Bhavishya Purana

The Bhavishya Purana (Sanskrit: Bhaviṣya Purāṇa) is one of the eighteen major Hindu puranas. It is written in Sanskrit and attributed to Vyasa, the compiler of the Vedas. The title Bhavishya Purana signifies a work that contains prophecies regarding the future (Sanskrit: bhaviṣya). Despite being labelled a purana or "tales of ancient times", the work relates only a few legends. It is one of several puranas in which a list of royal dynasties of the "past" are followed by lists of kings predicted to rule in the future. The Padma Purana categorizes Bhavishya Purana as a Rajas Purana (Purana which represents passion). The text as it exists today is a composite of material ranging from very old to very recent. Portions of the extant text are drawn from the Manusmṛti, including its account of Creation. The Bhavishya Purana is classified as one of the ten Shaiva puranas in the classification system used in the Śivarahasya-khaṇḍa of the Śaṅkara Saṃhitā. In the traditional system of classification according to the three guṇas given in the Padma Purana, it is classified in the rajas category, which contains puranas whose central deity is Brahma. The available versions of Bhavishya Purana are based on a printed text published during the early British period.

Kali Yuga

Kali Yuga (Devanāgarī: कलियुग [kəli juɡə], lit. "age of [the demon] Kali", or "age of vice") is the last of the four stages the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Sanskrit scriptures, within the present Mahayuga. The other ages are called Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, and Dvapara Yuga.

Kali Yuga is associated with the apocalyptic demon Kali (who is not to be confused with the goddess Kālī (काली). The "Kali" of Kali Yuga means "strife", "discord", "quarrel" or "contention".

Current Kali Yuga and possible starting dates

There is considerable controversy over the date for the start of the Kali Yuga and its duration. According to the Surya Siddhanta, Kali Yuga began at midnight (00:00) on 18 February 3102 BCE.

According to the astronomer and mathematician Aryabhatta the Kali Yuga started in 3102 BC. He finished his book “Aryabhattiya” in 499 AD in which he gives the exact year of the beginning of Kali Yuga. He writes that he wrote the book in the "year 3600 of the Kali Age" at the age of 23. As it was the 3600th year of the Kali Age when he was 23 years old, and given that Aryabhatta was born in 476 AD, the beginning of the Kali Yuga would come to (3600 - (476 + 23) + 1 (As only one year elapses between 1 B.C and 1 C.E) = ) 3102 BC.

Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent or the subcontinent is a southern region of Asia, mostly situated on the Indian Plate and projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Definitions of the extent of the Indian subcontinent differ but it usually includes the core lands of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh;Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka, and the Maldives are often included as well. The region is also called by a number of other names including South Asia, a name that is increasingly popular.

Nomenclature

The region has been variously labelled as "India" (in its pre-modern sense), the Indian subcontinent (a term in particularly common use in the British Empire and its successors) and South Asia. Though the terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are sometimes used interchangeably, some academics hold that the term "South Asia" is the more common usage in Europe and North America. According to historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, the Indian subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia "in more recent and neutral parlance."Indologist Ronald B. Inden argues that the usage of the term "South Asia" is becoming more widespread since it clearly distinguishes the region from East Asia.

Zakir Naik

Zakir Naik (born 18 October 1965 in Mumbai, India) is an Indian Islamic preacher, who has been called an "authority on comparative religion", "perhaps the most influential Salafi ideologue in India", and "the world's leading Salafi evangelist". He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), and founder of the "comparative religion" Peace TV channel, through which he reaches a reported 100 million viewers. Unlike many Islamic preachers, his lectures are colloquial, given in English not Urdu or Arabic, and he wears a suit and tie rather than traditional garb.

Before becoming a public speaker, he trained as a medical doctor. He has published booklet versions of lectures on Islam and comparative religion. Although he has publicly disclaimed sectarianism in Islam, he is regarded by some as an exponent of the Salafi ideology, and, by some, as a radical Islamic televangelist propagating Wahhabism.

Biography

Zakir Naik was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. He attended Kishinchand Chellaram College and studied medicine at Topiwala National Medical College and Nair Hospital and later the University of Mumbai, where he obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS).

Hindu deities

Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. The terms and epithets found in Indian culture, that are translated as deity, varies with the text and diverse traditions within Hinduism, and include Deva, Devi, Ishvara, Bhagavan and Bhagavathi.

The deities of Hinduism have evolved from Vedic era (2nd millennium BCE) through medieval era (1st millennium CE), regionally within India and in southeast Asia, and across Hinduism's diverse traditions. The Hindu deity concept varies from a personal god as in Yoga school of Hindu philosophy, to 33 Vedic deities, to hundreds of Puranic deities, to millions of deities in Tantra traditions of Hinduism. Illustrations of major deities include Vishnu, Sri (Lakshmi), Shiva, Parvati (Durga), Brahma and Saraswati. These deities have distinct and complex personalities, yet often viewed as aspects of the same Ultimate Reality called Brahman. From ancient times, the idea of equivalence has been cherished in Hinduism, in its texts and in early 1st millennium sculpture with concepts such as Harihara (half Shiva, half Vishnu),Ardhanarishvara (half Shiva, half Parvati) or Vaikuntha Kamalaja (half Vishnu, half Lakshmi), with mythologies and temples that feature them together, declaring they are the same. Major deities have inspired their own Hindu traditions, such as Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism, but with shared mythology, ritual grammar, theosophy, axiology and polycentrism. Some Hindu traditions such as Smartism from mid 1st millennium CE, have included multiple major deities as henotheistic manifestations of Saguna Brahman, and as a means to realizing Nirguna Brahman.