Chapter 41 - The Glory of the Lord’s Name

[Full title: The Glory of the Lord’s Name (nāma-mahātmya)]

Nārada said:

1. O sage, expert (kovida) in the interpretation of principles (tattvārtha), everything has been narrated (ākhyāta) by you. Now, I wish to hear the situation and the characteristics (sthiti-lakṣaṇa) of different Yugas?

Sanaka said:

2. Well done, O sage, well done, O highly intelligent (mahāprājña) one who render service to the worlds (loka-upakāraka), I shall explain the Yuga-Dharmas (the specific righteous activities in different Yugas) helping all worlds (sarvaloka-upakāraka).

3. O excellent one, on certain occasions, Dharma flourishingly) increases and on other occasions Dharma undergoes destruction on the surface of the Earth.

4. There are four Yugas, viz. Kṛta, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali. O excellent one, it should be known that all together they consist of twelve thousand divine years.

5. All these Yugas, fully consisting of Sandhyās (intermediary period) and Sandhyāṃśas (such subsidiary periods) are equal in every cycle. They must be known as extending to the same period. So it has been mentioned by the seers of the true principles.

6. They call the first, the Kṛtayuga, then comes the Tretā Yuga. Then they say is the Dvāpara and the last one they know to be the Kali Age.

7. O Brāhmaṇa, there were no separate Devas, Dānavas, Gandharvas, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas and the serpents in Kṛtayuga.^[1] All were remembered as equal to Devas.

8. All were always full of delight and righteousness. There was neither buying nor selling. There was no classification of the Vedas in the Kṛtayuga.

9. The Brāhmaṇas, the Kṣatriyas, the Vaiśyas and the Śūdras were interested in their respective duties and conduct of life. They were always engrossed in penance and meditation and were devoted to Nārāyaṇa.

10. They were free from lust and other defects. They were endowed with good qualities, such as Śama, (self-control), etc. Their minds were engaged in seeking the means of Dharma; they were devoid of envy and jealousy; they were not arrogant or hypocrites.

11. All were engaged in speaking truthful words; all practised the respective holy rites of their stage in life; they were richly endowed with Vedic study and were clever in all scriptural texts.

12. Those who are not in communion with lustful benefits, attain the greatest goal by means of holy rites pertaining to the four Āśramas (stages in life) and originating at the proper time.

13. In the Kṛta Yuga, Nārāyaṇa is of white complexion anḍ is perfectly free from impurities. I shall declare the peculiar features of Tretā. Listen with great attention.

14. O excellent sage in the Tretā Yuga, Dharma assumes pale white colour. Hari attains red colour. People undergo slight sufferings.

15. All are absorbed in the path of holy rites; they abide by the holy performance of Yajña; they hold steadfastly to truthfulness; they are devoted to meditation, they are always engaged in meditation.

16. O leading sage, in the Dvāpara, Dharma stands on two legs, Hari assumes yellow colour; the Vedas are classified.

17. At that time even some excellent Brāhmaṇas are absorbed in untruths. Among the Brāhmaṇas and the people of other castes, some possess the evils of passionate attachment to worldly objects.

18. O Brāhmaṇa, soṃe of them perform Yajñas for the attainment of heaven and salvation; some are desirous of wealth etc., and some have their minds affected by sin.

19. O excellent Brāhmaṇa, in Dvāpara, Dharma and Adharma are equal mutually and balanced. Due to the power of Adharma the subjects dwindle in power and glory.

20. O leading sage, some are short-lived. O Brāhmaṇa, on seeing some engaged in meritorious rites, some men begin to envy them.

21. I shall describe the situation in the Kali Yuga. Listen to it with attention. At the advent of Kali Yuga, Dharma stands on one leg.^[2]

22-23. Entering the Tāmasic Yuga (i.e. Kali Yuga) Hari assumes blackness of complexion. Some righteous soul performs Yajñas and conventional religious routines. Some meritorious soul may be engaged in the path of holy rites. On seeing a man absorbed in Dharma, all people are afflicted with jealousy.

24. Holy rites and good conduct perish. Similarly do perfect knowledge, Yajña, etc., owing to the prevalence of Adharma calamities shall befall.

25. In the Kaliyuga, all people are engrossed in envy and jealousy; they are devoted to arrogant conduct of life; the subjects will be short-lived.

Nārada said:

26. O sage, the characteristic features of the different Yugas have been succinctly mentioned by you. Kindly recount Kali in detail as you are the most excellent among the knowers of Dharma.

27. O excellent sage, what will be the diet and conduct of life of the Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas and Śūdras in the Kali Yuga?

Śanaka said:

28. O leading sage rendering service to all worlds, I shall recount the characteristics of the Kali Yuga precisely and in detail.^[3]

29. When Kṛṣṇa assumes black complexion all Dharmas perish. Hence, Kali is extremely terrible; it is the mixture of all sins.

30. The Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas and Śūdras are averse to righteousness. At the advent of the terrible Kali Yuga, the Brāhmaṇas turn their faces away from the Vedas.

31. All people are engaged in the pretence of righteousness; they are engrossed in jealousy and envy. Learned men are vainglorious and wicked as well as devoid of truthfulness.

32. Everyone begins to argue. “I am superior to all”; all people ardently love to perform sins; all men are captious and disputatious.

33. Hence, in the Kali Yuga all will be short-lived. O Brāhmaṇa, as the span of life is short, men do not grasp enough learning.

34. As the understanding of different lores diminishes, sin increases. All subjects die to the reverse order (youngmen die and are survived by the elders). People are engaged in sins.

35-36. The Brāhmaṇas and other castes get mixed with other castes mutually; all castes will be more or less like the Śūdras, overwhelmed by lust and fury, confounded and afflicted by unnecessary distress. In the Kali Yuga the excellent men become mean and the base men rise to excellence.

37. The kings are greedily absorbed in wealth; they are tyrannous; imposing heavy taxes they inflict pain on their subjects.

38. Brāhmaṇas become the pall-bearers of the Śūdras; husbands approach their legally wedded wives in the manner of paramours.

39. Sons hate fathers; women begin to hate their husbands; men are enamoured of other men’s wives; people misappropriate other men’s wealth.

40. O Brāhmaṇa, in the terrible Kali Yuga, the people are engaged in sins; they maintain themselves by means of fish and flesh; they milk even goats and sheep^[4].

41. Those who are jealous begin to ridicule good men; on the banks of rivers they dig with hoes and spades and grow medicinal herbs. (?)

42. The Earth loses its fertileness (lit. fruitfulness). The seed and the flower perish; women desire to imitate the make-up and the coquetry of prostitutes.

43. Brāhmaṇas sell their Dharmas, women resort to prostitution; others sell the Vedas; Brāhmaṇas are absorbed in the conduct of life of the Śūdras.

44. Brāhmaṇas (priests), greedy for money, take away the wealth of good men and pious widows, but do not perform the holy observances.

45. Brāhmaṇas abandon righteous conduct; they are well-equipped with modes of unnecessary arguments; it is mostly out of religious hypocrisy that they perform such rites as the Śrāddha, etc., for the Pitṛs.

46. Base men give charitable gifts to the undeserving-persons; covetous of the milk, they (pretend) to love cows.

47- 48. Brāhmaṇas do not perform ablutions and other purificatory rites properly. The vilest Brāhmaṇas become absorbed in holy rites at the improper time. They are engaged in blaming good men and the Brāhmaṇas. O Brāhmaṇa, the minḍ of none becomes devoted to Viṣṇu.

49. When Kṛṣṇa assumes the dark colour, the wicked servants of the king begin to beat Brāhmaṇas who perform Yajñas. They do so for extorting money out of them.

50. O sage, in the terrible Kali Yuga, men are devoid of (i.e. abstain from giving) charitable gifts. Brāhmaṇas accept monetary gifts even from fallen men.

51. Even in the first quarter of Kali Yuga, men begin to censure Hari; towards the end of the Yuga none will repeat the name of Hari.

52. In the Kali Yuga, Brāhmaṇas will be indulging in sexual intercourse with Śūdra women. They will be craving for union with widows; they will be engaged in the enjoyment of the cooked food of the Śūdras.

53. Giving up the good Vedic path, they will be pursuing evil ways and manners. They will become heretics and censure the system of the four Āśramas (stages in life).

54. The Śūdras will not serve the twice-bom. Assuming the airs of heretics, the base-born assume and practice holy rites of the Brāhmaṇas.

55. The Śūdras will clothe themselves in ochre-robes; they will have matted hair; they will smear ashes all over their bodies. Thus equipped and employing deceptive arguments, they will begin to expatiate on Dharma.

56. The Brāhmaṇas will give up their conventional activities and duties and will partake of other’s cooked food; wicked-minded Śūdras will renounce and become wandering recluses.

57. O sage, people will take up bribes as their means of livelihood in the Kali Yuga; heretics without piety, the mendicant Kāpālikas and base men will be in plenty in the Kali Yuga.

58. Occupying excellent seats, Śūdras will expatiate on. Dharma—religious duties—to Brāhmaṇas who habitually destroy Dharma.

59. These and many other heretics such as nude ascetics (Digambaras), red-roled mendicants, will roam about; most of whom will be decrying the Vedas.

60. In the Kaliyuga, the men who generally destroy Dharma will be adept in singing and playing on musical instruments; they will resort to petty and insignificant holy rites.

61. People will be extremely vile. They themselves not possessing much wealth but defiled by vain-gloriousness will be exhibiting for nothing a false show of symbols of piety.

62. They are always dependent on monetary gifts; they practise treading the wrong path in the world; all of them are fond of boasting about themselves and decrying others.

63. O Brāhmaṇa, in the Kali Yuga, men will be cruel, treacherous, merciless and devoid of piety; they will be the kinsmen of the sinning ones.

64. Then the maximum expectation of life will be sixteen years. O Brāhmaṇa, in the terrible Kali Yuga, a girl of five years will give birth to children.

65. Men of seven or eight years will be the so-called youths and beyond that age is old age. All will abandon their holy duties. They will be ungrateful and breakers of codes of discipline in the society.

66. In the Kali Yuga, the Brāhmaṇas will always be beggars. They will not mind being disrespected by others. They will be delighted to stay in other men’s houses.

67. There itself, they will entertain vain faith and will be engaged in censuring. They will be censuring in the presence of their fathers, mothers and sons.

68. They will be expatiating verbally on Dharmas but in their heart of heart, they will be indulging in sins. They will be proud due to their wealth, learning or age; they will be experiencing all miseries.

69. They will be afflicted by sickness, famine and robbers. Without minding the sinful nature of the act, they will be employing deceptive means and nourishing (their dependents) for nothing.

70. Sinners slight and dishonour the person who points out the righteous path. Those who are vainly self-complacent disrespect one who is engaged in holy rites.

71. After the advent of the Kali age, Śūdras and outcastes will become kings and the Brāhmaṇas will be engaged in rendering service to them. They will be begging for alms.

72. No one will be the true disciple, preceptor, son, father, wife or husband in this confused mixture of castes.

73. When Kali Yuga advances, even rich persons will become beggars. The twice-born will be selling liquid beverages.

74. The Brāhmaṇas will be covered with their cloak of piety. They will be assuming the guise of sages. They will be engaged in selling forbidden goods and indulging in sexual contacts with forbidden women.

75. O sage, the Brāhmaṇas who desire to be thrown into hell will maintain themselves through the activities befitting Śūdras; they will invariably hate the Vedas and the Dharma Śāstras.

76. In the Kali Yuga, men will be terribly afraid of hunger. Frightened of drought, they will be continuously gazing at the sky.

77. Extremely distressed by absence of rain, men will somehow sustain themselves by eating bulbous roots, leaves and fruits like the ascetics.

78. In the Kali age, all the people will be distressed through lust, greed and be engaged in sinful activities. They will be short in stature, deficient in good luck and prolific in their progeny.

79. Women will be self-supporting. They will be using the beauty aids like prostitutes; they will disobey their husbands’ behests and will be interested in staying in other people’s houses.

80. Women of wicked nature entertain a lustful design for men of wicked nature. Even women of noble families will be unfaithful to their husbands through evil activities.

81. Being panick-stricken with the fear of robbers, etc., people will adopt wooden-contrivances as a security measure. People will be extremely harassed by droughts and overtaxation.

82. Being distressed, they will be going to such lands as are full of wheat and barley. Offering the people pleasing tasks, they urge them with auspicious pleasing words (?)

83. People will maintain fraternal relationships till their purpose is achieved. Even mendicants are restrained by friendly relationships.

84. With food as a conditioning factor, disciples will be taken by mendicants.

85. Women scratch their heads with their hands and disobey the behests of their husbands and other elders.

86. When Brāhmaṇas become absorbed in talks on heresy, when they cultivate the company of heretics, the age of Kali will be advancing.

87. That the Kaliyuga has advanced should be inferred by clever people at the very same time when people cease to perform Yajñas and the twice-born do not perform Homa rites.

88. When the Dharmas perish, the whole universe becomes inglorious; infant-mortality is bound to occur and there will be growth of Adharma (absence of virtue), O Brāhmaṇa.

89. Thus, O excellent Brāhmaṇa, the general features of Kali have been narrated to you. But nowhere does the dark age of Kali affect those people who are devoted to Hari.

90. Tapas (penance) is the greatest thing in the Kṛta Yuga. Dhyāna (meditation) in the Tretā Yuga, and Yajña in the Dvāpara. They say that Dāna (charitable gift) alone is the greatest in the Kali Yuga.

91. What is acquired in Kṛta in ten years, in the Tretā in a year, and in the Dvāpara in a month, is acquired in the course of a day and a night in the Kali age.^[5]

92. What one achieves by meditating in the Kṛtayuga, by performing Yajñas in the Tretā and by worshipping in the Dvāpara, one obtains in the Kali Yuga by repeating the name and glorifying Keśava.

93. Kali does not oppress those persons who perform the worship of Hari or who repeat his names and glorify Hari day and night.

94. Kali does not affect those men who with or without desire for the fruits thereof glorify the deity saying “Obeisance to Nārāyaṇa.”

95. O Brāhmaṇa, in the terrible Kaliyuga, only those are contented and blessed, those who are absorbed in the names of Hari. Kali does not harass them.

96. Those who are engaged in the worship of Hari, and are devoted to the repetition of the names of Hari, are equal to Śiva. No doubt need be entertained in this respect.

97. After the advent of the terrible Kali Yuga, if one meditates on Viṣṇu whose form is real and who is the support of the entire universe, one does not go to ruin or distress.

98. After the advent of the terrible Kali age that is devoid of all virtue, those who worship Keśava even once, are extremely fortunate.

99. In the Kali age, the holy rites enjoined in the Vedas are likely to be defiled by deficiency or superfluity. Only the remembrance of Hari is conducive to the perfection or completion of the same.

100. Kali does not harass those who always utter the names of Viṣṇu, thus—“O Hari O Keśava, O Govinda, O Vāsudeva, the embodiment of the universe.”^[6]

101. Kali does not harass even those who utter the names of Śiva, thus—“O Śiva, O Śaṅkara, O Rudra, O Īśa, O bluenecked one, O Three-eyed God!”

102. O Brāhmaṇa, those who speak or utter the names of God thus “O Mahādeva (O great God), O Virūpākṣa (three-eyed one), O Gaṅgādhara (the bearer of the Gaṅgā on the head), O immutable Mṛḍa”, have undoubtedly their objects achieved and are happy.

103. Or, those who utter the name of the Lord, thus: “O Janārdana, O Jagannātha, O yellow-robed Acyuta,” need not be afraid of Kali.

104. O Brāhmaṇa, in this world, sons, wives, riches and other things are easily accessible to men. But devotion to Hari is difficult to get.

105. Those who are devoid of faith in holy rites, those who are heretics and censure the Vedas and those who are engaged in Adharma (sinful activities) do not desire hell, should they remember Hari.

106. It is only through the repetition of the names of Hari that redemption is attained by the people who commit sins, who are beyond the pale of Vedic path and who are wanting in mental purity.

107. O Brāhmaṇa, this entire universe is submissive to Daiva (fate, destiny). The mobile and immobile beings do only as they are directed by this destiny.

108. After performing according to one’s capacity all the holy rites prescribed in the Vedas, a person devoted to God Nārāyaṇa should dedicate them to Lord Mahāviṣṇu.

109. Holy rites dedicated to Mahāviṣṇu, the Supreme Ātman, become complete merely by the remembrance of Hari.

110. Sins do not bind those who are engaged in devotion to Hari. Hence, devotion to Hari is difficult to be attained by the wicked-minded in the world.

111. O! In the frightful and terrific Kaliyuga, those who are devoted to Hari are very fortunate and noble-souled even if they are not in close contact with saintly persons.

112. O Brāhmaṇa, it is true that all the holy rites of those who are engrossed in the remembrance of Hari and those who are absorbed in the repetition of Śiva’s names attain perfect completion.

113. O how fortunate are those who are engaged in the names of Hari! What a good luck! They are worthy of being worshipped even by Devas. Of what use is much talk?

114. Hence, only what is beneficial to the worlds, is being proclaimed by me. Nowhere does Kali harass those men who are fond of the names of Hari.

115. My very life is only the name of Hari, only that name and nothing but that name. I emphatically declare that in the Kali Yuga salvation is never possible otherwise, not at all.”

Sūta said:

116. O Brāhmaṇa, thus enlightened by Sanaka, Nārada attained great delight. He again submitted thus:—

Nārada said:^[7]

117. O holy lord, O knower of all scriptural texts, the splendour of the universe, the great eternal Brahman has been revealed by you who are extremely merciful at heart.

118. This is the greatest merit. This is the greatest penance that one remembers the lotus-eyed lord who destroys all sins.

119. O Brāhmaṇa, this universe is manifold. It has been mentioned by you to have been evolved out of this knowledge alone. How can I understand it without an illustrative example?

120. Hence elucidate that thing by the enlightenment of which the Brahman can be known. Tell it to me so that the depressed mind can steady itself.

121. O Brāhmaṇa, on hearing these words of the noble-souled Nārada, Sanaka remembered the great Nārāyaṇa and replied thus:

Sanaka said:

122. O Brāhmaṇa, I am going to perforin meditation. Ask Sananḍana as you please. He is an adept in the Vedānta Śāstra. He is worthy of being revered and saluted by the noble. He will clear your doubts.

123. On hearing these words uttered by Sanaka, Nārada began to ask Sanandana about the Mokṣa Dharmas i.e. holy rites leading to salvation.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Ancient Indians believed in the existence of an ideally perfect community in hoary past and that it was followed by gradual degeneracy and decline in morals, physique and longevity (vide Mahābhārata Śānti P. chapters 59, Manu. 1.81 and other Purāṇas also).

[2]:

Cf. Manu I.81-82 wherein he states that Dharma was four-footed anḍ perfect in the Kṛta Yuga and that in the successive yugas Dharma declined successively by one foot and vices went on increasing. Manu’s identification of Dharma with a bull (Manu VIII.16) seems at the basis of the four-footedness of Dharma.

[3]:

This terrible description of the Kali Age in verses 28-89 is common to many Purāṇas e.g. Vāyu (chapter 58), Matsya Purāṇa chapter 144, Bhāgavata Purāṇa XII.2, Viṣṇu Purāṇa VI.1, Kūrma Purāṇa I.29, All these depict a society in which the rules of caste and Āśramas were neglected and non-Brahmanical and anti-Brahmanical ideas and beliefs prevailed. R.C. Hazra in Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs (Purāṇic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs) pp.208-214 shows that the disintegration of the social fabric and Brahmanism described in the Purāṇas was due to the political supremacy of Śūdras as kings, officers and other elites, vigorous offensive launched against Brahmanism by Buddhist and Jains, in the invasions and settlements of “immoral, casteless, nomads, viz. Śakas, Pahlavas and Ābhiras.”

This explains the Brahmanical restrictions against contacts of any kind with foreigners and non-Brahmanical faiths and harsh prāyaścittas for such lapses.

It is interesting to note that many verses in the description of the Kali Age are common in Purāṇas.

[4]:

[Reading ajāvikam not ajīvikām]—it is probably a misprint.

[5]:

Verses 91-92 cf. Viṣṇu Purāṇa VI 2.15 & 17.

yat kṛte daśabhir varṣais tretāyām hāyanena yat /
dvāpare tac ca māsena, hyahorātreṇa tat kalau //
dhyāyan kṛte yajan yajñais tretāyām dvāpare'rcayan /
yadāpnoti tadāpnoti kalau saṅkīrtya keśavam //

[6]:

Verses 100-115 glorify the efficacy of the name of God and the importance of dedicating all our actions to God—This glorification of remembering God’s name is a favourite topic of all Purāṇas dealing with Bhakti and with Indian saints.

[7]:

Verses 117-123 serve as an introduction to Part II of the Nārada Purāṇa