From: akkiraju@ee.tamu.edu (Siva Kumar Akkiraju)
Subject: Mystic Symbolism - Part 5
Organization: Texas A&M University
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 21:46:53 GMT

Hi Netters,
Let us continue with the Mystic Symbolism. 
In part 4, we investigated little bit about ``Number-Logic'' of Vedas. Let 
 us continue with that. I will show the Vedic computations of time. As you
 can observe, they bear significant astronomical and astrological significance.
 I leave conclusions up to you to make. The following table summarizes 
 the detailed times.

   			      Table 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Considered Time Unit					 Mortal Years
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
360 days of mortals make a year(called SAVANNAH YEAR)-----------1
Kritayuga has-----------------------------------------------1,728,000
Tretayuga has-----------------------------------------------1,296,000
Dwaparayuga has-----------------------------------------------864,000
Kali Yuga has-------------------------------------------------432,000
The total of the above 4 yugas form a MAHA YUGA-------------4,320,000
71 such MahaYugas form a period of reign of Manu----------306,720,000
The reign of 14 Manus( 71x 14 =994 mahayugas)-----------4,294,080,000
Adding Sandhis i.e. Intervals between the reign of---------25,920,000
Each Manu(=6 Maha Yugas)
The total of these reigns and interregnums of 14--------4,320,000,000
 Manus(=1000 Maha Yugas), which is called a 
``KALPA'', a day of Brahma
As day and nights of Brahma are same, a day and a ------8,640,000,000
 night will have
360 of such days and nights make 1 yr of Brahma-----3,110,400,000,000
100 such yrs. constitute whole period of----------311,040,000,000,000
Brahma's  age i.e. Maha Kalpa
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some curious facts about these figures are that all the figures are divisible 
 by 72.( Remember?, 72 is a familiar figure shown by ``Precession of Equinox''.
The equinoctical point advances by 1 degree for every 72 years. i.e. The moment
 of ``Spring'' will occur a whole day earlier than it was originally. The day
 will still be known as ``March 21'', however). A good student of Astrology
 can see the ``cycle period'' of equinoctical point, i.e. the duration for this
 point to go around a Zodiacal cycle corresponds with above figures. I leave it 
 to reader for further analysis. Curiously enough, these figures do exhibit
 a strange relation ship with the geometric solids, cube, dodecahedron etc...
 It is hard to show that here, as I cannot plot those figures up here. Another
 table, the years of various planets is an important aid to see the importance
 of figures given in Table 1.

				Table 2 
            ----------------------------------------
		Planet			 Time(days)
            ----------------------------------------
		Mercury		        90 
 		Venus			216	
		Earth			360
		Mars			720
		Jupiter			4320
		Saturn			10,800
            ----------------------------------------

You can observe many interesting numbers 72,108,432 (!). Regarding these 
 numbers, Alice A. Bailey quotes in her 26 Volume Master piece ``A Treatise
 on Cosmic Fire''(In vol. 2):

``These figures are not fanciful, but are founded upon astronomical facts,
 demonstrated by Dr.Davis in an essay in Asiatic Researchers; and this
 receives further corroboration from the geological investigations and 
 calculations made by Dr.Hunt, formerly President of Anthropological Society,
 and also in some respects from the research made by Prof.Huxley. Great as
 the Period of the Maha Kalpa seems to be, we are assured that thousands 
 and thousands of millions of such Maha Kalpas have passed, and as many more
 are yet to come and this plain Language means that time past is infinite
 and the time to come is equally infinite. The universe is formed, dissolved,
 and reproduced, in an indeterminate succession ''

Further thinking is left to readers.

There are some important observation to be made in Maha Bharata:

1) The great war of Mahabharata was depicted to have taken place for 
   ``18 days''. ``18 Squadrons'' Partook in the battle. The whole book of
 Mahabharata was composed in ``18 volumes''. Bhagavadgita, the great initiation
 given before war is in ``18 chapters''. What does this ``18 mean'' ? Is it
 just a coincidence ? (Remember ?, 18 is 3/4ths of 24 (Gayatri Metre) which
 represents the rotation of the whole globe through 3 X 90 degrees which 
 includes ``18 Lunations'' of the year )
    
2) The name of the Battle Ground of Mahabharata is depicted as ``Kurukshetra''.
 Is there a reason behind it ? (like naming a street after a politician for
 funds  etc.. !), When we go back to Vedic rituals, there is a tradition
 where a ritualist has to till the land for himself while uttering sanctifying  
 mantras which invoke the angel of the plough, the bull and earth. In these
 Mantras the earth is compared with a cow and the bull is compared with annual
 Solar God fertilizing the earth with masculine Solar energy. The evolving 
 ritual is compared with the masculine calf representing the aspect of man 
 in creation. That is all to know about the ritual. It was mentioned, that
 a Lunar King named ``Kuru'' has tilled tract of space to cultivate the whole
 creation and hence the tract is there after called ``Kurukshetra'', the field
 of ``Kuru''. The name has been borrowed into Mahabharata, making 
 ``Kurukshetra'', the seat of Bhagavad geeta. Thus, Sowing of divine seed, 
 the Bhagavadgeeta, in a tilled, fertile land, the Kurukshetra ??

3) In the allegory where Arjuna hits the fish and Padavas Marry Droupadi,
 A rotating fish is arranged above and Arjuna hits the fish with five arrows
 looking at the image of the fish in waters below. Is it possible that the fish
 above represents the divine wisdom which is prophecy of man and the image
 representing the lower principles of man arranged in worlds below as above ?
 There are some curious observations that can be made here from astrological
 point of view. We see all these symbolically shown in Zodiac. In Zodiac, the 
 fish represents the sign of ``Pisces'', and the maiden represents the opposite
 sign ``Virgo''. Arjuna with his bow and five arrows represents the sign 
``Sagittarius''. Can we understand the allegory as the sign ``Virgo'' being
 raised to the level of ``Pisces'' when the 12 signs in Man are elevated to
 only 6 pairs of signs, to represent the activity of 6 chakras(of Occult 
 Anatomy) in Man. Then, he again enters ``Aries'' because there are only six
 signs to him (The Kundalini rising to the chakras above after touching the 
 Solar Plexus ? )

4) Veda Vyasa composed MahaBhagavata in 12 Volumes(Thus, using the formula
 of 12 solar months of a year, 12 signs of a Zodiac ?), in which The highest
 deity(Vasu Deva) was shown to be invoked by a ``twelve syllable Mantra''
 (12 again ?). The birth of the Lord takes place in the 10th Volume and his
 death in 1st Volume. Could this be understood as a Zodiacal ritual starting
 with the meridian or the 10th house and covering the first house of the 
 cosmic horoscope as marking death of god-consciousness to give birth to
 man consciousness? In Physical plane also, man is born into earth in the 
 10th month. Could we assume that he is nothing but a dying god-consciousness 
 in the 1st Month ?

Looks like there is lot more that we have to understand from what 
we know (?)

--siva a.k.


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