Friends, we will tell you the merits and demerits of Kaliyuga, in the Uttarkand of Ramcharitmanas, Goswami Tulsidas ji has described Kaliyuga very accurately, but before that know what is Kaliyuga?
Kaliyug simply means discord. Wherever there is discord there is Kaliyuga. When Lord Shri Krishna ji had gone to his world after doing his Leela, from that time Dwapar Yuga was over and Kali Yuga has arrived.
How old is Kaliyuga? It has been told in our scriptures that Kaliyuga will last for 4,32,000 years. which is calculated as follows.
According to the Puranas, one year of a human is equal to one Ahoratra i.e. day and night of the gods. In which Uttarayan is considered as day and Dakshinayan is considered to be night. Actually, the period from one Surya Sankranti to another Surya Sankranti is called Solar Month. Of such 12 solar months of human calculation, only 1 solar year is an ahoratra of the deities. Similarly, 30 ahoratra, one month of the deities and 12 months is called a divine year.
On the basis of these divine years of the deities, the duration in human solar years of the four Yugas is as follows,
Satyuga 4800 (divine year) 17,28,000 (solar year)
Tretayuga 3600 (divine year) 12,96,100 (solar year)
Dwaparayuga 2400 (divine year) 8,64,000 (solar year)
Kaliyuga 1200 (divine year) 4,32,000 (solar year)
At that time, the grave Kali Yuga will come when Mother Ganga and Govardhan mountain will disappear. Because both of them are cursed. Read what will happen in this Kali Yuga.
Demerits and Characteristics of Kali Yuga:
Its description has come in Shri Tulsidas's Ramcharatimanas. Kakbhushundi ji is telling Garuda ji the symptoms and effects of Kali Yuga.
Male and female will remain sinful (indulging in sins). The sins of Kaliyuga have engulfed all the religions, the scriptures have disappeared, the arrogant ones have manifested many sects by imagining them with their intellect. All the people became captive of attachment, greed grabbed the good deeds.
In Kali Yuga, neither Varna Dharma nor all the four Ashrams exist. All men and women are engaged in opposing the Vedas. The Brahmins are the sellers of the Vedas and the kings are the ones who devour the subjects. No one obeys the orders of the Vedas. Whichever is good, that is the way. He who brags is a pandit. One who initiates falsehood and one who indulges in conceit is called a saint by all.
He who takes away the wealth of others (by whatever means) is wise. He who conceives, he is a great idiot. He who tells lies and knows how to laugh and joke, is said to be virtuous in Kaliyuga.
The one who is mortified and has left the path of Vedas, in Kaliyuga, he is knowledgeable and he is dispassionate. The one who has big nails and long hair, he is the famous ascetic in Kaliyuga.
Those who wear ill-favoured vesh and unfavourable ornaments and eat everything that is bhakhya-bhakhya (eatable and non-eatable) are the yogis, they are perfect and they are the ones who are worshiped in Kali-yuga.
Those whose conduct is doing harm to others, they have great pride and they are worthy of respect. Those who are full of mind, word and deed (the liars) are considered to be speakers in Kaliyuga.
All human beings are under special control of women and dance like a juggler's monkey (their dances). The Shudras preach knowledge to the brahmins, and by putting a thread around their necks, they take wicked donations.
All men are quick and angry in lust and greed. The gods are opposed to the brahmins, the Vedas and the sages. Unfortunate women leave the abode of virtues, but they consume men.
The married women are devoid of ornaments, but the widows are constantly adorned with new decorations.
The disciple and the guru have the same account of the deaf and the blind. One (disciple) does not listen to the teachings of the Guru, one (Guru) does not see (he does not have knowledge).
The guru who steals the money of the disciple, but does not take away the grief, he falls into a terrible hell. Parents call their children and teach the same religion, which will fill their stomach.
Men and women do not talk about anything other than the knowledge of Brahman, but they kill brahmins and gurus out of greed for a penny (very little profit).
Shudras dispute with brahmins (and say) are we any less than you? The one who knows Brahman is the best Brahmin. (saying so) He scolds them and shows their eyes.
Saints tell that here Shudra does not mean any caste but one who conducts lowly. And the meaning of brahmin is one who does not do evil to anyone by word of action, and does devotion to the Supreme Soul only by seeing the Supreme Soul.
Those who are attached to a foreign woman, clever in deceit and engrossed in attachment, hatred and affection, only those human beings are knowledgeable (one who unites Brahman and Jiva). I saw this character of that Kali Yuga.
He himself remains destroyed, he destroys those who follow the right path somewhere. Those who condemn the Vedas by reasoning, they are lying in one hell every cycle.
Teli, potter, chandala, bhil, kol and kalvar etc., who are lower in varna, after the death of a woman or the destruction of the property of the house, by shaving their heads, become sannyasins.
They get themselves worshiped by brahmins and destroy both the worlds with their own hands. The brahmins are the masters of the illiterate, covetous, greedy, moral, foolish and low caste adulterous women.
Shudras do various types of chanting, penance and fasting and sit on a high seat (Vyas Gaddi) and say Puranas. All human beings behave in an arbitrary manner. Immense injustice cannot be described.
In Kali-yuga, everyone became devoid of varnasankara and dignity. They commit sins and (as a result of them) suffer sorrow, fear, disease, grief and (the loss of what is dear to them).
According to the Vedas, which is the path of Hari-bhakti, which is full of dispassion and knowledge, human beings do not follow it out of delusion and conceive of many new sects
Sannyasis decorate their houses by investing a lot of money. There was no disinterest in him, the subjects took him away. The ascetics became rich and the householders poor. Hey tat! Nothing goes anywhere in Kali Yuga.
The man removes the kulavati and sati woman from the house and, leaving a good move, keeps the maid in the house. Sons obey their parents until the woman's face is not visible.
Ever since the in-laws started looking lovely, the family became enemies. The kings became sinful, there was no religion in them. They do irony (plight) of the people by punishing them regularly (without crime).
Rich people are considered noble even if they are poor. The symbol of a dvija remained only as a janeu and the bare body of an ascetic. Those who do not believe in Vedas and Puranas, in Kaliyuga, they are called Hari devotees and true saints.
Poets have flocked, but in the world the liberal (the patron of poets) is not heard. There are many who blame virtue, but no one is virtuous. There are frequent famines in Kali Yuga. Without food everyone dies in sorrow.
In Kaliyuga, deceit, stubbornness, conceit, malice, hypocrisy, pride, delusion and lust etc. (i.e. lust, anger and greed) and madness pervaded the entire universe.
Human beings started doing japa, austerity, yajna, fasting and charity etc. with a tamasic spirit. The deity (Indra) does not rain water on the earth and the grain sown does not grow.
Women's hair is the jewel (there is no ornament left on their body) and they feel very hungry (that is, they are always unsatisfied). They are unhappy because of being moneyless and having many kinds of affection. They want foolish happiness, but they do not have love in religion. Wisdom is short and hard, they do not have softness.
Human beings are suffering from diseases, Bhog (pleasure) is nowhere. Pride and protest without reason. Ten-five years is a short life, but pride is such that it will not perish even if there is a kalpanta.
Kalikal has made man miserable. No one even thinks of a sister or daughter. (In people) there is neither contentment, nor conscience, nor coolness. Caste, caste, all people have become beggars.
Envy, bitter words and greed are becoming abundant, equanimity is gone. Everyone has died of separation and special mourning. The practices of Varnashrama Dharma were destroyed.
There was no suppression of the senses, charity, kindness and understanding in anyone. Stupidity and deceiving others, it grew too much. Men and women are engaged in the maintenance of all the bodies. Those who are foreign slanderers, they are spread in the world.
Kaliyuga is the abode of sins and demerits, but there is also a great quality in Kaliyuga that without effort one gets rid of the bondage of material life. Sunu byalari kaal kali mal avagun aagar. Gunu very Kalijug and binu effort is worthless.
In Kaliyuga, only the name of God is the means to cross the ocean of the universe, only the name of the Lord can be found across this ocean of the universe by Sumiran.
In Satyayuga, Treta and Dwapar, the speed which is attained by worship, sacrifice and yoga, in Kaliyuga people attain the same speed only in the name of the Lord.
In Satya Yuga, all are yogis and scientists. By meditating on Hari, all beings get immersed in the ocean of the universe. In Treta, human beings perform various types of yagyas, and by surrendering all their actions to the Lord, they cross the ocean of the universe. By worshiping the feet of Shri Raghunathji in Dwapar, human beings get engrossed in the world, there is no other way and in Kaliyuga, only by singing the glories of Shri Hari, humans can get the fathom of the ocean of the universe.
In Kaliyuga, there is neither Yoga, Yagya nor knowledge. The only basis is the praise of Shri Ramji. Therefore the one who worships Shri Ram ji by giving up all faith and sings his qualities with love, he gets immersed in the ocean of the universe, there is no doubt about it.
There is a sacred glory (glory) of Kali Yuga that there are mental virtues, but there are no (mental) sins.
If a man believes, then there is no other age like Kali Yuga, (because) in this age, by singing the pure qualities of Shri Ramji, one gets immersed in the world without effort.
Tulsidasji says – In this Kalikal there is no other means like yoga, yagya, chanting, penance, fasting and worship etc. Just remember Shri Ramji only, sing the praises of Shri Ramji and listen to Shri Ramji's qualities continuously.
And after that it is said that it is not only a matter of Kali Yuga, in all the four Yugas, in all the three times and in the three worlds, by chanting the Name, the living beings have become mournless.
In Kaliyuga, there is neither action, nor devotion, nor knowledge, only the name of Ram is the basis.
Chanting the name in any way, from good feelings (love), bad feelings (hate), anger or laziness, brings welfare in the ten directions.
Therefore, leaving all worry, fear, chant the name of God with order and speech and do good deeds.
