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In the time calculation and cosmic time cycle of Sanatan Dharma, time is divided into four major yugas—Satyug, Tretayug, Dwaparyug and Kaliyug. Just as according to the laws of nature, the birth, growth and end of every living being is certain, in the same way every era in the universe has a fixed age and after its end, the beginning of a new era is certain. The period through which human civilization is currently passing is the phase of Kaliyuga. But have you ever thought that when Kaliyuga reaches its peak, at what terrible point will this earth, human nature, social relations and the system of religion come to a standstill? In the sacred ‘Shiva Purana’, which holds the highest position among the eighteen Mahapuranas, there is such a subtle and accurate description of the symptoms of the last period of Kaliyuga and the plight of the society, that anyone can get goosebumps after reading it. Looking at the increasing violence, selfishness and falling human values in today’s times, it seems clear that the prophecies written in the scriptures thousands of years ago are literally proving to be true.
In the first and second chapters of ‘Vidyeshwar Samhita’, the first volume of Shiva Purana composed by Lord Ved Vyas, a very poignant and harsh depiction of the mental and spiritual condition of Kaliyugi man has been given. According to Shiva Purana, when the severe Kaliyuga arrives, man will completely turn away from virtue, good deeds, charity and purity. There will be no respect for truth in the society; People will start taking pleasure only in lies, hoaxes, sophistry and condemnation of others. The feelings of kindness, compassion, forgiveness and sorrow will completely disappear from the human heart and their thinking will take a very aggressive and violent form.
It is described in the scriptures that at the end of Kaliyuga, man’s selfishness will increase to such an extent that people will seek to usurp the property, land and rights of their neighbours, friends and even relatives by force or fraud. The greatest spiritual fall will be that man will become body-conscious; He will develop the gross ignorance of considering this mortal physical body of flesh and blood as the eternal soul. The divine goals like spiritual consciousness, self-realization and salvation will be completely forgotten and the whole life will be limited only to the fulfillment of sensual pleasures.
There is a clear warning given in Shiv Purana that in the last phase of Kaliyuga, people will completely abandon their varna, ashram and traditional religious norms. Vedic Sandhyavandan, Yagya, self-study and divine worship will remain only a means of show and external ostentation. People will also come to religious places not for peace of mind or love of God, but to showcase their prestige and wealth.
The sacred purpose of education and learning will be completely distorted. The education which was considered the path to salvation and morality in ancient times, in Kaliyuga, the only aim of that education will be to earn money and gather material comforts. Even those who would be called great scholars, knowledgeable people, thinkers and gurus in the society will not use their knowledge to discover any ultimate truth or guide the society, but will waste their intellectual energy in making useless sophistry, misinterpreting the scriptures and intellectually humiliating others. The sacred tradition of Guru and disciple will end and spiritual guides will start behaving like mere money-grubbing businessmen.
At the peak of Kaliyuga, the structure of society will completely collapse and moral values will completely disappear from the economic system. According to Shiv Purana, there will be rampant dishonesty, fraud and adulteration in business transactions. In their greed to earn maximum profits, the business class will openly manipulate weights and measures, adulterate food items with toxic elements and take unfair advantage of the helplessness of the common people. The mutual trust between the customer and the seller will be completely destroyed.
On the other hand, those who are rich and powerful will spend their immense wealth on gambling, drinking, lust and immoral addictions instead of helping the destitute, medical treatment, building hospices or public welfare works. Social norms and definitions of nobility will change. People will break every human rule, law and tradition in a blind race to prove themselves supreme, civilized and influential in the society. The more cunning, cunning and arrogant a person is, he will be considered the most intelligent and successful in the Kalyugi society.
The most frightening aspect of Kaliyuga described in Shiv Purana is the complete disintegration of family and blood ties. It is written in the Puranas that in the last period of Kaliyuga, man will become so cruel and ungrateful that he will start hating his biological parents. The parents who endured hardships throughout their life to raise their children, in their old age, the same children will consider them a burden, insult them, abandon them or force them to live a lonely life.
In family relationships, trust and intimacy will be replaced only by selfishness and financial calculations. The sanctity of marital life will be completely destroyed; Distrust, ego, lust and bitterness will dominate the sacred relationship between husband and wife. Marriage will remain only a legal or physical agreement, due to which families will break and there will be an atmosphere of constant discord in the homes. The feeling of respect towards the elders in the house, in-laws and senior leaders of the clan will almost disappear and people will not hesitate at all in betraying their own relatives for their own petty gains.
In today’s time, when we look around us – property disputes between loved ones in the courts, helpless elderly people looking for their children in old age homes, heinous violence against innocents in the news, adulteration and hypocrisy in the name of religion – then it easily seems that the symptoms of Kaliyuga described in Shiv Purana are happening directly in front of us. This situation is proof that the society is descending into a deep abyss of moral decline.
However, according to Vedic astrology and Sanatan time calculations, the total age of Kaliyuga has been determined to be 4,32,000 human years. Kaliyuga started about 5,100 years ago with the end of Dwapar Yuga and the departure of Lord Krishna to the supreme abode. Based on this calculation, the present time is only the first phase (initial period) of Kaliyuga. When the first phase of Kalyug looks so destructive and troublesome, then it can be easily estimated that when the fourth and final phase of Kalyug comes after millions of years, how much more catastrophic the conditions will be. According to the scriptures, when sin on earth will reach its peak and not even a single trace of righteousness will remain, then Lord Kalki himself will incarnate to destroy unrighteousness and restore Satyayuga. Therefore, even in today’s Sankranti period, keeping oneself connected to satsang, devotion to Shiva, truth and morality is the only sure way to avoid the ill effects of Kalyug.