Yugadharma
Yugadharma!
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
The Vedic scriptures inform that the chanting of this Hare Krishna Maha-mantra composed of sixteen words is the process of yoga for this age of Kali.
As per the Vedic scriptures there are four ages or ‘yugas’ known as the Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dwapar-yuga & Kali-yuga. Just as the calendar months or the seasons keep changing in rotation, similarly the four yugas also change in rotation.
The cycle of Satya is characterized by virtue, wisdom and religion, there being practically no ignorance and vice. In the Treta-yuga vice is introduced. In the Dvapara-yuga there is an even greater decline in virtue and religion. And finally in Kali-yuga (the present yuga) there is an abundance of strife, ignorance, irreligion and vice. The cycle of the four yugas, namely Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali, rotates like the calendar months. The cycle of Satya is characterized by virtue, wisdom and religion, there being practically no ignorance and vice. In the Treta-yuga vice is introduced. In the Dvapara-yuga there is an even greater decline in virtue and religion. And finally in Kali-yuga (the present yuga) there is an abundance of strife, ignorance, irreligion and vice. The cycle of the four yugas, namely Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali, rotates like the calendar months.
कृते यद्ध्यायतो विष्णुं त्रेतायां यजतो मखै: । द्वापरे परिचर्यायां कलौ तद्धरिकीर्तनात् ॥ ५२ ॥
kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt
“Whatever result was obtained in Satya-yuga by meditating on Vishnu, in Treta-yuga by performing sacrifices and in Dvapara-yuga by serving the Lord’s lotus feet can also be obtained in Kali-yuga simply by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.” It is very difficult to meditate in this disturbing age of Kali. In the Satya-yuga, when people used to live for one hundred thousand years, Valmiki Muni attained perfection by meditating for sixty thousand years.
But now we have no guarantee that we are going to live for sixty years or even sixty hours. So meditation is not possible in this age. In the Treta-yuga, people performed rituals, as they are described in the Vedic shastra. That requires huge amounts of money. In the present age people are very poor, so they cannot perform these sacrifices. dvapare paricaryayam—in the Dvapara-yuga it was possible to worship the Deity opulently in the temple, but nowadays, in the Kali-yuga, that is also an impossible task.
Therefore, the general recommendation is kalau tad dhari-kirtanat: in this age of Kali one can attain all perfection simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord
In this age the spiritual revolution was recommended by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He demonstrated that the Yuga Dharma for this age is the Sankirtan chanting of the holy names. If we want the degraded mass of people to be elevated, we must stop their sinful activity. To stop sinful activity, one must purify the mind and the best process for purifying the mass mind is the chanting of the Maha Mantra Hare Krishna. (Letter to Swami Jara Kumar -- Vrindavan 20 August 1974)
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
The duration of the material universe is limited. It is manifested in cycles of kalpas. A kalpa is a day of Brahma, and one day of Brahma consists of a thousand cycles of four yugas or ages: Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali. The cycle of Satya is characterized by virtue, wisdom and religion, there being practically no ignorance and vice, and the yuga lasts 1,728,000 years. In the Treta-yuga vice is introduced, and this yuga lasts 1,296,000 years. In the Dvapara-yuga there is an even greater decline in virtue and religion, vice increasing, and this yuga lasts 864,000 years. And finally in Kali-yuga (the yuga we have now been experiencing over the past 5,000 years) there is an abundance of strife, ignorance, irreligion and vice, true virtue being practically non-existent, and this yuga lasts 432,000 years. In Kali-yuga vice increases to such a point that at the termination of the yuga the Supreme Lord Himself appears as the Kalki avatara, vanquishes the demons, saves His devotees, and commences another Satya-yuga. Then the process is set rolling again. (Bhagavad-gita 8.17 purport)
kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ kalau taddhari-kīrtanāt "The self-realization, which was achieved in the Satya millennium by meditation, in the Treta millennium by the performance of different sacrifices, and in the Dvapara millennium by worship of Lord Krishna, can be achieved in the age of Kali simply by chanting the holy names, Hare Krishna." Srimad-Bhagavatam (SB 12.3.52)
"hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
iti sodasakam namnam kali-kalmasa-nasanam natah parataropayah sarva-vedesu drsyate
After searching through all the Vedic literature, one cannot find a method of religion more sublime for this age than the chanting of Hare Krishna.'” (Kali-santarana Upanishad)
kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ "In the age of Kali, the Lord incarnates as a devotee, yellowish in color, and is always chanting hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare, hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare. Although He is Krishna, His complexion is not blackish like Krishna’s in Dvapara-yuga but is golden. It is in Kali-yuga that the Lord engages in preaching love of Godhead through the sankirtan movement, and those living entities who are intelligent adopt this process of self-realization." (Srimad-Bhagavatam (SB 11.5.32))
