Breaking from the long duration of a
Yuga Cycle, new theories have emerged regarding the length, number, and order of the
yugas.
Sri Yukteswar Giri Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri (1855–1936) proposed a
Yuga Cycle of 24,000 years in the introduction of his book
The Holy Science (1894). He claimed the understanding that
Kali Yuga lasts for 432,000 years was a mistake, which he traced back to
Raja Parikshit, just after the descending
Dvapara Yuga ended ( 3101BCE) and all the wise men of his court retired to the Himalaya Mountains. With no one left to correctly calculate the ages,
Kali Yuga never officially started. After 499CE, in ascending
Dvapara Yuga, when the intellect of men began to develop, but not fully, they noticed mistakes and attempted to correct them by converting what they thought to be divine years to human years (1:360 ratio). Yukteswar's
yuga lengths for
Satya,
Treta,
Dvapara, and
Kali are respectively 4,800, 3,600, 2,400, and 1,200 "human" years (12,000 years total). He accepted the four
yugas and their 4:3:2:1 length and
dharma proportions, but his
Yuga Cycle contained eight
yugas, the original descending set of the four
yugas followed by an ascending (reversed) set, where he called each set a "
Daiva Yuga" or "Electric Couple". His
Yuga Cycle lasts for 24,000 years, which he believed equals one
precession of the equinoxes (traditionally 25,920 years; 1,920 years difference). He states that the world entered the
Pisces-Virgo Age in 499CE ("cycle bottom"), and that the current age of ascending
Dvapara Yuga started in 1699CE around the time of scientific discoveries and advancements such as electricity. He explained that in a 24,000-year
Yuga Cycle, the Sun completes one orbit around some
dual star, becoming nearer and farther to a
galactic center, which the pair orbit in a longer period. He called this galactic center
Vishnunabhi (
Vishnu's Navel), where
Brahma regulates
dharma or, as Yukteswar defined it, mental virtue.
Dharma is lowest when farthest from Brahma at the descending-ascending intersection ("cycle-bottom"), where the opposite occurs at the "cycle-top" when nearest. At ''dharma's'' lowest (499CE), human intellect cannot comprehend anything beyond the
gross material world.
Joscelyn Godwin states that Yukteswar believed the traditional chronology of the
yugas wrong and rigged for political reasons, but that Yukteswar may have had political reasons of his own, evident in a police report printed in
Atlantis and the Cycles of Time, which links Yukteswar to a secret anti-colonial movement called
Yugantar, meaning "new age" or "transition of an epoch". Godwin claims the
Jain time cycle and the
European myth of progress influenced Yukteswar, whose theory only recently became prominent outside India. Humanity in an upward cycle is contrary to traditional ideas. Godwin points out many philosophies and religions that started during a time when "man could not see beyond the gross material world" (701BCE1699CE). Only
materialists and
atheists would welcome the post-1700 age as an improvement.
John Major Jenkins, who adjusted ascending
Kali Yuga from 499CE to 2012 in his version, criticizes Yukteswar as wanting the "cycle-bottom" to correspond to his education, beliefs, and historical understanding. Technology has thrust us deeper into material dependency and spiritual darkness.
René Guénon René Guénon (1886–1951) proposed a
Yuga Cycle of 64,800 years in his 1931 French article, which was later translated in the book
Traditional Forms & Cosmic Cycles (2001). Guénon accepted the doctrine of the four
yugas, the 4:3:2:1
yuga length proportions, and
Kali Yuga as the present age. He couldn't accept the extremely large lengths and felt they were encoded with additional zeros to mislead those who might use it to predict the future. He reduced a
Yuga Cycle from 4,320,000 to 4,320 years (1,728 + 1,296 + 864 + 432), but he felt this was too short for humanity's history. In looking for a multiplier, he worked backwards from the
precession of the equinoxes (traditionally 25,920 years; 360 72-year degrees). Using 25,920 and 72, he calculated the sub-multiplier to be 4,320 years (72 × 60 = 4,320; 4,320 × 6 = 25,920). In noticing the "
great year" of the Persians (~12,000) and Greeks (~13,000) as almost half the precession, he concluded a "great year" must be 12,960 years (4,320 × 3). In trying to find the whole number of "great years" in a
manvantara or reign of
Vaivasvata Manu, he found the reign of
Xisuthros of the
Chaldeans to be set to 64,800 years (12,960 × 5), someone he thought to be the same Manu. Guénon felt 64,800 years was a more plausible length that may line up with humanity's history. He calculated a 64,800
manvantara divided into a 4,320 "encoded"
Yuga Cycle gave a multiplier of 15 (5 "great years"). Using 15 as the multiplier, he "decoded" a 5-"great year"
Yuga Cycle as having the following
yuga lengths:
Alain Daniélou Alain Daniélou (1907–1994) proposed a
Yuga Cycle of 60,487 years in his book
While the Gods Play: Shaiva Oracles and Predictions on the Cycles of History and the Destiny of Mankind (1985). Daniélou and
René Guénon had some correspondence where they both couldn't accept the extremely large lengths found in the
Puranas. Daniélou mostly cited
Linga Purana and his calculations are based on a 4,320,000-year
Yuga Cycle containing (his calculation of 1000 ÷ 14) 71.42
manvantaras, each containing 4
yugas [4:3:2:1 proportions]. He pegged 3102BCE as the start of
Kali Yuga and placed it after the dawn (
yuga-sandhya). He claimed his dates are accurate to within 50 years, and that the
Yuga Cycle started with a
great flood and appearance of
Cro-Magnon man, and will end with a catastrophe wiping out mankind.
Joscelyn Godwin found that Daniélou's misunderstanding rests solely on a bad translation of
Linga Purana 1.4.7. == Hindu astronomy ==