Vishnu Puran Sixth Ansh: The Kali Age, the Four Pralayas and the Path to Liberation

The last part of the Vishnu Puran is short but holds the essence of the whole: how time changes, how everything dissolves, and how amid all this a person can attain liberation.

Chapter 1: the marks of the Kali age

Parashara describes the Kali age: people will turn from dharma and the Vedic path; wealth alone will bring respect; the strong will rule; kings will exploit rather than protect; falsehood and deceit will grow; lifespan and strength will decline; people will be proud of little; and relationships will rest on self-interest.

Chapter 2: why Kali is still the best age

The sages once asked Vyasa which age is best. Bathing in the Ganga, Vyasa said: "Kali is good," "the Shudras are good," "women are good." To the astonished sages he explained:

• The merit gained in the Krita age by ten years of austerity, in Treta by one year and in Dvapara by one month is gained in Kali in a single day and night.
• What was gained in Krita by meditation, in Treta by sacrifice and in Dvapara by worship is gained in Kali simply by singing the name of Keshava.
• Those who serve, by service alone, and women, by caring for husband and family, without difficult rules, gain the merit others gain by hard practice.

The Kali age is hard, but the way to God in it is the simplest: remembering the Name and serving others.

Chapters 3 and 4: the four dissolutions

• Naimittika (occasional): at the end of a day of Brahma, when the three worlds are submerged and the Lord sleeps on Shesha. A hundred years of drought, then the seven rays of the sun dry everything, then the clouds of dissolution pour until all is water.
• Prakritika (elemental): at the end of Brahma's life, when the elements merge one into another: earth into water, water into fire, fire into air, air into space, space into ego, ego into Mahat, Mahat into nature, and nature into the Supreme.
• Atyantika (absolute): when the wise are freed for ever from worldly bondage through knowledge; this is liberation.
• Nitya (constant): the birth and death of beings every moment, which never stops.

Chapter 5: the three kinds of suffering

There are three kinds of suffering in the world:

• Adhyatmika: illnesses of the body and pains of the mind (worry, anger, fear, envy).
• Adhibhautika: pain from other beings (wild animals, snakes, thieves, enemies).
• Adhidaivika: pain from nature and higher powers (cold, heat, rain, storm, lightning, earthquake).

The sufferings of the womb, birth, childhood, youth, old age and death are also described. For all of them there is one remedy: reaching God, through knowledge and devotion. The meaning of "Bhagavan" is given too: one in whom the six qualities of complete sovereignty, dharma, glory, prosperity, knowledge and detachment are perfect.

Chapters 6 and 7: Keshidhvaja and Khandikya

In the line of Nimi were two cousins: Khandikya Janaka, expert in ritual, and Keshidhvaja, a knower of the self. Keshidhvaja had conquered Khandikya's kingdom, and Khandikya lived in the forest.

Once a lion killed the cow of Keshidhvaja's sacrifice. He asked the priests for the expiation, but none knew; all named Khandikya. Keshidhvaja went to his enemy. Khandikya's ministers said, "The enemy is in your hands; kill him." But Khandikya chose dharma and told him the expiation. When the sacrifice was complete, Keshidhvaja came to offer a teacher's fee. Khandikya did not ask for his kingdom back. He said, "Give me the knowledge that ends sorrow."

Keshidhvaja taught him yoga:

• The sense of "I" and "mine" is ignorance; taking the body as "I" and things as "mine" is bondage.
• The mind is the cause of both bondage and liberation: a mind attached to objects binds, a mind fixed on God frees.
• Purify the mind through restraint, observance, posture, breath control, withdrawal and concentration, and meditate on the Lord's form with conch, discus, mace and lotus, yellow robe and the Kaustubha jewel.
• Gradually meditator, meditation and the object of meditation become one; this is samadhi.

With this knowledge Khandikya gave up his wish for the kingdom and attained liberation meditating in the forest. Keshidhvaja too, in time, was liberated through selfless action.

Chapter 8: the glory and lineage of the Purana

Finally Parashara tells how this Purana came from Brahma to Ribhu, from Ribhu to Priyavrata and down the line to Parashara, and now to Maitreya. Whoever hears or reads it with faith gains the merit of all pilgrimages and sacrifices, is freed from sin and reaches the realm of Vishnu at the end. Its last message: remembering Vishnu, the beginning, end and support of all, is the greatest means.

What this part teaches

• Even in hard times the way to God is the simplest: remembering the Name and serving selflessly.
• Something ends and something begins every moment; clinging to any thing or situation is futile.
• Keep dharma even towards an enemy; Khandikya chose dharma over revenge.
• The greatest fee is not wealth or a kingdom but knowledge.
• When the sense of "I" and "mine" falls away, bondage falls away.