Perception of Time, according to Hindu Mythology

Hindu Mythology is very old and full of exciting literature, stories & tales. These are found in the ancient Vedas, Epics & Puranas. In this article, I am going to throw some light on how these ancient texts view time & creation of our world.

Hinduism believes, there is not one universe instead, there are infinite universes that are constantly being created and destroyed. ( Yes, the concept of the multiverse ). We live in a universe, which is a part of the multiverse. Our universe will be destroyed one day, but the multiverse will live on.

Multiverse is a hypothetical collection of potentially diverse observable universes, each of which would comprise everything that is experimentally accessible by a connected community of observers.

In Hindu Mythology, it is mentioned Lord Vishnu is the personification of the multiverse. The universe was created through the actions of Lord Vishnu, when he was sleeping and let a lotus bloom from his navel. The lotus stem represents the creation of the universe, Lord Brahma is at the center of the Lotus and represents the creator.

According to Hindu Mythology, Lord Brahma is the Creator of the Universe, Lord Vishnu is the maintainer & Lord Shiva is the Destroyer. The time duration of the creation of a new universe and the end of the other is one breath of Lord Vishnu. When he exhales, thousands of new universes come into being and a new Lord Brahma is born. When he inhales, all the universes get sucked up along with Brahma. Lord Brahma creates everything in the new universe.

Well, the creation of the universe is not what I am conveying through this article. I want to throw light on the perception of time in Hinduism. Ancient people managed to do so vast calculations, which got me into writing this article. The concept of time Dilation & multiverse is constantly used in Hinduism, which is very cool. Just be with me for some more moments.

Time dilation is the slowing of time as perceived by one observer compared with another, depending on their relative motion or positions in a gravitational field.

According to Hinduism, in our Universe, there are in total 4 Yugas namely Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga & Kali Yuga ( We are in this Yuga ). The duration of these Yugas is in the ratio 4:3:2:1.

Kali Yuga is said to have 4,32,000 years, Dvapara yuga to have 8,64,000 years, Treta Yuga to have 12,96,000 years & Satya yuga to have 17,28,000 years. These yugas are collectively called Maha Yuga. So, A Maha Yuga lasts for 4.32 Million Human Years.

71 Maha Yuga is called a Manvantara ( 71*4.32 Million = 306.72 Million ). According to ancient texts, all life forms will be destroyed in 1 Manvantara i.e. after 306.72 Million years of evolution.

14 Manvantara is called as 1 Kalpa ~ 1000 Maha Yugas.
1 Kalpa is believed to be 1 Day of Lord Brahma & 1 Kalpa for 1 Night of Lord Brahma. So, the 24 hours of Lord Brahma is equivalent to 2 Kalpas.

1 Kalpa = 4.32 billion years
1 Brahma day = 2 Kalpa
1 Brahma Month = 60 Kalpa ( 2 * 30 )
1 Brahma year = 12 Brahma Months
Life Span of Brahma = 100 Brahma years = 311.04 trillion years

So, the Life of the universe is equal to the life span of Lord Brahma i.e. 311.04 trillion years.

100 Brahma years = 1 exhalation of Lord Vishnu
100 Brahma Years = 1 inhalation of Lord Vishnu

These units of time are unbelievably huge for normal humans to perceive. Yet, the ancient texts have it. People were able to think the universe is very vast and needed very huge units of time.

The fact that 1 exhalation of Lord Vishnu is 100 years for Lord Brahma and that 100 years is not the same for us, gives us a hint of time dilation in space. This is so exciting to even think of. Ancient people were able to perceive the notion of time Dilation. The relative nature of time is used so often as if it were not mere speculation.

One day for Lord Brahma is not the same as us. One day for Lord Vishnu is not the same for Lord Brahma and for us. This shows the relative nature of time & slowing down of time when we travel from Lord Vishnu’s universe to Lord Brahma’s Universe and then to our Universe.

The concept of multiverse and time dilation seems not so new and recent after all. For me, being an Astronomy enthusiast, these units of time, the Yuga Cycle & the time dilation concept to exist for so long in the Hindu Ancient texts surprise me.

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