By Harrell Rhome, M.Div., Ph.D. The basic, primordial, traditional symbols and archetypes of the Indo-Aryan spiritual mythos are part of a body of knowledge, dating back eons, revealed to initiates and sometimes called the ancient mysteries.
The deepest roots of these hoary traditions trace directly to the Indian subcontinent, the cultural-spiritual “hive” as Godfrey Higgins called it, the nest and seedbed that brought forth many of the great civilizations and religions of the world. Among the ideas in this wealth of material is that world history is cyclical in nature, broken down by the ancient mystics and gurus into various ages or kalpas.
Each rotation of the cycle is accompanied by certain cultural and spiritual developments. This is, of course, rather different from the traditional Western view of history as mostly linear and progressive (albeit with occasional setbacks, times of stagnation and dark ages). [Read the entire article as PDF…]
Taken from
The Barnes Review, January/February 2009: Indo-Aryan End-Time Beliefs
VOLUME XV, NUMBER 1