Dwapara Yuga and 400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope

This month exactly 400 years ago in 1609 Galileo first used a telescope for astronomical observations.

Similarly, 400 years ago Kepler published "Astronomia Nova" an account of how the planets move around the Sun in ellipses rather than the simpler, earlier model of Copernicus.

Both of these advances represent increasing mastery of space/distance, one of the principle characteristics of Dwapara Yuga.

1600 AD was just entering the last 100 year Sandhi of Ascending Kali Yuga, with 1700 AD the beginning of the 200 year Sandhi of Ascending Dwapara Yuga, reaching it's full expression in 1900.

In a simplistic sense we can see the influence of Dwapara in the number of devices named for the Greek word for distance -- telescope, telegraph, telephone and television -- continually diminishing the effect of distance on humanity.

Treta, the next age, after 2400 years of Dwapara will be characterized by mastery of time and telepathy. The vaguest signs of the latter are even now beginning to be brought out where the latest generation of childrens' games for Christmas are incorporating brain wave controls.

At the time of Galileo's observations, there were far fewer formal distinctions between Astrology, Astronomy, Mathematics, Philosophy and Religion in the way in which we see compartmentalized knowledge today.

Despite the many successes of science, 'why' questions are typically not addressed and even for such everyday phenomena as gravity, the 'how' is still not well understood in a fundamental sense. Many physicists, especially those looking at Grand Unified Theories, tend to agree with the ancient Rishis that the essence of reality is consciousness and not ever finer building blocks of so-called fundamental particles. It was these same Rishis that knew thousands of years ago of the existence of our Sun's twin and the 24,000-year cycle of the Yugas around the Galactic Center Vishnunabhi, as detailed in modern times by Yogananda's guru, Sri Yukteswar, in 1894.

For the author, it was Steven Hawking's 1987 Tercentenary of Newton Conference in Cambridge that marked a move from looking at the 'beauty' of mathematical models to considering the insights to be found in the Vedas, written in previous higher ages and a deeper consideration of the more sociological and psychological rather than objective nature of much scientific consensus.

Many physicists, so called quants, were employed in Wall Street to do financial modeling and financial engineering during the booms of the last two decades. The discrepancy between reality and those models has been evident to all in the most recent housing market crash and worldwide recession -- one commentator compared the nature of those models to attempting to pick up pennies over and over before an advancing steamroller, great while it lasts but inevitably leading to a crushing!