Mahāpralaya

By Swami Harshananda

Mahāpralaya literally means ‘the great dissolution'.

Religion believes in a cyclic order of creation:

1. Śṛṣti - creation
2. Sthiti - maintenance
3. Laya - dissolution

After an interval, the same process is again repeated. Brahmā, the four faced Creator, has a life-span of one hundred years as per the divine scale. This scales equals to 1036 human years. At the end of this period, mahāpralaya or great dissolution takes place.

References

• The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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