How the Vedas give the same date for the beginning of the Universe as modern science

The Vedas put the date of the creation of the universe as 13.819 billion years ago, which is staggering close to the 13.801 billion years given in modern studies.

In a previous article, I mentioned that the date for the creation of the Universe given in the Vedas is 13.819 billion years ago, which is staggering close to the calculation given by modern theories, which put the age of the Universe at 13.801 billion years. This is certainly impressive, but you could question how I came to this number. That's what I'd like to explain in more detail today.

To reach this number it's important to understand four important details about Vedic cosmology. Not many know these details, and without them, it's not possible to come to the correct numbers.

a) Sridhara Swami’s factor of two

Dates given in the Vedas for many cosmic events are quite close to modern estimates, but they always diverge by a factor of two. Modern studies put the date of the creation of the Solar System and the Permian–Triassic extinction at, respectively, 4.5 billion years and 251.9 million years ago, while the Vedas put the creation of our solar system (the beginning of the current day of Brahma) at 2.281 billion years and the devastation at the end of the reign of the last Manu at 125.576 million years ago. Other numbers also follow the same pattern, with the numbers given in the Vedas always being around half of the numbers given by modern studies.

The thing is that all the dates given in the Vedas are given in terms of years in Bhu-Mandala, while time in other parts of the cosmos goes at different rates. What is one year for us, is just one day in Swargaloka, and, conversely, 360,000 years in the hellish planets, for example.

Historically, Puranic scholars believe that time on our planet flows at the same rate as time in Bhu-Mandala, but in their research, Madhavendra Puri das and Siddharth Chhabra (published in the book "The Big Bang and The Sages") discovered a commentary by Sridhara Swami (the original commentator of Srimad Bhagavatam) on Vishnu Purana (1.3.7) which led to the conclusion that a day in Bhu-Mandala equals two days of our time.

This discovery, named “Sridhara Swami’s factor of two” needs to be taken into consideration when we want to match dates given in the Vedas with modern studies. We can see that when we apply it, multiplying the numbers given in the Vedas by two, we start getting numbers that are very close to modern studies.

The date given in the Vedas for the creation of the solar system becomes 4.562 billion years (versus 4.567 for modern studies) and the devastation at the end of the reign of the last Manu at 251.152 million years ago (versus 251.9 million for the Permian–Triassic extinction). The simple fact that it results in such similarities should be sufficient to take Sridhara Swami’s factor of two seriously.

b) The division of the life of Brahma into two parardhas

As mentioned in the Vayu Purana (2.38.240) and confirmed by the commentary of Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura on SB 3.11.37, the life of Brahma is divided into two parardhas (or two halves), and there is a complete dissolution of the universe at the end of the first parardha. The universe is thus completely winded down, including all the higher planets and the lotus flower of Brahma itself. Then, at the beginning of the next day, the lotus flower re-emerges, and Brahma recreates the universe. This matches the description of Brahma waking up in complete darkness at the beginning of the current day we hear from the Srimad Bhagavatam. Normally, when Brahma wakes up, the higher planetary systems as well as Narada, the four Kumaras, and all the great sages are already there.

Since the universe was completely destroyed at the end of the previous day of Brahma, we should calculate the age of the current universe starting from there, and not from the beginning of the life of Brahma.

c) The elemental creation during the night of Brahma

We should note that Brahma is not the direct creator of everything we see in the sky. It's mentioned that Brahma created the solar system as well as a number of stars and planets. Considering the multidimensional nature of our Universe, it’s difficult to understand how exactly the creation of Brahma matches what we see when we look into the sky, but in any case, there are many other structures in the universe, including the coverings and everything included inside them that are not part of the creation of Brahma. The work of re-creating these structures after the end of the first parardha goes on during the night of Brahma. In this way, the age of the current universe should be calculated starting from the end of the previous day of Brahma. The date is thus different from the age of the solar system, which is calculated from the beginning of the current day of Brahma.

d) The existence of the Pratisamdhis

A Pratisamdhi is a period of 85,200 years of the demigods between two consecutive Kalpas (days of Brahma). It has the same duration as a Manvantara (306.72 million years in Bhu-Mandala). Just like a Manvantara, it also has its Manvantara Sandhya (which lasts for 1.728 million years of Bhu-Mandala, just like a normal Manvantara Sandhya).

The total duration of the Pratisamdhi, combined with its Manvantara Sandhya is thus calculated as 616.896 million years on our planet (306.72 million x 2 + 1.728 million x 2). This is explained in detail in the Vayu Purana (1.7.4-9).

As the Pratisamdhi happens between the end of the previous night of Brahma and the beginning of the current day, it is also added to the calculation.

Putting everything togueter

In this way, to calculate the total age of our universe, according to the Vedas, we should add three numbers:

1- the time of the night of Brahma,

2- the Pratisamdhi plus its Manvantara Sandhya,

3- the time we already went through in the current day of Brahma.

We also need to take into account Sridhara's Swami’s factor of two, multiplying everything by two.

In this way, we have:

The time of the night of Brahma: 4.32 billion years x 2 = 6.64 billion years.

Plus

The Pratisamdhi plus its Manvantara Sandhya: 308.448 million years x 2 = 616.896 million years.

Plus

The time we already went through in the current day of Brahma: 2.281 billion years x 2 = 4.562 billion years

When we add the three numbers, the result is 13.819 billion years, which is, again, staggeringly close to the 13.801 billion years given in modern studies. The difference between the two numbers is less than 0.15%!

It's also important to consider that modern theories, as well as the calculations for cosmic events given by modern science, are constantly being refined. In 1929, for example, Hubble calculated the age of the Universe at about 2 billion years. Later, in 1958, Sandage calculated that the Universe is much older, calculating that the correct age of the Universe should be somewhere between 4 and 18 billion years. The first attempt to give a precise date came only in 2003 when a study conducted by Spergel put it at around 13.7 billion years. The number was raised to 13.75 in 2011 in a study by Komatsu, 13.772 in 2013 (Bennet et al.), 13.799 in 2015 (Lawrence), and finally 13.801 in 2018 (Aghanim et al.).

As you can see, the number is gradually growing, as new studies and evidence appear. It will not be surprising if, in a few years, some new study puts the age of the universe at exactly 13.819 billion years, just like given in the Vedas. When they reach this number, we will know that they finally came to the right figure.

As we can see, the information given in the Vedas is correct even in technical details such as the dates for the creation of the Universe, which confirm the idea that this is knowledge that was received from higher sources. The point is that to reach the correct values, we need to have all the details about the calculations and the values given in the scriptures, something not many have.

When we put together these staggering similarities in the ages for the creation of the universe, the creation of the solar system, the Permian–Triassic extinction, and so on with details given in the Vedas about the existence of other universes, the conversion of matter into energy and vice-versa, the process of creation of the material elements, and other details, it becomes very difficult to dismiss the knowledge of the Vedas as mythological. One of these points could be dismissed as a coincidence, but all these different points simultaneously draw the picture that confirms the Vedas as being the revelation of advanced living beings and not the product of experimentation or speculation by human beings. This in itself is sufficient to take the spiritual knowledge contained there seriously.