In the previous episode, we had witnessed the commencement of the twelfth Skandha in our Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana project, wherein Sage Sukhaachaarya is explaining the nature of the world post Bhagawan Krishna’s tenure. In other words, we’ve to understand here that after Bhagawan Krishna left for Vaikunta, the Dwaapara Yuga comes to an end, and with that, the Kali Yuga commences. At this point, Sage Sukhaachaarya explains how this world would be in the Kali Yuga and what the “Kali-Yuga Dharma” is going to be. As King Parikshit listens on, Sage Sukhaachaarya commences his explanation by declaring that people’s height and life span would be the least in this Yuga, as compared to the other three Yugas that have just taken place. He continues explaining that in this Kali Yuga, people would be facing acute scarcity for key resources for living a life – Particularly water. He says that there would be enormous fights for water-sharing, which even today we’re witnessing in our day-to-day life as well.
Moreover, people would start commercializing everything possible in this world – Right from land, water, air, art forms, etc., everything in this world would be seen only in the outlook and context of money, name and fame. People would go to any extent to accomplish these three things in their lives. If someone tries to pin-point this “Adharma”, he / she would be neutralized through all sort of unethical means and justice for such crimes would never be given on time and correctly. Our Indian judicial system at present is the classical example for this, which is happening right under our nose! So for those who are fretting the quality of justice that we’re getting from our judiciary, we’ve to accept the hard fact that things would be this way only in this Kali Yuga, and move on with our lives!
Moving on thus, Sage Sukhaachaarya continues with the next point here. He now talks how marriages would happen in Kali Yuga. The level would go down to such an extent that if it is a boy and a girl, marriage would take place between them, irrespective of whichever clan, or Gothra, or religion or whatever. Gone are those days wherein people were emphasizing on these parameters for marrying their sons or daughters. Now in this Kali Yuga, nothing is going to matter. In fact, we’re witnessing this too in many places even in India – forget the western world or other countries. Moreover, Sage Sukhaachaarya adds another point in this regard – Where is the beauty of a human being going to rest upon in the Kali Yuga? It is primarily going to be on the hairstyle! People would invest a lot of time and money in beautifying their hair and it is with this, a person would be judged to be beautiful or handsome. Beauty is no more going to be measured with regards to the purity of the heart or soul. Only external beauty especially that of the hair is going to matter the most from now onwards! Even today, we’re witnessing how much of investment we’re making in grooming our hair and making it look “stylish” and “attractive” for the outside world! We now have enormous business markets for beauty hair stylists across the world isn’t it? This in itself has become a profession for many! Especially during the eve of some auspicious functions like marriage, parties, etc. people spend hours together, along with truckloads of money to “beautify” their hair! In fact, sometimes we might even think that these people were looking better before doing all this hairstyling! J Ultimately, we should understand that the beauty of the “Atman” is more important than the beauty of our “Shareera”. However, having said thus, this is going to be norm of the Kali Yuga and we’ve to live with it!
Moving ahead with the next important point thus, Sage Sukhaachaarya explains that in Kali Yuga, only those people who are “smart” in nature would be successful in both their personal and professional lives! In the previous Yugas, a person who was good and kind-hearted in nature was extremely successful in his / her life. However in the Kali Yuga, this is not going to bear any fruit! Only those who are smart and “pervertedly intelligent” would be able to taste success. In other words, those people who are able to cheat and outsmart others in terms of moral ethics and other important value systems in life, are going to taste success. Although we might keep complaining that this is unethical and unprofessional, etc. all of it would be turned down by deaf ears and this is the norm of the Kali Yuga!
As days, months, years and centuties roll by, gradually even kings and administrators would become thieves! I don’t need to even talk about this in today’s scenario, and we’ve witnessed this atleast for the past seventy years of indepenedent India. Prior to that too, we’ve witnessed in our history text books as to how the British, Mughals, etc. looted and plundered all the wealth of India. Again, we might fret about all of these, but whether we like it or not, this is how the Kali Yuga spans out to be! So again, no complaints!
So for today, let us understand these important points narrated by Sage Sukhaachaarya and with this, we understand how valid his narratives in today’s world that we see around us are! We’re going to continue this discussion in the next episode as well and we’re in for more “shockers”! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 