The Yugas
Keys to Understanding Our Hidden Past, Emerging Energy Age, and Enlightened Future

Video: Swami Kriyananda Comments on The Yugas

"An amazing, mind-expanding investigation of the hidden cycles underlying the rise and fall of civilizations. I found The Yugas not only intellectually convincing but also spiritually and emotionally uplifting and deeply healing as well. Despite the dark signs of the times we live in there is hope here for all of us."

—Graham Hancock, author of Fingerprints of the Gods

The concept of the yugas is critically important for a clear understanding of humankind’s ancient past, our potential future, and the way the larger cosmic environment influences humanity’s changing consciousness. The conventional mainstream view of an overall linear progression in human history is no longer tenable; it is now clear that the ancients of 10,000 to 15,000 years ago were not “primitives” and we have much to learn from them. Based on the teachings of Sri Yukteswar, The Yugas by Joseph Selbie and David Steinmetz provides a perceptive analysis of history from the height of the last Satya Yuga (Spiritual Age) of circa 11,500 B.C. to our present age. Just as importantly, the authors discuss trends and developments that we may anticipate over the next 10,000 years as the cycle of the yugas comes full circle. The Yugas integrates and synthesizes disparate facts and apparent anomalies that are often ignored. This is a profound book on a profound subject. Intelligently written and fascinating, it provides new revelations on the unfolding of human potential over the course of millennia.

—Robert M. Schoch, PhD, author of Pyramid Quest: Secrets of the Great Pyramid and the Dawn of Civilization

“Move over Copernicus, another revolution is underway! The Yugas will not only change the way we look at history, it will change the way we see ourselves and the world around us. This is a wisdom whose time has come. The startling revelations and sweeping vision of Selbie and Steinmetz deliver a story so timeless it will challenge and inspire generations to come!
“Our forefathers etched the phrase “Novus Ordo Seclorum” ("New Order of the Ages") on the Great Seal of our new nation, but few historians have understood its meaning. By resurrecting a lost knowledge, with exquisite and provocative detail, Selbie and Steinmetz unleash its full power and promise. The Yugas . . . I absolutely loved this book!”

—Walter Cruttenden, author of The Lost Star of Myth and Time

“Selbie and Steinmetz have produced a comprehensive and in-depth study of the yuga theory of Hindu and yogic thought. They have based their research upon the writings of Sri Yukteswar, the venerable guru of famed Yoga master Paramahansa Yogananda, and his profound insight. The book covers all aspects of the yugas, including the secret of what world age humanity currently resides in and what we can likely expect for the future.
“The book casts an important new light on the history and evolution of the human race and the mysteries of the great cycles of time that we must all honor. All those who want to understand our species and the hidden cosmic influences that govern our lives will benefit from its detailed examination. Those who study the book carefully will come away with a transformed vision of our world and its spiritual potentials.”

—David Frawley (Pandit Vamadeva Shastri), author of Astrology of the Seers and Yoga and Ayurveda

"The Yugas presents us with a glimpse into the future. Not only mankind’s future, but also our own personal future, as we journey through our way to enlightenment. An understanding of these cycles of Yugas as a natural process of growth and development, and not of wars and perpetual suffering, un-blurs our vision of our inner potential. Taken from the teachings of Sri Yukteswar and his student, Paramhansa Yogananda, The Yugas is a profound gift from a great master and his beloved disciple."

—Robert R. Hieronimus, PhD, host of 21st Century Radio, author of United Symbolism of America

"This book may change your view of history and your understanding of the future. The Yugas by Joseph Selbie and David Steinmetz reveals the little known teachings of Sri Yukteswar and Paramhansa Yogananda regarding the cycles of humankind's cultural, social, and spiritual evolution--which differs greatly from the history of civilization to be found in our present textbook dogmas. The cycles of enlightenment that Sri Yukteswar began teaching nearly 120 years ago—and many of the discoveries that he predicted—are now being verified by modern science. The coming of the great Energy Age taught by the master teacher Sri Yukteswar and his most famous disciple Paramhansa Yogananda promises an enlightened future for all who recognize the coming of a raising of consciousness for the human species. Selbie and Steinmetz have produced a text that is both well-researched and an exciting, informative read."

—Brad Steiger, author of Worlds Before Our Own and Sherry Steiger, author of Indian Wisdom and Its Guiding Power

“The Yugas is a great and important book that will undoubtedly revolutionize our view of history and how it plays out.
“Selbie and Steinmetz have done a terrific job in demonstrating the scientific evidence of rising and falling ages of man, as opposed to the linear development of civilization favored by most historians.
“Before reading The Yugas, I was familiar with Sri Yukteswar’s and Paramhansa Yogananda’s concept, on which the book is based. After reading The Yugas, I understood more deeply this concept’s sometimes-surprising foundations in the past and its all-penetrating ramifications for the future.
“Reading this book was like being given a glimpse of the sweeping panorama of the ages. My mind shifted. My consciousness was transformed.
“I think The Yugas should be used as a textbook in universities. If you are at all interested in where humanity has been and where we are headed, I highly recommend that you read this book.”

—Richard Salva, author of The Reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln and Walking with William of Normandy

"This potentially transformational book, The Yugas by Joseph Selbie and David Steinmetz, contains the most incisive and useful information on these cosmic epochs that I have ever seen. "Backgrounded by interpretations by the great masters Sri Yukteswar and Paramhansa Yogananda, and further supported by guidance from Selbie's and Steinmetz's teacher, Swami Kriyananda, these chapters shed revealing light on the meaning of these cosmic periods. "Information is power, and in this case, interpretation and explanation is power—power toward personal transformation. The great wisdom of Yukteswar and Yogananda, which has been revered and uplifted by Yogananda's disciple Kriyananda, is thus passed down through the ages. "These two authors deserve our great thanks for their deep and informed look at the yugas. And the book's appearance reminds me to be thankful to Swami Kriyananda for passing down the work of his master Yogananda, and now through his (Kriyananda's) students."

—Katherine Diehl, journalist

"This consciousness-raising study, which presents a profound and necessary challenge to conventional science, is a vital addition to the growing recognition among independent researchers that ancient civilizations were often far more technologically or spiritually advanced than we are today. In Sri Yukteswar’s concept of the yugas, charting the 24,000-year cyclic rise and fall of human endeavor throughout history and into an inspirational future, we have the East's counterpart to the Platonic Year, more familiar to Westerners as signaling the Aquarian Age. In an indispensable work, both intellectually and emotionally satisfying, Selbie and Steinmetz bring us a stirring new paradigm which reveals how our power to transform ourselves is the measure of our power to transform the world in accordance with the cosmic pattern."

—Geoff Ward, host of Mysterious Planet, author of Spirals: the Pattern of Existence

"[The Yugas] sets forth a framework suggesting that man, and more specifically man’s consciousness, alternates on a 24,000-year cycle consisting of a 12,000-year period of ascendancy and 12,000 years of descent. This framework is taken from the teachings of Swami Sri Yukteswar as set forth in his book, The Holy Science. The cycles are further subdivided into four particular ages of which the authors suggest we are in the second age of ascendancy. In our current age the authors believe, according to the Swami’s teaching, that we are experiencing a period of great discovery and enlightenment.
"In order to make their point, the authors track back through history to illustrate how history matches up with the cycles put forth in The Yugas. This is where the book gets very interesting; Selbie and Steinmetz do an excellent job of highlighting some of the major holes apparent in modern archaeology. They address some of the standard questions we are all familiar with: the Great Pyramid at Giza, Neolithic stone structures, and the Sphinx. However they also do a superb job of addressing many of the misconceptions commonly accepted in the limited and linear view of man’s development: including those concerning the start of agriculture (seed stores in Israel greatly pre-date the accepted date), the domestication of animals (evidence highly suggests horses were domesticated as far back as 15,000 years ago), and many of the parallel mythologies and shared technologies that exist in history.
"The Yugas by Selbie and Steinmetz is an excellent and easy read that challenges the notion that ancient man was simplistic and unaccomplished, within the framework first put forth by Swami Sri Yukteswar in The Holy Science. The authors succeed at fitting their premise within this framework and provide an entertaining and thought-provoking read."

—Michael Kane, host of Distopian Times

"If you're one of the people who has been asking yourself, 'What's going on these days?' and not finding an answer that resonates with you, this is a book you will want to read and study. Based on the teachings of Sri Yukteswar and Paramhansa Yogananda, the book explains about the Yugas, or ages the planet goes through every 24,000 years.
"Not only does the book provide compelling evidence of the veracity of these cycles, it goes much further by telling us about our possible future cycles and how we and planet can be much different than we are today. The Yugas is comforting by giving meaning to today's events, and it is intriguing by putting the world into a more easily understood evolutionary picture.
"This is a don't miss read for anyone who wants a deeper understanding and appreciation of our past, present, and future.
"A great gift for anyone on a spiritual path, and for those who love history."

—Krysta Gibson, New Spirit Journal

“We ‘moderns’ tend to believe we know more than those who have lived before us, especially those of earlier millennia. In its detailed research and fascinating revelations, this book pricks the bubble of that linear conceit with its wealth of extraordinary insights and evidence to the contrary. Here is proof once again that ancient wisdom and truth, though often overlooked or long forgotten, is never superceded.
“As we learn in this brilliant detective-like study that probes the arc of time, greater civilizations than ours have preceded and exceeded us, more advanced in spirituality as well as science, borne to higher awareness by a cyclical dance of cosmological forces. Contained in this ‘new’ history of humankind is a divinely inspired examination of why we were as we were in ages past, why we are as we are in this ascending age of energy and understanding, and what we can anticipate about ourselves and our world in ages yet to come. Selbie and Steinmetz have given us a thesis that is uncompromisingly accurate in its chronicle of significant events and their correspondence to the yugas – cycles of human consciousness – in which they occurred. What emerges is an astonishing, compelling, and altogether enlightened view of evolution itself.”

—James Surendra Conti, Manager, East-West Bookstore

“After years of intensive research, Selbie and Steinmetz have turned their findings into a complete and comprehensive whole with some amazing and revolutionary looks on human history–and have brought to light long-forgotten wisdom of ancient civilizations far more advanced than previously thought in spirituality, philosophy, and maybe even science. If you are interested in the history of humanity and the anticipations and possible enrichments that their teachings might bring us, both now and in the future, then this book is definitely a must-read.”

—A. G. Pietnow, Founder of Parascientifica.com

“The Yugas is a brilliantly written text based on extensive historical research validating the theory of the ages of human development proposed by Swami Sri Yukteswar in The Holy Science. This book provides us with an optimistic view of our future as we leave the remnants of Kali Yuga or the dark age in our past. The Yugas explores the current electrical age of Dwapara Yuga. This enlightening age brings the opportunity of illumination and peace on our planet as we navigate toward the divine light of the central Sun.”

—Dennis M. Harness, PhD, Vedic Astrologer, writer, and author of The Nakshatras: The Lunar Mansions of Vedic Astrology

“The Hindu traditions are perhaps the most well-studied of all World Age systems, with the important distinction that they are very much alive today.
“‘Yuga’ is Sanskrit for ‘World Age.’ In their fascinating book, The Yugas, Joseph Selbie and David Steinmetz offer an updated reading of the works of two of India's greatest twentieth century teachers, Sri Yukteswar and Paramhansa Yogananda. The Yugas opens our eyes to aspects of consciousness and spiritual development that are largely absent from the Western discussion of human history.
“The Yugas presents the optimistic view that the rapid changes that we see in our times are inexorably leading us to a better day for humanity; we are at just the beginning of a journey through a series of ascending epochs, during which the expression of mankind will only improve.”

—Alexandra Bruce, author of 2012: Science or Superstition and Beyond the Bleep

“The Cosmic Mysteries School recommends The Yugas as an extraordinary source of detailed information about the little known concept of the Cosmic Cycles of time. The details given in The Yugas can be used as a source of knowledge and inspiration for understanding the natural movements occurring in our earthly existence.”

—Patricia Morris Cardona, Cosmic Mysteries School