Sankalpam

Sankalpa Śloka and Its Significance

In Hindu ritual practice, Sankalpa is the formal declaration of intent made before performing a religious act such as a pooja, homa, vrata, japa, or any sacred observance.

Traditionally, Sankalpa is performed by holding akṣata (rice grains) and flowers in the right hand, often supported by water in the palm, and then releasing them while reciting the Sankalpa mantra.

A Vedic Sankalpa contains several elements that situate the act within the framework of cosmic time, geographical location, personal lineage, and spiritual intent. These elements include:

• Cosmic time (relative to Brahma’s creation cycle)

• Current calendar details (year, season, month, etc.)

• Geographical location

• Lineage (Gotra and Pravara)

• Personal identity

• Purpose of the ritual

• The deity being worshipped

• The nature of the ritual being performed

A typical Sankalpa begins with the invocation:

"Śubhe śobhana muhūrte" - "At this auspicious moment" ...

To understand the specifics of a sankalpam, it is important to understand the following calculations: 

• satya/krita yuga == 1, 728, 000 years (Age of truth and righteousness; dharma fully established) 
• treta yuga == 1, 296, 000 years (dharma slightly declines)
• dwapara yuga == 640,000 years (dharma reduced to half)
• kali yuga == 432,000 years
  
  There are 4 pAdAs of kali yuga, equally divided. So, the current section is 108,000 years long, which is when a major disaster happens. 
  
  We have now past 5100 years of kali, so 426,900 years to go of Kali.
  
  
• 1 Maha Yuga == 4 Yugaas combined == 4.32million years
• 1 manvantara - 71 Mahayugas — 306.72 million years
• 14 manvantaras — 1 kalpa — 4.32 billion years — 1 day of brahma 
• 2 kalpAs — 1 full day of brahma — 8.64 billion years 
• 360 kalpAs — 1 year of brahma — 3.2 trillion years 
• 100 years of brahma — 311 trillion years 
• We are in the 51st year of brahma, so this creation is 155 trillion years old. 
• This is the 2nd half of brahma’s life.
  
  So, we are in the brahma's second half of his 100 years'; this is the current braham's 51st year, which is 155 trillion years since this creation. 
  
  
• This kalpa (day of brahma) is called shvethavaraha kalpa (Shveta-Varaha Kalpa,  Nilalohita Kalpa, Vamadeva Kalpa, Rathantara Kalpa, Raurava Kalpa, Prana Kalpa, Brihat Kalpa, Kandarp Kalpa, Satyakalpa)
  
  
• The current universal existence is ruled by Vaivasvatha-manu, the 7th of the 14 manvantaras (6 manus are past and now it is Vaivasvata; past manus are Svayambhuva, Svarochisha, Uttama, Tamasa, Raivata, Chakshusha). Each manvantara is 71 mahAyugAs, so a manu changes every 306.72 Million Years. We are in the 28th mahayuga of the Vaivasvatha manu's period, so 43 more mahayugAs to go before the next manu.

So, the sankalpa is: 

adya brahmaṇaḥ dvitīya parārdhe (in this brahma's second half, the 51st year), in the svetavarAha kalpa (the 1st day in the 51st year), vaivasvata manvantare (306 million years of the current manu), aṣṭāviṃśatitame Kaliyuge (the 28th of the kaliyugAs), pratama pAde (first section of the kaliyuga), shAlivAhana shakhe (in the era of shAlivAhana - there were also laukika shakha, vikrama shaka, gupta shAka, kollam shAka etc.), bauddhAvatAre (this is the yuga that saw the advent of buddha) .. 

Then we take the names of samvatsara which is measured in cycles of moons. We use the 60-year cycle according to lunar calendar. The samvatsara names recycle. We are in the 39th of the 60 cycles of moon, called the vishvAvasu and entering the 40th samvatsara called the "parAbhava samvatsara". For example, Vishwavasu samvatsara was in 1905, 1965, and 2025. It will come again in 2085. We are now moving to Parabhava samvatsara which occured in 1966 and 1906.

The samvatsara coming in 2026 is Parabhava samvatsara. 

We are now in the UttarAyana, the sun moving northward. 

Shishira Ritu (Winter) (Vasanta, Grīṣma, Varṣha, Śarad, Hemanta, Śiśira) 

We then chant paksha (krishna, shukla), thithi (15 lunar days from pratipada to purnima/amavAsya), vAra/vAsara, nakshatra (27 constellations from Ashvini to Revati), yOga and karaNa,  gOtra/lineage, name, purpose.