This is a fascinating video. At 7:00, Tom Rowsell (SurviveTheJive) reads out some excerpts of the Srimad Bhagvatam(an important hindu scripture) where many if not every single prophecy comes true. The higher values are replaced by lower ones. Ones only worth in society is based upon their level of affluence and sex, people have no loyalty to their own family, culture or values. The only thing people will satisfy will be their genitals and bellies.
Everything will decay but there is a glimmer of hope. Just taking the name of Krishna would help one escape life and attain moksha.
Tom makes references from other indo european religions as well, this is not a culture war or culture war adjacent thing, mostly just something I found super fascinating given that they all were faiths that were very similar for the most part and got many things about the future right. The issue with kaliyuga is that of values, we have seen astounding technological and economical growth, the truth in many places is that many have lost values that were considered important by those who appreciate antiquity (I do at least). Many will not agree but even then, would appreciate any thots on this.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
My take on this is that human civilization is ultimately cyclical and has declines and dark ages fairly frequently. These declines often have the same or similar causes no matter where or when they happen and likewise would have similar earmarks no matter which civilization we’re talking about from the Sumerians to the Soviet Union.
What seems to be the overarching pattern is a two-fold degeneration.
The first part is the degradation of ideas of investment in the wider society at the expense of yourself. This shows up as more selfish thinking, seeking my own wealth and fame and pleasure over the good of society. It also means a decline in long term thinking, work ethic, education especially apart from the idea of it being merely a job credential. In ascending societies, you see a lot of things done for the fame or glory of the society, and those who built it are revered and their works are studied. Public works are built even if the builders themselves don’t expect to benefit directly. In descending societies, you see people cheating, lying, stealing, and manipulating systems to get ahead. Corruption is rampant, bribes are common.
The second is the denigration of long term thinking. Why work hard for years to build something, or study for decades, or think about the world I would leave behind? Instead, people choose to be hedonistic and consumeristic and choose the pleasure of today and sometimes at the expense of the future. In ascending societies you can see the opposite, people often choose to deny themselves pleasure for some greater purpose, reject hedonistic impulses and have fairly rigid social codes. And those who openly flaunt their hedonism are at best shamed and at worst are punished by the legal system. In a descending society, the rule is pleasure. If you want wild sex, no problem. If you would rather not go to school, work, or do anything useful, you don’t have to. The only thing you really can’t do is shame people.
The writers of ancient literature were not stupid, and they’d have noticed that these sorts of patterns had happened around them in local villages and perhaps in the legends of past civilizations that didn’t make it. And when writing about the future, they’d project that past onto their mythology and predictions of the future. We read them hundreds of years later and see ourselves in them because we are somewhere on the civilization sine wave there are parts of the story that fit our observations or our memories of past civilizations.
More options
Context Copy link