more end timey stuff

The creation and destruction of humanity is cyclic for Hindus, beginning in an age of perfection known as the Krita yuga and digressing through the Kali yuga, also referred to as the age of darkness, during which the apocalyptic figure Kalki will emerge to destroy the wicked and save the righteous in order to restore the world to a state of complete virtue. Following one thousand such cycles from Krita yuga to Kali yuga, the earth itself is destroyed and began anew. Hindus today believe that the world is currently in the Kali yuga and will be coming to an end shortly. Aside from the authoritative religious aspect of this notion, folk religious beliefs exist as well pertaining to such issues as when Kalki will arrive and who he will be.

The four yugas; Krita, Treta, Dwapara (Dvapara), and Kali, are an essential aspect of Hindu existence as they represent the cycle of degeneration and regeneration of humanity from an age of perfect harmony and absolute virtue, to an age of impiety and virtually no virtue. Prior to further examination of the cycle of humanity, it is important to understand that one year to humans is one day to the gods, 360 human years is one year to the gods. The length of time that each age lasts diminishes from one to the next. The Krita yuga lasts 1,728,000 human years (4,800 god years), the Treta yuga lasts 1,296,000 human years (3,600 god years), the Dwapara yuga lasts 864,000 human years (2,400 god years), and finally, the Kali yuga lasts 432,000 years (1,800 god years). As the ages progress, the condition of humanity digresses. The Krita yuga marks the beginning of the cycle. During this age, every aspect of life is good; people live according to the Hindu faith and are satisfied, vigorous, and prosperous. The next step in the cycle is the Treta yuga, a period during which man becomes increasingly argumentative and develop hidden agendas. Following the Treta yuga is the Dwapara yuga when negative human characteristics such as lying, arguing and addiction increase. The fourth and final age is the Kali yuga. During this age, also called the age of darkness or the Iron Age, only one quarter of the original virtue remains and humanity as a whole is depraved. The Kali yuga is associated with the apocalypse as it is the age when evil overwhelms piety. The apocalypse is needed to purge the earth of malevolence and allow for a new beginning (Bassuk 16-17), (Embree 220-221), (Flood 112), (Hopkins 101), (Parrinder 22).

The Kali yuga is the final of the four ages and morally speaking, the furthest degenerated. As so concisely put into words by Daniel E. Bassuk:
Man and society reach an extreme point of disintegration. The majority of
people are wicked, quarrelsome, and beggar-like. They value what is
degraded, eat voraciously and indiscriminately, and live in cities filled with thieves.
They are oppressed by their rulers and by the ravages of famine and war. Their
miseries can only end with the coming of a final saviour and Avatar (Bassuk 17).

Essentially, religion is ignored and virtue is non-existent. The steady decline in virtue reaches its ultimate low in the Kali yuga, a process that takes well over 4 million human years. Nonetheless, a majority of Hindus believe that this is the age in which humanity is currently living. A comparison between the projected characteristic imagery of the Kali yuga and the present disposition of the world suggests, in the least, that humanity is heading in that direction, if not already there. However, as is common to apocalyptic belief, specific information is not available. The Kali yuga lasts 432,000 human years, this is a well documented fact, nevertheless, when it began is not that well known. Therefore, a great deal of uncertainty is generated regarding the determination of when the Kali yuga will end in apocalypse. Much importance lies in the signs and although the factor of when is unknown, what will happen when the apocalypse arrives is well known. Definitively speaking, humanity will continually digress during the Kali yuga eventually reaching a point of absolute evil, at which time the majority of humanity will be destroyed to allow for a righteous regeneration (Bassuk 17, 43), (Embree 221-222), (Flood 112), (Hopkins 101), (Parrinder 182) .

The apocalypse will commence when humanity has become so deteriorated that nearly every human being is overwhelmed by evil. Some of the more extreme signs of this time include a human life span of only 20-30 years due to the pursuit of evil aspirations, 8 to 10 year old girls becoming pregnant with 12 to 16 year old fathers, and just overall moral dilapidation as previously discussed. When this time arrives, the tenth Avatar of Vishnu, Kalki, will be born to obliterate all sinners and grant salvation to those few who have maintained virtue. Kalki will be born into the Vishnuyashas, a Brahmin family in the village of Shambala. Kalki is Vishnu incarnate, or an avatar of Vishnu. In essence, Kalki is the militant Vishnu who must come in order to destroy evil and restore harmony. He will be revealed to humanity upon a white horse wielding a flaming sword. He will sweep through humanity, weeding out the sinners and preserving the righteous. This process, which will take three nights, an achievement made possible by Kalki’s ability to destroy millions of evil people at once, marks the end of the Kali yuga. Immediately following Kalki’s victory over iniquity, the Krita yuga begins. The few people that were spared rapidly repopulate the earth and an extended period of completely renewed virtue ensues. The process of degeneration begins again until it reaches the point of absolute corruption when Vishnu will once again return as Kalki and restore faith (Bassuk 43, 44, 102), (Embree 223), (Flood 116-117), (Parrinder 26,111, 123, 222).

A second apocalypse also exists coherent with Hindu eschatology, and although occurring much less frequently than the apocalypse previously mentioned, it deserves recognition. The entire cycle from the Krita yuga to the Kali yuga is known as a Mahayuga or Manvatara. One thousand such Mahayugas compose a Kalpa. At the end of a Kalpa, the entire world is destroyed and a new one is created. Considering that one Mahayuga requires 4,320,000 human years to reach completion, to reach the end of 1000 Mahayugas would take 4,320,000,000 human years, at which time the following apocalypse would occur. Subsequent to the Kali yuga of the last Mahayuga, the earth itself is destroyed. It begins to rain for six days straight, until the entire earth is submerged. Following the flood, a series of twelve suns rise into the sky and dry up all the water. Afterward, fire carried by the wind encompasses the earth. And once again, there is rain and a great flood. Atop these waters floats Brahma, the creation god, where he sleeps upon a lotus flower. All of the energy contained in the world is absorbed into Brahma while he rests, until it is time for the new creation. This apocalypse and re-creation occurs once every 4,320,000,000 human years, as compared to the apocalypse brought by Kalki, which occurs at the end of every Kali yuga, or every 4,320,000 human years (Bassuk 16-17, 19), (Flood 113), (Hopkins 101).

A simple search on the web indicates that there is a folk religious following pertaining to the coming of the tenth avatar of Vishnu, Kalki. There are many interpreters of the Hindu religious texts, who in combination with an interpretation of society insist that humanity has entered the Kali yuga. Even more impressive is that some claim to know at which point during the 432,000-year span of the Kali yuga we are in and therefore when to expect the coming of Kalki. Upholding a certain amount of skepticism when viewing these web pages is utterly necessary due to the fact that anyone with a mind and access to a computer can be a publisher. However, also of utmost importance is recognizing this folk aspect where individual believers can express their own interpretations of prophecy including warning signs and preparation. The up to date interpretations applied to the guidelines of traditional religious texts keeps the apocalyptic vision alive.

Hindu eschatology is based on the concept of four cyclic ages known as yugas, progressing from the Krita yuga through the Kali yuga. As the ages progress, the state of humanity digresses from a state of perfection and ultimate truth, to an age of darkness and absolute evil. When humanity has become so engulfed in iniquity at the end of the Kali yuga, Vishnu incarnates himself as Kalki, the apocalyptic figure whose goal is to destroy all humans that have devoted themselves to sin and save those that have remained righteous for the purpose of repopulation. Furthermore, once every 4,320,000,000 years, or, one thousand cycles from the Krita yuga to the Kali yuga, the earth itself is destroyed by fire and flood and then recreated by Brahma. The prophecy as it exists in the religious texts is brought into the present with the advent of the internet through which individuals can publish their own interpretations of the apocalypse. This folk religious characteristic is vital to the complete concept of the apocalypse.