PRALAYA - THE DELUGE (Concept & Significance)
What is
Pralaya?
Doomsday known in Hindu terminology as Pralaya is a Sanskrit
word. Pra means conspicuous; prominent; notorious; great; noticeable; unique
and Laya means destruction; deluge; dissolution; death; annihilation; Pralaya
means destruction of the world.
On an individual plane Pralaya means death and on mundane
surface it is death and destruction of both living and non living things.
Pralaya very much co-terminates with the concept of eternal Time
that refers to the end of world after a cycle of ages. It cannot occur as
and when one wants it. It has separate arithmetic known as Kaala Ganana
(reckoning of time) and will happen accordingly at a specific time set by the
Kaala Niyaamaka; the governing lord and Presiding Deity of the eternal time
Lord Sri ManNaaryaana; the divine law maker and law giver.
Time is controlled by Kaalapurusha; the presiding Deity of
eternal Time, Lord Vishnu the Kaala. He is creator of Time and also one who
causes repetition of Time. All entities in the universe come under purview of
Time without any exception including Lord Brahma.
Time is reckoned as Lord Vishnu who is Kaalaatma the soul of
Time; Kaala-Swaroopa; the form of Time. Naaraayana Upanishad describes Lord
Vishnu as Time – “Kaalascha Naaraayanah” Time is arising out of Lord Sri
ManNaaraayana. Hindu sages describe time as cyclic and an endless process of
creation, preservation and dissolution.
Universe is cyclically created and destroyed. Hindu religion and
philosophy which strongly believes in Vedas has clearly spelled out time
element of the universe at different levels. Several sacred pouranic texts
like, Bhaagavatha Purana, Vishnu Purana, Maha Bhaaratha, Matsya Purana,
Bhagawadgeeta etc. have discussed about Hindu cosmology.
Understanding of time element in Hinduism is as old as the
Hinduism itself. What modern day scientists/astronomers have invented was
revealed by the great Hindu Seers ages before.
What are the
different types of Pralaya?
Pralaya is a broad term that can happen at different stages of
the eternal Time. It is classified as…
Ø Yuga Pralaya;
Ø
Manvanthara Pralaya;
Ø
Kalpa Pralaya; and
Ø Maha Pralaya or Brahma Pralaya
According to Sri Bhaagavatha Purana, Dwaadasa Skhandha (12th
canto); Pralaya is classified as…
Ø Nitya Pralaya;
Ø
Nymittika Pralaya;
Ø
Praakrutika Pralaya and
Ø Atyantika Pralaya
What is Yuga
Pralaya?
Yuga is a sub-division of the great Time; it is an era in which
we live in. There are four types of Yugas viz. Krutha Yuga; Tretha
Yuga; Dwaapara Yuga and Kali Yuga.
Each Yuga or era has a set longevity. Accordingly, the duration
of Krutha Yuga will be for a period of 1728000 human years; Tretha
Yuga for1296000 years; Dwaapara Yuga for 864000 years and Kali Yuga
for 432000 years. Four Yugas put together is collectively known as one Maha
Yuga; the duration of which will be for 4320000 years.
Yuga Pralaya does not mean that dissolution will occur at the
end of each Yuga or era. It will happen at the end of every Maha Yuga ie.
fag end of Kaliyuga in the quartet. During Yuga Pralaya mainly life gets
destroyed.
We are currently in the era of Kaliyuga and only 5116 years have
elapsed since the beginning of Kaliyuga.
What is
Manvanthara Pralaya?
Manvanthara is a bigger sub-division of Time comprising of 71
Maha Yugas, working out to 306.720 million human years. In the Time of Lord
Brahma, each day is ruled by 14 Manus’ and each era of Manu is known as
Manvanthara.
At the end of each Manvanthara there will be a Pralaya known as
Manvanthara Pralaya when, along with life, earth, space and heaven get
destroyed.
What is Kalpa
Pralaya?
Every day (day out of day and night) in the life of Lord Brahma
is known as Kalpa; the duration of which will be for a period of 1000 Maha
Yugas or 432 crores of human years.
At the end of which there occurs a Pralaya known as Kalpa
Pralaya or Dina Pralaya; also known as Nymittika Pralaya. This is held during the night time of Lord
Brahma which is again equal to on Kalpa. Naimittika
Pralaya marks end of the living world and new creation will be
scripted by Lord Brahma.
What is Maha
Pralaya?
As per Vedamaana life span of Lord Brahma is reckoned as 100
years called Brahma Kalpa that is equivalent to 311.04 trillion human years at
the end of which there will be a great deluge known as Maha Pralaya or Brahma
Pralaya.
Also known as Praakrutika Pralaya it will destroy the entire
Universe (Brahmaanda) except Vaikunta, the abode of Lord Sri
ManNaaraayana.
There will be water everywhere and only Lord Vishnu will remain
who is everlasting. At that time Lord Vishnu called Shuunya assumes the form of
a small child of gigantic size and sleeps in Yoganidra on a leaf (Vatapathra)
and called as Vatapathrasaaii.
Lord Vishnu as Sankarshana is the
presiding deity of Praakrutika Pralaya. Sankarshana is the destructive power of
Lord Vishnu who alone has the strength and competency to completely destroy the
world at the time of deluge in a systematic manner using His power
“Sankarshana” and pull back all entities into Him.
He is the one who grasps all the
movable and immovable objects in the universe towards Him at the time of great
deluge destroying them while He (Lord Vishnu) himself remaining composed and
untainted as He is Achyuta. At the time of Pralaya, Lord Vishnu (Sankarshana)
resides in Lord Rudra as antharyaami and executes the task of destruction.
What are the
other types of Pralaya?
Nitya Pralaya means the destruction of living and non living
things that goes on a daily basis.
Atyantika means uninterrupted or perpetually or forever etc.
Atyantika Pralaya means Moksha or attainment of salvation by a soul.
Nymittika means the one that occurs occasionally eg. Kalpa
Pralaya.
Praakrutika means great deluge caused by nature the Prakruthi
where entire universe gets destroyed.
What are the symptoms of Maha Pralaya?
- There will be severe draught for 100 human years;
- Next 100 years there will be severe Sunshine of the capacity of 12 Aadityas’;
- Next 100 years there will be non-stop heavy wind blow;
- Next 100 years there will be heavy rain fall;
At the end of which entire universe gets submerged
Reckoning of
next Pralaya (Doomsday)?
Universal repositioning takes place whenever celestial splendors
like Eclipses occur or planetary transits happen. Astronomically lot of changes
do takes place in the universe and all such may not and need not lead to a
dooms day. While most of the non Hindu cultures base their cosmologies on
familiar units such as few hundreds or thousands of years, Hindu concept of
time element based on Vedic scripts believes on immeasurable period of time
lasting billions and trillions of years.
According to Hindu Kaalaganana (Arithmetic of Time) nearest
Pralaya (deluge/doomsday) will be only at the end of the current era of
Kaliyuga when the current Maha Yuga ends and that will be still 426884 years as
on 2015 Yugaadi day.
Sri Krushnaarpanamasthu
Related post you may like to read from the following link…
TRUE PICTURE OF VEDANTA.
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