“My dear King, although Kali-yuga is full of faults, there is still one good quality about this age. It is that simply by chanting the holy name of Krishna, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 12.3.51)

Download this episode (right click and save)

कलेर्दोषनिधे राजन्नस्ति ह्येको महान् गुण:
कीर्तनादेव कृष्णस्य मुक्तसङ्ग: परं व्रजेत्

kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann
asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ
kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya
mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet

“At what point does offering the same excuse start to turn stale and old? Do not the words begin to lose meaning? We have heard the explanation so many times that it now resembles a refrain from a popular song. The thing is, the words are not really an explanation. It is like this catchall, an umbrella insurance policy to guard against having to deal with difficult issues.

“The excuse which I reference is pinning the blame on the age of Kali. If people within an institution of higher learning are exposed as frauds, cheats, debauchees, and criminals against the most innocent in society, you can explain the corruption away with the excuse of Kali Yuga. If people are not interested in spiritual life, that is because of Kali Yuga. It is the age of quarrel and hypocrisy, you see. People are supposedly no longer interested in being good, in following piety, in aligning with righteousness.

“To that end, we have this supposed beacon of light in the chanting of the holy names. We can take a shortcut method. Whereas previously there were requirements for sitting in meditation [dhyana], worshiping in the temple [archanam], or conducting these grand formal rituals [yajna], in this dreaded time of darkness, Kali Yuga, we can achieve perfection through attachment to nama, which is the name. Since this name is for God, it is transcendental in nature: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

“Since I have heard the excuse so much, I will offer the following challenge. What if people do not consider the condition degraded? What if they don’t see anything wrong with the current age, be it labelled ‘dark’ or otherwise? What if they do not want to take any shortcuts? What if they think that people are ready for the philosophy, for the rules, for the regulations? People are prepared for the struggle, to enroll in an extended boot-camp, so why are you treating them like babies?”

The age of Kali is quite long, and so the decline can be rapid or spread across hundreds of years, depending on your perspective. So much of the degradation is already in place, predicted thousands of years ago in sacred texts such as Shrimad Bhagavatam. No honest person can deny that there is something seriously wrong with the standard of conduct, with the change in values followed over the past fifty years, even.

दूरे वार्ययनं तीर्थं लावण्यं केशधारणम्
उदरंभरता स्वार्थ: सत्यत्वे धार्ष्ट्यमेव हि
दाक्ष्यं कुटुम्बभरणं यशोऽर्थे धर्मसेवनम्

dūre vāry-ayanaṁ tīrthaṁ
lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dhāraṇam
udaraṁ-bharatā svārthaḥ
satyatve dhārṣṭyam eva hi
dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇaṁ
yaśo ’rthe dharma-sevanam

“A sacred place will be taken to consist of no more than a reservoir of water located at a distance, and beauty will be thought to depend on one’s hairstyle. Filling the belly will become the goal of life, and one who is audacious will be accepted as truthful. He who can maintain a family will be regarded as an expert man, and the principles of religion will be observed only for the sake of reputation.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 12.2.6)

We have evidence from the general tendency today. There are so many distractions that practically no one wants to read content as it is presented to them. There is an alarming lack of patience. The readers go straight for the “TLDR”, which is a modern term that references something that has always been there: the summary.

“Give me the TLDR, bro. Who has time to read a thousand words? Who has time to count a thousand words? Most of that is fluff, anyway. You shouldn’t waste my time. Give me the important details so that I can move on.”

Technology has come such a long way that a person does not even have to read the content, if they don’t want to. A machine will narrate the entire piece, whether it is a blog post, a short story, or a lengthy book. Due to the destruction of patience, which was always considered a virtue, even with such assistance a person still will not listen. There is a reason that shravanam is listed first in the definition of the implementation of bhakti-yoga. It is the easiest method to adopt, and simply by hearing a person can achieve perfection in life.

If they don’t want to sit and hear, if they don’t want to read, if they don’t want to deliberate on the content, what hope is there? Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is kripasindhu, or an ocean of mercy, there are always ways to succeed. The chanting of the holy names is made for times such as these. The process has been brought into the light by saints like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the most munificent avatara. Following in His lead, we can achieve perfection, whether we have read everything or have simply jumped from one TLDR to another.

In Closing:

Book closed with a thump,
Since wanting summaries to jump.

How a thousand words to stand?
When no patience to command.

Just give it to me short and straight,
Not for years and years to wait.

Sankirtana for Kali’s age blessed,
Quickest way to success.

Categories: questions

Tags: dailyprompt, hare krishna, harinama, poem, poems, poetry, sankirtana, tldr