So the point is that five thousand years ago the things which were written for this age, how they are coming to be true in our experience. That is the point: how they could see past, present, and future so nicely. The sages were known as tri-kala-jna. Tri means three. There is almost similarity, tri and three. Tri is Sanskrit, and three is English or Latin, but there is similarity. Tri-kala-jna. Tri means three, and kala means time. Time is experienced by three ways: past, present and future. Time limitation, past, present and... Whenever you speak of time, it is past, present or future. So the sages in those days were tri-kala-jna. Tri-kala-jna means they could understand, they could know what was in the past, what there shall be in the future, and what is at present. Just like in the Bhagavad-gita Krsna says, "My Dear Arjuna, you, Me, I, and all these kings and soldiers who have assembled in this battlefield, they were all individuals, and we are still individual. And in this past, in the future, we shall all remain individuals." That past, present, and future, he explained. Another place Krsna says, vedaham samatitani [Bg. 7.26]. Atitani, atitani means past. Vartamanani ca, "and present." So that is yogic power. One can know past, present, and future.

So here Sukadeva Gosvami is speaking about this Kali-yuga. The Kali-yuga means the fourth age. There are four different kinds of ages: Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga. Just like there are six seasons, or four seasons in a year, similarly, in one day of Brahma there are one hundred cycles of four yugas. Four yugas means forty-three thousand..., forty-three hundred thousands of years. It is a very long period. That is the duration of four yugas. Similarly, one thousand yugas passes, then one day of Brahma finished, twelve hours. It is a big calculation. Anyway, there are four yugas, this Satya-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, Treta-yuga, and Kali-yuga. So in the previous chapter, some description of these yugas have been described. Now here, in this chapter... This is second chapter of Twelfth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Sukadeva Gosvami is describing,

Now here, Sukadeva Gosvami says, tatas ca anudinam. Anudinam means "as the days will pass." Then what will be the symptoms? Now, nanksyaty. Nanksyaty means gradually diminish, will diminish. What will diminish? Dharmah, religiosity; satyam, truthfulness; saucam, cleanliness; ksama, forgiveness; daya, mercifulness; ayuh, duration of life; bala, strength; and smrtih, memory. These eight items, just try to know. First thing is religiosity. As the age of Kali will make progress, people will become more and more irreligious. And they will become more and more liars. They'll forget to speak what is true. Saucam, cleanliness, that will also diminish. Cleanliness is required. Bahyabhyantarah-sucih. If one is to advance, he has to clean himself. According to Vedic civilization, one has to take bath thrice daily. Actually, in India they take. In our country I was also taking twice bath till I was attacked last year. So I thought that in this country, twice taking bath is not possible, so I am taking once now. But India, there are many gentlemen, high class gentlemen, they take bath thrice. Morning, and before lunch, and in the evening. Especially the brahmanas. So cleanliness is next to godliness. To take bath, to evacuate daily, to wash the teeth, wash clothings, this cleanliness process. But as the days of this Kali-yuga will make progress, this system of hygienic cleanliness, cleanliness both inside and outside Outside by taking bath, inside by becoming Krsna conscioustwo kinds of cleanliness. Simply if we take bath with soap outside, and inside all rubbish things, that is not cleanliness. Cleanliness means bahyabhyantarah. Bahya means outside, without. Abhyantara means inside. Unless we are clean, unless we are pure, how we can make advance to approach the Supreme? The Supreme is described as the purest. In the Bhagavad-gita Arjuna said, param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan: [Bg. 10.12] "My dear Krsna, You are the Supreme Lord, Brahman." And pavitram paramam: "You are supreme pure." There is no impurity. Impurity means material contamination, and purity means spiritual life. So this cleanliness inside and outside, that will also decrease. Just know.

First decreasing-religiosity. People will become irreligious, and they will forget what is telling truth. They will be accustomed to speak lie. And saucam, no cleanliness. And ksama. Ksama means forgiveness. Suppose I have done some wrong... [break] ...but there is no forgiveness. Ksama-rupam tapasvinah, people is advised, especially those who are following penance and austerity, yogic principle or devotional life, they should learn to excuse. In our dealings, there are so many faulty dealings between ourselves. So if we take everything very seriously, then it is very difficult to live. So ksama. But that ksamaksama means forgivenesswill reduce. Nobody will forgive. Retaliation, vengeance, that will increase. So four items: religiosity, truthfulness, cleanliness, and forgiveness. Four. Then daya. Daya means mercy. What is daya? Who is, I mean to say, less strong. Just like animals, birds, beast, you should be very merciful. Just like children: you should be very merciful to children. According to Vedic injunctions, children, woman, brahmanas, old men, and cows. How many? Children, women, brahmana, cow, and what else?

The next description is,

Another symptom is how a man is respectable. He says, Sukadeva Gosvami says, vittam eva kalau nrnam. Vittam means money. If you have got money, some way or other, whatever you may be, you are very respected. Janmacara-gunodayah. Formerly a man was respectable by his birth in a respectable family and by his behavior. Just like a brahmana. A brahmana was respected because his behavior was so nice. He was truthful, he was clean, he was man of knowledge, he was faithful in scriptures, and so many qualifications. Therefore he was respected. So here it is said that janma, birth in a good family or high family, or good behavior. Janmacara. Janmacara, and guna, quality. Suppose a man is a great philosopher, a great learned scholar. That is a very good qualification. So these things will not be considered. If a man is very learned scholar or coming of a very respectable family and has got all good qualities, that will be neglected. Another man, if he has all the bad qualities but he has got money, he's respected. He'll be respected. This is the symptom of this age. And dharma-nyaya-vyavasthayam karanam balam eva hi. Dharma. Dharma means suppose you have acted something irreligious. In every religion, in every scripture, there are many things, you do it, and do not do it. So that is called following the religious principle. In every religion, either Hindu or Christian or Muhammadan, there are some rules and regulations. Just like in Muhammadan religion, drinking is greatest sin. And Hindu religion, flesh eating, especially cow's meat, is greatest sin. So these are religious principles. So dharma-nyaya-vyavasthayam. So there are some rules and regulation according to different types of religion. So how they will be settled? Karanam balam eva hi: by might. If one has... "Might is right." That "Might is right." There is no reason. "Why you are doing against religious principle?" If I ask, if you are powerful, stronger than me, you'll say, "Yes! I can do that. What is that? What for you? What is that to you?" So balam eva hi. If anyone is powerful in power, oh, he can act against the rules and regulations of religious or scriptural injunctions. Nobody can protest.

Dharma-nyaya-vyavasthayam karanam balam eva hi. Dampatye abhirucir hetur mayaiva vyavaharike. Dampatye. Dampatye means making husband and wife relationship. Abhirucih. Abhirucih means liking. A boy likes another girl, and the girl likes another boy. That's finished. Let them become husband and wife. Formerly, it was not. Formerly, according to Vedic civilization, there was no liking of the boy or the girl. The parents of the boy and the girl, they would see, "Whether this combination will be happy." They will bring horoscope and calculate astronomically, "What is the symptoms of this boy? What is the symptoms of this girl? Whether they will be peaceful in married life?" They calculated, and the parents would see in what kind of family the girl is born, and what kind of boy, the family he's born. So many things. If they do not agree, the parents of the girl and the boy, then there is no marriage. Still, in India... At least, I was also married, and some of my children, they were also married. But this system in India is still followed. The parents, they select the suitable boy and the suitable girl. The primary aim is that they may live very peacefully. There may not be unnecessarily disturbance in their family life. That was the aim. But in the Kali-yuga it is said dampatye, selection of husband and wife, will depend on agreement. That's all. "I like you; you like me." That's all. Finished. Dampatye abhirucir hetuh. Abhirucih. Because the boy likes the girl. And suppose the parents do not like? That will be taken, "The girl likes, so that's it." That's all.

So dampatye... It is not only in your country. In every country. Because the age is like that. Dampatye abhirucir hetur mayaiva vyavaharike. Maya means false dealing. Vyavahare. Even in ordinary dealing there will be cheating and faultiness, even in ordinary. Even you go to purchase something from a store, oh, there is false dealing. Dampatye. Stritve pumstve ca hi ratih. And stritve, a husband and wife will agree so long they are sexually strong. That's all. Stritve pumstve ca hi ratih. Ratih means sex. Formerly it was not the system. The husband and wife combined together as life companion. Even the husband becomes diseased and paralyzed, the wife cannot give, give him up. "Oh, he is my husband." Similarly, wife. Either she becomes diseased or so many things, the husband and wife combined together for life. There was no question of divorce. There was no question of divorce, even they do not like each other, even they fight. Fight there must be, whenever there are two men or woman. That is individuality. Therefore Canakya Pandita says, dampatye kalahe caiva bambharambhe laghu-kriya. Whenever there is fight between husband and wife, it should be neglected. The formula of Canakya Pandita is given like this: Aja-yuddhe. When the goats are fighting, as it is very insignificant... If you understand that in the door two goats are fighting, you don't care for it. You see, a goat fight. So aja-yuddhe muni-sraddhe. And some sages are performing sraddha ceremony. Sraddha ceremony means after the death of one's father and mother there is great ceremony and the son spends lots of money. The father spends lots of money during the marriage ceremony of the boy and the girl, and the boy spends lots of money after the death of the father and mother. That is the system, Hindu system. So aja-yuddhe muni-sraddhe. Muni-sraddhe means the muni is performing the sraddha ceremony after the death of his father. Muni means he lives in the forest. They are mendicants. And what is the expenditure? Some flowers and fruits, that's all. So that is not very expensive. So... And in the forest you haven't got to pay anything for flowers and fruits. You can get from the trees. Aja-yuddhe muni-sraddhe, and prabhate megra-dumbhake (?). In the morning if there is thundering sound in the cloud, you should know it will not rain. It will never rain. That thundering may be very loud, but there will be no rain. That means you can neglect. As you can neglect the fight between two goats, as you can take not seriously the sraddha ceremony of muni, as you do not take very seriously the thundering sound of the cloud in the morning, similarly, dampatye kalahe caiva, similarly, whenever there is fight between husband and wife, you should take like that. Don't take it seriously. But at the modern civilization, the husband and wife quarrel is taken so seriously that immediately they go to the court and there is filing of divorce, and the combination, the married life, dissolved, and both are unhappy. And this psychology is, as it is stated... I do not know, but probably it is right, that disagreement between husband and wife is due to sex difficulty. That's all. It is clearly stated here. Either the husband or the wife, if there is not complete sex satisfaction, one of them must be very unhappy, and disagreement and dissolution...

Stritve pumstve ca hi ratir vipratve sutram eva hi. Vipratve means... Just this morning I was explaining vipra, who is vipra. Vipra means one who has studied Vedas nicely, or one who has passed in the studies of Vedas, he is called vipra. And before becoming a vipra, there is sacred thread ceremony. Janmana jayate sudrah. There are stages: sudra, dvija, vipra, and brahmana. These four steps. One is born a sudra. Sudra means the lowest class, almost animal. So anyone who is born of father and mother, he is accepted as sudra. And Janmana jayate sudrah. By birth, everyone is born a sudra, the lower class. And samskarad bhaved dvijah. And if that man, the boy, or the child, is reformed by education gradually, then he is, samskarad bhaved dvijah, his second birth is there. So amongst the higher class, the brahmanas, the ksatriyas, and the vaisyas, especially amongst the brahmanas and ksatriya, the boys were trained very nicely. Very nicely. So by reformation, when the boy is, I mean to say, mature, at the age of twelve years or thirteen years, he goes automatically to a spiritual master. He automatically goes to a spiritual master for becoming initiated. Just like sometimes some students come to me also: "Swamiji, get me..." That is the process. When one understands the importance of spiritual life, that is reformation. So automatically he offers to a learned person to accept him as his disciple. That point is, acceptance of a disciple, is the second birth. He is called dvija. Dvi means second, and ja means janma, or life. So samskarad bhaved dvijah. Dvija, second life, means reformation and acceptance of spiritual master. Then education, spiritual education, begins. And what is that spiritual education? The Vedic literature, just like Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Vedanta. There are many. Especially Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.

So one... When one has educated himself sufficiently in the Vedic literature, he is called vipra. And at that time the spiritual master... Or before that. Before accepting him as a student for spiritual education, the disciple was given a badge which is called sacred thread. You have seen my sacred thread. So that sacred thread is offered. One who has got the sacred thread, is to be understood that he is twice-born. His second birth is also there. First birth is from the father and mother, and second birth is from the spiritual master and Vedic literature. The spiritual master is the father, and Vedic literature is the mother. Now here, it is said that in the age of Kali, vipratve sutram eva hi. The sutra, the thread, is only two-cent worth. So just to place oneself as born of higher class, especially in India that is now being done. One man can purchase a two-cent worth this thread and put it on the..., "Oh, I come from a brahmana family." Without any education, without any acceptance of spiritual master and without anything, simply by showing the thread, that "I have got this thread," he becomes a brahmana or vipra, or twice-born or... Nonsense. But this will be done in Kali-yuga. Actually, these things are being done in India especially. Because here, in your country, there is no sacred thread ceremony, but in India there is this division of brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, and still the sacred thread ceremony is there. So in order to pose oneself as born of high family, one can simply purchase two-cent-worth thread and put on the breast and he can introduce himself, "Oh, I am brahmana." And nobody is going to inquire whether he is actually a brahmana. As soon as one sees that sacred thread: "Oh, he's a brahmana." That's all. So this is the, another symptom of Kali-yuga, that simply by two-cent-worth sacred thread one becomes a brahmana.

Lingam evasrama-khyatav anyonyapatti-karanam. Lingam. Lingam means symptom. According to Vedic literature, there are different dress. A girl unmarried, her dress is different. A girl married, her dress is different. A girl widow, her dress is different. A girl prostitute, her dress is different. A men sannyasi, his dress is different. A brahmacari, his dress is different. So by the dress one can understand that who is who. That is the system. So that dress is offered by the spiritual master after qualified. Just like if a girl is married, then his (her) dress is offered during the marriage ceremony. One of the symptoms of married girl is some red powder between the two divisions of the hair. So one can understand that "This girl is not..." So similarly, there are different dresses according to qualification, according to the situation. But in the Kali-yuga, that, anyone can take any dress without any regulation, without any formality. Simply by dress. Suppose... Just like sannyasi. Because a sannyasi has to dress himself in these saffron-color garments, so sannyasi has the privilege, if he goes to a householder's house, he is very respectfully received, and if he wants something, the householder gives him. That is the system. Now, if somebody sees that "It is a very cheap process of earning money, so let me dress in this saffron color and beg from door to door. What is the use of laboring so hard...?" So that will go on. Misuse of dress. Misuse of dress. Lingam eva asrama-khyatau. Asrama, a grhastha. Asrama means... There are four asramas: brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasi. They have got different dresses. But they have got different duties also. But in the Kali-yuga, simply by dress one should be known that either he is a sannyasi or a brahmacari or grhastha.

Avrttya nyaya-daurbalyam... I shall explain another one line: avrttya nyaya-daurbalyam panditye capalam vacah. If you have no money, then you cannot get justice. Formerly, if somebody has done injustice to you, you could go in the open court. Because the king used to sit in assembly, and any of the citizens could go there and put his complaint: "My lord, I have been done so wrong by such and such." He could complain, and immediately the judgment is given. That was the system. Now in the Kali-yuga there is court. Suppose you have been insulted, you have been done wrong by somebody, if you want to go to court, oh, immediately you have to find out first about the fees of the lawyer and the stamp fees and so many things. And if you have no money, oh, there is no justice. If you have no money, then there is no justice. Therefore he says, avrttya nyaya-daurbalyam. Nyaya means justice, and daurbalyam means weakness. Avrttya means without money. Without money you cannot get justice. And panditye capalam vacah. Pandita means a learned scholar. If he can speak something, without any reference of the scripture, if he can simply, what is called Exact English language I don't find. False propaganda. False propaganda. Simply if he can satisfy the mass people by false propaganda, then he will be accepted that "You are very learned." Nobody will inquire whether he is learned according to the standard books, because nobody has got knowledge of the standard book. I may speak something without any reference to the standard book, but if I can convince you, if I can flatter you, then you will accept me. Just like so many propaganda is going on that "You can become a great yogi, at the same time you can indulge your senses. There is no restriction." People like, they like it. So people are following that. But actually, if we refer to the standard books of yoga, it is very difficult. But that will not be spoken because they will not like it. So everyone can manufacture in his own way some cheap thing, and people will like it. So panditye capalam vacah.

So these are the symptoms. We shall discuss later on. The time is eight-twenty. If you have got any questions about this? [break]

So Vedas, your question, Veda knowledge means from the beginning of the creation. Unless the knowledge is there, how this creation can be conducted? So Brahma was made in charge of this universe and he was educated in Vedas. Therefore you'll find the Brahma's picture, he has got Vedas in his hand. Have you seen? Brahma's picture, he has got Vedas. And in the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said, tene brahma hrda adi-kavaye. Adi-kavaye means he is the original learned man. And the disciplic succession comes from Brahma. Brahma was educated by Krsna, and from Brahma, his disciple Narada, and Narada's disciple Vyasa, Vyasa's disciple Madhvacarya. In the Madhvacarya, Lord Caitanya, in the line. From Lord Caitanya, others. In this way the disciplic succession is coming directly from Krsna. And it is called Brahma-sampradaya. Brahma-sampradaya. So that knowledge... Evam parampara-praptam [Bg. 4.2]. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, this knowledge is received by this disciplic succession. That is perfect knowledge. No adulteration. Just like if you see water directly from the sky, it is pure water. And as soon as you take water either from sea or river, it is adulterated. Similarly, we have to receive knowledge direct from Krsna. So it is a great opportunity that Bhagavad-gita is directly imparted by Krsna. And if we take, accept Bhagavad-gita as it is, we are full of knowledge. There is no question of research or bothering your brain. You take directly, immediately. We receive knowledge in that way, oh... Just mother gives the child education, "My dear child, here is your father. Here is your brother. Here is your sister," the child accepts it. He doesn't require to make research, "Who is my father?" The mother says, authority, "Here is your father," and accept. Finish. Otherwise make research, "Who is my father? Are you my father? Are you my father? Are you my father? Where is father?" The authority is mother: "Here is your father." Accept it. There is no research. There is no trouble. And if you, "No, I want to find out my father by research," go on with your nonsense research. What research you can do? What knowledge you have got?

Therefore this knowledge is perfect. Evam parampara-praptam [Bg. 4.2], by disciplic succession from authority. That knowledge is perfect. Our knowledge, most imperfect. Just like we are studying the moon. So many scientists were engaged to study the moon. Every day we read something about moon. And in Bhagavata you see that the moon is very cold planet, and there people drink soma-rasa. And the other day I was reading in the paper, the temperature is 200 degrees less than zero. Just you can imagine how cold it is. So how we can go there? Cannot go to Canada because when it is below zero degree, you are you so unhappy. And it is, if we accept the statement of the scientists, it is 200 degrees below zero. So how you can go there? At once you'll die, immediately. Similarly, the temperature of sun, oh, so many degree hot centrigrade. So you have to remain. Therefore we are called conditioned. You cannot go outside. You are conditioned. You may try, but you cannot go outside in that way. If you want to go other planets, then you have to prepare yourself. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gita: