(A.A. Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 39(6), 1925 — SECTION ONE, INTRODUCTORY REMARKS , I. Fire in the Macrocosm.)
""One day out of this long life of Brahma is called Kalpa; and a Kalpa is that portion of time which intervenes between one conjunction of all the planets on the horizon of Lanka, at the first point of Aries, and a subsequent similar conjunction.
A Kalpa embraces the reign of fourteen Manus, and their sandhies (intervals); each Manu lying between two sandhies. Every Manu's rule contains seventy-one Maha Yugas,—each Maha Yuga consists of four Yugas, viz., Krita, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali; and the length of each of these four Yugas is respectively as the numbers, 4, 3, 2 and 1.
The number of sidereal years embraced in the foregoing different periods are as follows:
| Periods | Mortal years |
| 360 days of mortals make a year | 1 |
| Krita Yuga contains | 1,728,000 |
| Treta Yuga contains | 1,296,000 |
| Dwapara Yuga contains | 864,000 |
| Kali Yuga contains | 432,000 |
| The total of the said four Yugas constitute a Maha Yuga | 4,320,000 |
| Seventy-one of such Maha Yugas forms the period of the reign of one Manu | 306,720,000 |
| The reign of 14 Manus embraces the duration of 994 Maha Yugas, which is equal to | 4,294,080,000 |
| Add Sandhis, i.e., intervals between the reign of each Manu, which amount to 6 Maha Yugas, equal to | 25,920,000 |
| The total of these reigns and interregnums of 14 Manus, is 1,000 Maha Yugas, which constitute a Kalpa, i.e., one day of Brahma, equal to | 4,320,000,000 |
| As Brahma's night is of equal duration, one day and night of Brahma will contain | 8,640,000,000 |
| 360 of such days and nights make one year of Brahma, equal to | 3,110,400,000,000 |
| 100 of such years constitute the whole period of Brahma's age, i.e., Maha Kalpa | 311,040,000,000,000 |
That these figures are not fanciful, but are founded upon astronomical facts, has been demonstrated by Mr. Davis, in an essay in the Asiatic Researches; and this receives further corroboration from the geological investigations and calculations made by Dr. Hunt, formerly President of the Anthropological Society, and also in some respects from the researches made by Professor Huxley.
Great as the period of the Maha Kalpa seems to be, we are assured that thousands and thousands of millions of such MahaKalpas have passed, and as many more are yet to come. (Vide Brahma-Vaivarta and Bhavishyre Puranas; and Linga Purana, ch. 171, verse 107, &c.) and this in plain language means that the Time past is infinite and the Time to come is equally infinite.
The Universe is formed, dissolved, and reproduced, in an indeterminate succession (Bhagavata-Gita, VIII, 19)."—The Theosophist, Vol. VII, p. 115." [39(6)]
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