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Description of Kali-yuga
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To: alt-hindu@uunet.uu.net
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Subject: Description of Kali-yuga
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From: nparker@crl.com (Nathan Parker)
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Date: 13 Mar 1995 10:19:45 -0800
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From nparker@crl.com Mon Mar 13 13: 10:18 1995
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Newsgroups: alt.hindu
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Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [Login: guest]
What follows is a description of the age of Kali as found in the Vedic
scriptures. Kali-yuga (the age of quarrel) started 5,000 years ago (3,102
B.C.) and is scheduled to last a total of 432,000 years, leaving 427,000
years to go. At the end of Kali-yuga (i.e., in 427,000 years) The
yuga-cycle will start over with Satya-yuga, the Age of Truth. We should
all note the Bhagavatam's mentioning that in Kali-yuga many cheaters will
claim themselves to be God, as we can see that practically today.
And for all the DK and LTTE members on sct and scs-l, you will probably
rejoice in the description of Brahmanism in the Age of Kali (which of
course is not saying _all_ Brahmanas are like this).
yours,
jnd
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Description of the Age of Kali
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In the fourteenth chapter of the last canto of the "Paramahamsa
Samhita" portion of the Vayu Purana, named "Sri Gauranga Candra Udaya",
Lord Brahma prays to the Supreme Lord Sri Hari thus:
"In the age of Kali, people are spontaneously attracted to sinful
activities and are devoid of the regulations of the scriptures. The
so-called "twice-born" are degraded by their low-class activities and
those who are born in low-class families are alway s hostile to
brahminical culture. The twice-born are low-class by quality and do
business by selling mantras. These so-called learned men are absorbed in
their intestines and genitals and their only identification is the thread
they wear. Indulging in ove reating, absorbed in bodily consciousness,
lazy, intellectually dull and greedy for others properties, they are
consistantly against God-consciousness. Due to being overly inclined
towards false paths without essence, they manufacture their own processes
for self-realisation. Neglecting their actual duties they are expert in
blaspheming You (the Supreme Personality of Godhead) and the saintly
persons; hence again Mother Earth is in tears due to this burden.
Therefore, Oh Lord of the Universe, destroyer of the miseries of the
destitute, please mercifully do what is befitting for the protection of
the Earth and the living entities."
"The very day and moment the Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri
Krsna, left this earth, the personality of Kali, who promotes all kinds of
irreligious activities, came into this world." (S.B. 1.18.6)
"O learned one, in this iron age of Kali men have but short lives.
They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always
disturbed." (S.B. 1.1.10)
Foreseeing the incompetencies of the people in this age of Kali or
the iron age of quarrel, great sages and saintly people throughout the
ages have sort to benefit the general mass of people by revealing to them
the knowledge contained in the scriptures, whereby they may attain relief
from the inflictions of this most degraded and dangerous of all ages.
Elaborate description of the anomolies of Kali-yuga and the plight
of the living entities is given in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Therein it is
described how as the sun rose and after taking his morning ablutions in
the waters of the Sarasvati, Vyasadeva sat alone to concentrate.
"The great sage Vyasadeva saw anomilies in the duties of the
millennium. This happens on the earth in different ages, due to unseen
forces in the course of time. The great sage, who was fully equipped in
knowledge, could see, through his transcendental v ision, the
deterioration of everything material, due to the influence of the age. He
could also see that the faithless people in general would be reduced in
duration of life and would be impatient due to lack of goodness. Thus he
contemplated for the welf are of men in all statuses and orders of life."
(S.B. 1.4.16-18)
In the purport to these verses Srila Prabhupada describes
Kali-yuga in this way: "The unmanifested forces of time are so powerful
that they can reduce all matter to oblivion in due course. In Kali-yuga,
the last millennium of a round of four millenniums , the power of all
material objects deteriorates by the influence of time. In this age the
material body of the people in general is reduced, and so is the memory.
The action of matter has also not so much incentive. The land does not
produce food grains in the same proportions as it did in other ages. The
cow does not give as much milk as it did formerly. The production of
vegetables and fruits is less than before. As such, all living beings,
both men and animals, do not have sumptuous, nourishing food. Due to want
of so many necessities of life, naturally the duration of life is reduced,
the memory is short, intelligence is meager, mutual dealings are full of
hypocricy and so on.
The great sage Vyasadeva could see this by his transcendental
vision. As an astrologer can see the future fate of a man, or an
astronomer can foretell the solar and lunar eclipses, those liberated
souls who can see through the scriptures can foretell the future of
mankind. They can see this due to their sharp vision of spiritual
attainment.
And all such transcendentalists, who are naturally devotees of the
Lord, are always eager to render welfare service to the people in general.
They are the real friends of the people in general, not the so-called
public leaders who are unable to see what is going to happen five minutes
ahead. In this age the people in general as well as their so-called
leaders are all unlucky fellows, faithless in spiritual knowledge and
influenced by the age of Kali. They are always disturbed by various
diseases. For exa mple, in the present age there are so many TB patients
and TB hospitals, but formerly this was not so because the time was not so
unfavourable."
Elsewhere in the Srimad Bhagavatam Srila Prabhupada further
reveals the degredation of human society. "In the Kali-yuga the population
is just a royal edition of the animals. They have nothing to do with
spiritual knowledge or godly religious life. They are so blind that they
cannot see anything beyond the jurisdiction of the subtle mind,
intelligence or ego, but they are very much proud of their advancement in
knowledge, science and material prosperity. They can risk their lives to
become a dog or hog j ust after leaving the present body, for they have
completely lost sight of the ultimate aim of life." (S.B.1.3.43)
The people of the world in this age of Kali are always full of
anxieties. Everyone is diseased with some kind of ailment. From the very
faces of the people of this age, one can find out the index of the mind.
Everyone feels the absence of his relative wh o is away from home. The
particular symptom of the age of Kali is that no family is now blessed to
live together. To earn a livelihood, the father lives at a place far away
from the son, or the wife lives far away from the husband and so on. There
are suf ferings from internal diseases, separation from those near and
dear, and anxieties for maintaining the status quo. These are but some
important factors which make the people of this age always unhappy.
With the progress of the age of Kali, four things particularly,
namely the duration of life, mercy, the power of recollection, and moral
or religious principles will gradually dimminish. Since Dharma, or the
principles of religion, would be lost in the p roportion of three out of
four, the symbolic bull is standing on one leg only. When three fourths of
the whole world become irreligious, the situation is converted into hell
for the animals. In the age of Kali, godless civilizations will create so
many so -called religious societies in which the Personality of Godhead
will be directly or indirectly defied. And thus faithless societies of men
will make the world uninhabitable for the saner section of people.
Beef is forbidden in the scriptures, and the bull and cows are
offerred special protection by the followers of the Vedas. But in this age
of Kali, people will exploit the body of the bull and the cow as they
like, and thus they will invite sufferings of various types.
The people of this age will not perform any sacrifice. The mleccha
population will care very little for performances of sacrifices, although
performance of sacrifice is essential for persons who are materially
engaged in sense enjoyment. The mlecchas, ho wever, make plans to install
slaughterhouses for killing bulls and cows along with other animals,
thinking that they will prosper by increasing the number of factories and
live on animal food without caring for performance of sacrifices and
production of grains.
In this age of Kali, the women and the children, along with the
brahmanas and cows, will be grossly neglected and left unprotected. In
this age illicit connection with women will render many women and children
uncared for. Circumstantially, the women wil l try to become independent
of the protection of men, and marriage will be performed as a matter of
formal agreement between man and woman. In most cases the children will
not be taken care of properly. The brahmanas are traditionally intelligent
men, and thus they will be able to pick up modern education to the topmost
rank, but as far as moral and religious principles are concerned, they
shall be the most fallen. Education and bad character go ill together, but
such things will run parallel. The adminis trative heads as a class will
condemn the tenets of Vedic wisdom and will prefer to conduct a so-called
secular state, and the so-called educated brahmanas will be purchased by
such unscrupulous administrators. Even a philosopher and writer of many
books on religious principles may also accept an exalted post in a
government which denies all the moral codes of the sastras. The brahmanas
are specifically restricted from accepting such service. But in this age
they will not only accept service, but they wil l do so even if it is of
the meanest quality. These are some of the symptoms of the Kali age which
are harmful to the general welfare of human society.
In this age, people are indulging in the necessities of life,
eating, sleeping, defending and mating, without following the rules and
regulations, and this deterioration of social and moral rules is certainly
lamentable because of the harmful effects of such beastly behavior. In
this age, the fathers and the guardians are not happy with the behavior of
their wards. They should know that so many innocent children are victims
of bad association awarded by the influence of this age of Kali. In this
age of Kali the poor innocent students are daily victims of cinemas which
attract men only for sex indulgence.
Nowadays, men without proper training by culture and tradition are
promoted to exalted posts by the votes of the people who are themselves
fallen in the rules and regulations of life. How can such people select a
proper man when they are themselves falle n in the standard of life?
Therefore, by the influence of the age of Kali, everywhere, politically,
socially or religiously, everything is topsy-turvy, and therefore for the
sane man it is most regrettable. (S.B.1:16:19-22).
In the twelth canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam Srila Sukadeva
Goswami relates how after the thorough degredation of the brahminical and
administrative classes these and other symptoms of Kali-yuga increase to
an intolerable level.
"Sukadeva Goswami said: Then, O King, religion, truthfulness,
cleanliness, tolerance, mercy, duration of life, physical strength and
memory will all diminish day by day because of the powerful influence of
the age of Kali. In Kali-yuga, wealth alone will be considered a sign of a
mans good birth, proper behavior and fine qualities. And law and justice
will be applied only on the basis of ones power. Men and women will live
together merely because of superficial attraction, and success in business
will depend on deceit. Womanliness and manliness will be judged according
to ones expertise in sex, and a man will be known as a brahmana just by
his wearing a thread. A persons spiritual position will be ascertained
merely according to external symbols, and on the same basis people will
change from one spiritual order to the next. A persons propiety will be
seriously questioned if he does not earn a good living. And one who is
very clever at juggling words will be considered a learned scholar. A
person wil l be judged unholy if he does not have money, and hypocrisy
will be accepted as virtue. Marriage will be arranged simply by verbal
agreement, and a person will think he is fit to appear in public if he has
merely taken a bath. A sacred place will be taken to consist of no more
than a reservoir of water located at a distance, and beauty will be
thought to depend on ones hairstyle. Filling the belly will become the
goal of life, and one who is audacious will be accepted as truthful. He
who can maintain a f amily will be regarded as an expert man, and the
principles of religion will be observed only for the sake of reputation.
As the earth becomes crowded with a corrupt population, whoever
among any of the social classes shows himself to be the strongest will
gain political power. Losing their wives and properties to such avaricious
and merciless rulers, who will behave no bet ter than ordinary theives,
the citizens will flee to the mountains and forests. Harassed by famine
and excessive taxes, people will resort to eating leaves, roots, flesh,
wild honey, fruits, flowers and seeds. Struck by drought, they will become
completel y ruined. The citizens will suffer greatly from cold, wind,
heat, rain and snow. They will be further tormented by quarrels, hunger,
thirst, disease and severe anxiety. The maximum duration of life for human
beings in Kali-yuga will become fifty years.
By the time the age of Kali ends, the bodies of all creatures will
be greatly reduced in size, and the religious principles of followers of
varnasrama will be ruined. The path of the Vedas will be completely
forgotten in human society, and so-called reli gion will be mostly
atheistic. The kings will mostly be theives, the occupations of men will
be stealing, lying and needless violence, and all the social classes will
be reduced to the lowest level of sudras. Cows will be like goats,
spiritual hermitages will be no different from mundane houses, and family
ties will extend no further than the immediate bonds of marriage. Most
plants and herbs will be tiny, and all trees will appear like dwarf sami
trees. Clouds will be full of lightning, homes will be dev oid of piety,
and all human beings will have become like asses. At that time, the
Supreme Personality of Godhead will appear on the earth. Acting with the
power of pure spiritual goodness, He will rescue eternal religion."
(S.B.12.2.1-16)
"In the age of Kali only one fourth of the religious principles
remains. That last remnant will continuously be decreased by the
ever-increasing principles of irreligion and will finally be destroyed.
In the age of Kali people tend to be greedy, ill-behaved and
merciless, and they fight one another without good reason. Unfortunate and
obsessed with material desires, the people of Kali-yuga are almost all
sudras and barbarians. When there is a predomin ance of cheating, lying,
sloth, sleepiness, violence, depression, lamentation, bewilderment, fear
and poverty, that age is Kali, the age of the mode of ignorance. Because
of the bad qualities of the age of Kali, human beings will become
shortsighted, unfo rtunate, gluttonous, lustful and poverty-stricken. The
women, becoming unchaste, will freely wander from one man to the next.
Cities will be dominated by theives, the Vedas will be contaminated by
speculative interpretations of atheists, political leaders will virtually
consume the citizens, and the so-called priests and intellectualls will be
devotees of their bellies and genitals. The brahmacaris will fail to
execute their vows and become generally unclean, the householders will
become beggars, the varn aprasthas will live in the villages, and the
sannyasis will become greedy for wealth.
Women become much smaller in size, and they will eat too much,
have more children than they can properly take care of, and lose all
shyness. They will speak harshly and will exhibit qualities of theivery,
deceit and unrestrained audacity.
Businessmen will engage in petty commerce and earn their money by
cheating. Even when there is no emergency, people will consider any
degraded occupation quite acceptable. Servants will abandon a master who
has lost his wealth, even if that master is a s aintly person of exemplary
character. Masters will abandon an incapacitated servant, even if that
servant has been in the family for generations. Cows will be abandoned or
killed when they stop giving milk.
In Kali-yuga men will be wretched and controlled by women. They
will reject their fathers, brothers, other relatives and friends and will
instead associate with the sisters and brothers of their wives. Thus their
conception of friendship will be based ex clusively on sexual ties.
Uncultured men will accept charity on behalf of the Lord and will earn
their livelihood by making a show of austerity and wearing a mendicants
dress. Those who know nothing about religion will mount a high seat and
presume to speak on religious principles.
In the age of Kali, peoples minds will always be agitated. They
will become emanciated by famine and taxation, my dear King, and will
always be disturbed by fear of drought. They will lack adequate clothing,
food and drink, will be unable to properly re st, have sex or bathe
themselves, and will have no ornaments to decorate their bodies. In fact,
the people of Kali-yuga will gradually come to appear like ghostly,
haunted creatures.
In Kali-yuga men will develop hatred for each other even over a
few coins. Giving up friendly relations, they will be ready to lose their
own lives and kill even their own relatives. Men will no longer protect
their elderly parents, their children or the ir respectable wives.
Thoroughly degraded, they will care only to satisfy their own bellies and
genitals.
O King, in the age of Kali peoples intelligence will be diverted
by atheism, and they will almost never offer sacrifice to the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, who is the supreme spiritual master of the
universe. Although the great personalities who cont rol the three worlds
all bow down to the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, the petty and
miserable human beings of this age will not do so.
Terrified, about to die, a man collapses on his bed. Although his
voice is faltering and he is hardly conscious of what he is saying, if he
utters the holy name of the Supreme Lord he can be freed from the reaction
of his fruitive work and achieve the su preme destination. But still
people in the age of Kali will not worship the Supreme Lord."
(S.B.12.3.24-44).
