One cycle is twelve thousand million years. The scientists do not know anything at all about cycles, but this hint will open their eyes. The evolution of the world began two billion years ago and evolution, which started from the nebula, will last until the completion of the cycle — when the Mahapralaya [the total dissolution of the universe] will take place.

The human form has been evolving for millions of years and will continue to evolve. After a billion years, man will only be five inches in height at the most but will be very brainy. In the beginning of this cycle, man was fourteen feet tall and would live up to 300 years.

Baba then expounded about the gaseous structure of the universe:

From the nebula came the four elements, though they were not produced simultaneously. First came heat, then crust, rocks and lastly, water.

What is there in the universe? Billions and billions of nebulae. Every nebula contains millions of worlds and ours is the earth. What is there in the whole universe? It is gas in its 276 subtle states. Before gas turns into the first manifestation of the gross, it evolves through 276 subtle stages. None of the scientists knows about these 276 subtle forms of gas before its first manifestation in the gross. Subtle gas very gradually turns into gross form such as hydrogen, oxygen, et cetera. In the nebulae, in all heavenly bodies, and in the planets there is evolution. All of evolution begins from the nebulae. The 276 subtle stages begin from the beginning of the nebulae, which are at the source of subtle energy (Pran) and subtle space (Akash).

The gas left over after cooling turned into air; and there is no air 100 miles beyond our earth. This means that, even before the elements — not before heat, but before water — the electron evolved. 

In the beginning, our world was very, very hot. After slowly cooling down, what happened? All the gas was solidified. As the planet became cooler, a crust formed. With the gradual cooling, the earth's crust became solid and the center remained hot. Rocks were formed from the crust. The center is full of gas and extremely hot. There are natural gaps in the crust, because the formation of the rocks was not regular.

What happened then was, when the gas became cool, it turned into liquid; and this liquid (water) seeped in between the rocks.