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Kali Yuga, Time of Opportunity
The Kali Yuga, the present age, is the fourth of the yugas.
The beginning of Kali Yuga traditionally dates from the death of
Krishna, the eighth Avatar of Vishnu. Sathya Sai Baba has confirmed
that the Kali Yuga began 20th December, 3102 BC, which was the day
when Krishna attained mahasamadhi.
As predicted several millennia ago in the Bhagavata Purana, the
present Dark Age of Kali is the time of increasing deterioration,
disorder and decline.
But the Kali Yuga is at the same time a period of great opportunity,
because it is the time in which spiritual advancement can be made most
quickly.
As Sri Sathya Sai Baba tells us, the liberation itself can be easily
attained in the present Age of Kali, through just Naamasmarana,
remembrance of the Name of God.
Below are some extracts from Divine Discourses.
"This Kali Yuga is praised in the
scriptures as incomparably conducive to the salvation of man, for he
can now attain the Highest through the mere thought of God and
remembering His Name. So of all the Yugas, this Yuga is described as
the most holy, the most beneficient. Dhyana (meditation) was
prescribed as the means of liberation for men in the Kritha Yuga,
Ascetism as the means during the Tretha Yuga and ritual worship for
the Dwapara Yuga. But, for people of this Yuga, the simple remedy
prescribed is just Namasmarana, the constant awareness of the Name.
In spite of this, it is a pity that men do not care for this path
and so render their lives barren wastes."
SSS Vol XI, Chap. 28, pag. 162
"The spiritual discipline for each Age has been prescribed by the
scriptures; for the Kritha (First Age), it is dhyaana (meditation);
for the Thretha, the second, it is dharma (righteousness); for the
Dwaapara, the third, it is archana (ritual worship) and for the
present age, the Kali, it is Naamasmarana, the remembrance of the
Name of God."
Divine Discourse Yugaadhi, 27 March 1971
"Though the evil is thickest in this Kali Age, the remedy is the
simplest."
SSS Vol VIII, Chap. 22, pag. 132
"In the Kali Yuga, through just Namasmarana and remembrance of God
we can reach the goal."
SSS Vol XI, Chap. 33, pag. 186
"It's easiest to get liberation in the Kali Yuga; it can be done
through singing the glory of the Lord and listening to the Name
being sung."
SSS Vol XI, Chap. 43, pag. 245
"The Kali Yuga offers more facilities for liberation than previous
ones."
SSS Vol X, Chap. 53, pag. 339
"In the Kali Yuga only Namasmarana is needed to acquire liberation."
SSS Vol IV, Chap. 18, pag. 106
Here follows an article by K S Ram
published in India Times Spirituality:
http://spirituality.indiatimes.com/articleshow/152451.cms
The Redeeming Aspect Of Kaliyuga
K S Ram
We have gotten into the habit of blaming all our ills on the times in
which we live. We often exclaim: "This is Kaliyuga, so what else do
you expect?" Kaliyuga has come to personify all that is bad and
undesirable. We feel accursed and we envy the blessed ones who were
born in the Sat, Treta or Dwapar yugas. We attribute our misfortune to
karma and resign ourselves to our fate. This attitude leads to low
self-esteem which in turn can do enormous damage.
Kaliyuga, like the other three yugas, is the creation of God. And all
of God's creation has His blessings however different they are from
one another. Tulsidas, in his Ramcharitmanas, discusses this point.
Kakbhushundi, the deathless, wise crow of many births, compares the
different yugas or ages. He calls Kaliyuga ?the hot-bed of sin" where,
he says: "Religion is stifled. Impostors invent and promulgate a
number of heretical creeds. Everyone is addicted to sensuality and
greed and passion. The guru and the pupil are like the blind and the
deaf: the former cannot see, the latter does not heed. Parents teach
their children the duty of filling the belly. Everybody follows a
course of conduct of his own imagination. There is universal
lawlessness. The meanest churl, if only he is rich, is accounted noble.
Men practise sin and reap pain, terror, sickness, sorrow and
bereavement. Duplicity, perversity, hypocrisy, malice, heresy,
arrogance, infatuation, lust, pride and the like pervade the whole
universe...
"Men practise prayer, penance and charity, perform sacrifices and
undertake sacred vows with some unholy design. The gods rain not upon
the earth and foodgrains sown in the soil do not germinate. Men are
afflicted with diseases and find no enjoyment anywhere. They are
conceited and contend with others without cause. Though their lives
are short, in their pride they reckon on outliving the end of the aeon..."
He sums up by calling Kaliyuga ?a storehouse of pollution and vice".
However, few are aware of a redeeming feature of Kaliyuga. According
to Kakbhushundi, Kaliyuga has many virtues, too, of which the most
important is that in Kaliyuga, "escape from the cycle of birth and
death is easy". The wise crow says: "The goal which in the first three
ages is reached by solemn worship, sacrifice and austerity, is
attained in Kaliyuga by merely chanting the Lord's name..."
In Satyuga, everyone is possessed of mystic powers and wisdom; in that
age men cross the ocean of birth and death by meditating on God. In
Tretayuga, men perform sacrifices of various kinds and escape rebirth
by dedicating their actions to the Lord. In Dwaparyuga, men have no
other expedient than ritual worship. "But in Kaliyuga all we have to
do is chant the story of Hari?s perfection. The power of the Name is
manifest in Kaliyuga,? says the wise crow.
He says: "Merit or punya conceived in the mind is rewarded but demerit
or paap earned by the mind is not punished... so no other age can
compare with Kaliyuga, provided man has faith in its virtue."
Ironic, isn?t it, that when an age seems conducive to moral and
spiritual well-being, as in Satyuga, enormous effort is required to
attain liberation. On the contrary, in Kaliyuga where conditions are
not conducive to spiritual evolution, it is easier methods which work.
Chant the Lord's Holy Name, fix Him in your mind, and tide across the
bhav-sagar (the ocean of existence) almost effortlessly. The effort
required for spiritual liberation is inversely proportional to the
moral intensity of the age. So are we not blessed to be born in
Kaliyuga?
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