A bit about eastern religions, as understood by a hillbilly

In the Indian Religions, Hindu specifically, there are four ages, the Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and the Kali Yuga. It is believed we are now in the Kali Yuga, the "age of vice". And just so ya know, it is the last of the four stages that the world goes through in the cycle of yugas. First there is the Satya Yuga or the “age of truth”. This is also referred to as the golden age or perfect. During the Satya Yuga the Dharma Bull was standing on all four legs, the Dharma bull symbolizes morality. During the golden age, morality was standing strong and sturdy and not easy to topple.

From there we move into the Treta Yuga or the second out of four yugas, or ages of mankind. Most famous events in this yuga were Lord Vishnu's fifth, sixth and seventh incarnations as Vamana, Parashurama and Ramachandra respectively. The Dharma bull, which symbolizes morality, stood on three legs during this period, seems a three legged bull is just a bit less stable. From there we move to the Dvapara Yuga or the third out of four yugas, or ages, described in the scriptures of Hinduism. According to the Puranas this yuga ended at the moment when Krishna returned to his eternal abode of Vaikuntha. That poor old Dharma Bull is now standing on just two legs, from tripod to bipod as times get tough. I hope he at least has one in the front and one in the back.

Then we get to the last stage or the Kali Yuga or the age of vice. This is the last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Indian scriptures. Most interpreters of Hindu scriptures believe that earth is currently in Kali Yuga. Hindus and Sikhs believe that human civilization degenerates spiritually during the Kali Yuga, which is referred to as the Dark Age because in it people are as far removed as possible from God. Kali Yuga is associated with the apocalyptic demon Kali, not to be confused with the goddess Kālī (read as Kaalee) (these are unrelated words in the Sanskrit language). The "Kali" of Kali Yuga means "strife, discord, quarrel, or contention." Now the Dharma Bull is a one legged creature, can’t walk, can’t get around and is pretty much condemned.

Now for me I never gave much thought to the idea of an “End Times”. I suppose because I am not a biblical religionist, when I heard folks talking about the “End Times” my analytical mind would dismiss any such ideas as religious fanaticism. Seems weird to me though that almost all cultures and religious orders talk about or have some reference to an “End Times” period of evolution. Maybe that was where my problems came from, I understand Darwin, and we have tangible proof of evolution, at least in my opinion. But how then could so many folks in so many cultures come up with a similar thing, I mean we just had a movie come out talking about the end of the Mayan calendar and why do they all kind of point to the same point in time, now of all times? That is to coincidental to me to summarily dismiss as nonsense or happenstance.

So I am not sure that these are the End of Days or not, but I have feel compelled to at least look into it. The Shaiva Oracles of the Hindu Purana tell us that the End Times (aka the Kali Yuga period) are not a short period of intense turmoil like many anticipate. Instead, the End Times is a fairly long period of time that began about 5,000 years ago and encompasses the Roman Empire, the Inquisition, the Civil War, the crash of ‘29, World Wars I + II, the Holocaust, etc., etc.. According to author Alain Daniélou, we entered the twilight stages of the Kali Yuga in 1939, just prior to the start of WWII.

The Purana speaks of a continuous cycle of ages, each lasting approx. 58,000 years. Each of one of these cycles consists of four ages (this is similar to the Hopi and other Native American teachings of four worlds of evolution). The Purana teaches that each 50+k year cycle starts with a Golden Age (Satya Yuga) and ends with a Dark Age (Kali Yuga), and at the very end of the Kali Yuga, a new cycle and a new mankind begins yet again. The End Times predictions of the Old Testament and New Testament are widely known (these religions themselves are seen as products of the Kali Yuga by some). Lesser known are the many similar predictions of other religions and similar prophecies of the other indigenous tribes from all over the world.

Over a thousand years ago, Padmasambhava, the great teacher who brought Buddhism from India to Tibet, predicted that this particular dark age would be distinguished by our increasing cleverness. Our discursive minds would run rampant. We would create myriad ways to keep ourselves entertained, becoming experts in how to spend free time……. Does any of this sound familiar yet? Padmasambhava also predicted that as we as a people would become more shrewd and clever and in turn compassion would seem increasingly futile to us. We would lose our knowledge of how to bring meaning to our lives and at the same time the number of weapons, diseases, and starving folks would grow out of control. Our negative emotions would increase as our motivation to lead a meaningful life, a virtuous life, waned. I don’t know but for me, a prediction like that is hard to ignore in present times.

For the Hopi Indians of the American Southwest it seemed simple enough, they believed that Mother Nature would tell them which way is right way and which way is wrong. When earthquakes, floods, hailstorms, drought, and famine become the life of every day, the time will have then come for the return to the true path. Think about how pissed off Mother Nature has been over the last few years, we have had earthquakes, floods, hailstorms, drought, and famine in a MAJOR way. They believed that during this time we would see that things will speed up, that people on the earth will move faster and faster. Isn’t that what the internet and all the cool handheld gadgets have done for (to) us, speed us up? Grandchildren will not have time for grandparents, parents will not have time for children and it will seem that time is just speeding by faster and faster. Eerie I tell ya.

Their elders advised them, as things speed up, you yourself should slow down. The faster things go, the slower you need to go. Because there’s going to come a time when the earth is going to be shaken a third time. The Great Spirit has shaken the earth two times: the First and Second World Wars to remind us that we are a human family, to remind us that we should have greeted each other as brothers and sisters. We had a chance after each shaking to come together in a circle that would have brought peace on earth, but we missed those opportunities. They also believed that when we see people living in the sky on a permanent basis, we will know the Great Spirit is about to grab the earth. Seems we have folks living in the international space station (I think that could be considered living in the sky). Only this time it will not be with one hand, but with both hands. When this house is in the sky, the Great Spirit is going to shake the Earth a third time, and whoever dropped that gourd of ashes, upon them it is going to drop.”

In the Onondaga Indian tribes it is prophesied that the end of the world will be near when the trees start dying from the tops down. That’s what the white pine weevil is doing to coniferous trees right now. That is what other wood boring bugs are doing to hardwoods the world over. Their instructions say the time will come when there will be no corn, when nothing will grow in the garden, when water will be filthy and unfit to drink. And then a great monster will rise up from the water and destroy mankind. Well with the forcible use of ethanol in our gasoline the corn supply for food is drying up and becoming more and more expensive. I for one would not drink any water straight from the St. Johns river.

In the more publicly recognizable Mayan Civilization (mostly due to the movie) they do not fear the end of days. For them it does not mean there is an approaching cataclysm, in fact, it’s the opposite. It will be the coming of a new Golden Age, (there is that golden age thing again in a different society) in which we will possess the powers of the ancient ones. You will notice that more and more people are becoming interested in crystals, enlightenment, and the etheric and astral planes. At the same time, much chaos is happening now to balance the world’s karma so we can all ascend together. This is the law, and by following it, we will ascend and be freed from karma. This is why many of you may be experiencing times of turmoil. It is there for a reason, it will never happen again, or so they say. I would also suspect that was said at the end of the last Kali Yuga.

Not sure what it all means but it has been fun exploring it and I will continue to do so.