time measurements are optimized for human use, with units becoming more complicated the smaller they get. The opposite is also true with time scales larger than usual for us. For more details, all these small and large time scales can be found in the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

The Four Yugas

The chatur yuga can be further broken down into its four parts:

Satya yuga: This is the first age in the chatur yuga. During this time, inhabitants on Earth are endowed with meditative insight and mystical capabilities due to being adept in yoga. The prescribed duty for mankind is meditative trance. Satya yuga lasts for 1.728 million years.

Dvapara yuga: This is the second age in the chatur yuga. During dvapara yuga, people on Earth have lost some of their focus in spiritual pursuits. As a result, Vyasa reintroduces the Vedas and the institution of varnashrama. The prescribed duty for mankind is nonviolent sacrifice. Dvapara yuga lasts 1.296 million years.

Treta yuga: The third age in the chatur yuga, treta yuga sees the human population somewhat more degraded. Theft, exploitation of the masses by leaders, warfare, and other forms of conflict become more commonly seen. However, human beings are still conversant in the Vedas, and the process of God consciousness is still central to worldly affairs. The prescribed duty for mankind in treta yuga is worship of the Deity. Treta yuga lasts for 864,000 years.

Kali yuga: The fourth and final age in the chatur yuga, kali yuga is characterized by widespread conflict and violence among the human race. Religiosity and morality are virtually gone, and in their place are hypocrisy and deceit are embraced and lauded. The prescribed duty for mankind is chanting the names of God, sankirtana. Kali yuga lasts for 432,000 years.

Where Are We in Vedic Time?

In the Vedic time scale we are in the first day of the 51st year of Brahma, in the seventh manvantara, in the beginning of Kali yuga. Approximately 5,000 years ago Kali Yuga began, after the manifestation of Lord Sri Krishna on this planet Earth, the recitation of the Bhagavad-gita, and the great battle of Kurukshetra.

What Is Time?

“No one knows where time began and where it ends, and it is time only which can keep a record of the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material manifestation. This time factor is the material cause of creation and is therefore a self expansion of the Personality of Godhead.”

– Bhaktivedanta Purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.10.11

Time As Entropy

When theoretical physicist, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer witnessed the detonation of a nuclear bomb in 1945, he recalled the following line from Bhagavad-gita:

kalo ‘smi loka-kshaya-krit pravriddho
lokan samahartum iha pravrittah

“I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Literally, the word kala in this verse signifies time, as in, “Your time is up.” Oppenheimer’s close colleague, Dr. Albert Einstein was noted for having conceived of time as being a dimension, akin to space, and forming a spacetime continuum.

In this conception, most scientists hold that as a dimension, time differs from space because you can’t move around freely within it. It only flows forward. That said, if it turns out we can travel back in time, we’ll be sure to inform ourselves before publishing this article.

Time is shown in this verse in its objective entropic role of constant, inevitable, all-extending demise. In this sense, Dr. Oppenheimer’s equation of time with death is profound and apt. Therefore, it is described as a representative of the Absolute, or God.

Bhagavad-gita clarifies what time is in and of itself, so that our subjective experiences of it can be contextualized within a universally shared reality. On that note, Bhagavad-gita has its own historical, cultural and philosophical contexts.

More than a bird’s eye view of these is not possible here, but a good start is to think of Bhagavad-gita as a concise 700-verse introduction to the same subjects which are scrutinized within the broader discourse of Vedic literature.

How Time Feels

Aside from prehistoric precision timekeeping, the Third Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam touches on why time flies when we’re having fun, and watched pots never boil. These relate to our subjective experiences of time.

It is when time is subjectively perceived that the three modes of material nature come into play. In goodness, we try to prioritize our time for ultimate well-being. Passion drives the effort to control time for personal gain, and in ignorance, the value of time is altogether neglected.

As Shakespeare said:

“I wasted time, and time doeth waste me.”

In this way, the modes filter our perceptions of time, yet it remains the equalizing force which unites us, whether we perceive it or not.

Eternal Consciousness

Unlike the popular saying in America that “you only live once,” the Vedas are clear that both consciousness and matter are eternal. This is supported by Newton’s law of the conservation of energy. In reality, nothing is ever created or destroyed — the energy is simply rearranged. As Lord Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gita, the soul is eternal:

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ param

“Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.” (Bhagavad-gita 2.12)

Although we experience the passing of time and the gradual decay of our bodies here in the material world, when we ascend to the transcendental plane of reality, we realize that time is eternal, and that the soul never actually dies. In the spiritual realm of Vaikuntha, the passing of time acts as an eternal cycle that neither creates nor destroys, but simply generates newer varieties of spiritual enjoyment for Lord Krishna and His devotees.

A Meditation on Time

In his poem, The Jiva Soul, Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes:

Forget the past that sleeps and ne’er
The future dream at all,
But act in time that are with thee
And progress thee shall call.

Yoga paths help us transcend the influence of the modes of nature, allowing us to progressively see the objective face of time as entropy. These paths also alleviate anxiety over the future and lamentation about the past. Certainly there’s more to be said, but for now, we’re out of time.

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