Originally posted by sonship
[b] This material world is suppose to be a frustrating world of suffering and struggle, so that we may ultimately begin to explore the spirituality of our being and raise our consciousness to Krsna Consciousness and return back home to Godhead.
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Why do you think it be ...[text shortened]... hard time ascertaining from many philosophies WHY the world you describe became as it is.[/b]
In Christianity they teach that this world is the first material world that God created so he could put his NEW creation (man) in it.
That is not true....................
Material man is repeating his earthly experiences over and over and over again and he is not a NEW creation........but instead a NEW INCARNATION every-time he takes another birth in this world.
He must take birth again, and incarnate back to this world if he has not developed true love for God.
No one can return to the spiritual world, without first becoming pure and surrendered to the Lord in friendship and love.
Therefore..............man will always fall, but he will ultimately rise up and return back to Godhead.(its guaranteed)
This earth is probably the (trillionth x a billionth earth) that has been created, so that the living entities that have rebelled against God can come here and try to Lord it over the material nature, with their minute independence and without God.
In order for the living entities to enjoy this world, they have been given amazing temporary material bodies constructed of earth, water,air,fire etc and with the 5 senses and with the false ego and mind and intelligence they all think that they are completely independent, and that there is no God.
Below is some information of how the cosmos is existing by way of cycles.
Because everything is ultimately eternal.............there must be cycles of creation and destruction, and we are all in the KALI YUGA at this moment in time, and this Kali Yuga is the last cycle which means we are are in the most degraded cycle of all cycles.
Sonship................Here is some info of the cycles of our cosmos.
-Maha Yugas
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The smallest cycle is called a Maha Yuga. A Maha Yuga is 4,320,000 human years. Each maha yuga is subdivided into the following four ages, whose lengths follow a ratio of 4:3:2:1:
Satya Yuga (also called Krita Yuga)
This first age is 1,728,000 human years. Also known as the Golden Age or age of Truth. The qualities of this age are: virtue reigns supreme; human stature is 21 cubits; lifespan is a lakh of years, and death occurs only when willed.
Treta Yuga
This second age is 1,296,000 human years. Also known as the Silver Age. The qualities of this age are: the climate is three quarters virtue and one quarter sin; human stature is 14 cubits; lifespan is 10,000 years.
Dvapara Yuga
This third age is 864,000 human years. Also known as the Bronze Age. The qualities of this age are: the climate is one half virtue and one half sin; lifespan is 1,000 years.
Kali Yuga
The fourth and last age is 432,000 human years. Also known as the Iron Age. This is the age in which we are presently living. The qualities of this age are: the climate is one quarter virtue and three quarters sin; human stature is 3.5 cubits; lifespan is 100 or 120 years.
Toward the end of a Kali Yuga, various calamities cause a good deal of destruction. Baba Hari Dass states that creation disappears at the end of a Maha Yuga and remains in seed form inside Brahma.
Brahma Days (Kalpas)
A kalpa is a single daytime period in the life of Brahma, the creator god. Two kalpas are a day and a night of Brahma.
Each kalpa is composed of 1,000 maha yugas. A kalpa is thus equal to 4.32 billion human years.
At the end of Brahma's daytime period, the Three Worlds (Bhuloka, Bhuvarloka, Swarloka) and the seven underworlds (of the nagas) are temporarily dissolved (pralaya); that is, the same folks can be reincarnated when the next day of Brahma begins.
The Vishnu Purana states that at the end of the daytime period of Brahma, a dreadful drought occurs that lasts 100 years, and all the waters are dried up. The sun changes into seven suns, and the three worlds (Bhurloka or Earth, Bhuvarloka or the lowest heaven, and Svarloka or the next higher heaven) and the underworlds are burned bare of life. The inhabitants of Bhuvarloka and Svarkloka flee to the next higher heaven, Maharloka, to escape the heat; and then to the next higher heaven, Janaloka.
Then mighty clouds form and the three worlds are completely flooded with water. The lord Vishnu reposes on the waters in meditative rest for another whole kalpa (4.32 billion years) before renewing the creation.
The destruction that takes place at the end of a daytime of Brahma is referred to as naimittika, which is incidental or occasional. The characteristic of this destruction is that the three worlds continue to exist but are made uninhabitable. The souls of individuals also continue to exist to be reincarnated in the next daytime of Brahma.
Brahma Years
A year of Brahma is composed of 360 day/night cycles of Brahma, or 720 kalpas, or 8.64 billion human years.
Brahma Life
The lifespan of Brahma is 100 Brahma years, or 72,000 kalpas, or 311.04 trillion human years.
At the end of the life of Brahma, all worlds are completely dissolved (mahapralaya).
Manvantaras
Another cycle that overlaps the others is that of manvantaras. Each kalpa is reigned over by a succession of 14 Manus, and the reign of each Manu is called a manvantara. A single manvantara is approximately 71 maha yugas.
Coomaraswamy states: "Each Manvantara is followed by a Deluge, which destroys the existings continents and swallows up all living beings, except the few who are preserved for the repeopling of the earth."
Our Position in History
We are located in the fifty-first Brahma year of the life of our Brahma.
Within that Brahma year, we are in the first Brahma day, called the Varaha kalpa.
Within that Brahma day, we are in the seventh manvantara, and in the 28th maha yuga of that manvantara. This would place us at about the 454th maha yuga of the 1,000 maha yugas that comprise this day of Brahma.
Within this maha yuga, we are in Kali Yuga. The 5100th year of Kali Yuga will correspond to the year 2,000 A.D. That means that we are fairly early in Kali Yuga and this age will continue more than 426,000 more years.