123 -Foretelling Future (contd.)

The sages said: 

1-3. We do not know whether the advent of Kali is imminent or far off. Therefore, we wish for final Yuga and the end of Dvāpara age. For the present we have come here for the acquisition of Dharma. We shall take up the greatest virtue and happiness with the smallest effort. The final Yuga that causes terror and heartburn has approached. It has destroyed Dharma. Osage, conversant with Dharma ! it beloves you to describe it along with the symptoms in detail. 

Vyāsa said: 

4. In the final Yuga will come up those kings who will cease to be protectors and take away the portion of oblations. They will be interested only in saving themselves. 

5. In the final Yuga, non-Kșhatriyas will become kings, brahmins will resort to Sūdras for sustenance and Sūdras will maintain the conduct and way of life of the brahmins. 

6. In the final Yuga, O excellent sages, brahmins well-versed in the Vedas as well as fallen evil ones will take food sitting in the same row. Havis offerings will be devoid of usual holy rites. 

7. Men will become ill-mannered. They will be devoted to the hoarding of wealth. They will be fond of liquor and meat. Base men will carnally approach the wives of their friends. 

8. In the final Yuga, thieves will carry out the activities of kings. Kings will practise thieving, servants will take food and enjoy without taking permission first. 

9. In the final Yuga, wealth and assets will become important. The conduct and activities of the good will not be honoured. The fallen ones will not be rebuked and treated with contempt. 

10. Men will be ugly with the noses missing and the hairs in disarray. Girls less than sixteen in age will give birth to children. 

11. In the final yuga, cooked food will be sold in the open places; brahmins will sell the Vedas; women will sell their honour. 

12. Everyone will discuss and expound the supreme Brahman and the Vedas. Brahmins will follow the Vajasaneya texts. 

The propounders will resemble the Sūdras and the brahmins will become the disciples (of Sūdras). 

13. Sūdras will begin to expound Dharma. Their teeth will be white. They will conquer their sense-organs. They will wear ocher robes. They will sustain themselves with knavishness and crooked intellect. 

14. In the final Yuga beasts of prey will increase in number and cows will dwindle in number. Good men will decrease. 

15. The base ones will stay in the end. The subjects will lose bashfulness. They are doomed in that final age. 

16. Even the excellent brahmins sell fruits of their austeriries and sacrifices. The scasons will become adverse during that ultimate age. 

17. Similarly, steers under training will be yoked to the plough even when they are two years old. When the yuga comes to a close, the clouds will begin to shower in a quaint way. 

18. Those who are born in the family of heroes will become kings as the lower subjects become baser and baser at the close of the age. 

19. Charitable gifts will be obligatory on the parts of parents while the sons will never perform sacred rites as the age comes to a close. 

20. When the age comes to a close, the Earth will be mostly barren arid soil; the highways will be infested with robbers; almost all the people will become merchants. 

21. Sons will eagerly share the hereditary assets and charitable gifts. Urged by greed and other bad qualities they will be antagonistic to one another and will even attempt to take away other's shares. 

22. At the close of the Yuga when tenderness, beauty and jewellery cease to exist women will be decked by means of their tresses. 

23. A householder devoid of stamina and virility will attempt to have sexual pleasure. When the Yuga comes to a close no sexual indulgence will be on a par with that with one's own wife. 

24. The following is the characteristic feature of the close of the Yuga. Most of the men will be base in character and ignoble; their handsomeness will be futile; men will be in a minority; there will be more women. 

25. Population will consist mostly of beggars, people will never give anything to one another. They will perish on being harassed by kings and robbers or destroyed by fire or fighting. 

26. When the Yuga comes to a close, plants will cease to bear fruits; young men will exhibit the characteristics of old men and men of no good conduct will be happy in the world. 

27. When the Yuga comes to a close rough and low winds showering hailstone will begin to blow in the rainy seasons; the other world will become of doubtful existence. 

28. Kings like the Vaisyas will maintain themselves with wealth and foodgrains. When the Yuga passes off, no one will behave like kinsman to anyone. 

29. Agreements and promises will cease to function. When the Yuga comes to a closc a debt will lose itself along with a sense of propriety and decorum. 

30. Delight of men will be fruitless and the anger of men will be fruitful. When the Yuga comes to a close people will begin to rear goats for getting milk. 

31. Similarly, sacrifices will be performed not in accordance with the sacred texts. Men who profess to be scholars will be acting in an unauthorized manner. 

32-36. There is no doubt that there will not be anyone to expound what is mentioned in the scriptures. Without resorting to elderly persons everyone will come to know everything; when the close of the Yuga is imminent there will be no one who is not a poet; all the stars will be devoid of Yogas; the twice-born people will not abide by their holy rites. When the close of the Yuga is imminent, the kings will be robbers. Bastards, dishonest men and liquor addicts will begin to expound Brahman. At the close of the Yuga, excellent brahmins will perform horse sacrifice. Brahmins will eat forbidden food. They will perform sacrifices on behalf of those who do not deserve them. When the close of the Yuga is imminent brahmins will become greedy of wealth. They will utter the word "Bhoh". No one will learn (the Vedas). 

37. Women will have a single conch shell (tied round their necks) which they will tie up with a rope. Stars will be devoid of lustre. The ten quarters will become adverse. 

38. At the close of the Yuga the red lustre of twilight will be of a burnt hue. Sons will employ their fathers in their own jobs and the daughters-in-law their mothers-in-law. 

39. In the ultimate Yugas women as well as men will live like this. They will take food and enjoy without conducting holy rites. Brahmins will not perform sacrifices in the sacred fires. 

40. Without offering alms and oblations men will partake their meals. Deceiving their husbands who are asleep women will go elsewhere. 

41. The husbands may not be sick, nor devoid of hand- someness; they may not be weak, they may not be jealous too. (Still the women are disloyal to tlıem.) When the Yuga comes to a close no one will be grateful for helps rendered. 

The sages said: 

42-43. When virtue is held in abeyance and suspense thus, in which country will those men who are harassed by taxes reside? What will be their diet? What will be their pastimes? What will be their rites? What will be their likes? What will be their magnitude? What will be their span of life? What quarter will they resort to before they reach once again the Kruta Age?

Vyasa said: 

44. After this, when the virtue falls down the subjects will become devoid of good qualities. After attaining loss of good conduct they will attain deficiency in their longevity. 

45. They will incur decline in strength due to deficiency in longevity; pallor and discolouration due to decline in strength, sickness and pain due to pallor; and despondency due to pain of sickness. 

46. Due to despondency self-knowledge will be aroused in them; due to self-knowledge inclination towards piety (will be acquired by them). By attaining the highest point thus they will reach the KrutaYuga. 

47. Some will be practising piety to a certain extent; some will attain a neutral state, some will follow misconceived piety; some will attain jolly temperament. 

48. Some will come to the conclusion that only perception and inference constitute true testimony; others will say that nothing can be true testimony. 

49. Some will be addicted to atheism and ruin piety; some will become deluded: Brahmins will profess to be great scholars. 

50. People will be excluded from the knowledge of scriptures. They will retain faith only in what is current for the nonce. Men devoid of knowledge will become arrogant. 

51. When picty becomes unsteady and disarranged, there will still be people honoured by the noble ones who will practise auspicious rites and resort to charitable deeds. 

52. When people begin to cat indiscriminately, when they think that they are protected by themselves, when they conceal themselves, when they become devoid of mercy, when they are shameless in their character, these are the signs of Kali age. 

53. During the period of the onslaught of Kali that destroys strict adherence to wisdom, even unprepared persons will attain Siddhi in a short while, 

54. O brahmins, if the people of lower castes resort to the perpetual course of conduct of the brahmins, it is a feature of Kali. 

55. When the Yuga comes to a close there will be great wars, heavy downpour, strong gusts of wind and scorching heat. It is the characteristic feature of Kali. 

56. When the close of Yuga is imminent, Rākşhasas and beings who know through the spics enjoy the Earth in the guise of brahmins. 

57-60. The following types of evil men will abound in the world: Persons devoid of self-study of the Vedas; persons who do not utter Vaşaţ mantras; evil leaders; arrogant ones; those who eat flesh; those who eat indiscriminately; those with futile holy rites; foolish ones greedy of wealth; petty ones;those with insignificant paraphernalia; those who are surrounded by diverse dealings (?); those who have fallen down from perpetual piety; those who take away other's jewels; those who harass other men's wives; passionate men; wicked men: deceitful persons; and men fond of risky adventures. When these persons abound there will be sages of many forms. They will be men of want and privation (?) 

61. Men will honour and worship by means of discourse all those important persons who are born in the Kali Age. 

62. There will be persons stealing vegetables, garments, foodstuffs and small baskets and boxes. 

63. There will be thieves outwitting other thieves, there will be slayers of murderers. When the thieves are destroyed by other thieves, there will be peace everywhere. 

64. When a time characterized by worthlessness and full of disturbances comes and there are no holy rites, men who are afflicted by the burden of taxes, will resort to the forest. 

65. When the holy rites of sacrifices cease to be performed, demons, beasts of prey, worms, mice and serpents will attack men. 

66. At the close of the Age some excellent men in certain places will enjoy prosperity, abundance of food, of good healt and self-sufficiency in the kinsmen, 

67. In the different regions there will be separate groups of persons equipped with rafts and requisites. They will be protected by themselves as well as robbed by themselves. 

68. As time passes on, men will be dislodged from their countries; they will lose valuable things along with their kinsmen. 

69. They will be afflicted by starvation and they will run away in great fright taking their children with them. They will cross the river Kausiki. 

70. They will resort to the lands of Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Kāśmīra and Košala. They will occupy valleys and chasms between the mountains abounding in sages. 

71-72. They will occupy the entire ridge of the Himalayas and the coasts of the briny sea. They will use rotting leaves, barks of trees and skins of deer and stay there when the Age comes to a close. The men will stay in the forests along with the alien barbarous groups of Mlecchas. 

73. The Earth will be neither void nor full of forests. Kings will be both protectors and non-protectors. 

74. Men will sustain themselves by means of deer, fish, birds, bcasts of prey, serpents, insects, worms, honey, vegetables, green fruits and roots. 

75. Like sages men will use barks of trees, skins of decr and will have for their food the rotting and decaying leaves and fruits. 

76. The people will not be able to extract oil from seeds. They will be assailed and struck by darts fixed to wooden pieces. They will always rear goats, sheep, asses, mules and camels. 

77. They will resort to the banks. of rivers and for the sake of divcrting the course of water they will restrain the flow of currents. They will be engaged in mutual petty trade and deal in cooked food. 

78-79. The hairs growing from their bodies will remain so and dirt will get accumulated in between. Some of them will have many children, and others will be devoid of progeny. They will be devoid of nobility of birth and good conduct, Some will sustain themselves by evil means. The base and vile subjects will follow a base moral code. 

30-82. The maximum expectation of life of those men will be thirty. The people will be weak and emaciated due to the enjoyment of worldly pleasures. They will be overwhelmed by the sadness of old age. Due to sickness their virility becomes reduced. Since the reliance on life expectation is restrained people desist from indulgence. They are desirous of meeting and serving pious men. As business dealings become rarer, they will resort to truthfulness. 

83. Due to the non-fulfilment of their desires they will be pious in their conduct. Themselves afflicted by destruction they will perform consecratory rites. 

84. Thus the people, desirous of serving, will adhere to the good practice of charitable gifts, truthfulness and protection of living beings. Then Dharma (virtue) will function to the extent of one-fourth and the people will attain welfare. 

85. As people gradually change for the better and their capacity to infer improves they will enquirc, “What is the tasty thing?” They will see that it is Dharma (virtue). 

86. The people, who had incurred loss and damage once, will attain prosperity when they take to virtue. They will then see the KrutaYuga. 

87-83. People are of good conduct in the KrutaYuga and it is said that there is loss in the Kali Age. The time' "is but one even as the moon is but one. When the moon is enveloped in darkness it does not shine. It is then like the Kali Age. When the moon is relcased by darkness, it shines. It is then like the KrutaYuga. 

89-93. This classification of Ages is mere secondary assertion. But the supreme Brahman is the real meaning of the Vedas. It is non-disjointed, it is not realized; it is held as here ditary legacy. 

Penance is assertion of what is desired. It is made fixed and steady. Holy rites are achieved by means of good qualities and good qualities are purified by means of holy rites. 

Benediction is in consonance with place and time on viewing the person (who is the recipient of the same). In every Age it has been cited by sages at the proper time. 

The auspicious and meritorious benedictions are but the reaction of virtue, wealth, love, salvation and gods. So also is longevity in the different ages. 

The changes of the Ages have begun to function long since due to the nature of the creator. The world of living beings is always undergoing change by fall and rise. It does not remain still even for a moment.