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Living in the Age of Chaos

Kali Yuga – the age of chaos and confusion, the age of conflicts and wars, duplicity and corruption. This is the time epoch we are living in right now. Just as we have seconds, year, minutes, millennia, we also have 4 time periods – each with a certain duration, and each with particular characteristics.

If you’d like to see proof, just go online, listen to the news or read the newspaper – and you will see the full spectrum of Kali yuga. Surprisingly, in the Vedic literature, written over 5000 years ago, Kali yuga was predicted and is explained in detail. In this episode, we’ll be reading from the ancient Vedic scripture Srimad Bhagavatam about the characteristics of society and individuals during Kali yuga.

We’ll be speaking about how this world, including our very own bodies, are temporary – and how learning the nature of this world and our actual position leads to peace and understanding. Balakhilya explains how in the beginning of this yuga, many saintly persons gathered together to discuss what they could do to help people in this age. We now have the opportunity to learn from them about how to live a happy and peaceful life in this age. We also peak about how there are so many negative influences in the Kali yuga, and to become aware of these is essential for success on our journey forward.

Highlights

  • 0:00 Intro: There are 4 time periods that rotate just like the seasons
  • 10:21 Yugas are long periods of time that continuously rotate, just like the seasons change in a year. Kali Yuga: the age of chaos, quarrel and confusion.
  • 25:00 Description of humans in the age of Kali; “They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky, and above all, always disturbed.”
  • 32:00 We can learn from saintly persons how to live happy and peaceful life in this difficult time period
  • 40:06 By learning what self-realization actually means, we may spark a natural interest in the subject
  • 49:05 Learning the temporary nature of this world, and our position in it, leads to great peace and understanding
  • 59:28 To learn about the negative influences during Kali yuga is essential on our journey forward