Vedic Time

Chapter 11

Maitreya outlined various measurements of time, from the smallest fraction of a second, up to the duration of one year. When Vidura enquired about durations beyond that, Maitreya continued his description:

• 4 yugas (Satya, Treta, Dvapara, Kali) = 1 Divya-yuga

• 71 Divya-yugas = 1 Manvantara (The Lord appears in each Manvantara, or reign of Manu)

• 14 Manvantaras = 1 Day (or night) of Brahma (Kalpa)

• 100 years (311 trillion human years) of Brahma = 1 Lifetime of Brahma

• 1 Lifetime of Brahma = 1 nimesa (moment, 0.43 seconds) of Maha Vishnu

Lord Krishna and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu only appear once in a day of Brahma – specifically, in the twenty-eighth Divya-yuga of Vaivasvata Manu. Hearing of these mammoth timescales and the rarity of the Lord’s personal appearance helps us to appreciate that although we are tiny living beings in the grand scheme of the cosmos, we are also extremely fortunate.