Hindu mythology tell a story of decay, redemption, and rebirth. At the end of times, evil rules the world. The rest plays out like a Hollywood story. This article tells the ancient Hindu story of the apocalypse. But it’s an illusion – the real battle happens within.
Simplified story of the Kali Yuga
The Kali Yuga has four ages. There’s a golden age, two ages of decay and a final age of darkness. Here’s a quick summary:
Satya Yuga (40% of the cycle): this is a Golden Age of perfection. Humans are honest, vigorous, and virtuous. Disease and fear are non-existent. Everyone lives in a world brimming with great weather and plentiful food.
Treta Yuga (30% of the cycle): human virtue begins to fade. Leaders gain dominance and warfare arises. People begin to lose their health, vigor, and longevity.
Dvapara Yuga (20% of the cycle): in the third Yuga, people become sluggish and slow. Diseases increase. Human discontent grows and quarrels arise. People divide.
Kali Yuga (10% of the cycle): this dark age of ignorance is the shortest and worst. People slide further down the path of immorality. Virtue has no value. People become hypersexualized and vulgar. Liars and hypocrites rise. People lose touch with ancient knowledge. Humans become weak and passive. The environment becomes polluted. Water, food and family bonds become scarce.
Signs of the Kali Yuga in 2019
Kalki the Destroyer vs Global Dictators
During the Kali Yuga, Kali serves as the goddess of death. Death in this context means both physical death the death of self-centered reality. Kali ushers in destruction by encouraging sin, ignorance, and decay.
Near the end of the dark age, Kalki (the last Avatar of Lord Vishnu) is born. As evil rules the world unchallenged, Kalki lays low in his village. Seven immortals stop by over the years for training. They teach him everything he needs to know to rid the world of evil.
Then he builds an army of the few pious souls remaining. Then all incarnations of the Godhead (avatars) band together to join the fight.
They head north to battle a King named Jin (China). It’s a brutal fight. King Jin has a massive army and he breaks all rules of warfare. In the end, the Jins fall.
Next is Kalki’s world tour. He wipes out the rest of the dictators in the world and ushers in the next Golden era.
Personal apocalypse from within
The Mahābhārata is one of the major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. The story tells about the suffering, rise, and fall of humans. At the core of human suffering is a misunderstanding. The struggle for humans is to come in tune with life and discover their true power.
The Bhagavadgita makes up chapters 23-40 of the Mahābhārata. Two opposing war parties stand ready to begin a major battle. Despaired to have to kill, Arjuna, the hero of the favored party, lays down his arms. His adviser Krishna argues against his failure to do his duty. That becomes a general discourse on philosophical matters.
They discuss three different paths to self-realization. These are discipline through physical action, intellectual study or devotion to God.
Conclusion
The challenge in Hindu mythology is to stand up and then eradicate evil. In modern times, life is a struggle for many, but we can take strategic clues from ancient texts.
If we are actually living in the Kali Yuga, the antidote is self-discipline. Honest, generous, virtuous behaviors bring us closer to the Satya Yuga.
All you need to do right now is grow your compassion, and then learn what you can from this precious time.
