Skanda Yoga uses the modern rendition of the Maya calendar systems to base the class theme and sequence on because it serves to bring students into greater alignment with the cyclical patterns found in nature. Overtime students begin to see patterns in their own life and are able to integrate the calendar as a daily oracle. The modern calendar system is known as the Dreamspell or the Galactic Time Calendar. It uses the traditional 260-day Tzolkin count and places it within a lunar and solar based calendar. It consists of 13 even months of 28-days each that equals 364-days with one day left over out-of-time. Thus, it is a lunar and solar based calendar and entrains the mind to order and synchronicity. The present standard Gregorian global calendar is based on 12 uneven months which creates a separation from Nature that leads to discord and uncertainty in the population.
The Maya maintained up to 20 calendars that measured cycles of the moon, sun, planets, and harvest cycles. This knowledge came from various sources. They used the Sun Stone of the Aztec civilization for the 260-day Tzolkin count. In Sanskrit, the name ‘maya’ means ‘illusion,’ and there are many who believe the legend that the Maya civilization arrived in central America from South India 13,000 years ago after the earth was exiting the last ice age. At this time large amounts of ice melted which created a deluge that we all know as the Great Flood from the Old Testament. There used to be a land mass that connected India, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and Australia that was called Lemuria. This land was submerged and its’ inhabitants were forced to flee. Some went east and continued until they crossed through the ‘veil’ of the illusion, and ended up on the opposite side of the world in central America. Some left on boat and some traveled north to the Tamil region of south India, which is humanity’s oldest living civilization.
When the Maya arrived they integrated the Aztec Sun Stone overtime and combined it with their knowledge of astronomy. It was then overlaid with the symbols and meanings of the south Indian religious and philosophical principles. Ergo, Skanda Yoga uses the Maya calendar because it is the same energetic principles found in Hinduism. These energies are obviously apparent but there is no hard evidence to prove it as fact and thus it is maintained as an oral legend that either inhabitants from Lemuria made the voyage across the Pacific ocean, or it could be possible that the Maya made the journey east and traded with those of South India and brought back their religious system.
The maya had a trinity like Hinduism of a creator, sustainer, an destroyer who were known as Itzamna (Brahma), Kulkulkan (Vishnu), and EkChuah (Shiva). They maintained a storm god named Chaac (Indra), who in the Tamil language is known as Chaka. The goddess of abundance who is associated with the lotus flower is IxChel (Lakshmi), who in the Tamil language is Chelliamman. There are other similarities that connect the two cultures. The name ‘Maya’ is also the name of the Indian god of architecture, and the Mayan civilization were master pyramid builders. Both civilizations ingested a psychotropic mushrooms and entheogenic plants for divination.
The general population is only familiar with the Long Count calendar of the Maya that was hyped as ending in 2012, although it never really ends, because it just starts the count of 5, 125 years over again. This is significant because 5 of these cycles is equal to 26, 000 years, which is the length of the precession cycle of the sun moving backwards through the constellations. In India they measure 4 world ages, known as yugas, that are also related to the cycle of precession according to Shri Lukteshwar in his seminal work “The Science of Yoga.” In the text he explains how the modern yuga cycle of 4,320,000 years was arrived at by a mistranslation of brahmin scholars. Instead he proposes a time cycle that is aligned with the cycle of precession.
Why is the cycle of precession so important? Because it measures the wobble of the earth which creates one extreme temperature for the planet and then another that follows it. The Greeks referred to this as the “great winter” and the “great summer.” Each season lasted 13,000 years. Thus 13,000 years ago we were exiting the last great winter and are now entering the great summer with global warming. Ancient civilizations measured the cycle of precession to warn humanity of the next extreme season. The cycle begins and ends with the sun’s alignment with the galactic center, which is called Hunab Ku by the Maya, and symbolically represents the one supreme God. This alignment is still occurring because it takes the sun 72 years to move 1 degree in the sky (72×360=25,920). The sun is ½ of a degree wide and so it takes 36 years to pass through the galactic center of the Milky Way. Thus the alignment that began in 1994, reached its’ midpoint in 2012, and will end in 2030.
Therefore, to sum it up, Skanda Yoga uses the Maya calendar system to align students with nature by following the cyclical patterns. When patterns are revealed then synchronicity and magic happen at an increased rate. The calendar is used as a daily oracle and almanac that gives each day a unique energy and meaning. The calendar keeps us humble by staying in remembrance that it isn’t about our story but the story of humanity.
InLakEch (I am another yourself) Anand
