In my last blog entry I discussed the Kali and Dwapara Yugas that Swami Sri Yukteswar describes in his book “The Holy Science”. Yugas are ages or cycles that we as people and as a solar system go through internally and externally. Please read the February 3rd entry for further explanations.
To better explain the next two Yugas (Treta and Satya,) I first need to discuss Maya. Maya is the illusion and delusion of mankind itself. Maya was born out of the vastness of G-d to create our perception of this world; this perception includes the illusions of time, space and the Atom that was put forth from the vibration of Aum (Om, Amen). Swami Sri Yukteswar explains that Aum holds this vibration by being magnetized; one side is attracted to love, The Real Substance, and G-d, and the other repels it. The Atom that is the building block of all of creation holds this magnetism that has been infused with Chit, the Omniscient Consciousness or Universal Love. In other words, all of creation has a shared consciousness and an individual consciousness at the same time. When the Atom is within the individual it gives off an aura due to how it magnetizes us and it gives us heart called Mahat and feeling called Chitta and in doing so gives us the idea of separation (Ego) and an identification with the human body through our 5 senses (touch, smell, sight, taste, and sound). Also, within the Chitta is our calm state called Buddhi; the intelligence that can decipher the truth. The opposite of Buddhi is called Manas, meaning mind, that within it holds Repulsion. Repulsion holds us in our bodies by keeping us ignorant of our true selves and keeping us attached to our 5 senses. In order to see one’s way through the illusion of Maya and return to their rightful home with G-d, each individual must find balance with all of these forces within themselves.
When each person and future generations journey through the 4 Yugas we learn and grow as individuals and as a community and hopefully release more of Mayas hold on us. In Kali Yuga, the darkest time for mankind on Earth which is the farthest from Brahma, man’s heart and mind holds erroneous ideas of almost everything due to the strong hold of Maya. In Dwapara Yuga man’s heart and mind becomes stable as he learns to release the falseness of the outside world and begins to look within himself for truth and fulfillment.
Treta Yuga will begin in the year 4099 AD. This is the time period when the majority of mankind will understand all the different components of Maya, even how his own feelings are delusional. As a community we will have developed enough to understand the uses and misuses of energy and no longer be confused regarding how Maya manipulates the common man into believing his own diminished self worth. In Treta Yuga we will relearn Divine Magnetism opposed to earthly magnetism that we are now learning about in our current age of Dwapara Yuga.
In the book “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne, and others like it, the discussion centers around how to magnetize oneself through belief, love, and gratitude so all one’s worldly dreams will come true. This is an important lesson for us to learn so we can have true faith that the universe is on our side, believes in us, and that through our lives in this world and the next we are co-creators with G-d. By the time we enter Treta Yuga we will have love in its purest form and will receive all that we wish for through G-d. How will this be done? Good question, I’m glad you asked. When we lighten our hearts and minds of misconceptions regarding fear, anger, jealously, worries, hatred and other emotions like them that drain us we disentangle ourselves and regain our true strength. We stop using our energy on useless wants and needs and look to G-d for our full strength because we understand that G-d was hiding in all those things we thought where so important but after some time we became bored with them or they wasted away and decomposed. This is true even of our loved ones who will grow old or sick and pass away. Nothing can stay the same on this realm. Once we can see through Maya, peace will be restored within our hearts and on this planet.
Paramhansa Yogananda states in “ Autobiography of a Yogi” that in Treta Yuga we will speak to each other via telepathic communication as well as having other “time- annihilators”. Yogananda did not specify what the other time-annihilators would be but I would hypothesize that they would have to do with being able to project our bodies to different parts of the world without ever leaving our house. I also believe that we will be eating less by the time of Treta Yuga. It will be cyclical- we will release our erroneous thoughts and emotions, we will feel lighter in response, we will receive more energy straight from G-d’s love (now that there is no interference from our troubled heads and hearts) and through all of this mankind will evolve as a species to where our physical forms will need less substance.
By Satya Yuga, which is called the Golden Age the veil of Maya will be almost unseen and we will be free to see our loved ones from days gone by and our future children in one wide scope. Yogananda explains that man’s intelligence will be completely developed and “he will work in harmony with the divine plan”. Satya Yuga will last 4800 years and then the earth will begin to move away from Brahma and man’s intelligence will begin to decline again.
As all things in this universe are cyclical, throughout the cycles called the yugas, Maya waxes and wanes and with it man’s ability to decipher the true meaning of his life and his world.
