Predictions of Kali Yuga

As Pradyumna continued to read on, Srila Prabhupada offered more observations, each time just to the point. From the predictions it seemed that everything in Kali-yuga would become simply a question of show, with no real substance. Prabhupada's examples confirmed this, the liberal bite of sarcasm with which he expressed them making everyone laugh. "Vipratve sutram eva hi. And there is a brahmana. 'What is the proof that he is a brahmana?' 'He has got a sacred thread,' that's all. Or thread. It may not be sacred, purchased on the market. So at least we try to give a sacred thread by ceremony. But anyone can purchase a thread from the market, two paisa worth or one cent worth, and become a brahmana. 'You are a brahmana?' 'Yes, you see my sacred thread?'" He chuckled at the rascaldom. "Finished. 'What you are doing?' 'Never mind.'" Then he added a serious note. "Don't be such brahmanas, at least in our camp. You must follow the rules and regulations. Don't show that I am now doubly initiated, sacred thread. Don't cheat in that way."

Pradyumna read on. "Panditye capalam vacah."

"Pandita, if you can speak very vehemently, any subject matter, people may or may not understand, and they will certify you: 'Oh, this man is very learned.' What you have learned from him? 'Oh, I could not understand, but he's spoke very nicely.' He spoke very nicely. What is that nicely? That capala." Prabhupada threw out a rapid string of gibberish -- "Habadvasyenamdoaguwaddogbignikulaigondulaivaidilaktismai!" Then he laughed along with the devotees. "You go on speaking like that, and people will appreciate, 'Oh, he's a big speaker!'"

On the next item he described the plight of the poor. "When the poor man comes, you'll not give place. If he wants to stay, you'll refuse. No. Because he's poor, he's immediately accepted as dishonest. He may be honest or dishonest, but poverty is a sign for accepting a man as dishonest. Then?"

"Tirtham. Just like there is Vrndavana and here is New Vrindaban. But if you spend ten thousand dollars and go to Vrndavana, then it is pilgrimage. And here is Vrndavanacandra, so that is not very important. Dure vary-ayanam. You have to go far, far away, then it will be pilgrimage. In India, there is Ganges in Calcutta. But they go to Hardwar. Then it is pilgrimage. The same Ganges, coming from Hardwar. Then?"

Pradyumna read out the Sanskrit. "Lavanyam kesa-dharanam."

At this, Prabhupada gave a hearty laugh. "Hmm. Lavanyam, now you know very well in the Western country. Beauty increases by having long hair. Now see how it is current. Who expected that this foretelling is there in the Bhagavatam? To increase beauty, have long hair. Is it not? Just see. How five thousand years this thing was foretold. That is the proof." He grinned at us and declared, "There was no hippie movement then. But Vyasadeva foretold that in the Kali-yuga if one keeps long hair he will think himself as very beautiful. There are so many things."

Then he gave a round-up of the future of this age. "Ultimately, with the advancement of Kali-yuga you'll have no food. Food means there will be no food grains, there will be no milk, no sugar, like that. No fruits. If you get fruits, there will be no pulp, it is simply seeds. These things are there. You get a mango, but a mango means simply the big seed, that's all. So how can you check it? If nature's way, things are going to happen like that, what the scientists will do? If there is no rice, no wheat, will the scientists ...? They can say replace with a pill, but they cannot produce wheat or rice or dal or milk, sugar. That is not possible."

Dhrstadyumna Maharaja interjected that the scientists have fashioned a way for the spacemen to drink their own urine and eat their own stool.

"Yes, that is the most scientific improvement," Srila Prabhupada announced cuttingly. "Yes. That they can do. By scientific improvement, they can drink their own urine -- very tasty!"

One of the devotees wanted to know how the general mass of people could take to Krsna consciousness in the face of all these disqualifications.

Maintaining his good humor Srila Prabhupada replied that Krsna consciousness is the only remedy. "In the Kali-yuga, it is an ocean of faults. How ...? Suppose all over your body there are boils. So where you will apply ointment? You just dip down!"

It was a wonderful evening's meeting. Prabhupada's congenial mood and warmth offered many of the devotees a chance to see him in a much more intimate way than they are used to. Most disciples only see him in the very formal setting of the Srimad-Bhagavatam class, and a few are fortunate to accompany him on his walks. But circumstances like this, with such free and happy exchanges, draw on the hearts and minds of us all, increasing our love and affection for him unlimitedly.

- From the "A Transcendental Diary Vol 3" by HG Hari Sauri dasa