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Shaivism - Concepts and symbols - The Flood and The Theory of Cycles
Identifier
022592
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The Ages of Man is described in more detail in the section for The Ancestors, as the concepts and timescales apply more to the Ancestors than they do to any of the other mystic sections. But here we provide an extract and how it relates to the flood.
A description of the experience
Alain Danielou – While the Gods Play
The present phase of mankind commences with a great flood, which is recorded by all civilizations, which probably took place around 60,200 B.C. A lesser flood, dated in Sumerian writings at around 3000 B.C., heralds the beginning of the Kali Yuga. The Sumerian dynasties are classified as antediluvian and postdiluvian. …………..
According to the traditional Indian calendar, which is still In use, the Kali Yuga commenced in 3012 B.C. If we accept this date for the beginning of the Kali Yuga, the following calendar results.
Dawn of Krita Yuga 58,042 BC
Beginning of Krita Yuga 56,026 BC
Beginning of Twilight 35,864 BC
Dawn of Treta Yuga 33,848 BC
Beginning of Treta Yuga 32,336 BC
Beginning of Twilight 17,215 BC
Dawn of Dvapara Yuga 14,695 BC
Beginning of Dvapara Yuga 14,695 BC
Beginning of Twilight 4,614 BC
Dawn of Kali Yuga 3, 606 BC
Kali Yuga 3,102 BC
Middle of Kali Yuga 582 BC
Beginning of Twilight AD 1,939
End of Twilight of Kali Yuga AD 2,442
The twilight of the Kali Yuga therefore would have started in 1939, in the month of May. The final catastrophe will take place during this twilight, The last traces of this present humankind will have disappeared in 2,442. The figures, as we have seen, are accurate to within fifty years. Using these dates as a starting point and going back, we find that
the first manifestation of humanity came forth in 419,964 BC.,
the second in 359,477 BC.,
the third in 298,990BC.,
the fourth in 238,503 BC.,
the fifth in 178,016 B.C.,
the sixth in 118,529 BC., and
the seventh in 58,042 BC.
The Purana(s) mention the change in men's moral behaviour from the dawn of the Kali Yuga.
Vaivasvata Manu (the Noah of the Bible), survivor of a previous human cycle, was saved by Vishnu who, in the form of a fish, pulled the ark to dry land. The descendants of Manu's companions, intermingled with the new races then still in semi-animal form (the Nephilim of Genesis), constitute the present humanity.