Research Article No.1772; Date:- 3 April, 2015

Written by London swaminathan

Uploaded at London time – 20-55

When I went to the British Library in London last week, I read an interesting book on Kaliyuga. The title of the book is ‘KALKI PURANA’. The Sanskrit text was translated into Tamil by K Ananthacharyar. The date of Publication was 1903, Price 12 Annas.

One of the signs of Kaliyuga was a riddle to me. It said,

“In Kaliyuga, some Gurus will forget all the daily religious rituals, but advise others to do those and go around (fly)  preaching like Kulinga birds.

I can understand the meaning. They will teach morals to others but they would not follow their own teachings. But why did he compare them to Kulinga birds? There are one or two references to Kulinga birds in the Bhagavata and Mahabharata. That also did not make any sense. When I searched for the Kulinga bird I came across the beautiful ‘Daya Satakam’ of Sri Vedanta Desikan which throws light on the adventurous Kulinga bird (It is similar to my research article on the mysterious Bhulinga bird of Mahabharata). It looks like both Kulinga and Bhulinga birds are one and the same.

It is said that its cry sounds like “Maa Saahasam Kuru = Don’t do adventurous acts”. Here is Vedanta Desika’s verse and its commentary:-

Plover is like Kulinga/Bhulinga bird (Picture from Wikipedia)

Vedanta Desika in his famous hymn ‘Daya Satakam’ says

Maa saahasokti gana kanchuka vanchitaaniyah

Pashyastu thesu vidadhaamyathy saahasaani

Padmaa sahaaya karune na runasti kim tvam

Ghoram kulingam sakuneriva cheshtitam me

Meaning:

O, Daya Devi! I preach to others not to engage in terrible acts that are against the scriptures. After giving advice like this, I myself engage in such shameful acts in front of them. After the Upadesa (discourse) I travel in the opposite direction, cheating them. My act is like the acts of Kulinga bird which warns others not to involve in dangerous acts. But what does the bird do? When the lion yawns before going to sleep and has its carnivorous mouth open wide, the Kulinga bird dashes in and tries to pull out the pieces of meat that stuck to its teeth. Any moment, the bird runs the risk of being killed by the closing of lion’s mouth. O, Daya Devi, it is your duty to prevent me from performing such dangerous acts that I preach against. Why are you watching my destructive behaviour without intervening? You must come to my recue and send me forward on the right path-

Sloka 94 of Daya Satakam by Sri Vedanta Desikan

Vedanta Desikan, Vaishnavite Guru of Kancheepuram area, 1268-1370. Sri Vedanta Desikan was a great saint. When he compared himself to Kulinga bird, it does not mean that he was really like a Kulinga. This is to warn us about fake Gurus. Poets and philosophers always feel humble and compare themselves to the lowest creature. Great Tamil saint Manikkavasagar compared himself to a dog in over hundred places in his Tiruvasagam.

So, please beware of ANANDAS, BABAS, GURUS, SWAMIJIS, SWAMINIS, ACHARYAS, RELIGIOUS SPEAKERS and UPANYASAKS!

First find out their personal life first and then use your discretion before accepting them as GURUs.

Birds clean the skin of the animals. This cooperation is called symbiosis.

There are more interesting information about the signs Kaliyuga in the Kalki Purana:

1.Girls will give birth to children at the age of eight. They won’t follow any rules for their sexual behaviour.

2.People who were 30 measures in Krta Yuga will take the size of three measures in the Kali Yuga ( It is interesting to compare it with a verse in Manu Smrti (1-83). He says that the age of human beings was 400 years in Krta Yuga and it would be only one fourth of that in Kali)

3.High class will become the low class and low class people will become high class people.

4.The rich will be dubbed as high class people and the poor will be dubbed as low class people

5.Women will give birth to 8 or ten children like pigs. They are going to scratch their head with both hands (I don’t understand this phrase.)

6.People will sell food, Brahmins will sell the mantras and women their chastity.

7.More married women will live like widows after fighting with their husbands (Probably it means divorced women)

8.Brahmin women will sell Milk, Butter Milk and Curd/Yogurt and the Vaisyas (business community) will sell meat.

9.There will be reduced rain and less harvest. People will be afflicted with diseases.

10.People will swear that truth is untruth and untruth is truth.

11.Brahmins and other two Varnas (Kshatriyas and Vaisyas) will forget their own Dharma (swadharma).

12.At the end of Kali Yuga, people will give birth to animals.

13.Brahmins will be namesake Brahmins, eating meat and drinking liquor. They will argue a lot.

14.The character (sexual behaviour) of students and teachers will be at a very low level.

15.Women will have dinner first and go to bed before their husbands.

16.Everyone will be preaching Dharma, but none would understand its meaning.

(The original book is in Sanskrit. The Sanskrit verses are also given in the book with Tamil translation. I have given a rough translation from the Tamil version. Some are general comments like there will be famine, diseases, less morality etc. But a few comments like women fighting with their husbands, are very specific that make us wonder how they came to know about it thousands of years before our time. The statistics on divorce in India shows that 6000 to 8000 women file for divorce in each of the four major cities in India!)