And now we are living in the dark times of the Kali Yuga, when goodness and virtue has all but disappeared from the world. But when did the Kali Yuga begin? And when does it end? In spite of the elaborate theological framework which describes the characteristics of this age, the start and end dates of the Kali Yuga remain shrouded in mystery. The popularly accepted date for the beginning of the Kali Yuga is 3102 BC, thirty-five years after the conclusion of the great battle of the Mahabharata. This is remarkably close to the proposed beginning of the current “Great Cycle” of the Mayan Long Count Calendar in 3114 BC. It is of interest to note that in both of these cases the beginning dates of the respective cycles were calculated retrospectively. The Mayans had recomputed their ancient calendars sometime between 400 BC to 50 CE, at the ceremonial center of Izapa in Mexico, and fixed the starting date of the current Great Cycle of their Long Count Calendar. And in India, sometime around 500 CE, a major review of the Indian calendric systems had taken place. It was during this time that the renowned astronomer Aryabhatta had identified the beginning date of the Kali Yuga as 3102 BC. Why was it suddenly necessary for two ancient civilizations to re-calculate dates that should have been an integral part of their calendric systems? How did such important time-markers slip out of their collective memory?
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Recent updates:
December 17th, 2015‘Metaphysics of War’ by Julius Evola added to Virtual Library
May 1st, 2014Gyula Tóth Video Lecture: “The Trap of False History 10 Years On” (with English subtitles) added
November 7th, 2013‘The end of the Kali Yuga in 2025: Unraveling the mysteries of the Yuga Cycle’ by Bibhu Dev Misra added
October 23rd, 2011The following titles added to Virtual Library:
By Julius Evola
‘The Yoga of Power’, ‘Introduction to Magic’ (with the UR Group), ‘The Hermetic Tradition’, ‘Ride the Tiger’, ‘Meditation on the Peaks’;
by Martin Lings
Collected Poems, ‘What Is Sufism?’
If large numbers of people believe in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech even if the law forbids it. But if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them.
- George Orwell
From the archives
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Traditional Metaphysics
Metaphysics and the Perennial Philosophy
This is a transcript from a lecture given by Martin Lings at the Temenos Academy. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll just begin my talk by mentioning – and this refers to the talk is actually called: Metaphysics and the Perennial Philosophy, metaphysics coming first, that is, but that’s not an important detail, but it explains why I begin by mentioning – that René Guénon only once – as far as I know – entered into the academic world, which he did by [...]
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Traditional Metaphysics
The Force of Visualization
It is by now well known in most spiritual circles that the quest for the Holy Grail, which Percival undertook in the powerful Grail epic, is not an outer journey but a metaphor for an inner journey; a path to self-realization. The claim, however, that the vessel(s) used in hermetism corresponds to earth, the human body and therefore the symbol of the actual Grail and the stone – Lapidem – being what often is referred to as ‘the spiritual heart’ [...]
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Sacred Art
The Relations Between Religion and Art
This article was written by Arthur Osborne and is taken from the January 1964 edition of the journal ‘Mountain Path’ available at www.ramana-maharshi.org Despite the secular spirit which swept over Europe at the Renaissance and has spread to the rest of the world in the present century, it would still be true to say that […]
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Basic Concepts
Basic Ascesis and Purification
How can a person find the path to and begin their spiritual journey in this day and age of degeneration, corruption, spiritual darkness and universal lie? The problem of where to begin is the most common problem for almost all people today and is the first excuse not to do what needs to be done. This is true of the most mundane and simple tasks of everyday life as well as the most profound and sublime metaphysical tasks. How many [...]
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Traditional Metaphysics
War Protocols
This article is used by kind permission from the author Karlo Z.Valois. Perhaps the most recent texts outlining the kind of war protocol we are now addressing is Budo Shoshinsu, a collection of the most authentic moral teachings of the Japanese knights, written in the 16th Century for young samurais to teach them the foundations of bushido, “the spiritual path of the warrior”. The teachings concern the appropriate perception of death (as an opportunity for transcendence, which is apparent in everyday behavior, [...]
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Metahistory
South American Natives Speak Ancient European Language? Part 2
The following article was translated from the source by Kartavirya. All footnotes are mine apart from where indicated. Continuation of the summary of the research of Juan Moricz1 The first news On September 12th 1965, the biggest newspaper in Ecuador, the Quito daily “El Comercio”, published on its front page an extraordinary report about the […]
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