Sankalpam and its meaning.
1000 such mahayugas comprise a day-time of Brahma also known as a Kalpa.
The kalpa is ruled by 14 manus in succession.
The reigning period of a manu is
Sankalpam and its meaning.
1000 such mahayugas comprise a day-time of Brahma also known as a Kalpa.
The kalpa is ruled by 14 manus in succession.
The reigning period of a manu is one manvantara which is 71.42 mahayugas.
There is an equivalent night-time of 4,320,000,000 years. The day-night of Brahma together constitutes one Brahma day (8.64 billion years). 360 Brahma days constitute a Brahma year while 360 years represent the lifetime of Brahma which is the life of the cosmos. Doing this simple calculation gives the age of the cosmos to be 311 trillion years.
Carl Sagan, the noted scientist says in relation to this, ""The Hindu religion is the only one of the world's great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond, to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang. And there are much longer timescales still."
We are presently in the Sveta-Varaha kalpa in the reigning period of Vaivaswatha - the 7th manu. In this manvantara we are in the 28th mahayuga. As per our Cosmology, Brahma is supposed to have completed 50 Brahma years and is in his51st year. That is why he is called "Parardha-dvaya-jivin"(ie) he lives for two parardhas. A parardha is half.
Two halves make one. He is called so as he has completed one half of his tenure. These terminologies makes better sense in relation to the Sankalpa.
The actual Sankalpa mantra and its meaning runs like this
".... Dviteeya parardhe - in the 2nd half of Brhama's life
Svetavaraha kalpe - in the kalpaof Sveta-Varaha
Vaivaswatha manvantare - in the reigning period of the current manu Vaivaswatha
Ashta Vimsati tamey - in the 28th mahayuga of the current manavantara
Kaliyuge - in this kali yuga
Prathame Padhe - in the first quarter of this yuga
Jamboodveepe - this denotes the place where the ritual is performed. India
was known as Jambudveepa
Bharata Varshe, Bharata Kande -in the land of Bharat
Sakhabde Mero, Dakshine Parsve -to the South of the Meru mountain
Asmin Varthamane Vyavaharike -in the current period now reigning
Prabhavadi Shasti Samvatsaranam Madya - among the cycle of 60 years starting from
.....Nama Samvatsare - the name ofthe year in the 60 year Hindu calendar
.... Ayane - Dakshinayane (Aadito Marghazi) or Uttarayane (Thai to Aani)
.... Ritou - denotes the 6 seasons or Ritus - Vasantha, Greeshma, Varsha, Sharadh, Hemantha
.... Maasey - one of the 12 Tamil months
.... Pakshey - either Shukla Paksham (day after Amavasya till and including Pournami) or
Krishna Paksham(day after Pournami till and including Amavasya)
.... Subha Thithou - one of the 15 days between Pournami and Amavasya
(Prathama, Dvithiya, Trithiya,Chaturthi, Panchami, Shasti, Saptami,
Ashtami, Navami, Dasami,Ekadasi, Dwadashi, Trayodasi, Chaturdasi,
Pournami or Amavasya
.... Vasara Yuktayam - one of the days of the week (Bhanu, Soma, Bhowma, Soumya, Guru,
Brugu and Sthira)
.... Nakshatra Yuktayam - the day's star or Nakshatram.
After saying the above the name of the ritual is said. The Paramacharya says the Sankalpam is
a kind of record of what you performed with finer details going down to the day and location
of the ritual. It seems to me the fore runner for a kind of book keeping or a system of
maintaining minutes of a meeting.
Sankalpam: Detailed explanation
Let us understand the meaning of the phrases that the Sankalpam is comprised of.
To understand the phrases in the Sankalpam we need to understand the concept of the
Cosmic Cycle and Cosmic time calculations
Time, as per Hindu practices, has evolved and revolves around the life cycle of Brahma, the Creator. This is known as the Hindu Cosmic cycle. Cosmic cycles are infinitely recurring periods of the universe, comprising its creation, preservation and dissolution.
We start by using a calendar year as t