Yugas

In order to better cope with the pressures and stresses of the current day, modern psychology is anxiously seeking to find new therapies to address the increasing disorders within the human psyche. In the process new fields of research, such as humanistic and transpersonal psychology, curiously appear to borrow more and more from the wisdom of the ages. This volume, containing eighteen articles by noteworthy expositors of the perennial philosophy such as Huston Smith, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Frithjof Schuon, presents the spiritual psychology of the wisdom traditions as a much-needed antidote to the current impasse in modern psychology.

Some Endorsements for Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy:

“[Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy] is more than an anthology. It is a wisely crafted collection of classic and contemporary scholarship noting that what many are seeking is what has always been, a perennial philosophy, that remains foundational. As one of the authors, Tage Lindbom, properly notes, ‘Secularization is a fish in troubled waters.’ This book claims the waters and is essential reading for all those who may have forgotten or are simply ignorant of the rich foundation provided by the perennial philosophy.”
—Ralph W. Hood, Professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, past president of the Psychology of Religion division of the American Psychological Association, co-founder of The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion and co-author of The Psychology of Religion

“A necessary and bracing critique of the assumptions and limitations of contemporary Western psychology, this generous volume is also a passionate call and learned guide towards a truer perspective that embraces man's spiritual nature.”
—Gabor Maté, M.D., and author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

“Knowing the nature of the mind is perhaps the most difficult undertaking, especially in today’s world. To comprehend the nature of mind one needs to turn to the domain of religion and spirituality. Yet the truth of the mind and its complexity cannot explicitly be defined in words. Inner or transcendent wisdom sees the mind’s own nature without the duality of the seer. Suchness (tathatā) of mind is only experiential and not expressible. The words used to describe thought are themselves a product of thought, which is conditioned and limited. Thus, differences and contradictions are unavoidable. Therefore, a comparative study of different viewpoints and commentaries is immensely important to awaken the inner intelligence to see the mind as it is. Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy: Studies in Comparative Religion edited by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos is an outstanding effort in this direction.”
—Samdhong Rinpoche, former Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa) of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, author of Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World: Tibetan Buddhism and Today’s World

“The rise of psychology has impacted the study and practice of spirituality, the experiences and attitudes relevant to ultimate human values that transcend ordinary behavior. Each chapter of this remarkable book demonstrates this interaction in a unique and provocative way. But rather than using psychology to reduce and ‘psychologize’ spiritual topics, its authors demonstrate how directives from the spiritual traditions can enhance and even illuminate the enduring importance of psychology in the 21st century.”
—Stanley Krippner, Saybrook University, co-author of Spiritual Dimensions of Healing

“The work at hand is a thinking and debating man’s delight. If you have any interest at all in attempting to include an educated and enlightened view of man’s higher functions in your purview of the world, you will learn from and enjoy this collection of essays. If you already have some knowledge in this area, brace yourself: you may see some of your favorites sharply criticized. A thought-provoking work.”
—Bruce W. Scotton, University of California, San Francisco, co-editor of Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology

“This book, superbly edited by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos, is a masterful critique of the field of psychology and its loss of the sacred ground in which it once was rooted. It offers depth psychologists an opportunity to contemplate timeless truths echoed through the centuries by perennial philosophers who have always claimed psyche is subordinate to Spirit. Although ignored in depth psychology’s early years due to prejudice and lack of understanding, this is a message today’s psychotherapists must take seriously. Human beings need a deeper and wider transpersonal vision of who and what we are, which the saints and sages of the world’s spiritual traditions have always pointed to. In psychotherapy with a therapist committed to such a vision, patients penetrate into their unconscious depths and not infrequently awaken to the Ground of all Being. Their suffering itself occurred because they had turned away from Spirit. Above all, this volume passionately calls upon depth psychology to remember its origin in the perennial wisdom at the core of the great religions. There is something of a polemic in these pages. It deserves to be considered by depth psychologists of all persuasions.”
—Bryan Wittine, Transpersonal psychologist and Jungian psychoanalyst

“This anthology from Samuel Bendeck Sotillos is a must reference for anyone who is interested in psychology and its relationship to spirituality, and in developing an inclusive dialogue between disciplines that favor an integral outlook on the person and his or her potential. Selections in this anthology will inspire us to reexamine the metaphysical underpinnings of psychology, and remind us how important it is to rise above science’s attempt to reduce the human being to an epistemic object.”
—Sangeetha Menon, National Institute of Advanced Studies (Bangalore, India), Board Member of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), author of The Beyond Experience: Consciousness in Bhagavad Gita

“This anthology has some of the most discerning essays and reviews on spirituality and psychology, which provide much-needed care and caution to all those engaged in bringing them together or who wish to do so in future. Therefore, it is a must-read for all those who teach, research, consult, or study in such frontier areas as transpersonal psychology, states of consciousness, mind-body relation, holistic health, Indian psychology, and so on. It will be an invaluable textbook for courses in these and other related areas. I congratulate the editor of the book.”
—Kiran Kumar K. Salagame, University of Mysore (India), Board Member of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), author of The Psychology of Meditation: A Contextual Approach

“One of the finest collections of essays on the Perennial Philosophy—a must-read for all psychologists who are engaged with spirituality and transpersonal psychology. The essays which critique modern psychology (including transpersonal psychology, and the framework of Carl Jung), in the light of the Perennial Philosophy are a revelation and make compelling reading. The book serves as a corrective to the excesses of modern psychology, and to this end Sotillos has done a commendable job. I for one will include the book in some of the graduate courses that I teach.”
—Suneet Varma, University of Delhi, co-editor of Foundations of Indian Psychology

“To its credit modern science by-and-large is becoming more cognizant of the essential connection between spirituality and psychological health and well-being and most of all its positive implications within the field of psychology. While there is ample data to document this in a plethora of academic journals and books, this new book Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy adds a novel contribution to the dialogue between psychology and spirituality, which captures many nuances that for the most part go unnoticed within these discussions, and last but not least, it provides a keen eye of discernment to understand this intricate relationship on a deeper level that is crucially needed. This work will be a valuable asset to students and long term mental health practitioners and professors alike who seek to better understand the relationship between psychology and spirituality.”
—Harold G. Koenig, Duke University, Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, co-author of The Handbook of Religion and Health

Gli Yuga. La dottrina dei cicli cosmici L'età del mondo. Nel rapporto con il mondo, siamo costantemente protesi verso il futuro in una visione che privilegia il "divenire" piuttosto che il "consolidare"; ancor meno il recupero di ciò che è passato. Eppure, tutto ciò che ci gira intorno non calca la via di un percorso semplice e lineare, ma ci sospinge fatalmente sempre al punto di partenza, facendo del futuro solamente "uno spazio intermedio". Le ore, i giorni, le stagioni, persino le esperienze della nostra vita si ripresentano puntuali lasciandosi, ogni volta, interpretare alla luce del tempo vissuto. La stessa età del mondo muore e risorge dalle sue ceneri; non sarebbe difficile accogliere in noi questa realtà, se avessimo il coraggio di andare un pochino al di là del dogma...

Preface to the New Edition

The cyclic view of history is a complete and integrated model of reality that was the basis of ancient philosophical thought for millennia before it was relegated to oblivion. During the Renaissance, the discovery and translation of lost texts brought back this knowledge of the cycle of ages, even if only to a small circle of initiates. 

Plato and Aristotle, and later Leonardo da Vinci and Giordano Bruno, along with many others, shared this worldview. Later, a few English Romantic poets were inspired by the same vision. According to Percy Shelley, “History is a cyclic poem written by time upon the memories of man."

The movements that tried to bridge Eastern and Western metaphysics had their source in the legacy of the ancients, especially in the spiritual traditions of India and Egypt. In India, the understanding of the eternal cycle was never completely lost, even though it branched into a number of different approaches. The basic concepts, however, remained contained within the very fabric of life and thought and in the spiritual beliefs of the people.

I grew up reading esoterica and often found references to arcane and mysterious texts. This is how I was confronted very early by two versions of history: the linear and evolutionist version I learned in school, and the forgotten history—the one that spoke of gods and the Fall, of higher dimensions and lost knowledge. My head used to spin with these mysteries, leading me to consider taking up archaeology.

A few years later, this knowledge came to me in the most unexpected way, almost as a gift. And instead of a scattered jigsaw puzzle, a complete picture appeared, even if initially only in its most basic form. This was my starting point in learning about a perspective of history that provides an understanding of our individual, spiritual story as deeply connected to external events. Exploring this correspondence over time triggered a huge transformation in my thoughts and actions.

This book was written a few years later, in 1991, with a feeling of gratitude and reverence for the sacred. It contains the essence of the teachings of Raja Yoga and is filled with images and texts that were part of my studies at that time.

Today the cyclic view of history has appeared in other contexts; it is no longer the exclusive property of mystics and yogis. Still, inner stability and mental silence continue to be the means for understanding and assimilating its deeper aspects.

We´ve been hearing a lot lately about the Maya calendar and other models based on the precession of the equinoxes, which ancient civilizations used to mark the ages. It is in the field of cosmology, however, that the cyclic view is reemerging with the greatest force. Initially restricted to specialized publications, the subject is now being discussed as an alternative to the Big Bang theory.

The cyclic perspective is considered by some theorists to be a model that explains unsolved scientific paradoxes. In this theory, the universe’s clock has no beginning or end but is nonetheless finite and recurring. Issues involving gravitational singularities—hypothesized locations where gravity and heat become infinite and the laws of physics break down—disappear. In the words of one theorist, it is as if “events are always diverging or evolving away from a potential singularity.” The philosophical implications of this view are still more fascinating. 

We live in an amazing time when the secrets of the natural world and the dimensions beyond are rapidly being unveiled. Despite crises and uncertainties, the cyclic vision suggests we have reached a point of transition.
                                                     
The cycle is nothing but the history of the human soul and its journey through life and death, birth and rebirth. It is also the story of our connection with the Source—with the Divine as the Supreme Alchemist. It is his presence and energy that transforms iron into gold, eternally inspiring and perfecting human consciousness and in this way renewing life itself. 

Island of Santa Catarina ~ October 2008

The theory of the yugas has been connected to the story of the Mahābhārata since the late layers of the Epic itself, and it subsequently became a fundamental element of the justification for explaining its adharmic elements by linking its story to the Kali Yuga.  The story of Rāma, on the other hand, never had an important link to the yuga theory, except for a rather vague placement of Rāma’s story in the Tretā Yuga. This chapter looks at Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa in order to ascertain if the text provides a basis for a connection between the Rāmāyaṇa and the Tretā Yuga.

The first part of this article addresses the origin and importance of the yuga theory in India. The second part deals with the discovery of the yuga system by the West, its use by modern Western esoteric writers, and its relevance to New Age ideas, including attempts to determine the date of the beginning of a new cosmic age. The second part will take up more space because it has been less explored.

This dissertation discusses the political thought of five right-wing European thinkers of the twentieth and early twenty-first century: René Guénon (1886-1951), Julius Evola (1898-1974), Mircea Eliade (1907-1986), Alain de Benoist (b. 1943), and Guillaume Faye (b. 1949). The intellectual careers of these thinkers represent a story that runs parallel to the trajectory of the history of the European political right, from the Action Française, through the interwar “fascisms,” to the Cold War era OAS and Ordine Nuovo, and the anti-immigration and Eurosceptic Front National party of the current day. Their thought provided intellectual cover for these movements; at the same time, these movements often inspired active endorsements from them.

This dissertation analyzes the strong diversity in this thought, which has more typically been presented as a monolithic right-wing perspective, even at times by the thinkers themselves. A like perception has also generally been the point of departure for analyses of their political thought. Webs of associations have been produced to demonstrate the existence of a single far-right ideology, whose fundamental character nonetheless perpetually eludes definition. We have proposed here to avoid drawing any inferences on the basis of associations, and to analyze the political ideologies implicitly or explicitly expressed in the authors’ works themselves. We claim that three distinct ideologies can be detected on the scene of the twentieth century European right. One, orthodoxy, holds that political legitimacy lies in being able to connect subjects to a metaphysical realm so as to negate the perishability inherent in the sublunary human condition. A second, Prometheanism, is a future-oriented orientation that values creation for its own sake, the as-yet-uncreated precisely because it has never yet existed, and denigrates the past precisely because it has already been. A third, conservatism, has already been documented, but we propose to emphasize the meaning Huntington has given it, as a past-oriented orientation that values what is precisely because it is and has been.

We conclude by making some observations on the distinction between right and left, and on the commonalities that all political ideologies tend to come to share in late modernity (which Roger Griffin has identified but which, pace Griffin, do not in themselves indicate ideological orientation as such). Disaggregating right-wing thought into orthodoxy, Prometheanism, and conservatism helps us more clearly understand the insights others have had on the nature of right-wing thought and on political modernism.

En Qué momento sucedieron las Yugas?.  Un corto análisis de la forma en que se contabilizó el tiempo y que dió paso a los períodos de las Eras o Yugas hindúes. De los contenidos en los viejos registros hindúes, se puede proponer el momento en que dejaría de existir el continente llamado Lemuria o MU.

Como tantos otros pueblos, quedarían marcados por una visión cíclica, misma que parece comenzar al igual que en Egipto, con la Gran Catátrofe datada por la Ciencia en el año 10500 AC.

The present paper focuses on Aśvaghoṣa's treatment of King Śuddhodana and Kapila-vāstu, the latter's kingdom, in the Buddhacarita (BC) and the Saundarananda (SNa). As I shall try to demonstrate, the poet's depiction of Śuddhodana is strongly reminiscent of, and, I think, very likely based on, Brahmanical accounts of the rājadharma (BC 9.48) and the dharmarāja (BC 1.75) as they can be found, first and foremost, in the Mahābhārata (MBh). As for his description of the Śākya kingdom, it is obviously meant to be evocative of the "golden age" or, conversely, of its lack of any characteristic of the kaliyuga, which again points to Aśvaghoṣa's likely acquaintance with epic descriptions of the kaliyuga and/or the yugānta as they can be found, e.g., in the so-called Mārkaṇḍeya section of the MBh (esp. 3.186 and 188).

This volume gives a concise but comprehensive overview of the rich diversity of prophecy, its role in major world religions as well as in new religions and alternative spiritualties, its social dynamics and its impact on individuals’ lives. Academic analyses are complemented with contextualized primary source testimonies of those who live and have lived within a prophetic framework.

Classical or Angkor Wat Style (1080-1175): Angkor Wat, the temple and perhaps the mausoleum of King Suryavarman II, is the greatest of the Angkorian temples and defines what has come to be known as the classical style of Angkorian architecture. Cambodian architecture has become synonymous with Khmer architecture and more precisely to the iconic constructions of Angkor temples during the growth and peak of Khmer Empire. The architecture and construction field in Cambodia is a main priority and a basic foundation of social development.

A brief Q. and A. responding to the issue of what is the cause of the dark transcendent-denying state of modernity--perhaps the darkest time ever.  The conclusion is that the real cause is the heavy poor deluded karma of most of the souls inhabiting it.

The notion of yugas or cyclical time has come to occupy a central place in the Indian worldview, particularly in our spiritual and philosophical understanding of the cosmos.  The author argues that the notion of yugas was incorporated into the Mahabharata later to explain the terrible events that occurred during the Mahabharata war.