Dvapara Yuga
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Practices
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Dvapara Yuga or Dwapara Yuga[1](Devanagari: द्वापर युग) is the third out of four yugas, or ages, described in the scriptures of Hinduism. This yuga comes after Treta Yuga and is followed by Kali Yuga. According to the Puranas this yuga ended at the moment when Krishna returned to his eternal abode of Vaikuntha.[2]
There are only two pillars left of religion in the Dvapara Yuga: Kama and Artha. Lord Vishnu assumes the yellow color and the Vedas are categorized into four parts that is Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva. During these times the Brahmins are knowledgeable of two, sometimes three Vedas, but rarely have studied all the four Vedas thoroughly. Accordingly, because of this categorization, different actions and activities come into existence.
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[edit] The roles of the classes
All people in the Dvapara Yuga are zealous, valiant, courageous and competitive by nature and are engaged only in penance and charity. They are kingly and pleasure-seeking. In this era, the divine intellect ceases to exist, and it is therefore seldom that anyone is wholly truthful. As a result of this life of deceit, people are plagued by ailments, diseases and various types of desires. After suffering from these ailments, people realize their misdeeds and perform penance. Some also organize Yagya for material benefits as well as for divinity.
[edit] Brahmana
In this Yuga, the Brahmanas are involved in Yagya, self-study, donation and teaching activities. They attain celestial bliss by engaging in penance, religion, control of senses and restraint.
[edit] Kshatriya
The duties of Kshatriyas are the protection of their subjects. In this era, they are humble and perform their duties by controlling their senses. The Kshatriyas honestly execute all policies of law and order without being angry or cruel. They are devoid of greed and consequently attain bliss.
The king avails the advice of the learned scholars and accordingly maintains law and order in his empire. The king who is addicted to vices will definitely end up defeated. One or two or all from Sāma, Dāna, Danda, Bheda and Upeksha is/are brought into use and help attain the desired. Kings are diligent in maintaining public decorum and order.
A few of the kings, however, surreptitiously plan a conspiracy along with the scholars. Strong people execute work where execution of policies is involved. The king appoints priests, etc. to perform religious activities, economists and ministers to perform monetary activities, impotents to take care of women and cruel men to execute heinous activities.
There are two kshatriya dynasties, namely 'Surya Vansha' and 'Chandra Vansha'.
[edit] Vaishya
Vaishyas are mostly landowners and merchants. The duties of Vaishyas are trade and agriculture. Vaishyas attain higher planes through charity and hospitality.
[edit] Sudra
The duty of Sudras is to perform tasks that demand highly physical work. Although their form of labour is different from the other three castes, the Sudras are not discriminated against. In fact Vidura, the famous Prime Minister of Hastinapura was born in the Sudra community and attained the status of a Brahmin due to his wisdom, righteousness and learning. All other three sections namely Brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaishya protected Sudras and contributed for their safety and happiness. Krishna, eighth Avatar of Vishnu was brought up in a Vaishya family though he was a born Kshatriya.
[edit] Dvapara Yuga in fiction
In Namco's Soul series, Kilik, the wielder of the Kali Yuga staff, also possess the mirror sash by the same name. In the end of the battle against Inferno, he uses the mirror to extinguish the flames. In Soulcalibur II, Soulcalibur III, and Soulcalibur IV he wears a necklace that includes a piece of the Dvapara Yuga used as a pendant for rituals.
[edit] Interpretations of Swami Sri Yukteswar
Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri of Seramphore in his 1894 book The Holy Science recalculated the traditional figures of the Yugas, explaining that from 1699 A.D. the world entered Dwapara Yuga, pointing to the Renaissance, growth of democracies, scientific and industrial revolutions as clear evidence for the change. According to Yukteswar, the miscalculations crept into the Hindu almanacs during the Kali Yuga period, the darkest of the four ages in the yuga (age) cycles. His themes were reiterated in books by Sister Tara Mata, Paramhansa Yogananda and Walter Cruttenden, to growing public interest over the last century.
When Sri Yukteswar wrote in 1894 his claims were not supported by scientific orthodoxy. Only later were his ideas justified by the scientific community. The following is a list of claims made in his book "The Holy Science", which later gained mainstream justification:
1. In 1894 he wrote that matter is really energy. This fact was discovered by scientists only eleven years later, in 1905;
2. There is a distant center for the visible stars. Astronomers of his time believed the universe to be heliocentric; a belief they held until the 1920s;
3. The sun moves in a sweeping arc, with it's present direction being towards the center of the solar system. Yukteswar's contemporaries supposed it to be stationary and at the center of everything. Astronomers have since discovered that it does move in the way which Sri Yukteswar described it;
Swami Kriyananda, known also as J. Donald Walters, is a follower and supporter of Sri Yukteswar's claim that the present age is Dwapara Yuga and not Kali Yuga, as is widely believed in Hindu orthodoxy. He gives five clues as an indication:
1. A revolution toward the use of labor-saving machinery, and toward private enterprise, which replaced a basically agrarian and landholding, or so-called aristocratic, society;
2. The discovery, and the increasingly widespread use, of electricity;
3. The growing use of atomic power;
4. A complete revolution in man's ways of thinking, and a perception of the universe as no longer earth-centered, but far, far vaster than even a single star system, as well as a perception of reality that is, essentially, non-personal.
5. Countless revolutionary discoveries, previously unimaginable, including radio, television, electronics, laser surgery, and other breakthroughs in every field - so many, indeed, that it would be impossible to list them all.
[edit] Notes
The following are notes/references about the term Dwapara Yuga:[1]
- ^ a b There are many various spellings naming the time period, using either letter v/w or dropping the ending "a" (also as "Yug"):
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- Dvapara Yuga, Dvapara yuga, Dvapara-Yuga, Dvapara-yuga
- Dwapara Yuga, Dwapara yuga, Dwapara-Yuga, Dwapara-yuga
- Dvapar Yuga, Dvapar yuga, Dvapar-Yuga, Dvapar-yuga
- Dwapar Yuga, Dwapar yuga, Dwapar-Yuga, Dwapar-yuga
- Dvapar Yug, Dvapar yug, Dvapar-Yug, Dvapar-yug
- Dwapar Yug, Dwapar yug, Dwapar-Yug, Dwapar-yug.
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- ^ Bhāgavata Purāṇa 12.2.29-33
[edit] See also
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