Kali-yuga lasts for 432,000 years from which only 5,122 years have passed. In other words, there’s still a long way to go. By studying recent history, we can see that Kali-yuga is not a very bright period for humanity, with constant wars, privation, and examples of inhuman cruelty. According to the Vedas, all of this happens as a predicted cosmic cycle of events, which is connected with the spiritual level of the souls allowed to take birth on our planet in each part of the cycle.
Being part of the intermediary planetary system, our planet is a place where souls from all over the cosmos come to perform activities, make their choices, and thus create a new set of karma that is going to determine their future destinations. In this sense, we can imagine our planet as a universal airport, where people can decide where to go next. Souls that perform pious activities take their next birth in higher planets, where they can have association of evolved beings and thus get the chance of progressing further, while souls that cultivate bad habits and commit violence to others go to the lower planets, where they take birth amongst similarly inclined souls.
Similarly, souls take birth at one of the four ages according to their previous karma and their level of consciousness. In Satya-yuga, only highly elevated souls can take birth on this planet, and therefore the spiritual level is quite high. The entrance barrier is progressively lower on Treta and Dwapara Yuga, and thus the spiritual level of the society is similarly lesser. In Kali-yuga there is practically no entrance barrier, and therefore we have all kinds of problems.
Since our situation in this age is so complicated, there is also a great opportunity for spiritual advancement through the process of Sankirtana. What would take thousands of years of practice of Ashtanga-yoga in Satya-yuga to achieve can be quickly obtained in our age. This opportunity makes this era actually quite fortunate, to the extent that beings from higher planetary systems desire to take birth to our planet during this age.
Is exactly this possibility of quick spiritual progression, combined with the presence of souls coming from higher realms that leads to the predictions of a golden age in the midst of our modern age, a glimmer of hope for the ones who are not interested in experiencing the rigours of the later stages of this age.
In the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, it’s predicted that the first 5,000 thousand years of Kali-yuga, would be a period of darkness. Studying history we can see that it was indeed so, with the dark ages, slavery, wars, and so on. Fortunately, this period is passing. Now we are in the second part of the predictions. The Brahma Vaivarta Purana (4.90.32-33) states that after this period age of spiritual progress would issue. During half of this period, the river Ganges will be present, alongside temples and the study of the sacred scriptures, and in the second half, spiritual knowledge will be propagated by enlightened spiritual teachers roaming the planet.
Similarly, the Bhavishya Purana (20.71-73) states that persons born in western countries will practice this spiritual knowledge, becoming Brahmanas by initiation and qualification, and will propagate this knowledge around the world. By their efforts, humanity will change in a course of just a few generations, leading to an ascending period of spiritual prosperity.
The conditions for this golden age were set by the appearance of Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the 15th century. Although geographically limited to India, the spiritual movement started by Him created the conditions for this gradual shift.
Just as other acaryas that lived in the past centuries, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura made a few predictions about the appearance of this golden age. In fact, most of them already materialised, like the one that the sankirtana movement of Mahaprabhu would spread in the western countries, and English, French, Russian, German, and American people would join forces to push it further forward.
Another prophecy is that a magnificent temple built in Mayapur, West Bengal, the birth site of Caitanya Mahaprabhu would be a milestone in the appearance of this golden age, serving as a catalyst for the growing spiritual wave.
In the Srimad Bhagavatam (SB 11.5.38) it’s mentioned how enlightened souls that lived in other eras, as well as inhabitants of higher planetary systems, take advantage of the opportunity to take birth in this planet and thus conclude their spiritual practice and ascend to the transcendental realm. While here, they act as enlightened teachers, helping the rest of humanity to reach the same higher goal. This combination of people from this age that attain enlightenment through spiritual practice and elevated souls from previous eras and higher planetary systems has the potential to gradually turn the tide of materialism, leading to a revival of spiritual values, combined with growing material prosperity. This is a trend that tends to continue for some time as the golden age takes hold, a global spiritual awakening that can lead to a very fortunate period.
It may seem hard to believe, but sometimes global changes can happen quite fast. Who could predict, in 1970, that in 50 years 11% of the population of the United States would be Vegetarian or Vegan, and that a global network would connect the whole world population? This process of gradual spiritual growth will continue until most of humanity will become spiritually advanced. The progression may not be linear, there may be periods with difficulties or even a few global catastrophes, but the general tendency during this period will be of improvement. As these fortunate souls conclude their spiritual advancement and move towards the transcendental realm or the higher planetary systems, the percentage of the population not interested in spiritual cultivation will again gradually increase, leading to a descending period.
You can imagine this in the form of two lines in a graph. In the ascending period, the line representing spiritually advanced people slowly increases, while the line representing materialistic people gradually declines. This continues until most people become spiritually advanced, leading to the blossoming years of the golden age. However, as these souls leave the planet, going toward higher realms, new souls take birth here and thus the percentage of materialists start to increase again, leading to a descending period, where the spiritual level of society will slowly decay over a course of a few thousand years.
Again, people will gradually become materialistic and hedonistic, and humanity will slowly degrade, both culturally and spiritually. People will become angry and cruel, and life will again become difficult and full of anxieties. As the last advanced souls leave the planet, the stage will be set for the remaining 417,000 years of Kali-Yuga, which will not be a very good period to be born into.
However, instead of being concerned about the dark times ahead, the best for us is to dedicate our time to cultivating self-realisation now. These events of Kali-yuga take place because many adopt a selfish and exploitative nature, polluting and exploiting the natural resources, as well as fellow human beings, and thus eventually have to face the karmic consequences. By following a different path, we become eligible for going back to Godhead, or at least taking our next birth in the higher planetary systems, creating a much brighter future for ourselves. Part of it is to also enlighten others, spreading the message so others can also benefit from it.
Gaurangasundar Das is Iskcon, Inc Communication Director and SM IT head.
It’s exactly this possibility of quick spiritual progression, combined with the presence of souls coming from higher realms that leads to the predictions of a golden age in the midst of our modern age, a glimmer of hope for the ones who are not interested in experiencing the rigours of the later stages of this age.
