{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/db/bk06ch11.htm","path":"hin/db/bk06ch11.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/db/bk06ch11.htm","text":"THE SIXTH BOOK\nChapter XI\nOn the ascertainment of Dharma\n1-10. Janamejaya said :-- \u201cO King of the Br\u00e2hmanas! You said that R\u00e2ma and Krisna took their incarnations to relieve the burden of earth. One great doubt arises in my mind on this point. At the end of the Dv\u00e2para Yuga, the Earth, burdened and oppressed very much, assumed, in anguish, the form of a cow and took refuge under Brahm\u00e2. Brahm\u00e2, then, went with the Earth to Visnu, the Lord of Laksm\u00ee, and thus prayed, \u201cO Bibhu! Let You, with all the other gods, incarnate soon on earth at the house of V\u00e2sudeva to relieve the Earth of Her load, as well as to protect the righteous.\u201d When Brahm\u00e2 thus prayed, the Bhagav\u00e2n Visnu incarnated as the son of Devak\u00ee, along with Balar\u00e2ma to lessen the burden of the Earth. And, in fact, he relieved, to a certain extent, the Earth by killing many vicious persons and many wicked and irreligious Kings. But, along with that, Bh\u00eesma, Drona, Vir\u00e2ta, Drupada, Som\u00e2datta, and Karna, the son of the Sun were killed. But, See! that those who plundered afterwards His riches, and stole away the wives of Hari, those crores of \u00c2bh\u00eeras, S\u2019akas, Mlechchas, and Nis\u00e2das and other vicious people remained alive; and how could it, then, be said that the Earth was relieved when Krisna did not kill those people! O Fortunate One! When I see all the people in this K\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga addicted to sinful acts, this great doubt is not going out of my mind (how the Earth had been relieved of Her load).\n11-14. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! As the Yuga changes, so the people changes in course of time. Nothing can alter its course, for this is caused by the Yuga Dharma (the Dharma peculiar to each Yuga). Therefore if all the subjects that are considered wicked and vicious according to the law of the Yuga Dharma, then this creation would be destroyed; hence Krisna killed only those D\u00e2navas and vicious Ksattriyas that were really the burden of Earth. O King! The persons that are devoted to religion take their births in the Satya Yuga; those that are fond of religion and wealth they become manifest in the Tret\u00e2 Yuga; those that like Dharma (religion), Artha (wealth) and\nKama (desires), they are born in the Dv\u00e2para Yuga, and those that dote on wealth and lust, they are seen in the K\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga. O King! Know this as certain that these characteristics, peculiar to each Yuga, never vary; and know this too, that Time, the Lord of Dharma and Adharma, is always present.\n15-18. The King said :-- \u201cO Intelligent One! Where are those pious persons now that were born as high-souled religious persons in the Satya Yuga; where are those Munis now who were devoted to charity in the Tret\u00e2 or Dv\u00e2para Yuga? Again where will go these shameless and merciless persons, that are being seen now in this K\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga, these vicious creatures that revile their own Gurus? O Highly Intelligent One! I am very eager to know how these religious matters are brought to a decision and settlement; kindly describe to me in detail all these secret truths.\u201d\n19-30. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! Persons, born in the Satya Yuga, that perform acts of merit, go to the Deva Loka. O King! The Br\u00e2hmins, Ksattriyas, Vais\u2019yas and S\u2019\u00fbdras, if they remain in their own spheres and if they be devoted to religious acts, go to their respective spheres, earned by their meritorious deeds. By virtue of truth, mercy, charity, going to one\u2019s own wives, not injuring animals, and having no jealousy and showing mercy equally towards all, by practising these universal forms of religion, even the lowest castes, e.g., washermen and others all go to the Paradise. So in the Tret\u00e2 and Dv\u00e2para Yugas men go to Heaven by virtue of their merits, earned in practising their own Dharma; but in this K\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga persons addicted to vicious acts go to terrible hells and remain there till the end of the K\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga when they will be again born in this earth. O King! When the Satya Yuga begins and the K\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga ends, at this junction time, the virtuous highsouled persons descend from Heaven and are born on this earth; and when the K\u00e2l\u00ee begins and the Dv\u00e2para ends, the vicious souls come on the earth again from their hells. O King! Know this as the course of Time; it never becomes otherwise. See, then, that the K\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga tends to do vicious things and the people, therefore, become vicious. At times, the birth of beings takes place otherwise than the laws of Yugas, out of the strange combinations of Fate (i.e., good persons are seen in the K\u00e2l\u00ee and vicious persons are seen in the Satya). For this reason those that do meritorious acts in the K\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga are born as men in the Dv\u00e2para; so the Dv\u00e2para good persons take their births as men in the Tret\u00e2; and the Tret\u00e2 good persons are born as men in the Satya Yuga. Again those who are vicious in the Satya Yuga become persons of the K\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga. The J\u00eevas suffer miseries on account of their own bad Karmas; they again suffer more miseries\nby doing over and over again those bad Karmas by virtue of the Yuga Dharma.\n31. Janamejaya said :-- \u201cO Bhagav\u00e2n! Describe particularly the details of the Yuga Dharma. I am now very desirous to hear which Dharma is for which Yuga?\u201d\n32-54. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! I will now show to you by example the influence of the religion peculiar to each Yuga; hear it attentively. O King! The hearts even of saints are quite disturbed by the Yuga Dharma. See! Your father was a religious and high-souled monarch; still the wicked K\u00e2l\u00ee defiled his mind and prompted him to do an act very insulting to a Br\u00e2hmana. Otherwise why would he, being a renowned prince amongst the Ksattriyas and a descendant of Yay\u00e2ti, thus go and encircle a snake round the throat of an ascetic Br\u00e2hmin? Therefore, O King! All actions are being influenced by the Yuga Dharma. The Pundits, also recognise this. If you try your best to perform any religious act, even then the Yuga Dharma would prevail, yet you would be able to perform to a certain extent, a part of your intention. O King! In the Satya Yuga, the Br\u00e2hmins were versed in the Vedas, always devoted to worship the Highest Force, with an ardent desire to see the Dev\u00ee; they were devoted to G\u00e2yatr\u00ee with Pranava, devoted to the meditation of G\u00e2yatr\u00ee, always reciting silently G\u00e2yatr\u00ee, and the M\u00e2y\u00e2v\u00eeja Mantram, the chief mantram. In every village, the Br\u00e2hmins were very eager to erect temples of the Dev\u00ee Mah\u00e2 M\u00e2y\u00e2 Ambik\u00e2 and were truthful, merciful and pure and devoted to their own respective works. The Ksattriyas, skilled in the science of the highest knowledge, were ever engaged in doing things ordained by the Vedas and were always intent in protecting well their subjects. The Vais\u2019yas did their cultivation and trade and the S\u2019\u00fbdras always served the other three castes. Thus, in the Satya Yuga, all the Varnas (castes) were devoted to the worship of the Dev\u00ee Ambik\u00e2, the Highest S\u2019akti; but in the Tret\u00e2 Yuga, the observance of the religion declined a little and in the Dv\u00e2para, it declined very much. O Ornament of Indra! Those who were R\u00e2ksasas before, they become the Br\u00e2hmins of the K\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga; they are the flowers of atheists, deceptors of men, untruthful, without any Vedas, devoid of the Vedic practices, arrogant, cunning, egoistic, and capable only to serve the S\u2019\u00fbdras. Some of them try to find fault with the San\u00e2tan Dharma and are the promulgators of various other creeds, wicked, fallen from their religion and given to much talking. O King! As K\u00e2l\u00ee gets stronger, so the true religion declines and ultimately dies; and, in that proportion, the Ksattriyas, Vais\u2019yas and S\u2019\u00fbdras are also devoid of their religion. When K\u00e2l\u00ee will be in full swing, the Ksattriyas, Vais\u2019yas and S\u2019\u00fbdras will all be untruthful, vicious; the Br\u00e2hmins will act like S\u2019\u00fbdras and will accept other\u2019s gifts. O King! The women in the\nK\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga would be very passionate, avaricious and ignorant. They would be very powerful and insolent, wilful, vicious and untruthful and so would be a source of pain to the society. They would think themselves vainly religious and learned and would be always ready to impart religious instructions and deceive their own husbands and be exceedingly vicious. O King! Our minds are purified by the food that we take; when our minds are pure, the Light of Dharma shines clearly. The customs and practices of Varna and \u00c2s\u2019rama Dharmas get intermixed with each other and so arises the fault of Dharma S\u2019amkara (i.e., mixture of the several parts of religion with each other). When the Dharma S\u2019amkara creeps in, the Varna S\u2019ankara is seen (i.e., purity in blood and other matters of birth are lost). Thus, in the K\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga, all the Dharmas will gradually die out and ultimately nothing will be heard about one\u2019s own religion. O King! In this Yuga even the religious high-souled persons will be found to do irreligious acts! The nature of K\u00e2l\u00ee is so; nobody will be able to quit it. O King! Thus, in this age, men naturally commit vicious things; with ordinary means, therefore, no one becomes able to extricate from the worst vicious habits.\n55-56. Janamejaya said :-- \u201cO Bhagav\u00e2n! You know all and you are versed in all the S\u2019\u00e2stras; what will be the fate of so many persons in this K\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga? If there be any path, kindly describe it to me.\u201d\n57-65. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! There is only one path and none other which can save a man from the sin of this K\u00e2l\u00ee; and that is this :-- The J\u00eevas must meditate on the lotus-feet of the Highest Dev\u00ee for the purification of all their faults and sins. O King! There is so much strength in Her sin-destroying Name, that the amount of sin in this world falls much less in proportion to that. Where, then, is the cause of fear? Her Name, uttered at random, even in an unconscious state, bestows so much unspeakable results that even Hari, Hara and others have not the capacity to know that. O King! The mere remembrance of the name of S\u2019r\u00ee Dev\u00ee is an atonement for a multitude of sins; then it behoves that every man, afraid of the K\u00e2l\u00ee Yuga, residing in a place of pilgrimage, ought to remember incessantly the Name of the Highest Deity. Even if anybody cuts, pierces, and kills all the beings in this whole world, he won\u2019t be touched with the sins, if he bows down, with devotion, before the Dev\u00ee. O King! I have narrated to you all the secret truths of all the S\u2019\u00e2stras. Consider all these fully and always worship the lotus-feet of the Dev\u00ee. All men are reciting silently the Japam called the Ajap\u00e2 G\u00e2yatr\u00ee; still they do not know the glory of it; such is the powerful influence of M\u00e2y\u00e2. All the Br\u00e2hmanas are reciting in the depth of their hearts the G\u00e2yatr\u00ee Mantram, yet they do not know the glory of it (otherwise they would have\nbeen liberated); such is the great influence of M\u00e2y\u00e2. O King! I have described to you all that you asked me about the Yuga Dharmas; what more do you want to hear?\nHere ends the Eleventh Chapter of the Sixth Book on the ascertainment of Dharma in the Mah\u00e2 Pur\u00e2nam, S\u2019r\u00ee Mad Dev\u00ee Bh\u00e2gavatam, of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vy\u00e2sa.","title":"The Devi Bhagavatam: The Sixth Book: Chapter 11","type":"page"}