Can any one live for thousands of years......

Have you ever thought how a man used to live for thousands of years in previous yugas. Those who are not aware of the yugas system, here is some basic information about the yugas from wiki:

Yuga in Hindu philosophy is the name of an 'epoch' or 'era' within a cycle of four ages. These are the Satya Yuga (or Krita Yuga), the Treta Yuga, the Dvapara Yuga and finally the Kali Yuga. According to Hindu cosmology, life in the universe is created, destroyed once every 4.1 to 8.2 billion years, which is one full day (day and night) for Brahma. The lifetime of a Brahma himself may be 311 trillion and 40 Billion years.

Satya Yuga: The Satya Yuga, also called Sat Yuga, Krta Yuga and Krita Yuga in Hinduism, is the "Yuga (Age or Era) of Truth", when mankind is governed by gods, and every manifestation or work is close to the purest ideal and mankind will allow intrinsic goodness to rule supreme. It is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Age." The average lifespan in the satya yuga is 100,000 years. The Dharma bull, which symbolises morality, stood on all four legs during this period. Later in the Treta Yuga it would become three, and two in the later Dvapara Yuga. Currently, in the immoral age of Kali, it stands on one leg.

Treta Yuga: The Treta Yuga is the second out of four yugas, or ages of mankind, in the religion of Hinduism, following the Satya Yuga of perfect morality and preceding the Dvapara Yuga. The most famous events in this yuga were Lord Vishnu's fifth, sixth and seventh incarnations as Vamana, Parashurama and Ramachandra respectively. The Dharma bull, which symbolises morality, stood on three legs during this period. It had all four in the Satya Yuga and two in the later Dvapara Yuga. Currently, in the immoral age of Kali, it stands on one leg.

Dwapara Yuga: Dvapara Yuga or Dwapara Yuga is the third out of four yugas, or ages, described in the scriptures of Hinduism. This yuga comes after Treta Yuga and is followed by Kali Yuga. According to the Puranas this yuga ended at the moment when Krishna returned to his eternal abode of Vaikuntha.
There are only two pillars left of religion in the Dvapara Yuga. Bhagavan Vishnu assumes the yellow color and the Vedas are categorized into four parts that is Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva. During these times the Brahmins are knowledgeable of two, sometimes three Vedas, but rarely have studied all the four Vedas thoroughly. Accordingly, because of this categorization, different actions and activities come into existence.


Kali Yuga: Kali Yuga, is the last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Indian scriptures. The other ages are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga and Dvapara Yuga. According to the Surya Siddhanta, an astronomical treatise that forms the basis of all Hindu and Buddhist calendars, Kali Yuga began at midnight (00:00) on 18 February 3102 BCE in the proleptic Julian calendar, or 23 January 3102 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar. This date is also considered by many Hindus to be the day that Krishna died after being mortally wounded by an arrow. Most interpreters of Hindu scriptures believe that earth is currently in Kali Yuga.

Some basic info. about ashwathama

Ashwathama: all those who have seen Mahabharata must be knowing this person. I find him the most important and the most talked about personality along with Karna. From the last few months, I have been reading a lot about him. He fascinates me a lot, as when I think that an individual is still alive with an age more than 5000 yrs. He is one of the 8 chiranjeevis that we have in Hindu mythology. Here is a list of all:

Ashwathama -a man cursed to immortality and extreme suffering without love from anybody for his role in the murder of the five sons of the Pandavas and his attempted murder of Arjuna's grandson

Bali (demon) -a righteous demon king who conquered heaven, earth, and the underworld, but was forced to give it back by Vamana

Vyasa -a sage who narrated the Mahabharata, he was also a sage in the epic

Hanuman -a monkey deva who served Rama

Vibhishana -Ravana's brother who was made King of Lanka by Rama

Kripacharya -a teacher of the princes in the Mahabharata

Parashurama -an avatar of Vishnu

Markandeya -a great rishi

It is very interesting to know that the man still revolves around jungles and villages. I have also heard that there is a Shiv temple somewhere in MP, where he comes daily for a penance and offers a rose to Lord Shiva. Couple of people has seen him as well, and have identified him as a man with a hole in the forehead. People who have seen him report that he is a 12 feet long man with broad shoulders. Ashwathama comes from dwapar yuga, where man used to be like that. Over the years, he has developed a kind of ability that he only gives DARSHAN to those people who are actually destined to meet him. So, I believe that if I or someone else has that kind of destiny, than we would surely get a chance to meet him. It is said from the mythological beliefs that he is suffering from leprosy, as because of the curse given by Lord Krishna and and mani taken out from his head. There is this small story that goes like this:

There was a vaidhya (doctor) in the jungles of rishikesh and he used to cure leprosy of any kind. So, one day a man came to his kutia/ashram and asked the rishi ji as who all in this world can he cure, by offering them a treatment of leprosy? Rishi ji replied: I can cause any kind of leprosy patient in this world, be it the person suffering from it from 50 yrs, however there is only person on whom my treatment would not make any effect at all. And that person is Ashwathama. Then that guy smiled and said to rishi: well in that case probably your medicine is of no use to me and he went away. That guy was Ashwathama.

According to the Hindu text known as Srimad Bhagavatam, Ashwathama, Vyasa, Kripa and Parashurama are destined to be future saptarishis (seven sages), Bali is destined to become the next Indra, Hanuman was blessed by Brahma to live as long as him and Vibhishana was blessed by Rama to live for one kalpa (ie. one full Day Of Brahma).

You may also visit the link for more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswatthama

Also there is a lot of confusion in people. Some people believe that he is immortal, which is not true. He is only cursed to live to the end of this world, which means that he has already lived for around 5000 yrs so far, and would be living for some 2300 yrs or more, as Kalki Bhagwan (10th incarnation of Vishnu Ji is believed to take birth in the 4320th century). After that the kaliyuga will end with one kalpa (day) of Brahma Ji. And Ashwathama will become one of the seven sages of the coming Satyuga.

Jai Shree Ram.