Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 12 - Chapter 3

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 21 Sanskrit: तदा क्रियातपोनिष्ठा नातिहिंस्रा न लम्पटा: ।त्रैवर्गिकास्त्रयीवृद्धा वर्णा ब्रह्मोत्तरा नृप ॥ २१ ॥ ITRANS: tadā kriyā-tapo-niṣṭhānāti-hiṁsrā na lampaṭāḥtrai-vargikās trayī-vṛddhāvarṇā brahmottarā nṛpa Translation: In the Tretā age people are devoted to ritual performances and severe austerities. They are not excessively violent or very lusty after sensual pleasure. Their interest lies primarily in religiosity, economic development and regulated sense gratification, and they achieve prosperity by following the prescriptions of the three Vedas....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 22 Sanskrit: तप:सत्यदयादानेष्वर्धं ह्रस्वति द्वापरे ।हिंसातुष्टय‍नृतद्वेषैर्धर्मस्याधर्मलक्षणै: ॥ २२ ॥ ITRANS: tapaḥ-satya-dayā-dāneṣvardhaṁ hrasvati dvāparehiṁsātuṣṭy-anṛta-dveṣairdharmasyādharma-lakṣaṇaiḥ Translation: In Dvāpara-yuga the religious qualities of austerity, truth, mercy and charity are reduced to one half by their irreligious counterparts — dissatisfaction, untruth, violence and enmity. Purport:

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 23 Sanskrit: यशस्विनो महाशीला: स्वाध्यायाध्ययने रता: ।आढ्या: कुटुम्बिनो हृष्टा वर्णा: क्षत्रद्विजोत्तरा: ॥ २३ ॥ ITRANS: yaśasvino mahā-śīlāḥsvādhyāyādhyayane ratāḥāḍhyāḥ kuṭumbino hṛṣṭāvarṇāḥ kṣatra-dvijottarāḥ Translation: In the Dvāpara age people are interested in glory and are very noble. They devote themselves to the study of the Vedas, possess great opulence, support large families and enjoy life with vigor. Of the four classes, the kṣatriyas and brāhmaṇas are most numerous....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 24 Sanskrit: कलौ तु धर्मपादानां तुर्यांशोऽधर्महेतुभि: ।एधमानै: क्षीयमाणो ह्यन्ते सोऽपि विनङ्‌क्ष्यति ॥ २४ ॥ ITRANS: kalau tu dharma-pādānāṁturyāṁśo ’dharma-hetubhiḥedhamānaiḥ kṣīyamāṇohy ante so ’pi vinaṅkṣyati Translation: In the Age of Kali only one fourth of the religious principles remains. That last remnant will continuously be decreased by the ever-increasing principles of irreligion and will finally be destroyed. Purport:

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 25 Sanskrit: तस्मिन् लुब्धा दुराचारा निर्दया: शुष्कवैरिण: ।दुर्भगा भूरितर्षाश्च शूद्रदासोत्तरा: प्रजा: ॥ २५ ॥ ITRANS: tasmin lubdhā durācārānirdayāḥ śuṣka-vairiṇaḥdurbhagā bhūri-tarṣāś caśūdra-dāsottarāḥ prajāḥ Translation: In the Kali age people tend to be greedy, ill-behaved and merciless, and they fight one another without good reason. Unfortunate and obsessed with material desires, the people of Kali-yuga are almost all śūdras and barbarians. Purport: In this age, we can already observe that most people are laborers, clerks, fishermen, artisans or other kinds of workers within the śūdra category....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 26 Sanskrit: सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति द‍ृश्यन्ते पुरुषे गुणा: ।कालसञ्चोदितास्ते वै परिवर्तन्त आत्मनि ॥ २६ ॥ ITRANS: sattvaṁ rajas tama itidṛśyante puruṣe guṇāḥkāla-sañcoditās te vaiparivartanta ātmani Translation: The material modes — goodness, passion and ignorance — whose permutations are observed within a person’s mind, are set into motion by the power of time. Purport: The four ages described in these verses are manifestations of various modes of material nature....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 27 Sanskrit: प्रभवन्ति यदा सत्त्वे मनोबुद्धीन्द्रियाणि च ।तदा कृतयुगं विद्याज्ज्ञाने तपसि यद् रुचि: ॥ २७ ॥ ITRANS: prabhavanti yadā sattvemano-buddhīndriyāṇi catadā kṛta-yugaṁ vidyājjñāne tapasi yad ruciḥ Translation: When the mind, intelligence and senses are solidly fixed in the mode of goodness, that time should be understood as Satya-yuga, the age of truth. People then take pleasure in knowledge and austerity. Purport: The word kṛta means “performed” or “executed....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 28 Sanskrit: यदा कर्मसु काम्येषु भक्तिर्यशसि देहिनाम् ।तदा त्रेता रजोवृत्तिरिति जानीहि बुद्धिमन् ॥ २८ ॥ ITRANS: yadā karmasu kāmyeṣubhaktir yaśasi dehināmtadā tretā rajo-vṛttiriti jānīhi buddhiman Translation: O most intelligent one, when the conditioned souls are devoted to their duties but have ulterior motives and seek personal prestige, you should understand such a situation to be the age of Tretā, in which the functions of passion are prominent....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 29 Sanskrit: यदा लोभस्त्वसन्तोषो मानो दम्भोऽथ मत्सर: ।कर्मणां चापि काम्यानां द्वापरं तद् रजस्तम: ॥ २९ ॥ ITRANS: yadā lobhas tv asantoṣomāno dambho ’tha matsaraḥkarmaṇāṁ cāpi kāmyānāṁdvāparaṁ tad rajas-tamaḥ Translation: When greed, dissatisfaction, false pride, hypocrisy and envy become prominent, along with attraction for selfish activities, such a time is the age of Dvāpara, dominated by the mixed modes of passion and ignorance....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 30 Sanskrit: यदा मायानृतं तन्द्रा निद्रा हिंसा विषादनम् ।शोकमोहौ भयं दैन्यं स कलिस्तामस: स्मृत: ॥ ३० ॥ ITRANS: yadā māyānṛtaṁ tandrānidrā hiṁsā viṣādanamśoka-mohau bhayaṁ dainyaṁsa kalis tāmasaḥ smṛtaḥ Translation: When there is a predominance of cheating, lying, sloth, sleepiness, violence, depression, lamentation, bewilderment, fear and poverty, that age is Kali, the age of the mode of ignorance. Purport: In Kali-yuga, people are almost exclusively devoted to gross materialism, with hardly any affinity for self-realization....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 31 Sanskrit: तस्मात् क्षुद्रद‍ृशो मर्त्या: क्षुद्रभाग्या महाशना: ।कामिनो वित्तहीनाश्च स्वैरिण्यश्च स्त्रियोऽसती: ॥ ३१ ॥ ITRANS: tasmāt kṣudra-dṛśo martyāḥkṣudra-bhāgyā mahāśanāḥkāmino vitta-hīnāś casvairiṇyaś ca striyo ’satīḥ Translation: Because of the bad qualities of the Age of Kali, human beings will become shortsighted, unfortunate, gluttonous, lustful and poverty-stricken. The women, becoming unchaste, will freely wander from one man to the next. Purport: In the Age of Kali certain pseudointellectuals, seeking individual freedom, support sexual promiscuity....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 32 Sanskrit: दस्यूत्कृष्टा जनपदा वेदा: पाषण्डदूषिता: ।राजानश्च प्रजाभक्षा: शिश्न‍ोदरपरा द्विजा: ॥ ३२ ॥ ITRANS: dasyūtkṛṣṭā janapadāvedāḥ pāṣaṇḍa-dūṣitāḥrājānaś ca prajā-bhakṣāḥśiśnodara-parā dvijāḥ Translation: Cities will be dominated by thieves, the Vedas will be contaminated by speculative interpretations of atheists, political leaders will virtually consume the citizens, and the so-called priests and intellectuals will be devotees of their bellies and genitals. Purport: Many large cities are unsafe at night....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 33 Sanskrit: अव्रता बटवोऽशौचा भिक्षवश्च कुटुम्बिन: ।तपस्विनो ग्रामवासा न्यासिनोऽत्यर्थलोलुपा: ॥ ३३ ॥ ITRANS: avratā baṭavo ’śaucābhikṣavaś ca kuṭumbinaḥtapasvino grāma-vāsānyāsino ’tyartha-lolupāḥ Translation: The brahmacārīs will fail to execute their vows and become generally unclean, the householders will become beggars, the vānaprasthas will live in the villages, and the sannyāsīs will become greedy for wealth. Purport: Brahmacarya, celibate student life, is practically nonexistent in the Age of Kali....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 34 Sanskrit: ह्रस्वकाया महाहारा भूर्यपत्या गतह्रिय: ।शश्वत्कटुकभाषिण्यश्चौर्यमायोरुसाहसा: ॥ ३४ ॥ ITRANS: hrasva-kāyā mahāhārābhūry-apatyā gata-hriyaḥśaśvat kaṭuka-bhāṣiṇyaścaurya-māyoru-sāhasāḥ Translation: Women will become much smaller in size, and they will eat too much, have more children than they can properly take care of, and lose all shyness. They will always speak harshly and will exhibit qualities of thievery, deceit and unrestrained audacity. Purport:

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 35 Sanskrit: पणयिष्यन्ति वै क्षुद्रा: किराटा: कूटकारिण: ।अनापद्यपि मंस्यन्ते वार्तां साधु जुगुप्सिताम् ॥ ३५ ॥ ITRANS: paṇayiṣyanti vai kṣudrāḥkirāṭāḥ kūṭa-kāriṇaḥanāpady api maṁsyantevārtāṁ sādhu jugupsitām Translation: Businessmen will engage in petty commerce and earn their money by cheating. Even when there is no emergency, people will consider any degraded occupation quite acceptable. Purport: Although other occupations are available, people do not hesitate to work in coal mines, slaughterhouses, steel mills, deserts, floating oil rigs, submarines and other equally abominable situations....