Hi viewers, welcome back to my blog on Kali Yuga Dharma.
Lord Krishna explains the ultimate Dharma towards the end of the 18th Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. This verse is the essence of the Bhagavad Gita and since the Bhagavad Gita is the essence of all the Vedic scriptures, then the following one verse is also the essence of all the Vedas.
Krishna says:
sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma suca
"Abandon all varieties of religion (dharma) and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear".
Elements of the Gita have inspired a range of leaders - from Mahatma Gandhi to Robert Oppenheimer (father of the Atom bomb) and creative works that span from Star Wars to Walden to schools of philosophy such as the Zen Buddhism.
In Gita, great stress has been laid on following Dharma. In today's world, one wonders how Dharma can be followed? This blog aims to dispel these doubts and asserts that it is rather a very easy task in Kali Yuga to adhere to Dharma, if only one knows the real meaning of what Dharma is all about and how to adhere to it.
The Four Yugas and their characteristics:
A yuga is a mega-span of time, differing from one another in their characteristic features. There are four yugas described in sacred scripts. The four are not of equal span. The first - krita yuga is 1,728,000 years long, the second - treta yuga is 1,296,000 years long, the third - dwapara yuga is 864,000 years long and the last - kali yuga is 432,000 years long.
Satya Yuga:
In the Kṛita yuga (also called Satya Yuga), tapas or austerity was given the most important place in life. The Manusmṛti was the standard work, the rules of which were strictly followed. Since it was also called Satyayuga, people would leave the country itself if they saw sinful deeds committed anywhere. Even talking to a sinner was considered a sin. Curses uttered by the people—since they were extremely pious—would take effect immediately. Donors were so generous that they themselves would personally approach the needy and give them what they wanted.
In Satya Yuga, everyone was interested in learning only the Truth and walk in the Path of Dharma (Righteousness). The World was young, wide and new and everyone was going around exploring it. The resources were plenty and there was no need for greed or jealousy. But that does not means that adharmic thoughts and needs were not there. It existed but the need to do good was more than the need to do evil things, especially when people feared to be judged by others.
Treta Yuga:
In the Tretā yuga there was slight deterioration in the standards of ethical life. Jñāna or knowledge was considered all-important. The Gautamadharmasūtraswas the standard text followed. People would desert their village itself if they saw sinful deeds committed. Even accidentally touching a sinner was itself considered a sin. A curse uttered against anyone would act within ten days. Generous donors would give gifts after calling or inviting the needy ones.
In Treta Yuga, everyone had learned to about the Truth and the World in general, and they started to learn how to adapt to the Natural System and work in sync with it. Population increased, and it resulted in more people around. But there was still a lot of resources available and opportunities to make names for themselves. People started to feel the effect of Jealous, Greed, Anger and other adharmic thoughts but still managed to control themselves, as the means to overcome problems through dharmic solutions were plentiful without the need to resort to adharmic resorts.
In the Dwāpara yuga, dharma declined further, to the tune of fifty percent. Yajña (Vedic rituals) was the order of the day. The Śaṅkha-likhita-dharmasūtras was the main authority for dharma. If in any family dharma was transgressed even by one, the whole family was abandoned. Anyone accepting food from a sinner was deemed to have sinned himself. Curses uttered would take a month to become effective. Gifts used to be given after the person begged for it.
In Dwapara Yuga, the World started to become crowded and everyone tried to establish themselves as individuals and community. The needs of community outweighed the needs of an individual, so the single person can quickly push aside his needs to follow Dharmic thoughts and ideals to perform adharmic actions, including going to war over territory and resources. The individual began to see the needs of his smaller community as greater than his own needs; the needs of his family outweighed his own personal needs. Eventually, he started to wonder whether he should put his own needs first over other (stranger’s) needs.
Brahma Purana (Chapter 212, verse 8), Vishnu Purana (Canto 5, chapter 38, verse 8) and Srimad Bhagavatam (Canto 1, Chapter 18, verse 6) say that Kali Yuga started at the end of Dwapara Yuga when Lord Sri Krishna left the earth for His eternal abode, Vaikunta.
The Kali yuga was deemed to be the worst. Dharma would have decreased to such an extent with only a quarter left behind. Dāna or giving gifts was the most important righteous act. The Parāśara Smṛti was the standard holy text to be followed. If a sin were committed by a person, only he had to be abandoned. Persons perpetrating sinful deeds were considered depraved. Curses would take a year to become effective. Gifts would be given only after extracting service. Further, in Kaliyuga, dharma and satya (truth) would be overcome by adharma and anṛta (untruth). Servants would rule over kings and women would rule over men. Religious rites would decline, honouring elders would disappear. There would be an all-round decline of values.
In Kali Yuga, the World has become old and very crowded. Humans are divided by communities, religions and fractions. The resources are still plentiful but humans have become incapable of harnessing and using them (like today’s dependancy on fossil fuel when the green technology is more than enough to fulfill everyone’s needs). Humans have become individualistic and allow themselves to put their own personal needs above the needs of others - including their own family, community and their nation (and eventually the whole human race). Religions are established to mimic Spiritualism, where a person PRETENDS to be Spiritual just by praying and doing rituals but many of them don’t even have any knowledge of God.
Kali Yuga is the last and worst age of the four yugas, a time of wickedness and oppression, moral degradation, unrighteousness, sinful activities, immorality, widespread wrongness, corruption at all levels, ungodly and unholy conduct, irreligiousness, sacrilegiousness, profanity, blasphemousness, impiety, baseness, and total vileness.
In Brahmavaivarta Purana, (Chapter 4, verse 129), the Lord declares that there will be relative peace in the first 10,000 years during Kali Yuga, when worshippers of the Lord will still be present, and some form of worship of God and deities will be continued, and when scriptures will be honoured. Of these 10,000 years, however, 5000 have elapsed, leaving but a middling 5000 years during which spiritual practice will go on.
SUMMARY
The bottomline is - Dharma declines over the Yugas because the adharmic “seeds” (which always existed) grew slowly throughout the Ages. Today, human beings are opposite of what they were in Satya Yuga. The level of goodness/virtue in 4 Yugas:
What is Dharma ?
Dharma has one applicable meaning as performance of one's duty with all sincerity and integrity. At deeper level meaning it refers to the innate and the essential characteristic of a substance. The dharma of water is liquidity. You may freeze it and turn it into solid state, but it will revert back to the liquid state under normal temperature. Likewise, as life forms our natural dharma is to render service. We cannot remain without some service. To always remain in the path of dharma, you must find out what is the dharma according to your mind body system from a bona fide Spiritual master.
The word "Dharm" does not mean Religion. It means qualities expected of human. "Dharm" means beingness. We, as humans, have special status among all the living beings on the planet earth.
आहार निद्रा भय मैथुनं च सामान्यम् एतत् पशुभिः नराणाम् ।
धमोॅ हि तेषाम् अधिकः विशेषः धमेॅण हिना पशुभिॅनराणाम् ।।
Food, sleep, fear of death and sex is common to humans and all other animals. Dharm is only additional quality of humans. Without Dharm, there is no difference between humans and animals. In other words, without human qualities, he or she has not evolved from animal species psychologically though living in the gross human body.
There is no generic dharma for everyone. Each person is built with varied inclinations under varied circumstances. Krishna advises that you follow your dharma, it will lead to ultimate success.
According to Bhagavad-Gita, Dharma is selfless, fearless performance of our natural duty (Svakarma) for the welfare of all beings. Adharma is misuse of one's power and authority with selfish desire for pleasures and power. Exploitation of natural and human resources for selfish gains, and violence against humanity and environment is also Adharma.
Manusmriti written by the ancient sage Manu, prescribes 10 essential rules for the observance of dharma: Patience (dhriti), forgiveness (kshama), piety or self control (dama), honesty (asteya), sanctity (shauch), control of senses (indraiya-nigrah), reason (dhi), knowledge or learning (vidya), truthfulness (satya) and absence of anger (krodha). Manu further writes, "Non-violence, truth, non-coveting, purity of body and mind, control of senses are the essence of dharma". Therefore dharmic laws govern not only the individual but all in society.
Dharma is likened to a cow:
The following are the basic four legs of the personified cow of Dharma as per Bhagwad Gita:
1.austerity
2.cleanliness
3.mercy, and
4.truthfulness
The legs represent different virtuous qualities any individual can have. This is what Arjuna's grandson Parikshit says in the Srimad Bhagavatam, upon seeing the cow of Dharma standing on one leg at the start of the Kali Yuga:
"In the age of Satya your four legs were established by the four principles of austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness. But it appears that three of your legs are broken due to rampant irreligion in the form of pride, lust for women, and intoxication. You are now standing on one leg only, which is your truthfulness, and you are somehow or other hobbling along. But Kali, flourishing by deceit, is also trying to destroy that leg".
In Kali Yuga, the cow has only one leg to stand on, and it is buckling under its own weight. The only thing we have left is to surrender to the Supreme Being for His Mercy.
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