Article No.1755; Date:- 28 March, 2015
Written by London Swaminathan
Uploaded at London time 19-22 (GMT)
What effect the current Kali Yuga will have on the government because it is ruling in the period of Kaliyuga (Dark Age)? There is an old Sanskrit sloka/verse about the effects of Kaliyuga on the rulers.
According to Hindu scriptures there are four Yugas/eras. They are cyclical.
What are the four Yugas?
Krta Yuga or Satya Yuga = Golden Age
Treat Yuga = Silver Age
Dwapara Yuga = Bronze Age
Kaliyuga = Iron Age
Another description is Dharma (Righteousness or Moral Code) is imagined as a holy cow which had four legs in Krta Yuga, three legs in Treta Yuga, two legs in Dwapara Yuga and only one leg in Kaliyuga!
If you keep your food on a Four Legged Dining Table, you feel comfortable.
If one leg is shaky, you feel a bit uncomfortable.
If two legs are shaky, you would not ask your guests are sons to use it.
If three legs are shaky, even you would not dare to use it.
If all the four legs are shaky, that is dangerous. You won’t go near the table. That is Kaliyuga!
I can give you another analogy:
Two people start a business in partnership. In Krta Yuga, they make good profit and share it equally. They are very happy.
In Treta Yuga, they get less profit and suspect the other of mishandling. Some uncomfortable feeling.
Inn Dwapara Yuga, they lose business and openly blame the other of doing something wrong. Mentally perturbed and angry.
In the Kali Yuga, both of them defraud the other by doing fake transactions and the business goes down. Court cases follow; tension for both; lawyers take most of the money!
There are lots of stories in our Puranas (Mythology) about the behaviour of people in the Kaliyuga, but very few on the behaviour of the government or rulers. Here is one:–
Kali : prasupto bhavati sajagra Dwaparam Yugam
Karmasva abhyudyatas Treta vicharanstu Krtam Yugam
The ruler would not bother about what is good or what is bad (just or unjust) out of laziness (sleepy) in the Kaliyuga,
In the Dwapara, the ruler knows (wide awake) what is just or unjust, but does not conduct proper enquiry,
In the Treta Yuga, the ruler will try to do (Attempt) everything right, and
In the Krta Yuga, the ruler follow all the rules very strictly (make it happen) and make the people also to do the same.
We live in Kaliyuga; but yet we can make it Krta Yuga!
Tamil and Vedas 
R Nanjappa
/ March 29, 2015Among our scriptures, Simad Bhagavatam makes it very clear what is going to happen in this kali Age. It is not that just the govt. is bad; everything is bad, and the govt just falls in line. In the Mahatmaym portion and in the First Skandha, there are detailed descriptions of the deterioration in Kali. This is also detailed in entire chapter of the Twelfth Skandha- the second chapter. There are specific references to how the rulers will be , and what they would do. In short:
– they would not be interested in justice, but in power – Kshatriyas will not be kings; shudras will become rulers. – Corruption will reign – taxes will become unbearable; rulers will be like robbers – there will be no sense of justice and fairplay; only those with money and influence can expect justice. – rulers will not be interested in protecting our dharma, but only the ideas of foreigners.
These are to be viewed in the ontext of overall, all-round deterioration in life, not just among the rulers. These are very specific statements. But even our pundits and pravachana kartas do not explain them or even speak abour them openlly- political correctness is what matters!
It is generally dificult for readers to get an authoritative idea, since the full text of Bhagavatam is not read; only condensed versions are available. The old edition by Kadalangudi Natesa Sastrigal is excellent, but most readers today cannot follow that intense style- such is the fall in the standard of Tamil knowledge even among the orthodox sections. The two volume English translation by the Gita press is complete and competent; their three volume Tamil translation is complete but defers to the ‘modern’ readership by glossing over certain words and expressions. I mention these only to indicate that these are the only sources where we get to learn first hand what is said in our scriptures about the rulers and government in this kali age.It is for the reader to decide how far they accord with what is happening now.