The Kali Era
Maitreya wanted to know more about the kali era.
In the kali era, the norms of varna and ashrama will not be followed as is laid down in the Vedas. No one will pray to the gods . Relations between guru and shishya will cease. Might will be right. Women will all the time take care of their hair. Wealth will mean everything. Instead of spending money on dharma , people will spend money on building houses. Money will be spent for oneself and not for guests. Men will be selfish. Money will be earned through evil means. There will be drought.
Men will not bathe before their meals. Both men and women will become shorter. Women will not obey their husbands. The kings will not take care of the subjects, but will only impose taxes. People will become old when they reach the age of twelve and no one will live for more than twenty years. Evil will flourish. No one will worship Vishnu. All the classes will become like shudras.
There is only one good thing about kali yuga. In satya yuga one had to do a lot of tapasya to earn some punya. In kali yuga the same punya can be acquired through a little tapasya. The equivalence is like this. Ten years of tapasya in satya yuga are equal to one year of tapasya in treta yuga, one month of tapasya in dvapara yuga and one day of tapasya in kali yuga.
Vyasadeva said that shudras and women are fortunate. The other varnas have to do many things to enter that dharma is being followed. But for the shudras the path of dharma is simple. They only have to serve the other varnas to acquire punya. Similarly men have to do many things to achieve punya. For women, the attainment of punya is easy; they only have to serve their husbands.
Destruction
There are three types of pralaya or destruction, the first being brahma or naimittika. Naimittika pralaya takes place after a kalpa, that is after one of Brahma’s days and after fourteen Manus have passed. Before this pralaya, the earth becomes weak and there are no rains for a hundred years. Vishnu adopts the form of Rudra and drinks up all the water that there is in the rivers, the oceans, the seas and the mountains. The seven rays of the sun manifest themselves as seven different suns. These suns burn up the three worlds. Not only is bhuloka burnt up, but bhuvarloka and svarloka are also destroyed. There are dark and thick clouds everywhere. For a hundrd years it continues to rain. All is darkness. For a hundred years the winds blow. And Vishnu sleeps on the waters that are everywhere till the worlds are created again.
The second type of destruction is known as prakrita pralaya. The three basic gunas are, as you know, sattva, rajas and tamas. Their perfect balance is known as prakriti. At the time of destruction when prakriti becomes assimilated into the paramatman, that is known as prakrita pralaya. The third type of pralaya is known as atyatika pralya. This refers to the disppearance of three types of distress, adhyatmika, adhidaivika and adhibhoutika. Adhyatmika distress consists of physical and mental ailments like fever and sadness. Adhidaivika distress is that due to the elements, such as coldness and heat. Adhibhoutika distress is that which humans face from other livings beings, such as ghosts and snakes. At the time of atyantika destruction, these distresses also disappear.
Keshidhvaja and Khandikya
Many years ago there was a king named Dharmadhvaja. He had two sons, Mitadhvaja and Kritadhvaja. Kritadhvaja was interested in acquiring knowledge and his son Keshidhvaja also became interested in acquiring spiritual knowledge. Mitadhvaja’s son Khandikya was a king, interested in karma yoga, that is, union with God through action.
Both Khandikya and Keshidhvaja tried to outdo each other. Khandikya eventually lost his kingdom to Keshidhvaja and went off to the forest with his priests and minsiters. Although he became a king, Keshidhvaja used to perform yajnas. Once the cow intended for the yajna was eaten up by a tiger. This was a sin and Keshidhvaja had to atone for it. He asked several sages what the form of penance (prayashchiita) should be, but none of the sages knew. They all said that the right person to ask was Khandikya, who was now living in the forest.
Keshidhavaja dressed himself up in deerskin and went to meet Khandikya. Thinking that Keshidhvaja might have come to kill him, Khandikya took up his bow and arrow. But Keshidhvaja told him that he had merely come to ask Khandikya a question. Khandikya told him what the right penance was and Keshidhvaja successfully completed the yajna.
But he then realized that he had not given Khandikya the dakshina or fee that was due to a guru. As dakshina, Khandikya desired that Keshidhvaja instruct him on the path to spiritual knowledge.
Keshidhvaja told Khandikya about the true nature of the atman, which was different from the mere physical body. True knowledge was that which taught that the atman was part of the paramatman and that one should therefore not get attached to material possessions. This realization came about through the practise or yoga.
How The Puranas Came Down to us
At the end, the Vishnu Purana narrates how the Puranas came to be handed down to us through generationsof disciples.
The Puranas tell men of the ways to attain moksha (salvation). Ages ago, Brahma himself had told the sage Ribhu the story of the Puranas. From Ribhu the knowledge had passed to Priyavrata and from Priyavrata to Bhaguri. Bhaguri gave the knowledge to Stavamitra and Stavamitra to Dadhichi. From Dadhichi it passed to Sarasvata, from Sarasvata to “Bhrigu, from Bhrigu to Purukutsa, from Purukutsa to Narmada, from Narmada to Dhritarashtra and Purana. Dhritarsashtra and Purana gave the knowedge to Vasuki, Vasuki to Vatsa and Vatsa to Ashvatara. Ashvatara passed it on to Kambala and Kambala to Elapatra.
The sage Vedashira acquired the knowledge of the Puranas from the underworld and gave it to Pramati, Pramati gave it to Jatukarna and Jatukarna passed it on to many sages.
Parashara had learnt of the Puranas from Vashishtha and he had now passed on the knowledge to Maitreya. Maitreya would eventually teach it to Shamika.
So ends the sixth and final section of the Vishu Purana.
