We believe that the four yugas represent time spans on the calendar as an external entity. Vedanta just does not look at time as an external entity. Time is a state of mind. So, these four *Yugas*, they surely are states of mind. Satya Yuga is when the mind is totally centred in the Self, the Truth. Treta is when the mind is identified with thoughts. Dvapara is the body, and Kali Yuga is saṃsāra.
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तदेतत् सत्यं मन्त्रेषु कर्माणि कवयो यान्यपश्यंस्तानि त्रेतायां बहुधा संततानि। तान्याचरथ नियतं सत्यकामा एष वः पन्थाः सुकृतस्य लोके ॥
tadetat satyaṁ mantreṣu karmāṇi kavayo yānyapaśyaṁstāni tretāyāṁ bahudhā saṁtatāni. tānyācaratha niyataṁ satyakāmā eṣa vaḥ panthāḥ sukṛtasya loke.
This is That, the Truth of things: works which the sages beheld in the Mantras were in the Treta manifoldly extended. Works do ye perform religiously with the one passion for the Truth; this is your road to the heaven of good deeds.
~ Mandukya Upanishad, Part 2, Verse 1
