Brahma's Day Out...

Asya SrI-bhagavata:mahA purushasya vishNor AgjnayA pravartamAnasya aadhya brahmaNa: dviteeya-parArdhE SrI-SvEtha-varAha-kalpE, vaivasvatha-manvantarE, kaliyugE, prathamE pAdE, Jamboo dveepE, BhArata varshE, Bharata: khaNDE, SakAbde:,merO: dakshiNE pArSvE asmin vartamAnE vyAvahArikE,
PrabhavAdi shashTi samvatsarANAm madhyE Sarvadhaari Naama samvathsare
Dakshinaayane greeshma rithou kataka Maase Sukhla Pakshe Pournamaasyaam subha thithou sthira vaasara SravaNa Nakshathra...

This should not be alien to many people for it is the initial sankalpam which precedes all the religious events and ceremonies. All rituals, performed by a Hindu, auspicious as well as inauspicious, must have the following as an introduction:

•Identification of the exact moment of the ritual by acknowledging the position of the planets
•Identification of the object of the ritual. i.e.,what worship he is about to perform.

How does one determine the exact moment of the ritual? The exact moment is determined with respect to the beginning of Brahma's life. Some arithmetic before this is put forth to further analysis:

1 Human Year = 1 Day for the Devas. This is referred to as a divine day.
1 divine month consists of 30 divine days and One Divine year consists of 12 divine months. The lifespan of the Devas is 100 divine years which is equal to 100 * 12 * 30 * 365 = 1,314,000 Human days or 36,000 human years.
The Vishnu purana defines the above in a different perspective with its own jargon:
1 Ayanam refers to 6 human months. Hence 2 Ayanams form a human year which is in turn equal to one divine day. The concept of 'Yugam' is introduced here. There are four Yugams. Each yugam is equal to some number of divine years. There are four yugams:
a. Krita Yugam
b. Treta Yugam
c. Dwapara Yugam
d. Kali Yugam

Kali Yugam spans for a period of 1,200 divine years which is referred to as 1 charanam which is equal to 1,200 * 360 = 432,000 Human Years.
Dwapara Yugam, Treta Yugam and Krita Yugam each span 2, 3 and 4 charanams respectively. Hence the total of all the yugams leads to 1,200 + 2,400 + 3,600 + 4,800 = 12,000 divine years. This is referred to as One Mahayugam. Hence One Mahayugam is equal to 12,000 * 360 = 4,320,000 Human Years ( 4.32 Million Human Years).
Now 1000 such Mahayugams form one Kalpam = 4.32 Billion Human Years. This forms 1 day in Brahma's life (Day here refers to day alone, not the night portion of a day). 1 Kalpa is also equal to 1000 Chatur Yugams. Since a day is composed of day and night, one day in brahma's life is equal to 2 Kalpams = 2000 Chatur Yugams = 2000 Mahayugams = 8.64 Billion Human Years. ( ain't he bored?? ).
Now the life span of brahma is said to be 100 brahma years = 311040 Billion Human Years.

Now a manvantharam is defined as 71 Mahayugams. Each manvantharam is ruled by a Manu and is followed by a Sandhi Kalam which spans 4 charanams. Hence 1000 Mahayugams is the occurence of 14 such manvantharam and sandhi kalams. So this is how the exact moment is determined with respect to all the jargons used above.

Referring to the portion that is in bold in the sankalpam given above:
Dvitheeya Parardhe : 'Parardhe' refers to half the life span of brahma. Hence we are currently in the second half of the current brahma's life.

Svethavaraha Kalpe : The current Kalpa or Brahma's day is referred to as Svetha Varaha Kalpam.

Vaivasvatha Manvanthare: Within the Svetha Varaha Kalpam, we are in the seventh manvantharam. Six have elapsed already...

To be continued.....