Arijit Bhattacharyya

Story of time travel and explanation of time in Sindhu culture

If you feel, time travel is a future tech, think again. I don’t know if this happened in past or it will come in near future, but ancient civilizations entertained the idea of time travel and multiple universes. Time in each of these parallel realities passed at a different pace.
I’m trying to describe one of the relevant writing about king Kakudmi and his daughter Revati, from ancient Sindhu writing. According to the myth, Kakudmi ruled Kusasthali, a prosperous and advanced underwater kingdom (not the concept of Atlantis). The king was looking for a suitable husband for his daughter, which he couldn’t find in the mortal world and hence took his daughter to Brahmaloka the plane of existence of god Brahma to ask for advice from the god.
When they arrived, Brahma was listening to a musical performance by the Gandharvas, so they waited until the performance was finished. Then, King Kakudmi made his request and presented his shortlist of candidates. Brahma, the inner powerful lord of creation explained that time runs differently on different planes of existence, and that during the short time they had waited in Brahma-loka to see him, 27 chaturyugas (a cycle of four yugas, totalling 108 yugas, had passed on earth.

Basic explanation of time :


While Vishnu is asleep, a lotus sprouts of his navel (navel is symbolized as the root of creation) along with Brahma. Brahma creates the universe which we all live in (we means this world's existing objects), on another thought, Brahma himself may be the universe as well, which is why the vedic texts say Brahmanda meaning Universe. Referring to the universe created out of big-bang, it is described as lotus blooms out of the navel,but this universe is not a permanent universe, it is temporary, Brahma lives for 100 bramha years and then dissolves and a new universe is born.

Time calculation and divisions (as described in Manu Smriti and Vedas) in Ancient India :

Small units of time used in the Vedas
Name Definition Equivalence
Paramāṇu (atom) ca. 16.8 µs
Aṇu 2 Paramāṇu ca. 33.7 µs
Trasareṇu (particles observed in sun light) 3 Aṇu ca. 101 µs
Truṭi 3 Trasareṇu ca. 1/3290 s = ca. 304 µs
Vedha 100 Truṭi ca. 30 ms
Lava 3 Vedha ca. 91 ms
Nimeṣha (blink of eye) 3 Lava ca. 0.273 s
Kṣhaṇas 3 Nimeṣa 0.82 s
Kāṣṭhās 5 Kṣhaṇa ca. 4.1 s
Laghu 15 Kāṣṭhā ca. 1 min
Nāḍika 15 Laghu ca. 15.3 min
Daṇḍa
Muhurta 2 Daṇḍa ca. 30.7 min
Yāma 7.5 Muhūrta
day(light) 4 praharas or 4 yamas
night
day 8 yamas = 1 day(light) + 1 night

15 such days = 1 Paksha (fortnight)

This Paksha (brigher lunar cycle) is day for Pitrus (departed ancestors) and darker lunar cycle is their night.
Here, Muhūrt (मुहूर्त) is a vedic unit of measurement for time. A 24 hour day+night consists of 30 muhurtas. Each Muhurta is about 48 minutes of duration.Each Muhurta is further divided into 30 Kalā ≈ 48 minutes. Brahmanas and Rig Veda define Muhurta as “muhu” (moment/immediate) + “ṛta” (order). So, it is the moment which occurs in an order every day.
(1) Swati, (2) Visakha, (3) Anuradha, (4) Jyestha, (5) Magha, (6) Poorva Phalguni, (7) Uttara Phalguni are 7 muhurtas ruled by 7 Nakshatras before Abhijit and these are called first Prahara. 20 Nakshtras after Abhijit constitutes 20 muhurtas. This way 28 Nakshtras constitute 28 Muhurtas Rest 2 Muhurtas are devoted to creator itself and these two Muhurtas are called as Brahma Muhurtas.
Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa describes a muhūrta as 1/15th portion of a day ( here day means the time from sunrise to sunset). Assuming Sunrise at 6AM

2 Paksha = 1 Maasa (month)
6 Maasa = 1 Ayanam
2 Ayanam = 1 Year

Here, Uttarayanam (Between 15 January – 15 July, when sun rises inclined towards north-east) is said to be day for Gods and Dakshinayanam (remaining 6 months when sun rises inclined towards south-east) is said to be their day.
That is how, human year is equivalent to 1 day in Devloka (Adobe).

An epoch or a yuga is the next higher level of measurement. 1200 Deva years constitute the Kaliyuga or the present epoch that we are believed to be living in; 2400 deva years make up the Dwapara yuga that preceded kali yuga; 3600 years made up the Treta yuga and 4800 the Krita yuga respectively.
Thus, the length of the Kaliyuga is 1200*360 i.e. 432,000 human years.
A cycle of 4 yugas is referred to as the Maha Yuga. A cycle of Maha yugas lasts for 12,000 deva years or 12,000* 360 i.e. 4,320,000 human years.

A Year of Brahma :

Each year of Brahma has 360 days and we’re in the first day of the 51st year of our current Brahma. Vedas say that during the day Brahma is busy in creation of life and during the night all life he created is absorbed back into him! So we will be there only for this day of Brahma, which is the first day of his 51st year. And, what does this day of Brahma means?

A day of Brahma: A kalpa

Each Kalpa(day) will have 14 Manvantaras.
Creation happens only during these 14 Udaya Kalpas and he rests during 14 Kshaya Kalpas (his nights).
Right now we’re going through Sweta Varaha Kalpa and Vaivasvata Manvantara.
Earlier to that 6 Manvantaras, ruled by 6 manus have passed.
As per vedas 1 Manvantara = 71 Mahayugas.
1 Mahayuga = 1 Sat(Krita) Yuga(40%) + 1 Treta Yuga(30%) + 1 Dwapara Yuga(20%) + 1 Kali Yuga(10%).
Now, Kali Yuga is defined to last for 432,000 solar years.
Based on that, Dwapara Yuga lasted for 864,000 years, Treta Yuga lasted for 1,296,000 years, Sat Yuga lasted for 1,728,000 years.
Total Maha Yuga span now is : 4,320,000 years.
So each Manvantara = 4,320,000 x 71 = 306,720,000 years.
6 Manvantaras have passed so far, so 6 x 306,720,000 = 1,840,320,000 years have passed in past manvantaras.
So far 27 Mahayugas have passed in present(7th) Vaivasvata Manvantara.
27 x 4,320,000 = 116,640,000 years.
In 28th Mahayuga (running presently), 1 Krita (Sat) Yuga, 1 Treta Yuga, 1 Dwapara Yuga and Kaliyuga’s 5112 years have passed so far.
So add 1,840,320,000 + 116,640,000 + 1,728,000 + 1,296,000 + 864,000 + 5112 = 1,960,853,112 years.
These many years have passed in present year (51st) of Brahma. Before that 50 years have passed for him.
That is : 50 x 360(days/kalpas) x 28 (Manvantaras) x 71 (Mahayugas) x 4,320,000 (each maha yuga span years) = 154,586,880,000,000 years. Add 1,960,853,112 years to it and its about 155 Billion years.
Modern day Scientists have discovered that our present universe is approximately 155 billion years, well, it's not a simple calculation, human brain can do great job if we use them instead od depending on smartphone.

Back to the story

Both of them were distraught but Brahma comforted and recommended Balrama as the best bridegroom for Revati, the brother of Krishna when they would travel back to Earth (in the future). What seemed as a few minutes in Brahmaloka for Kakudmi and Revati was actually around 100,00 years in their plane of existence. When back in Earth everything was different, not only had the landscape and environment changed, The Bhagavata Purana describes that they found the race of men had become “dwindled in stature, reduced in vigour, and enfeebled in intellect.”
This seems something, mankind if evolving, that should be advanced in technology, spiritually and physically, but here it seems the real knowledge is trying to tell the mankind that if we are not connecting with the nature, we will lose humanity.
Daughter and father found Balarama and proposed the marriage, Balarama accepted the same but since Revati came from different time behind him, she was way taller than Balarama. It is said that Balaram used his plough to reduce her height according to present conditions.
King Kakudmi then returned back to Devloka.
If you look at this as a story, it seems like a story, but look at the level of details which has been described here, exact details of time travel in a simple storyline. A warning that human race is actually becoming dependent on machines, they are not thinking they are stopping their neurons’ rather engaging into so called easy solution and hence loosing the intellectual and spiritual parts.

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