Kali Yuga, the consciousness of lower chakras decadence & desires

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Description of the Age of Kali (the consciousness of lower chakras

decadence & desires)

 

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 overeating,

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. " (Srimad-Bhagavatam

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. " (Srimad-Bhagavatam 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 vision,

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. " (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.4.16-18)...

 

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 diminish. Since Dharma,

or the principles of religion, would be lost in the proportion 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....

 

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 will 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 administrative 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 will 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 fallen 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.

(Srimad-Bhagavatam 1:16:19-22).

 

In the twelth canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam Srila Sukadeva Goswami

relates how after the thorough degradation 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 man's good birth, proper behavior and fine

qualities. And law and justice will be applied only on the basis of

one's 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 one's

expertise in sex, and a man will be known as a brahmana just by

his wearing a thread. A person's 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

person's propriety 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 will 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 one's 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 family 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 better than

ordinary thieves, 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 completely 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 religion

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 devoid 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. " (Srimad-Bhagavatam 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

predominance 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,

unfortunate, 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

intellectuals 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 saintly 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 exclusively 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 mendicant's dress. Those who know nothing about religion will

mount a high seat and presume to speak on religious principles.

 

In the age of Kali, people's 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 rest, 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 their

respectable wives. Thoroughly degraded, they will care only to

satisfy their own bellies and genitals. " (Srimad-Bhagavatam 12.3.24-

42).

 

Description of the Age of Kali (the consciousness of lower chakras

decadence & desires)

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