AN ANCIENT VISION OF THE KALI YUGA IN THE MAHABHARATA

by Ave Maria

The Indian tradition has handed down us the knowledge that we are living in the Kali Yuga, the most degenerate age where the world is on the verge of collapse. What will happen in the final stages of this Yuga? The Mahabharata, the ancient Indo-Aryan epic known as the largest book ever written, contains several well-known prophecies, for example, "shudras will expound the scriptures" and "people will without compunction destroy trees and gardens." These prophecies are widely available in essays and books about the Kali Yuga. Less well-known are the object-lessons given at the end of the Mahabharata's fifth book, just before the great war that transitioned the world from the previous Dvapara Yuga to the current Kali Yuga.

A teacher of mine, who has read the entire Mahabharata in Sanskrit, once remarked that parts of it seem to have been written with the modern reader in mind, notably the monologues of the low-caste character Karna. This may sound somewhat unlikely, given the age of the Mahabharata, but a close reading of the end of the fifth book shows a remarkable relevance to the modern condition that gives the ring of truth to my teacher's statement. Although it portrays conditions at the end of the Dvapara Yuga, I think it is meant to reflect on what conditions will be like at the end of the Kali Yuga.

BEYOND PRUDERY AND PERVERSION

by Keith Preston

Of the various manifestations of the egalitarian cultural revolution that has transpired in the Western world over the past half century, none have been quite so enduring or become so deeply rooted in the culture of modern society as the so-called “sexual revolution.” Indeed, it might well be argued that even the supposed commitment of Western cultural elites in the early twenty-first century to the ethos of racial egalitarianism is not quite as profound as their commitment to the preservation and expansion of the victories of the sexual revolution. The sexual revolution itself brings with it many of its own manifestations. These include the now prevailing feminist ethos, the liberalization of both popular opinion and public legislation concerning sexual conduct, abortion and contraception, divorce, the normalization of homosexuality accompanied by the growth of powerful homosexual political interest groups, and the identification of an ever-growing list of “gender identity” or “sexual orientation” groups who are subsequently assigned their position in the Left’s pantheon of the oppressed.