Kali Yuga

In Hinduism, Kali Yuga (Sanskrit: कलियुग, romanized: kaliyuga, lit. 'age of Kali') is the last of the four stages (or ages or yugas) the world goes through as part of a 'cycle of yugas' (i.e. mahayuga) described in the Sanskrit scriptures.[1] The other ages are called Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, and Dvapara Yuga. The "Kali" of Kali Yuga means "strife", "discord", "quarrel" or "contention" and Kali Yuga is associated with the demon Kali (not to be confused with the goddess Kālī).

Not to be confused with goddess Kali.

According to Puranic sources,[2] Krishna's departure marks the end of Dvapara Yuga and the start of Kali Yuga, which is dated to 17/18 February 3102 BCE.[3]

Based on a starting year of 3102 BCE and a duration of 432,000 years (1200 divine years), Kali Yuga began roughly 5,121 years ago and has 426,879 years remaining as of 2020 CE. Kali Yuga will end in the year 428,899 CE.[5]

Possible starting and ending dates
Information kiosk at Bhalka, the place from where Krishna returned to his heavenly abode

According to the Surya Siddhanta, Kali Yuga began at midnight (00:00) on 18 February 3102 BCE.[6] This is also considered the date on which Krishna left the earth to return to Vaikuntha.[7] This information is placed at the temple of Bhalka, the place of this incident (see photo).

According to the astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata the Kali Yuga started in 3102 BCE. He finished his book Aryabhattiyam in 499 CE, in which he gives the exact year of the beginning of Kali Yuga. He writes that he wrote the book in the "year 3600 of the Kali Age" at the age of 23. As it was the 3600th year of the Kali Age when he was 23 years old, and given that Aryabhata was born in 476 CE, the beginning of the Kali Yuga would come to (3600 - (476 + 23) + 1 (As only one year elapses between 1 BCE and 1 CE)) = 3102 BCE.[8]

According to K. D. Abhyankar, the starting point of Kali Yuga is an extremely rare planetary alignment, which is depicted in the Mohenjo-daro seals.[9] Going by this alignment the year 3102 BCE is slightly off. The actual date for this alignment is 7 February 3104 BCE. There is also sufficient proof to believe that Vrdhha Garga knew of precession at least by 500 BCE. Garga had calculated the rate of precession to within 30% of what the modern scholars estimate.[10][11]

Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri[12][13] believed that Kali Yuga ended and that we are presently in ascending Dvapara Yuga. According to Joscelyn Godwin, Yukteswar believed the traditional chronology of the yugas wrong and rigged for political reasons, but that Yukteswar was influenced by the Jain time cycle and the "European myth of progress" and may have had political reasons of his own.[14]

Attributes

Hindus believe that human civilization degenerates spiritually during the Kali Yuga.[15] Common attributes and consequences are spiritual bankruptcy, mindless hedonism, breakdown of all social structure, greed and materialism, unrestricted egotism, afflictions and maladies of mind and body.

Hinduism often symbolically represents morality (dharma) as an Indian bull. In Satya Yuga, the first stage of development, the bull has four legs, but in each age morality is reduced by one quarter. By the age of Kali, morality is reduced to only a quarter of that of the golden age, so that the bull of Dharma has only one leg.[16][17]

References in the Mahabharata

The Kurukshetra War and the decimation of Kauravas thus happened at the Yuga-Sandhi, the point of transition from one yuga to another.[18] The scriptures mention Narada as having momentarily intercepted the demon Kali on his way to the Earth when Duryodhana was about to be born in order to make him an embodiment of arishadvargas and adharma in preparation of the era of decay in values and the consequent havoc.

Prophesied events

A discourse by Markandeya in the Mahabharata identifies some of the attributes of Kali Yuga.[19]

In relation to rulers, it lists:

  • Rulers will become unreasonable: they will levy taxes unfairly.
  • Rulers will no longer see it as their duty to promote spirituality, or to protect their subjects: they will become a danger to the world.
  • People will start migrating, seeking countries where wheat and barley form the staple food source.
  • "At the end of Kali-yuga, when there exist no topics on the subject of God, even at the residences of so-called saints and respectable gentlemen of the three higher varnas (guna or temperament) and when nothing is known of the techniques of sacrifice, even by word, at that time the Lord will appear as the supreme chastiser." (Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.7)

It is also scheduled that the Bhagavata Purana will be composed.

10,000 year "Golden Age"

The Brahma Vaivarta Purana (related to Rathantara kalpa) mentions a ten thousand-year period, starting from the traditional dating of the Kali Yuga epoch, during which bhakti yogis will be present.[20] Krishna foretold that Kali Yuga will be full of extreme hardships for people with ideals and values.

The Brahma-vaivarta Purana has words spoken by Krishna to Mother Ganga just before the beginning of the Kali Yuga (the age of quarrel and strife). The Kali Yuga began approximately five thousand years ago, that golden age is being described below by Krishna. Predicted in Brahma-vaivarta Purana 4.129. The fourth part of the Brahma-vaivarta is called Kṛṣṇa-janma-khanda. Chapter 129 is called Golokarohanam, because it describes how Krishna returns to His abode. This specific dialogue is between Krishna and Mother Ganga. Verse 49 is a question by Ganga, verses 50–60 are Krishna's answer.

This text is taken from the Brahma-vaivarta Purana [14] Text 59:

kaler daṣa-sahasrāṇi

madbhaktāḥ santi bhūtale

ekavarṇā bhaviṣyanti

madbhakteṣu gateṣu ca

"For 10,000 years of Kali such devotees of Mine will be present on earth. After the departure of My devotees there will be only one varna."

The above is supported in 4.90.32–33:

kalau daṣa-sahasrāṇi

haris tiṣṭhati medinī

devānām pratimā pūjyā

śāstrāni ca purāṇakam

"(Sri Krisna said:) Lord Hari will stay on this earth for the first ten-thousand years of Kali-yuga. Till then gods will be worshipped and the Puranas and scriptures will also be present."

Personification
Kalki and his horse, Devadatta.

Kali is the reigning lord of Kali Yuga and his nemesis is Kalki, the tenth and final Avatar of Vishnu. According to the Vishnu Purana, Kali is a negative manifestation working towards the cause of 'the end' or rather towards eventual rejuvenation of the universe.[21]

In Shaivism

Some Shaivites maintain that the ill effects of Kali Yuga can only be moderated by the manifestation of Shiva himself. Shastriji, one of the followers of Haidakhan Babaji, gave the following narration: "Once Parvati asked Lord Shiva, her husband: 'You have done good work for the people in all ages, but I am afraid for the people in the Kali Yuga; how will they safeguard themselves?' Then Lord Shiva told Parvati: 'I will appear in the Kali Yuga and I will create a new state, a new centre of religion - a most important place, where I will live and establish all the Gods there.'"[22] Shastriji went further to suggest that this promise manifested through the person of Haidakhan Babaji.[23] One of the central tenets of Haidakhan Babaji's teachings is the message of Karma Yoga or hard work. In the context of Kali Yuga Haidakhan Babaji explained:

"As I have told you before, the thing needed in this Age is work (karma). In every Age people have reached salvation through different types of action and sadhana (spiritual discipline), but in this Age one can reach liberation only through hard work. I want real, practical human beings and only he is a true human being who lives in accordance with this Age. We need not consider religion or caste, but look only to hard work."[24]

In Sikhism

In Sikhism, Kali Yuga is metaphorically used to describe the state of the world as was commonly understood in the 16th century. It is stressed that one should meditate as much as possible to reach the state of mukti and be liberated or be one with God.

Guru Granth Sahib on Ang:1185 says:

ab kaloo aaeiou rae : Now, the Dark Age of Kali Yuga has come.

eik naam bovahu bovahu : Plant the Name, the Name of the One Lord.

an rooth naahee naahee : It is not the season to plant other seeds.

math bharam bhoolahu bhoolahu : Do not wander lost in doubt and delusion.[25]

Other usage

The Kali Yuga is an important concept in both Theosophy and Anthroposophy,[26][27] and in the writings of Helena Blavatsky, W.Q. Judge, Rudolf Steiner, and Traditionalist philosophers such as René Guénon and Julius Evola, among others. Rudolf Steiner believed that the Kali Yuga ended in 1900.[28]

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See also

References
  1. Smith, John D. (2009). The Mahābhārata: an abridged translation. Penguin Classics (ISBN 978-0-670-08415-9), p. 200
  2. The Bhagavata Purana (1.18.6), Vishnu Purana (5.38.8), and Brahma Purana (2.103.8) state that the day Krishna left the earth was the day that the Dvapara Yuga ended and the Kali Yuga began:
    — Bhagavata Purana Part I. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. 1950. p. 137. (1.18.6) On the very day, and at the very moment the Lord [Krishna] left the earth, on that very day this Kali, the source of irreligiousness, (in this world), entered here.
    — Wilson, H. H. (1895). The Vishnu Purana. S.P.C.K. Press. p. 61. (5.38.8) The Parijata tree proceeded to heaven, and on the same day that Hari [Krishna] departed from the earth the dark-bodied Kali age descended.
    — Brahma Purana Part 2. Motilal Banarsidass. 1955. p. 515. (2.103.8) It was on the day on which Krishna left the Earth and went to heaven that the Kali age, with time for its body set in.
  3. See: Matchett, Freda, "The Puranas", p 139 and Yano, Michio, "Calendar, astrology and astronomy" in Flood, Gavin, ed. (2003). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Blackwell Publishing. pp. 139–140, 390. ISBN 0-631-21535-2.
  4. See Surya-Siddhanta: A Textbook of Hindu Astronomy, trans. Ebenezer Burgess, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 6 (1860): 161-168. Reprinted Minneapolis: Wizards Book Shelf, 1978.
  5. Godwin 2011, p. 301: The Hindu astronomers agree that the Kali Yuga began at midnight between February 17 and 18, 3102 BCE.[4] Consequently it is due to end about 427,000 CE, whereupon a new Golden Age will dawn.
  6. The Induand the Rg-Veda, Page 16, By Egbert Richter-Ushanas, ISBN 81-208-1405-3
  7. "Lord Krishna lived for 125 years". The Times of India. 8 September 2004. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  8. H.D. Dharm Chakravarty Swami Prakashanand Saraswati. Encyclopedia Of Authentic Hinduism The True History and the Religion of India, Hardbound, 2nd Edition, 2003, ISBN 0967382319 Retrieved 2015-01-21
  9. Abhyankar, K. D. (1993). "Astronomical significance to two Mohenjodaro seals". Astronomical Society of India, Bulletin. 21 (3–4): 477. Bibcode:1993BASI...21..475A.
  10. Abhyankar, K. D. (1993). "Astronomical significance to two Mohenjodaro seals". Astronomical Society of India, Bulletin. 21 (3–4): 475. Bibcode:1993BASI...21..475A.
  11. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. The Holy Science, by Jnanavatar Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, Yogoda Sat-Sanga Society of India, 1949
  13. Yogananda, Paramhansa (August 2008). Autobiography of a Yogi. BiblioBazaar. pp. 200–201. ISBN 978-0-554-22466-4.
  14. Godwin, Joscelyn (2011). Atlantis and the Cycles of Time: Prophecies, Traditions, and Occult Revelations. Inner Traditions. pp. 330–332. ISBN 9781594778575.
  15. Dimitri Kitsikis, L'Orocc, dans l'âge de Kali, Editions Naaman,1985, ISBN 2-89040-359-9
  16. "The Mahabharata, Book 3: Vana Parva: Markandeya-Samasya Parva: Section CLXXXIX". Sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  17. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.16.20
  18. "Epic lessons for Kali Yuga: Rereading the 'Mahabharata' in our contemporary moment". The Hindu.
  19. Mahabharata SECTION CLXXXIX
  20. Ramesh Chaturvedi, Shantilal Nagar. Brahmavaivarta Purana. Parimal Publications. 2001. ISBN 978-81-7110-170-2. Online Book 4, Chapter 129, versus 49–60
  21. "Chap. Vii". Sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  22. The Teachings of Babaji, 25 December 1981.
  23. "Having some doubt, Kartikeya, son of Lord Shiva, once asked what would happen to man during the Kali Yuga when there would be so much trouble in the world. The Holy utterance of Lord Shiva was that he would manifest in the Kali Yuga to uplift the world and liberate those who turn to God. Shiva now lives among us in Shri Babaji, who is doing the services for mankind now from Herakhan Vishwa Mahadham." The Teachings of Babaji. 30 October 1982.
  24. The Teachings of Babaji. 21 March 1983.
  25. "Enabling Gurmat Knowledge". SikhiToTheMAX. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  26. Christopher Bamford (ed.). Spiritualism, Madame Blavatsky & Theosophy: An Eyewitness View of Occult History : Lectures by Rudolf Steiner.
  27. Kevin T. Dann (2000). Across the Great Border Fault: The Naturalist Myth in America. Rutgers University Press.
  28. Christopher Bamford (ed.). Spiritualism, Madame Blavatsky & Theosophy: An Eyewitness View of Occult History : Lectures by Rudolf Steiner.

Further reading
  • Glass, Marty Yuga: An Anatomy of our Fate (Hillsdale, NY: Sophia Perennis, 2004)
  • Guénon, René The Crisis of the Modern World, translated by Arthur Osborne, Marco Pallis and Richard C. Nicholson (Hillsdale, NY: Sophia Perennis, 2004)
  • Lings, Martin The Eleventh Hour: The Spiritual Crisis of the Modern World in the Light of Tradition and Prophecy (Cambridge, UK: Archetype, 2002)
  • Sotillos, Samuel Bendeck "New Age or the Kali-Yuga?" AHP Perspective, April/May 2013, pp. 15–21.
  • Upton, Charles Legends of the End: Prophecies of the End Times, Antichrist, Apocalypse, and Messiah from Eight Religious Traditions (Hillsdale, NY: Sophia Perennis, 2005)

The dictionary definition of Kali Yuga at Wiktionary

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