In the Cosmology of the Sananthana Dharma , there is a series of endless worlds passing as cycles within cycles .
The Universal Spirit Brahman encompasses all matter and energy . The entire universe and its matter is created out of only one quarter of Brahman .
Brahman also referred to as Narayana causes the appearance of a secondary creator - Brahma ..
One day of Brahma is 4320 million earth years , and is called a Kalpa . One night is of equal length .
His divine year consists of 360 such days and nights , and his life time is 100 divine years , or 311,040,000 million years . At the end of this period the universe dissolves into non manifestation until aeons later another secondary creator appears by the will of Narayana ..and the cycle begins all over again .
Each Kalpa is divided into 14 secondary cycles called Manvantaras ,with vast intrevals between the cycles .Each secondary cycle is headed by an advanced soul called a Manu . At present we are in the seventh Manvantara whose Manu is called Vaivasvata . Each Manvantara comprises 71 aeons called Mahayugas , each further divided into 4 Yugas or ages called Satya , Treta , Dwapara and Kali , consisting of 4800 3600 2400 and 1200 years of the gods ( each god year is 360 human years ). The ages are also referred to by metals gold , silver , copper and iron respectively .
The Satya age is of pure virtue , the Treta has only three qurters virtue in it , the Dwapara has only half virtue in it and the Kali age has only a quarter virtue .
We are presently in the Kali age which began with the Mahabharata war in 3102 BC .
These endless cycles are symbolised by a wheel whose axis is Brahman , and the cycles governed by Dharma .
