Kali Yuga, Time of Opportunity

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Kali Yuga, Time of Opportunity

 

The Kali-Yuga, the present age, is the fourth of the yugas.

 

The beginning of Kali Yuga traditionally dates from the death of

Krishna, the eighth Avatar of Vishnu. Sathya Sai Baba has confirmed

that the Kali Yuga began 20th December, 3102 BC, which was the day

when Krishna attained mahasamadhi.

 

As predicted several millennia ago in the Bhagavata Purana, the

present Dark Age of Kali is the time of increasing deterioration,

disorder and decline.

 

But the Kali Yuga is at the same time a period of great opportunity,

because it is the time in which spiritual advancement can be made

most quickly.

 

As Sri Sathya Sai Baba tells us, the liberation itself can be easily

attained in the present Age of Kali, through just Naamasmarana,

remembrance of the Name of God.

 

Below are some extracts from Divine Discourses.

 

"This Kali Yuga is praised in the scriptures as incomparably

conducive to the salvation of man, for he can now attain the Highest

through the mere thought of God and remembering His Name. So of all

the Yugas, this Yuga is described as the most holy, the most

beneficient. Dhyana (meditation) was prescribed as the means of

liberation for men in the Kritha Yuga, Ascetism as the means during

the Tretha Yuga and ritual worship for the Dwapara Yuga. But, for

people of this Yuga, the simple remedy prescribed is just

Namasmarana, the constant awareness of the Name. In spite of this,

it is a pity that men do not care for this path and so render their

lives barren wastes."

SSS Vol XI, Chap. 28, pag. 162

 

"The spiritual discipline for each Age has been prescribed by the

scriptures; for the Kritha (First Age), it is dhyaana (meditation);

for the Thretha, the second, it is dharma (righteousness); for the

Dwaapara, the third, it is archana (ritual worship) and for the

present age, the Kali, it is Naamasmarana, the remembrance of the

Name of God."

Divine Discourse Yugaadhi, 27 March 1971

 

"Though the evil is thickest in this Kali Age, the remedy is the

simplest."

SSS Vol VIII, Chap. 22, pag. 132

 

"In the Kali Yuga, through just Namasmarana and remembrance of God

we can reach the goal."

SSS Vol XI, Chap. 33, pag. 186

 

"It's easiest to get liberation in the Kali Yuga; it can be done

through singing the glory of the Lord and listening to the Name

being sung."

SSS Vol XI, Chap. 43, pag. 245

 

"The Kali Yuga offers more facilities for liberation than previous

ones."

SSS Vol X, Chap. 53, pag. 339

 

"In the Kali Yuga only Namasmarana is needed to acquire liberation."

SSS Vol IV, Chap. 18, pag. 106

 

 

Here follows an article by K S Ram published in India Times

Spirituality:

http://spirituality.indiatimes.com/articleshow/152451.cms

 

The Redeeming Aspect Of Kaliyuga

K S Ram

 

We have gotten into the habit of blaming all our ills on the times

in which we live. We often exclaim: "This is Kaliyuga, so what else

do you expect?" Kaliyuga has come to personify all that is bad and

undesirable. We feel accursed and we envy the blessed ones who were

born in the Sat, Treta or Dwapar yugas. We attribute our misfortune

to karma and resign ourselves to our fate. This attitude leads to

low self-esteem which in turn can do enormous damage.

 

Kaliyuga, like the other three yugas, is the creation of God. And

all of God's creation has His blessings however different they are

from one another. Tulsidas, in his Ramcharitmanas, discusses this

point. Kakbhushundi, the deathless, wise crow of many births,

compares the different yugas or ages. He calls Kaliyuga "the hot-bed

of sin" where, he says: "Religion is stifled. Impostors invent and

promulgate a number of heretical creeds. Everyone is addicted to

sensuality and greed and passion. The guru and the pupil are like

the blind and the deaf: the former cannot see, the latter does not

heed. Parents teach their children the duty of filling the belly.

Everybody follows a course of conduct of his own imagination. There

is universal lawlessness. The meanest churl, if only he is rich, is

accounted noble. Men practise sin and reap pain, terror, sickness,

sorrow and bereavement. Duplicity, perversity, hypocrisy, malice,

heresy, arrogance, infatuation, lust, pride and the like pervade the

whole universe...

 

"Men practise prayer, penance and charity, perform sacrifices and

undertake sacred vows with some unholy design. The gods rain not

upon the earth and foodgrains sown in the soil do not germinate. Men

are afflicted with diseases and find no enjoyment anywhere. They are

conceited and contend with others without cause. Though their lives

are short, in their pride they reckon on outliving the end of the

aeon..." He sums up by calling Kaliyuga "a storehouse of pollution

and vice".

 

However, few are aware of a redeeming feature of Kaliyuga. According

to Kakbhushundi, Kaliyuga has many virtues, too, of which the most

important is that in Kaliyuga, "escape from the cycle of birth and

death is easy". The wise crow says: "The goal which in the first

three ages is reached by solemn worship, sacrifice and austerity, is

attained in Kaliyuga by merely chanting the Lord's name..."

 

In Satyuga, everyone is possessed of mystic powers and wisdom; in

that age men cross the ocean of birth and death by meditating on

God. In Tretayuga, men perform sacrifices of various kinds and

escape rebirth by dedicating their actions to the Lord. In

Dwaparyuga, men have no other expedient than ritual worship. "But in

Kaliyuga all we have to do is chant the story of Hari's perfection.

The power of the Name is manifest in Kaliyuga," says the wise crow.

 

He says: "Merit or punya conceived in the mind is rewarded but

demerit or paap earned by the mind is not punished... so no other

age can compare with Kaliyuga, provided man has faith in its

virtue."

 

Ironic, isn't it, that when an age seems conducive to moral and

spiritual well-being, as in Satyuga, enormous effort is required to

attain liberation. On the contrary, in Kaliyuga where conditions are

not conducive to spiritual evolution, it is easier methods which

work. Chant the Lord's Holy Name, fix Him in your mind, and tide

across the bhav-sagar (the ocean of existence) almost effortlessly.

The effort required for spiritual liberation is inversely

proportional to the moral intensity of the age. So are we not

blessed to be born in Kaliyuga?