It is not very difficult for us to imagine how difficult life in Kaliyuga is going to be. I was always wondering what our rishis had to say about Kali Yuga and what foresight they had about the iron age (Kali yiga).
I happened to read Vidyeshwara Samhita from Shiva Mahapuranam and that was very interesting. It seems Vyasa had visions into how much life would be degraded (well... its again perception .. some would say .. depending on our faith in scriptures, our history and willingness to open up to ancient wisdom). So, Suta, disciple of Vyasa, describes the following as significant indicators of Kali Yuga.
People in Kali Yuga would engage earning pleasure by usurping wealth and wives of others. They would not be able to differentiate between the body and self (brahman). They would invariably be atheists, be passionate by nature and denounce their parents.
Those who are responsible to learn the vedas, will be greedy by nature, earn living by selling knowledge(vedas) and get intoxicated by learning worldly knowledge (devoid of knowledge of brahman). They would indulge in cheating others, not perform sandhya vandanam (how can Vyasa come so close) and be foolish. They would be merciless and consider themselves very learned by learning worldly knowledge. They would not have knowledge about shastras. They would have very harsh temperament and be deceitful (how close).
Those who are supposed to be protectors of people, will never take side of noble people (if any). They would be engaged in corrupt,sinful activities. They would be cowards by nature and fear the battle field when it comes to defending their people. They would earn their living by stealing from people that they are supposed to protect. They would always be engaged in passionate activities. They would not have knowledge of weapons. They would indulge in destruction of their own people and kill creatures without any reason.
Those who are supposed to do business, would be engaged in earning wealth by evil tricks of trade. They would not engage in charity or support vedic learning. There would be complete loss of ideals and business people would derive pleasure by snatching wealth and wives of others.
Those who are engaged in providing labour support, would benefit from the degradation of all other sections of society. They would find ways of evading work and behave as protectors of vedic knowledge. They would become wealthy, engage in evil deeds, become learned, incite controversies, give lectures on dharma and destroy dharma. They would act as kings, project themselves are donors and protectors of society, be extremely proud and punish/denounce vedic learning. They would derive pleasure in oppressing people pursuing vedic ideals.
Like men of this age, women would also indulge in misconduct. At home,they would engage in cooking of prohibited/non-sattvic food. Children from such households would not be interested in service of their parents. They would learn un-holy knowledge and be extremely proud and arrogant. They would suffer from various physical ailments right from childhood.
From here, the sivapuranam goes on with how the defects of Kali Yuga can be addressed. Now, what is interesting is Veda Vyasa's ability to perceive the social unrest several thousands of years in advance.
Reading this also gives me a sense of relief. I always had this sense of unrest in my mind. Why is everyone (including me) behaving in such a way that seems to so chaotic. There seems to be a feeling of discontent and mismatch in everything that is around me. Now, reading this section of SivaPuranam shows that this was not unexpected. People, have foreseen this problem, several thousands of years in advance, to such a granular level. So, the good thing is there might be an antidote to this unrest in our minds. I am sure other scriptures and puranas would also have some mention of the ailment and its cure. Now, all I need to do is find the cure and implement it on myself to see if it works :)
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