5,000 Year old Vedic Prophecies

[Kalpana.v]

A little-known fact is that a book written over five thousand years ago—Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam—predicted many current trends and events with amazing accuracy.

Śrīla Prabhupāda quotes profusely from this Sanskrit text in a lecture given at the Los Angeles Hare Kṛṣṇa temple during the summer of 1974. About present day society, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam's twelfth canto prophesies: "Religious principles will be determined by a show of strength [and] measured by a person's reputation for material accomplishments." And: "Those without money will be unable to get justice, and anyone who can cleverly juggle words will be considered a scholar."

tataś cānudinaṁ dharmaḥ
satyaṁ śaucam kṣamā dayā
kālena balinā rājan
naṅkṣyaty āyur balaṁ smṛtiḥ

"My dear King, with each day religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, forgiveness, mercy, duration of life, bodily strength, and memory will all decrease more and more by the mighty force of time." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.2.1]

This description of the Kali-yuga [the present age of quarrel and hypocrisy] is given in the Twelfth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was written five thousand years ago, when the Kali-yuga was about to begin, and many things that would happen in the future are spoken of there. Therefore we accept Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as śāstra [revealed scripture]. The compiler of śāstra (the śāstra-kāra) must be a liberated person so that he can describe past, present, and future.

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you will find many things which are foretold. There is mention of Lord Buddha's appearance and Lord Kalki's appearance. (Lord Kalki will appear at the end of the Kali-yuga.) There is also mention of Lord Caitanya's appearance. Although the Bhāgavatam was written five thousand years ago, the writer knew past, present, and future (tri-kāla-jña), and thus he could predict all these events with perfect accuracy.

So here Śukadeva Gosvāmī is describing the chief symptoms of this age. He says, tataś cānudinam: With the progress of this age [Kali-yuga], dharma, religious principles; satyam, truthfulness; śaucam, cleanliness; kṣamā, forgiveness; dayā, mercifulness; āyuḥ, duration of life; balam, bodily strength; smṛti, memory—these eight things will gradually decrease to nil or almost nil.

Of course, there are other yugas besides Kali-yuga. During the Satya-yuga, which lasted eighteen hundred thousand years, human beings lived for one hundred thousand years. The duration of the next age, the Tretā-yuga, was twelve hundred thousand years, and the people of that age used to live for ten thousand years. In other words, the duration of life was ten times reduced. In the next age, Dvāpara-yuga, the life span was again ten times reduced—people used to live for one thousand years—and the duration of the Dvāpara Age was eight hundred thousand years.

Then, in the next age, this Kali-yuga, we can live up to one hundred years at the utmost. We are not living one hundred years, but still, the limit is one hundred years. So just see: from one hundred years the average duration of life has decreased to about seventy years. And it will eventually decrease to the point where if a man lives for twenty to thirty years, he will be considered a very old man.

Another symptom of the Kali-yuga predicted in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the decrease in memory (smṛti). We see nowadays that people do not have very sharp memories—they forget easily. They may hear something daily, yet still they forget it. Similarly, bodily strength (balam) is decreasing. You can all understand this, because you know that your father or grandfather was physically stonger than you are. So, bodily strength is decreasing, memory is decreasing, and the duration of life is decreasing—and all of this is predicted in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Another symptom of Kali-yuga is the decrease in religion. There is practically no question of religion in this age—it has almost decreased to nil. No one is interested in religion. The churches and temples are being closed, locked up. The building we are sitting in was once a church, but it was sold because no one was coming. Similarly, we are purchasing a very big church in Australia, and in London I have seen many hundreds of vacant churches—no one is going there. And not only churches: in India also, except for a few important temples, the ordinary, small temples are being closed. They have become the habitation of the dogs. So dharma, religion, is decreasing.

Truthfulness, cleanliness, and forgiveness are also decreasing. Formerly, if someone did something wrong, the other party would forgive him. For example, Arjuna was tortured by his enemies, yet still, on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra he said, "Kṛṣṇa, let me leave. I don't want to kill them." This is forgiveness. But now, even for a small insult people will kill.

This is going on. Also, there is now no mercifulness (dayā). Even if you see someone being killed in front of you, you will not take interest. These things are happening already. So, religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, forgiveness, mercifulness, duration of life, bodily strength, and memory—these eight things will decrease, decrease, decrease, decrease. When you see these symptoms, you should know the age of Kali is making progress.

Another symptom is vittam eva kalau nṝṇāṁ janmācāra-guṇodayaḥ: "In Kali-yuga, a man's qualities and social position will be calculated according to the extent of his wealth." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.2.2] Formerly a man's position was calculated according to his spiritual understanding. For example, a brāhmaṇa was honored because he knew brahma—he was aware of the Supreme Spirit. But now in Kali-yuga there are actually no brāhmaṇas, because people are taking the title of brāhmaṇa simply by janma, or birthright. Previously there was also birthright, but one was actually known according to his behavior.

If a man was born in a brāhmaṇa family or a kṣatriya [administrative or military] family, he had to behave like a brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya. And it was the king's duty to see that no one was falsely representing himself. In other words, respectability was awarded according to culture and education. But nowadays, vittam eva kalau nṝṇām: if you get money somehow or other, then everything is available. You may be a third-class or a fourth-class or a tenth-class man, but if you get money somehow or other, then you are very much respected. There is no question of your culture or education or knowledge. This is Kali-yuga.

Another symptom of Kali-yuga: dharma-nyāya-vyavasthāyāṁ kāraṇaṁ balam eva hi. "Religious principles and justice will be determined by a show of strength." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.2.2] If you have some influence, then everything will be decided in your favor. You may be the most irreligious person, but if you can bribe a priest he will certify that you are religious. So character will be decided by money, not by actual qualification. Next is dām-patye 'bhirucir hetur māyaiva vyāvahārike: "Marriages will be arranged according to temporary affection, and to be a successful businessman, one will have to cheat." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.2.3] The relationship between husband and wife will depend on abhiruci, their liking each other.

If a girl likes a boy and a boy likes a girl, then they think, "All right, now let the marriage take place." No one ever knows what the future of the girl and boy will be. Therefore everyone becomes unhappy. Six months after marriage—divorce. This is because the marriage took place simply on the basis of superficial liking, not deep understanding.

Formerly, at least in India during my time, marriages did not take place because the boy and girl liked each other. No. Marriages were decided by the parents. I married when I was a student, but I did not know who my wife would be; my parents arranged everything. Another example is Dr. Rajendra Prasada, the first president of India. In his biography he wrote that he married at the age of eight. Similarly, my father-in-law married when he was eleven years old, and my mother-in-law when she was seven. So the point is that formerly, in India, marriage took place only after an astrological calculation of past, present, and future had determined whether the couple would be happy in their life together. When marriage is thus sanctified, the man and the woman live peacefully and practice spiritual culture.

Each one helps the other, so they live very happily and become advanced in spiritual life. And at last they go back home, back to Godhead. That is the system. Not that a grown-up girl and a grown-up boy mix together, and if he likes her and she likes him they get married, and then he leaves or she leaves... This kind of marriage was not sanctioned. But of this Kali-yuga it is said, dām-patye 'bhiruciḥ: Marriage will take place simply because of mutual liking, that's all. Liking one moment means disliking the next moment. That is a fact. So a marriage based on mutual liking has no value.

The next symptoms of this age are strītve puṁstve ca hi ratir vipratve sūtram eva hi: "A husband and wife will stay together only as long as there is sex attraction, and brāhmaṇas [saintly intellectuals] will be known only by their wearing a sacred thread." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.2.3] Brāhmaṇas are offered a sacred thread. So now people are thinking, "Now I have a sacred thread, so I have become a brāhmaṇa. I may act like a caṇḍāla [dog-eater], but it doesn't matter."

This is going on. One doesn't understand that as a brāhmaṇa he has so much responsibility. Simply because he has the two-cent sacred thread, he thinks he has become a brāhmaṇa. And strītve puṁstve ca hi ratiḥ: A husband and wife will remain together because they like each other, but as soon as there will be some sex difficulty, their affection will slacken.

Another symptom of Kali-yuga is avṛttyā nyāya-daurbalyaṁ pāṇḍitye cāpalaṁ vacaḥ: "Those without money will be unable to get justice, and anyone who can cleverly juggle words will be considered a scholar." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.2.4] If you have no money, then you will never get justice in court. This is Kali-yuga. Nowadays even the high-court judges are taking bribes to give you a favorable judgment. But if you have no money, then don't go to court. And pāṇḍitye cāpalaṁ vacaḥ.

If a man can talk expertly—it doesn't matter what he says, and nobody has to understand it—then he is a paṇḍita. He is a learned scholar. [Imitating gibberish:] "Aban gulakslena bugavad tugalad kulela gundulas, by the latricism of wife... " Like this, if you go on speaking, no one will understand you. [Laughter.] Yet people will say, "Ah, see how learned he is." [Laughter.]

This is actually happening. There are so many rascals writing books, but if you ask one of them to explain what he has understood, he'll say, "Oh, it is inexplicable." These things are going on.

Next Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says,

anāḍhyataivāsādhutve
sādhutve dambha eva tu
svīkāra eva codvāhe
snānam eva prasādhanam

"Poverty will be looked on as dishonorable, while a hypocrite who can put on a show will be thought pious. Marriage will be based on arbitrary agreement, and simply taking a bath will be considered proper cleansing and decoration of the body." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.2.5]

First, anāḍhyatā: If you are a poor man, then you are dishonorable. People will think that a man is not honorable because he does not know how to earn money by hook or crook. And svīkāra eva codvāhe: Marriages will take place by agreement. This is being experienced in your country, and in my country also. The government appoints a marriage magistrate, and any boy and girl who want to can simply go to him and get married. Maybe there is some fee.

"Yes, we agree to marry," they say, and he certifies that they are married. Formerly, the father and mother used to select the bride and bridegroom by consulting an astrologer who could see the future. Nowadays marriage is taking place according to svīkāra, agreement.


Another symptom is dūre vāry-ayanaṁ tīrthaṁ lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dhāraṇam: "Just going to some faraway river will be considered a proper pilgrimage, and a man will think he is beautiful if he has long hair." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.2.6] Just see how perfectly Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam predicts the future! "In Kali-yuga a man will think he has become very beautiful by keeping long hair." You have very good experience of this in your country. Who could have known that people would be interested in keeping long hair? Yet that is stated in the Bhāgavatam: keśa-dhāraṇam. Keśa means "long hair" and dhāraṇam means "keeping." Another symptom is dūre vāry-ayanaṁ tīrtham: People will think that a place of pilgrimage must be far away.

For example, the Ganges flows through Calcutta, but no one cares to take a bath in the Calcutta Ganges; they'd rather go to Hardwar. It is the same Ganges. The Ganges is coming from Hardwar down to the Bay of Bengal. But people would rather suffer so much hardship to go to Hardwar and take a bath there, because that has become a tīrtha, a place of pilgrimage. Every religion has a tīrtha. The Muslims have Mecca and Medina, and the Christians have Golgotha. Similarly, the Hindus also think they must travel very far to find a tīrtha. But actually, tīrthī-kurvanti tīrthāni: a tīrtha is a place where there are saintly persons. That is a tīrtha. Not that one goes ten thousand miles and simply takes a dip in the water and then comes back.

The next symptoms are:
udaraṁ-bharatā svārthaḥ
satyatve dhārṣṭyam eva hi
dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇaṁ
yaśo-'rthe dharma-sevanam

"The purpose of life will consist simply of filling one's stomach, and audacity will become equivalent to conclusive truth. If a man can even maintain his own family members, he will be honored as very expert, and religiosity will be measured by a person's reputation for material accomplishments." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.2.6] So, if somehow one can eat very sumptuously, then he will think all his interests are fulfilled. People will be very hungry, with nothing to eat, and therefore if they can eat very sumptuously on one day, that will be the fulfillment of all their desires.

The next symptom is satyatve dhārṣṭyam eva hi: Anyone who is expert at word jugglery will be considered very truthful. Another symptom, dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇam: One shall be considered very expert if he can maintain his family—his wife and children. In other words, this will become very difficult. In fact, it has already become difficult. To maintain a wife and two children is now a great burden. Therefore no one wants to marry.

The next verse describes what will happen when all the people have been thus infected by the poison of Kali-yuga.

evaṁ prajābhir duṣṭābhir
ākīrṇe kṣiti-maṇḍale
brahma-viṭ-kṣatra-śūdrāṇāṁ
yo balī bhavitā nṛpaḥ

It won't matter whether one is a brāhmaṇa [a learned and pure intellectual] or a kṣatriya [an administrator or soldier] or a vaiśya [a merchant or farmer] or a śūdra [a laborer] or a caṇḍāla [a dog-eater]. If one is powerful in getting votes, he will occupy the presidential or royal post. Formerly the system was that only a kṣatriya could occupy the royal throne, not a brāhmaṇa, vaiśya, or śūdra. But now, in the Kali-yuga, there is no such thing as a kṣatriya or a brāhmaṇa. Now we have democracy.

Anyone who can get your votes by hook or crook can occupy the post of leader. He may be rascal number one, but he will be given the supreme, exalted presidential post. The Bhāgavatam describes these leaders in the next verse:

prajā hi lubdhai rājanyair
nirghṛṇair dasyu-dharmabhiḥ
ācchinna-dāra-draviṇā
yāsyanti giri-kānanam

"The citizens will be so oppressed by merciless rogues in the guise of rulers that they will give up their spouses and property and flee to the hills and forests." [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.2.8] So, the men who acquire a government post by vote are mostly lubdhai rājanyaiḥ, greedy government men. Nirghṛṇair dasyu:

Their business is plundering the public. And we actually see that every year the government men are exacting heavy taxes, and whatever money is received they divide among themselves, while the citizens' condition remains the same. Every government is doing that. Gradually, all people will feel so much harassed that ācchinna-dāra-draviṇāḥ: They will want to give up their family life (their wife and their money) and go to the forest. This we have also seen.

So, kaler doṣa-nidhe rājan: The faults of this age are just like an ocean. If you were put into the Pacific Ocean, you would not know how to save your life. Even if you were a very expert swimmer, it would not be possible for you to cross the Pacific Ocean. Similarly, the Kali-yuga is described in the Bhāgavatam as an ocean of faults. It is infected with so many anomalies that there seems to be no way out. But there is one medicine: kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet [SB 12.3.51]. The Bhāgavatam explains that if you chant the name of Kṛṣṇa—the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra—you will be relieved from the infection of this Kali-yuga.