The long night of moral darkness

CHENNAI : As per Hindu philosophy and Vedic scriptures, we are currently in the fourth and final stage of the cycle of world i.e Kali yuga or Iron age. Out of four stages of the world, Satya yuga, Treta yuga, Dwapar yuga and Kali yuga, the fourth and the last stage is considered as the age of vice and sin when dharma is destroyed. Saints and sages have described the people in Kali yuga as greedy, ill-behaved and merciless.

In this age, merely possessing wealth is considered a sign of good birth, proper behaviour and fine qualities. Law and justice are determined by one’s prestige and power. Marriage ceases to exist as a holy union as men and women simply live together based on bodily attraction and verbal agreement, and only for sexual pleasure.

According to scriptures, men of Kali yuga seek only money. Only the richest have power and people without money are their slaves. The leaders of the state no longer protect the people but plunder the citizenry through excessive taxation. Farmers abandon living close to nature. They become unskilled labourers in congested cities. Many dress up in rags or are unemployed and sleep on the streets. Infant mortality rates increase through the fault of the government.

False gods are worshipped in false ashrams in which pilgrimages, penances, charities and austerities are all concocted. Women, children and cows, who are always protected in an enlightened society, are freely abused and killed during the iron age. At such a time, even good deeds either go waste or produce bad results.

Don’t you think that our present times is very much like this? Today, everything in the world is increasingly getting corrupted under the influence of the iron age. Human efforts to solve the world’s problems are producing more problems. Our scientific progress has been accompanied by a slide into moral decay. The practical manifestation of this, experienced by almost everyone, is that even though our physical comforts are increasing, our peace of mind, inner contentment and spiritual strength are getting depleted. Why is this so? The answer is that nothing truly good can happen in this degraded world.

If we take a look at our development over the ages, we can see that our economic growth is giving more and more people access to an increasing variety of goods and services. But, has this development made people happier? Not really, because the gap between the rich and the poor is widening day by day and exploitation of the weak has become an integral part of the so-called modern society that we live in.

The consumption-driven model of growth is causing social strife with communities violently opposing projects for which their resources are expropriated by governments or private firms that give them little in return. The phenomenon of climate change triggered by our abuse of nature threatens to make life on this planet impossible in the near future. Scientists and policymakers can only wring their hands in despair as they see droughts, floods and freak weather caused by climate change wreaking economic havoc in rich as well as poor countries.

Over the past century, we have conquered an array of diseases and our lifespan has increased as a result of medical advances. But newer and incurable variations of older diseases are emerging and taking a toll on human life. In the political field too, we see divisions and strife on the increase. On one hand, nations are forging partnerships for economic gain, and on the other, countries are getting fragmented on ethnic, linguistic and sectarian lines. The most ominous part of the world’s political rivalries is the huge stockpile of weapons of mass destruction built by nations.

The Cold War is supposed to have ended and trade and telecommunications have brought nations together like never before, but governments are still engaged in refining these tools of annihilation. Unable to bear the growing grief, misery, disease, untimely death, conflicts and natural calamities, humans are now turning to god for succour, but in vain, as they do not know who the real god is. 

Today, religion has divided mankind and produced hatred. Ignorance of our true spiritual identity and that of God has thwarted all human efforts to create inter-religious harmony. The growing suffering in the world that is defying human efforts at betterment is proof of the truism that however many lamps you may light, you cannot turn night into day. So, will this night of moral darkness ever come to an end? Yes. It will only end when god ushers in the golden age.

He performs this task of transforming the old world into new through his children i.e we humans, by awakening them to their true spiritual identity and giving them the strength to overcome the vices, which are the root cause of man’s degradation. Remember that when the vices are eradicated, all suffering ends and the golden dawn breaks over the world. So let us enlighten and awaken our self with the true knowledge given by almighty supreme and get a safe passage to the golden age.