I was reading the Bhagavad Purana, and in the 12th Chapter (Skandha) is the following description of Kaliyug (in which we are living) which I thought had a striking resemblance to the prevailing conditions in India:
"As the Age turns to evil (that is, when Kaliyug begins) every virtue decays and vanishes : honesty, forbearance, kindness, memory and strength disappear.
Wealth replaces a noble birth, character and conduct. Might becomes right, for might alone determines dharma and justice.
Trade and fraudulent practice become synonymous.
The law will favour only the rich, and will have no regard for justice. He that can curse and swear best will be considered the finest scholar.
Poverty will be sufficient cause to establish guilt in the eyes of the law, while wealth and ostentation will be indices of character.
Rudeness and brashness of speech will be equal to dharma.
He that maintains his family by the foulest means will be considered respectable. Dharma will be observed only for exhibition.
Whoever is strong and daring will become the king, and will rule like greedy lustful bandits, with plunder and rapine of their own subjects, who will often flee such tyranny and seek refuge in forests and mountains.
Exhausted by cruel taxes, deprived of rains in lands from which true dharma has fled, the people will subsist on wild vegetation, roots, flesh, fruits, flowers, etc.
Kings will become mere robbers, and men, driven by despair and poverty, will become thieves, liars and murderers.
Men will become bestial and perverse-- miserly, ruthless, greedy and vindictive for the flimsiest reasons.
Arrogance, hypocrisy, deception, dishonesty, sloth, somnolence, cruelty of every kind, delusion, terror and wretchedness will rule.
Brigands and robbers will rule the land. Kings will all be tyrants.
People will espouse gluttony, lasciviousness and venality of every kind.
The vilest men will become the foremost traders, making cheating and thievery the common practice of the marketplace. Even when they are not threatened with any danger, men will take to forbidden means to earn their livelihood, and pride themselves on it.
Relationships between parents and children, brothers, friends and relations will not be valued.
Seated upon the sacred thrones of great and holy gurus of yore, men that are masters only of vice will expound dharma to the gullible populace.
Depleted by dreadful taxes, tormented by drought, starved, owning none of the bare necessities of life---homes, clothes, food and drink, a bed, a bath,etc. --men will seem more like bhutas and pisachas.
Over small matters, members of the same family will fight their own blood relations, even unto death, forgetting all ties of affection.
No one will bother to look after their old parents any more, they will only live for themselves, and will neglect their own children. "
--Bhagavad Purana- 12th Chapter.
Is this not a glaring reflection on the condition of Indian society today? And this was written two thousand years ago! Truly, our ancestors were men of great vision, who could see two thousand years into the future.
- Justice Markandey
"As the Age turns to evil (that is, when Kaliyug begins) every virtue decays and vanishes : honesty, forbearance, kindness, memory and strength disappear.
Wealth replaces a noble birth, character and conduct. Might becomes right, for might alone determines dharma and justice.
Trade and fraudulent practice become synonymous.
The law will favour only the rich, and will have no regard for justice. He that can curse and swear best will be considered the finest scholar.
Poverty will be sufficient cause to establish guilt in the eyes of the law, while wealth and ostentation will be indices of character.
Rudeness and brashness of speech will be equal to dharma.
He that maintains his family by the foulest means will be considered respectable. Dharma will be observed only for exhibition.
Whoever is strong and daring will become the king, and will rule like greedy lustful bandits, with plunder and rapine of their own subjects, who will often flee such tyranny and seek refuge in forests and mountains.
Exhausted by cruel taxes, deprived of rains in lands from which true dharma has fled, the people will subsist on wild vegetation, roots, flesh, fruits, flowers, etc.
Kings will become mere robbers, and men, driven by despair and poverty, will become thieves, liars and murderers.
Men will become bestial and perverse-- miserly, ruthless, greedy and vindictive for the flimsiest reasons.
Arrogance, hypocrisy, deception, dishonesty, sloth, somnolence, cruelty of every kind, delusion, terror and wretchedness will rule.
Brigands and robbers will rule the land. Kings will all be tyrants.
People will espouse gluttony, lasciviousness and venality of every kind.
The vilest men will become the foremost traders, making cheating and thievery the common practice of the marketplace. Even when they are not threatened with any danger, men will take to forbidden means to earn their livelihood, and pride themselves on it.
Relationships between parents and children, brothers, friends and relations will not be valued.
Seated upon the sacred thrones of great and holy gurus of yore, men that are masters only of vice will expound dharma to the gullible populace.
Depleted by dreadful taxes, tormented by drought, starved, owning none of the bare necessities of life---homes, clothes, food and drink, a bed, a bath,etc. --men will seem more like bhutas and pisachas.
Over small matters, members of the same family will fight their own blood relations, even unto death, forgetting all ties of affection.
No one will bother to look after their old parents any more, they will only live for themselves, and will neglect their own children. "
--Bhagavad Purana- 12th Chapter.
Is this not a glaring reflection on the condition of Indian society today? And this was written two thousand years ago! Truly, our ancestors were men of great vision, who could see two thousand years into the future.
- Justice Markandey
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